OK guys, I’ll give you the official “lowdown� on the mountain. This is Quinny’s official guide to Beaver Creek. I’ll catagorize that good hits by what part of the mountain they are on. If you don’t know where I’m talking about, consult a trail map. Sorry If this gets a little long.
-Frontside: This is the terrain you can access of the main Centennial lift. There are really only 5 noteworthy routes.
Route 1: This is the most obvious route. Head towards Latigo and hit up the pipe, then take Dally over to the Moonshine park. This will take you back to the main base area.
Route 2: This is the one that dorikin mentioned. Its called Stickline. It’s a tree run the has a bunch of natural hits and log rides. Excellent on a powder day
Route 3: A lot like Stickline but a little more on the beaten path. Bomb down heads up and then cut across Dally to Corkscrew, then go down 4 Get About It. It’s a nice rout but avoid it if there hasn’t been any fresh snow in a while.
Route 4: This one is just for fun. Ski down Centennial all the way in switch. I garenteee you will be a better switch rider afterwards.
-Route 5: This is an unorthodox route that isn’t marked on any trail map. Only do this rout if there is a lot of snow, or you could end up with a core-shot or two. It the best kept secret on the front side. From the top of Stickline, take the road to Harrier, go past BOTH entrances to the run. Keep following the road towards Red Tail, you will find yourself on top of a ridge and you will see a narrow little slot valley with a few cliffs. Simply go strait into that valley. There are a ton of choices about where to go. Regardless of what way you choose to go you will end up at Red Tail Camp. I will say it again, ONLY DO THIS ROUT IF THERE IS A LOT OF SNOW.
-Rose Bowl: There are some nice bump runs here. There are some nice little places you can find in this bowl, but I’ll let you find them. On a powder day, especially hit Ripsaw.
-The Birds of Prey: All three of these runs are good (Goshawk, Peregrine, Golden Eagle). Sometimes they will have a park on Zoom Room that you can pre-game before Golden Eagle. One less known, but nice spot, is the trees between Centennial and Goshawk. Good glade run, especially the day after a dump. Enter the trees skiers left on Centennial right next to the liftline on the Cinch Express. If you are a really good big mountain skier (And I mean very good), you can duck the boundary ropes on the edge of Zoom Room and Golden Eagle. This will take you to some of the most challenging big mountain terrain in the area. Very steep pitches, lots of trees, 100+ foot cliffs can be found in here. DO NOT LET SKI PATROL SEE YOU GO IN HERE! AND ONLY DO THIS IF YOU ARE VERY COMFORTABLE IN THE BACKCOUNTRY! The excursion should eventually dump you on the bottom on Golden Eagle.
-Grouse Mountain: This is the area’s crown jewel for expert terrain. EVERYTHING here is good. You can find hidden powder stashes many days after a dump. You won’t be disappointed with this area. There are two backcounty gates I want to make a special note of. Once again, only do them is you are prepared. One is the Bald Spot Gate: This is behind the ski patrol lodge and requires hiking. After passing through the gate follow the ridge to the highest mountain. It is called the Bald Spot. Be sure to bring your bacon, probe, and shovel. There is some epic bowl skiing here that will take you back inside the area regardless of which side of the ridge you ski down. The other gate is the Avalanche Hollow Gate. I could write a book about all the stuff you can find in here. Enter Royal Elk Glades and take the catwalk all the way to the area boundary. The gate will be right in front of you. Enter and ONLY follow the other tracks. You will eventually end up on top of a knob. You have two choices here. You can go left and enter the main chutes, There are some great places to build kickers this way. Or go right and follow a very narrow shelf catwalk on top of a 70 foot cliff. This will take you to the “Unknown Point� This is a knob that drops you onto a 2000 foot vertical avalanche cute. There are some boulder and cliffs that you can get some huge air off of. These are the two easiest routs for people that are new to are area. The bottom the both runs will take you back to the bottom of the Royal Elk Glades.
-Larkspur Bowl: This is an entertaining little bowl with a few nice spots, but the reason locals come here is for the backcountry gate off of the top of Loco and Shooting Star. This is the Alta Cutes Gate. Enter this gate and it can take you to some VERY steep terrain. The closer you stay to the area boundary ropes the more tame the slope will be. If you have the energy you can hike up the ridge. Bring your backcountry gear if you plan on hiking the ridge and do not go alone. You can follow the ridge for as long as you please, it goes for miles. The terrain off this ridge is incredibly steep and littered with tress and cliffs anywhere from 5 feet to 300 feet. No matter where you go through the Alta Cutes gate, you will eventually end up back in the area down by Beano’s Cabin. There is one other back country gate in the Larkspur Bowl near the top of the lift, but I have never explored it, so I wouldn’t recommend trying it.
-Strawberry Park: This is a great place to both start off, and end you day with. Not as many people frequent this area as the front side. Especially hit Thresher Glade when snow is fresh. If its your last run of the day and you still feel like walking, try this. Take the road from the top of the lifts towards the Larkspur Bowl, pass the Thresher Glade entrance and. Duck the ropes half a mile further down the road. This will take you to some nice uncharted tree runs. You will end up on the service road down at the bottom of the valley. Hotfoot it back to town.
-Elkhorn: If you have any intermediate level skiers with you, send them here. Nice long runs with ABSOLUTELY NO PEOPLE.
-Bachelor Gulch: Nothing terribly interesting here. You can find a few nice places in the trees.
-Arrowhead: Nothing of real noteworthy here. Just poke around in the trees a little bit. There is also and old run that is no longer on the map the area recently closed. Its called Lone Pine Canyon. Take Pow Wow until you see a big open area that looks like a run on the other side of the boundary ropes. If you are starved for powder, duck the ropes and you will find the old run. Its way shorter than it once was because they are putting houses there. You can get a few good turns in and you find a road that you can ski back to the main area.
The end. If you have any more question about where to go, let me know.
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Larger Sig = Endless Void
