ColoradoSkiHistory.com

[brad]

Echo Mountain - Night Skiing (sort of)

Having skied at Echo since their opening year back in March of 2006, I've never stayed to ski under the lights. I've made night turns before at Keystone and various ski areas back east. Night skiing, as a whole, can be cold, icy and difficult to see.

I decided to head up to Echo for a half day last Saturday. I arrived at the ski area around 2 pm. Their lot was virtually full, which was great to see. Even with the crowded parking area, the slopes and lift were still wide open. The snow conditions were pretty good. They had all of the main trails open, as well as their west side glades.

Since the conditions were enjoyable, I stayed around until dusk. The lights came on around 4:30 or so and by 5, the sun was quickly setting. Here are a few pictures from Echo:






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-Brad

ColoradoSkiHistory.com

[Anachronism]

I went night skiing there right around when they opened this year, using the free tickets off the gems card.

All in all, I had mixed feelings about the place.

First, the positives- it was an easy drive from Denver, just get off at Evergreen and head up Squaw Pass.

Even on a Friday Night, the place was EMPTY. When I got there, there was maybe a dozen people skiing. I skied about two and a half hours, by the end, there was me and two other people still catching turns.

The mountain skis bigger than it is. It has a pretty good pitch, I would call it a continuous pitch that is solidly intermediate in nature. THIS IS NOT A PLACE TO TEACH PEOPLE HOW TO SKI.

Night skiing is nice in and of itself. I found the runs well lit, enough that I was able to ski at my normal cruising speed. Good grooming also helps A LOT for a good night ski experience, and I found the mountain well taken care of.

Negatives-

Obviously terrain is limited. I'm not going to bag on small ski areas simply because they are not Breck/Vail, but it is worth pointing out that you have two runs and some glades to play with on the mountain. Still, enough for a few hours of fun.

When I showed up to ski at 4:45 at night, I had trouble finding somebody willing to sell me a ticket (ok give me a ticket for free, but it would have been the same deal if I was paying). I first tried the lodge/bar, to which they said they didn't have any more and to get one from the rental shop. The rental shop told me I needed to get one from the bar. After I pointed out that the bar sent me to the rental shop, the rental guy got on the phone for ten minutes before somebody got me a ticket. The impression I got is that none of the guys working that night were very interested in making guests happy, which is not good when you are trying to establish a base of customers to keep your ski area going.

Obviously, Echo is a terrain park, but I don't really hit features, so I can't say how good or bad the layout is. To my uneducated eye, it looked pretty well laid out. I can say that there is ample room to ski around the features and have a good time.

Snow was hard, but that is to be expected for night skiing, especially in Mid December.

Bottom line, if I was a park rat, I can see loving this place. Why pay more for a ticket if you are going to hit a terrain park all day?

As a skier, I could see going for a night if somebody I knew was going. I don't think I'd pay to go there on my own, but that is not so much a bag on the area as pointing out that it is not my style.

One more thing- The lightpoles in the parking lot are made out of the old T bar towers. I thought that was a very cool way to acknowledge the history of the area.