Vail keeps adding terrain as BC gears up for opening, more snow heads our way

Vail opened more skiable terrain on Friday, and Beaver Creek is set to open on Wednesday with possibly deep snow in the forecast for Thanksgiving week.

“We recently added the following for a total of 320+ acres: Bear Tree, Eagle’s Nest Ridge, Coyote Crossing to Berries, Lodgepole, Ski School Ledges, Practice Parkway, Cub’s Way, and Lion’s Way to Lower Born Free down to Lion’s Head,” a Vail spokesperson emailed on Friday.

A Beaver Creek spokesperson emailed the following on Friday: “Beaver Creek Resort has received nearly four feet of snow this November! The snowmaking team has also been hard at work, and we expect to open with Centennial Express with potential for more. Expected Opening Day terrain is perfect for beginner and intermediate skiers and snowboarders. Guests won’t want to miss music, a banner break, on-mountain and village dining – and of course the annual Beaver Creek Cookie Competition.”

Saturday should be sunny and dry in the Eagle River Valley, but then forecasters are calling for “Likely 1-2+ feet of snow from Sunday to Wednesday”.

“Saturday will be warm and dry with times of clouds and gusty winds,” Opensnow.com meteorologist Joel Gratz wrote Friday. “The first part of the storm will bring snow to the northern mountains from Sunday into Monday with some powder likely on Monday. The second part of the storm will bring snow to all mountains from Tuesday through Wednesday with significant accumulations and powder likely on Wednesday and Thursday.”

Also on Friday, the Vail Valley Foundation issued a press release on the International Ski Federation giving the official thumbs up for the men’s Stifel Birds of Prey Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup at Beaver Creek Dec. 6-8. The women hit the Birds of Prey course for a downhill and super-G Dec. 14-15.

Mikaela Shiffrin of Edwards, who is expected to race in the super-G on her home mountain, won her 99^th career World Cup event (a slalom) on Saturday in Gurgl, Austria. She’ll return for the North American leg of the tour (Killington, Tremblant, Beaver Creek) seeking her record-extending 100^th career victory. Here’s the press release from the U.S. Ski Team:

On a sunny yet frigid Saturday in Gurgl, Austria, the Stifel U.S. Ski Team’s Mikaela Shiffrin won her 99th individual World Cup and 62nd career slalom victory. To wrap up a successful day on the track, teammate Paula Moltzan landed sixth, to complete another strong showing for the U.S. women’s tech team. 

“It was a spectacular day,” said Shiffrin. “I am so excited! It was two really good runs.” 

It was a frigid morning on the slope for the women’s slalom, which made it extra memorable outside of it being the debut slalom for the women in Gurgl.

On run one, Shiffrin did what she does best, was out of the gate first. Throughout the run, she never left the leaderboard position – she stayed in the green. Teammates Moltzan and Katie Hensien showed off strong skiing, going into seventh and 11th out of the first run, all qualifying through to the second.

As the day progressed, light on the slope turned dark, adding a new challenge for the athletes. First out was Hensien, who left the gate blazing but unfortunately straddled a gate just after the first interval and did not finish. Moltzan started just a few spots behind Hensien and skied clean and aggressively to come down into the finish area with the green light. 

“I am happy. I think it’s nice to have four slalom runs under my belt now and most of them have been pretty consistent.” said Moltzan. “It’s nice to have some consistency and tempo in slalom as it can change day to day.” 

At the end of the day, it was the final five skiers that put on a show for the Gurgl fans. Skier after skier knocked each other out for the top spot and finally, the World Cup podium was set, with young Albanian phenom Lara Colturi in the top spot and Swiss skier Camille Rast in second. Yet, all eyes were on Shiffrin. She skied a strong, aggressive line, top to bottom, without hesitation to finish a half of a second ahead of the pace, officially claiming her 99th World Cup victory in the process. Colturi claimed her first podium in second and Rast, her first podium in third. 

“The second run was a big mental challenge because I was not sure how it would feel with the surface and it was getting darker. Sometimes, when I am not sure about the feeling under feet, I take too much time for the turn so I tried to push anyway and it was great,” said Shiffrin. 

The win is another notch in Shiffrin’s storied career as she is just one win away from the unprecedented 100th World Cup win – which will further solidly her as the greatest the sport has ever seen. Shiffrin is poised to take this momentum back stateside for the Stifel Killington Cup next holiday weekend.

“It’s not impossible but so many things have to go right. So, from the outside, it looks like it is supposed to happen this way but it’s certainly not easy–I am not taking that for granted, but I hope to do a good performance in front of the home crowd,” said Shiffrin. 

The men’s team will take on the Gurgl World Cup slalom Sunday, Nov 24.