Keystone, CO

Three years ago I decided I’d go skiing. I’d skied in Niseko early in 2016 and was itching to get back on the board. Keystone has one of the earliest opening days in North America.  I planned my trip and made my bookings for thanks giving. Turns out the 2016 season was probably one of the worst seasons they have had. I planned to do a few days at Keystone and a few days at A-Basin and bought the five day pass that no longer exists. The only run open was Schoolmarm and Last Chance. I’d recommend not going early. I did all five days at Keystone after hearing that A-Basin was worse.

Fast forward three years and I returned, even though I usually don’t go to the same place twice. The mountain was much more open this time as it was two months further into the season. I was able to ski Dercum Mountain, North Peak and The Outback. Check out the trail map here.

Keystone Resort

North Peak

North Peak seems like a good place to start. The black runs were all mogul fields, so no point going down those. Starfire, off the Santiago Express lift was a groomed run. As was Diamond Back off the Ruby Express Lift. I spent most of my days riding the Santiago Express and doing either Starfire or Last Alamo. Prospector and Last Alamo are decent runs, but really suck once they join Mozart.

Outback

The Outback is also heavily loaded with black runs, which are just mogul fields again. These runs aren’t even black runs, they only got that designation because they didn’t want to run the cat over them to remove the moguls. How many mogul fields does a mountain really need? The only runs that weren’t mogul fields were; Elk Run, Bighorn, Porcupine and The Willows. The Willows sucks. It’s a super flat cat track. If you want to get away from the flat tracks and moguls fields, you then keep riding it down to the Wayback lift. This lift also sucks as it runs so painfully slow.

Cat Skiing

From The Outpost there is a cat that can be taken from North Peak for $20. The line forms just to skiers left of Timber Ridge Lodge. The cat itself holds 15 people and the time between trips is approximately 30 minutes. I had planned to ride Bergman Bowl, but it appeared closed off, so I went down Erickson Bowl instead. Don’t let the map fool you, there is no way of avoiding the trees at the bottom. Cornucopia doesn’t have a clear run to Coyote Caper. My tracking showed I went down Tommy Knocker. I took one look at the trees and my skiing buddy wasn’t at a skill level to go through there. Luckily there was a cat track (FS-175.1 ) nearby we could safely continue our journey down.

Where we exited the North Peak Cat the elevation was 12,462 ft. It was exposed on the ridge, but once down into Erikson Bowl the wind dropped off. The snow conditions in early January weren’t overly deep, with grassy patches matting the snow into solid areas. Deeper into the bowl the snow got softer and deeper. For $20 a ride, it’s a bit expensive for the few minutes ride down the bowl. That said it’s something worth doing at least once if you have tree skills. If you don’t, just jump onto the FS-175.1 trail to avoid the trees.

Dercum Mountain

Dercum Mountain is the most popular area for skiers here. If you go to Keystone, you’ll ride some part of Schoolmarm regularly, whether you want to or not. It’s not a bad run, but you’ll have to avoid a lot of beginners. And at 3.5 miles in length, it’s pretty long. The runs I did here often were Wild Irishman and Paymaster. I found that Wild Frenchman usually had some powder to skiers right as the trail splits past trees.

Eating and Drinking

In terms of food and drink, I visited Inxpot café, Luigi’s Pastahouse and Timber Ridge Lodge. I mostly went to Timber Ridge Lodge to grab a liquid lunch at the bar. It’s usually very full inside here, even during the week. So be prepared to enjoy your lunch outside in the cold. Luigi’s was at the base area and made a good meal. I’d recommend a late lunch at about 4pm here for the better lunch/happy hour prices. The dinner menu starts at 5pm. 

If you like beer, no not tasteless barley water, beer; then get the Denver Beer Co Graham Cracker Porter. This beer is perfectly balanced, it’s so easy to drink it’s dangerous at 5.6% while at this high an altitude. Inxpot makes a good alternative to Starbucks for your morning coffee. But be prepared to have your coffee to go, or sit in the high chair section. The tables are always full in the mornings with ski school instructors.

For the Kids

Kidtopia headquarters are located in the Expedition Station, next to the ice skating rink. My biggest complaint here is the allowance of shoes to be worn inside. The floor is dirty, and with children around it’s not a great mix. My second complaint would be the hours, they close at 2:30pm, but then they have activities again at 4pm. The hours aren’t overly suitable to young babies. Some might say “what do you expect for free”, and I’d reply “I kinda expect better”. The snowfort at the top of Dercum Mountain requires a lift pass or a scenic gondola pass to access. This wasn’t that exciting either, and is geared towards older children, but not too old. It consists of three slides, and a tunnel. No I didn’t leave anything out.

Summit County

Other things I did in the Summit County area was mostly shopping, eating and drinking. To start with a negative note, the Frisco Walmart is garbage. There is no fresh produce section here, none. And plastic bags cost 25c, it’s not like it’s a law as if you go to City Market in Silverthorne they’ll give you all the bags you want, and they have a fresh produce section. My advice is to avoid Frisco Walmart and shop at City Market instead. While in Silverthorne be sure to grab a couple of empanadas at The Argentos. These are pretty tasty and they are very friendly.

We also visited Dillon Dam Brewery. They get busy here in the evening too, and car parking can be a pain. While waiting for your table, head upstairs and check out the brewery while you wait. The staff were friendly and accommodating. 

Further away from Keystone we ate at Prosit and Breckenridge Distillery. Breckenridge Distillery was your usual American BBQ bar, the foods were smoked and coated in sauce, delicious. Just don’t get the pickleback, don’t be tempted, just don’t, don’t. We came for lunch, and the menu is much reduced compared to the dinner menu.

Prosit is located along main street in Frisco and is a German Restaurant. By restaurant it’s mainly just sausages on a bun. The main thing here is you can get game meat sausages if you wanted to try some yak, elk, pheasant etcetera. It is a popular spot so arrive early. It’s inside of a large wooden giftshop building which is interesting in itself.

January, 2020