Skiing's Open Season: Where to Ski This Weekend

If there's one thing that makes cold weather and snow tolerable, it's skiing. You won't find me layered head to toe running on the Lakefront Path very often (I'm a mostly treadmill girl once it dips below 30), but I will bundle up--handwarmers, four shirts and all--to carve turns on the snow. The ski season may have started off slow with Keystone and Breckenridge having to postpone their opening dates, but it's certainly getting into full swing now.

Skiers were treated to epic conditions at Breckenridge, Winter Park and Wolf Creek (we heard Sunshine Village in Banff, Alberta, Canada, was pretty good too). You can thank the storm that blanketed ski country with much-needed snow in time for last weekend's resort openings. But lucky for you (and me since I think I'm hitting up one of Colorado's finest on Sunday), the colder weather that stuck around is making this weekend's openings equally as amazing.

Here's where you'll want to make some tracks before the family comes to town for Thanksgiving.

Still More Snow: Get Skiing This Weekend

Ah yes, that was Vail on Sunday after 13" fell.

I'm supposed to be done thinking skiing for a while. That's what I told myself Sunday as we packed our gear into the car after a week up in the Colorado mountains.

Sunday was Vail's final day of the season. I earned my Last Call pin. I dodged the crowd at the summit (or tried: the Chair 4 at 4 party, or whatever it's unofficially called, only got bigger as the day wore on). I lucked into a stash of freebies at the Mountain Plaza base (yes, I'll play plinko and collect raffle tickets until I win). I got on the mountain earlier to ski the fresh pow that likes to drop before closing day (same thing happened in 2011 and 2012). I skied most of the runs I'd want to hit before closing out the year.

But the ski season's not over yet. Sure, I knew I could still ski other Colorado spots like Arapahoe Basin and Winter Park, except usually by mid-April you're looking at slushy conditions, terrain closings, and more tanning than skiing. I already have one crazy looking goggle tan, and I already skied on dry slopes last April when it didn't decide to snow at Vail until April 15.

Next Stop, Ski Country

Put me on the next plane to Denver, Salt Lake City or Reno. Please! I have the powder flu--that itching, burning feeling where you yearn to blow off work, make a beeline for the roads taking you straight into the mountains, click into those ski bindings, and hit the slopes for what sounds like knee-deep powder.  But there's no remedy for this ailment when you're living in the flatlands of Illinois and the Midwest's temperatures have skyrocketed to near record-setting levels--even a trip to Wisconsin on the ski bus is out of the question, at least for this ski snob.

I'm dying here in Chicago, quite literally. It's snowing, nay, dumping, in the mountains, and I'm stuck in the land of wild temperature swings, melting snow, and gale-force winds. Sure, I like swapping out my heavy layers and commuting by bike instead of by foot, but that snow is calling my name. First Lake Tahoe. Then Utah. Then Colorado. I've seen the pictures on Facebook to prove it. And the storms aren't done yet. Take a look at these snow stats:

Lake Tahoe
By Thursday morning, Northstar-at-Tahoe reported 32 inches. On the south side of the lake, Heavenly counted 21 inches. Back to the north side and Squaw Valley USA was also sporting about a three-foot snowfall. I had been taught last winter that a good Lake Tahoe storm meant at least a foot, but I still can't fathom skiing, or seeing, nearly three feet of snow falling in a 24-hour period. And for a place that had been quiet about reporting snowfalls, which tends to mean they're not coming at the levels snow-seekers are used to, this was needed.

Utah
If you don't want to be tempted by the "greatest snow on Earth," don't follow the Ski Utah Yeti. This friendly snow creature only makes the powder flu worse from far away when he tells you it's monster dumping in the mountains or warns of an impending snowfall. This time around resrots from Alta to Brighton to The Canyons sported at least 8 inches of snow with more on the way.

Colorado
Every time there's a snowfall this season, Colorado resorts post pictures, especially Snow.com (here and here). For this girl, who would trade digs in a second with anyone living in this state, those pictures make it even tougher to be stuck in Chicago. I may be heading out west to ski next week but Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Vail are already calling my name. Their storms are only starting but how in the world does it snow three inches an hour at Beaver Creek? If I-70 is open Friday morning, I'm willing to put money on the numbers ditching work for a three-day--or four-day if Monday is already scheduled off--weekend.

Jealous yet? I am. I wish I had a Presidents' Day Weekend out of town--it'd be a good one with all the snow and even better to practice those powder skills. Instead, I'll be waxing and sharpening my skis and doing my snow dance for next weekend.

Who's out there skiing?

Photo of Beaver Creek's three inches an hour grabbed from Snow.com's Facebook page.