Vail Ski Conditions 2007 November

11/23/07 Well, the season started out with excitement (in October) with over 2 feet of snow before Halloween. Some of the most snow I've seen in Oct. in a number of years. However, it sort of jinxed us for November (so far). November has been quite dry and warm. The Tues/Wed before Thanksgiving things finally cooled down and we received 4 inches of snow. Enough to get Born Free run open with man-made snow, but that was about it. Vail Mountain has now moved their snow guns over to some green runs and Bear Tree. C. Ratz

11/23/07 Still cold outside and the weather people are calling for perhaps a couple of storms between Nov 27 - Dec 1. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Chair 15 opened for beginners with a large learning area at the top of the mountain. C. Ratz

11/24/07 Darn cold this morning, around 10 degrees. Great for making snow. In fact, they are making snow on lower Simba this morning. Sort of surprising that they are making it over there already. I would think it will take a lot of time to get that run open but who knows. I'm keeping my fingers crossed they work on some of the upper trails to get some top to bottom skiing. C. Ratz

11/25/07 I went up right away in the morning. Good groomed slopes. This is the key during early season when there are just a few ski runs available. They have the cat-walk going around to Chair 2 open.... Good for practicing the technique. Saw Mark Ulmschneider (owner of 517) and did 4 runs with them. Also saw Paul Green (owner of 416) Amazing how we could find some decent snow after the holiday weekend crowds. They were blowing snow on Pride, Simba, base of Chair 9 and on Columbine. It makes me think they are working on getting Chair 2 or Chair 9 open soon. You can tell they don't need much snow higher up or just a bit of snowmaking here and there to open more runs. Let's keep our fingers crossed. Chris R.

11/26/07 Snowing lightly outside from 9am-11:30am, not a lot but enough to make the runs soft. I took out the telli skis today and hooked up with Mark and Bernd from 517 again. Five quick runs before work. It was nice with less people on the runs after the holiday. Weather is calling for more snow on Wed and Sat perhaps. Just a foot of snow and ski runs will be open all over the place, but we need that foot. Chris R.

11/27/07 Got out on the mountain pretty late (3:00pm) but got three runs in before the lifts closed at 3:30pm. Certainly a bit icy this late in the day. They are blowing snow on Pride but still haven't opened any extra runs. I saw that someone has been skiing down Columbine near Chair 2 but it isn't open to the public. Not sure if Ski Patrol is working on the trail or what. Clouding up late in the day and they are calling for 2-4 inches tonight. I sure hope so since I have tomorrow morning off. Chris R.
11/28/07 New snow this morning and still snowing as of 10:30am. I did four quick runs. They said 4 inches up at Mid-Vail but there was probably 3 inches down in Lionshead and up on the top of Born Free lift. Nice to get soft snow again. Yellow Jacket guy said they were opening Chair 26 and the Pride ski run today but he didn't know what time. Columbine and Ledges are open from the top of the Gondola but you have to walk to the top of Chair 15 to get to those runs. They were blowing snow at the base of chair 2 (pic above). I still say we need 8 more inches before they can open the upper half. Buddy of mine said East Vail got 6 inches, so top of mountain probably received same. Sweet! Chris R.

11/29/07 They opened Pride and Chair 26. We now have top to bottom skiing from the gondola. They need to blow a bit more snow in a few spots on the Pride, but below Chair 26 (swinging down through lower Simba) the snow was excellent. Then I took the gondola up and walked over to Chair 15 (beginner) and skied Ledges all the way down. It was decent. But we still need a good slab of snow to come down. 4 inches at a time isn't quite doing it to build a base. They were blowing snow on lower Lodgepole so it looks like they are trying to get either Chair 2 open or the Vista Bahn lift for this weekend. Chris R.

11/30/07 I did my daily runs super early. Here's the scoop. Runs were groomed better and it is snowing over by Holy Cross mountain (as of 9:30am). We could see the storm clouds moving in from the South. Vail announced they are opening Chairs 2, 3, 4, 7 on Saturday tomorrow. Wow! My opinion is that it might be a bit thin up there but who knows. They are making a lot of snow and if we get the snow they are predicting, it might be pretty decent. Keep your fingers crossed. Chris R.

Rocky Mountain Vacations Travel Agent

Each year Julie from Rocky Mountain Vacations spends Thanksgiving out in the Utah desert with her relatives. Apparently they have some sort of golf tournament. Hmmmm.... were they drinking?............

Hi Chris,

As promised…the third annual Vail Antlers Ladies Wilderness Golf Tournament held Thanksgiving day on the San Rafael swell. I had everyone show off the logo this year! Thanks for the good times with the Antlers. And remember…don’t feed the wildlife.

Julie Stepniewski
ROCKY MOUNTAIN VACATIONS
Division of Travel Organizers/American Express

Want to Avoid the Lift Lines like a Local?

1. Get out before 9:30am and you'll likely stay out of lines the whole day. You'll be out in front of the crowds, into the Vail Bowl areas and a couple of lifts ahead of the ski schools, crowds and commuters from Denver. If you are going to sleep in, just have a late breakfast and wait until 11:00am or so and you'll zip right up.

2. Stay away from the gondola. Only ride that thing if there is NO line. You can get up quicker and further up the mountain by taking Chairs 8 and 2 and actually get a bit of a warm up on the cat-walk at the same time.

3. Look before you leap. It sounds too simple but look for a moment at each side of the lift to see which maze has less of a line. And then look closely to see which lane has less people. I can't believe the number of times a well meaning friend will just dive right in to the closest line, when with just 5 seconds of thought there is a better option available.

4. Single lines can be deceiving. Be careful splitting up. Sometimes the regular lines go QUICKER than the single lines. When a maze is completely full (single lines and regular lines are out the maze), many times the regular lines go quicker (particularly on the High-speed quads). Exception is Chair 5

5. If at top of Chair 7, look down to the base of the lift first before diving in.Chair 7 (Game Creek) can be a mess between 10am and 11:30am as the goofs riding the gondola take the cat-walk down to Gamecreek. But you can see down in from the top of 7. If it is mess, dive down the back to Chair 5 or back to the front for Chairs 3 or 4.

6. Don't do Chair 11 between 2:45 and 4:00pm. If you are coming back from Blue Sky or China Bowl and your legs can handle it, ski down Yonder to get to Chair 5. There won't be anyone there at this time of day and it brings you back to the top.

7. Thumbs up for: North side of 7, East side of 2, East side of China lift, East side of Northwoods, East side of Chair 3 anytime, East side of Chair 4 before 10:30 but then West side of same Chair after lunch.

8. Loser moves: Going down to Chair 5 after 10:38 on a powder day (You might as well start walking back up the hill). Skiing runs around Chair 2 from 9:45-11:30 (don't choose those 50 acres to ski on when there is 5000+ out there waiting for you). And the ultimate loser move? Sticking with a friend on a powder day.

New Stone Work

Slowly but surely, the Antlers' building facade is being updated. The original building, which was constructed n 1972, had a different type of stone treatment on the outside than the new Antlers which was completed in 2001. From many vantage points, the discrepancy was glaringly obvious. We are proud to say that it is now almost non existent. This is our clock tower as seen from the sixth floor hallway in our courtyard: It is the last major thing left to be covered in the beautiful new stone.

Here is a section where the two come together: The new stuff is much nicer, don't you think?

Antlers GHOSTS

Although the 07’ ski season is upon us here in Vail, I felt it necessary to inform you of our success in the summer softball league as the Antlers staff (and a few stranglers we found roaming aimlessly on the streets), dusted off our mitts, bought 2 bats, 4 softballs, and called ourselves the ANTLERS G.H.O.S.T. (God help our sh%@#ty team) We were an organized softball team again. Let me re-phrase that. They were organized and we showed up for each an every game with high hopes and aspirations of proudly displaying the athletic talent we were not quite sure we had. Our dreams were dashed of possessing the 1st place trophy and displaying it in the Antlers lobby, when after one inning, of one game, we found ourselves losing by 7 runs and wondering how to make an out. The anguish continued and I wonder if it has taken this long to write of it, because of it. Healing takes time. Some of the healing included the following: LeVine-thigh, hamstring, ankle…Ziccardi-two knees, right arm… Schlaeder-ankle… Walls-leg… Harl-both legs… Everyone else-bruises, contusions (most of these injuries sustained because we tried to catch the ball with various body parts rather than use our mitts).

I was proud of our team though, and the enthusiasm we all displayed throughout the 8 game season could not be compromised. We finished with a perfect record in our division ( 0 and 8 ) and we were taught many lessons because of the experience this past summer.

One of the most important lessons was realized after the first game. We knew that one case of beer was not enough to keep the team satisfied in the dug-out. Then we learned that Bagallis had the best pizza. Then we learned that the Sand Bar had the best wings. Then we learned that a team barbeque was in order to celebrate a complete disaster of a season.

There is talk of organizing again for next year, but that was only for 5 minutes after the last game was played. We thank all of you that attended and were able to witness our play and extend a thank you to all that supported us otherwise. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
Greg Ziccardi

New Grocery Cart

A few years back, Greg in maintenance took one of our older luggage carts and converted it to a grocery cart for guests to use. It was such a big hit that we were constantly looking for the thing all over the property. We just decided that it was probably a good idea to make another one. And then there were two....More to come?

Zip Line Adventure in Wolcott

Antlers owners unit 406 (the Brinkmans) stopped by the front desk and went on and on about how fun the zip line was out by Wolcott (20 minutes west of Vail). Scott Brinkman said he has done sky diving and bungee jumping and this zip line was one of the most fun and exhilarating things he has done. The kids thought it was a blast. One of the zip lines was over 1000 feet long. I think he said it was $125 per person. It is open through November. Zipadventures

Start of the Antlers at Vail blog

With the beginning of the 2007-2008 ski season underway, the Antlers at Vail figured it was time to start a blog. A place to check on ski conditions, ask questions, give feedback on the Antlers, etc.

Welcome