Wally’s Local Secret #1
Let’s say you’re going to a resort for just the first time ever, for 3 days or less…not much time to really explore, especially at a large resort, like Heavenly or Squaw Valley USA. When you don’t know your way around a mountain resort and don’t have friends with you who ride the mountain on a regular basis, finding the secret routes and how to best experience the whole mountain can be a daunting challenge. So with a little bit of help and watching other people at the resort, you can quickly find your way around, almost like a local
Obviously your first tool is the resort’s trail map. When I’m going to a place I’ve never been before, I always review and print the trail map from the resort’s web site. Some resorts even have very cool interactive trail maps on the sites…checkout Sugar Bowl’s at sugarbowl.com. Look for the runs and trails that fit your ability level and see how to get to them with the least number of lifts to ride. If you’re an expert, you may even want to take an intermediate groomer to warm up…on a powder day?…so notice where the blue runs are too. Look for close parking on the map as well…close to the lift and ticket booth. However, trail maps are limited no matter how great they are and there’s nothing like seeing the mountain in person.
When you get to the mountain it’s usually best to get there early or late. If you’re a fanatic like me, one reason for this kind of timing, is so I can find the primo parking spot, plus I can take my time buckling up and choosing how to dress for the day.
Riding up your first lift of the day, be very observant…as an expert skier, I love chair lift lines to come down, because a lot of people don’t, so the snow quality many times is really good, plus these lines are usually right down the fall line and often steep. Just be ready for heckling or comments on your style coming from the lift. I’ve done some of my best falls underneath lifts.
Here’s a pic of a great chair liftline at Kirkwood…
Checkout kirkwood.com…watch the daily videos produced by RSN…rsn.com
Watch the people in front of you coming down while you’re still on the lift. Pick out someone or group of ability level you are and watch where they go. Follow where they go, or if you want to avoid the herd, go where less of a pack goes, especially on a powder day to get more of the untracked.
Watch for traverse lines that seem to lead to nowhere…many times these lead to the local, secret spots. When you’re on these traverses, look down hill as you’re going along. The next run you may want to start you down from the traverse sooner or keep going farther out. Look for the nearest lift if you can see one.
Ride the same lift at least twice and keep watching the people ahead of you. You can even follow people of your ability level and make new friends. This sport is a social event, isn’t it? Buy someone a beer or hot chocolate and ask them to talk about how many years they’ve had a yearly pass. You’ll make a new friend in no time.
