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Yet another great powder day at Beaver Creek

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March 31, 2016, 1:24 pm
plunging into Alta Chutes 033116

Getting ready to jump into the Alta Chutes outside of Royal Elk Glade at Beaver Creek (David O. Williams photo).

My goal every ski season is a modest one: I like to spend a month out of every year on skis, so at least 30 days. I hit that mark on Thursday, and also surpassed the 300,000-vertical-foot plateau — giving me an average daily total of 10,000 feet.

If you’re a hardcore ski bum, you sneer at these numbers. In fact, one friend of mine easily just flew by the million-vertical-foot mark, and I know a lot of Vail Valley residents who record upwards of 50, 60, 70 or even more days on skis. That’s great, but I’m into quality over quantity.

Rarely do I venture out if there’s no new snow on the slopes. I have the same “four-or-more-out-the-door” rule I’ve subscribed to my entire four-decade ski career, so basically you can look at my tally of ski days and tell how many powder days there were this past season.

Thursday at Beaver Creek was another incredibly fluffy day, with 8 inches new after 6 the day before, and it continued to snow lightly throughout the day, so it’s still cold and snowing — meaning Friday could be yet another nice powder day (or at least morning). After that, forecasters say things will dry out through the weekend.

“More snow will fall on Thursday, so conditions should stay soft through the day and Friday morning could also offer untracked turns for some mountains,” Opensnow.com meteorologist Joel Gratz wrote on Thursday morning. “Friday through Monday will be dry, then the next storm should focus on northern and central Colorado next Tuesday through Wednesday night. Another storm is possible next weekend or early the following week.”

That means the current run of powder days that started in mid-March should continue at least through next week, if not beyond. Beaver Creek closes in a little over a week (on Sunday, April 10), so get out and enjoy it while you can. Otherwise, there’s always Vail, which on Wednesday extended its ski season by a week, pushing closing day back till Sunday, April 17.

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David O. Williams

Managing Editor at RealVail
David O. Williams is the editor and co-founder of RealVail.com and has had his awarding-winning work (see About Us) published in more than 75 newspapers and magazines around the world, including 5280 Magazine, American Way Magazine (American Airlines), the Anchorage Daily News (Alaska), the Anchorage Daily Press (Alaska), Aspen Daily News, Aspen Journalism, the Aspen Times, Beaver Creek Magazine, the Boulder Daily Camera, the Casper Star Tribune (Wyoming), the Chicago Tribune, Colorado Central Magazine, the Colorado Independent (formerly Colorado Confidential), Colorado Newsline, Colorado Politics (formerly the Colorado Statesman), Colorado Public News, the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Colorado Springs Independent, the Colorado Statesman (now Colorado Politics), the Colorado Times Recorder, the Cortez Journal, the Craig Daily Press, the Curry Coastal Pilot (Oregon), the Daily Trail (Vail), the Del Norte Triplicate (California), the Denver Daily News, the Denver Gazette, the Denver Post, the Durango Herald, the Eagle Valley Enterprise, the Eastside Journal (Bellevue, Washington), ESPN.com, Explore Big Sky (Mont.), the Fort Morgan Times (Colorado), the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, the Greeley Tribune, the Huffington Post, the King County Journal (Seattle, Washington), the Kingman Daily Miner (Arizona), KUNC.org (northern Colorado), LA Weekly, the Las Vegas Sun, the Leadville Herald-Democrat, the London Daily Mirror, the Moab Times Independent (Utah), the Montgomery Journal (Maryland), the Montrose Daily Press, The New York Times, the Parent’s Handbook, Peaks Magazine (now Epic Life), People Magazine, Powder Magazine, the Pueblo Chieftain, PT Magazine, the Rio Blanco Herald Times (Colorado), Rocky Mountain Golf Magazine, the Rocky Mountain News, RouteFifty.com (formerly Government Executive State and Local), the Salt Lake Tribune, SKI Magazine, Ski Area Management, SKIING Magazine, the Sky-Hi News, the Steamboat Pilot & Today, the Sterling Journal Advocate (Colorado), the Summit Daily News, United Hemispheres (United Airlines), Vail/Beaver Creek Magazine, Vail en Español, Vail Health Magazine, Vail Valley Magazine, the Vail Daily, the Vail Trail, Westword (Denver), Writers on the Range and the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Williams is also the founder, publisher and editor of RealVail.com and RockyMountainPost.com.