Beaver Creek 2021 Trip Report
by Stephanie FIelds
What a lovely little group we had for an even lovelier destination. Smaller than normal trip, but we still had 12 people. Two of our guests stayed only through Wednesday but Linda and Kimberly added so much to our fun while they were with us.
Travel, of course, looked a bit different this year. Everyone in masks, some in additional protective gear, but the airports were super easy to navigate! It’s quite a strange time in life for sure. Our flights were easy and arrived safely in Eagle/Vail to waiting shuttles, the drivers of which were wonderful!
Our lodging had been changed to honor the two-household per unit rule. Our reservations were for ‘studios’ which are basically hotel rooms. Not even well-designed hotel rooms. But the location could not have been better. We scored enough actual condos to have kitchens and manage some social evening within the group.
The Charter is well-appointed and designed in an old-world style. It’s just a couple minute walk from the Village and offers a skiway behind the building where you can ski out to Chair 14 (Elkhorn Lift) and you can ski back in as well….if you can find the path. It is a bit easy to miss.
Some found it Day One, others took a couple wrong turns and one person may have taken the wrong skiway entirely and ended up in moguls, on a private home access road with waist deep powder and ultimately a residential street. That skier would be me, Stephanie.
Luckily, Beaver Creek operates a really great transportation system. Village Connect is like Uber for the Village Shuttles. Luckily, you can also call them if you’re not really sure where you are.
We arrived to good weather and a couple bluebird days, with the need for a little snow. Great first day conditions on Sunday, though it was mildly busy for a COVID world. On Monday, many of the other skiers vanished, along with a little of the snow in spots.
Tuesday brought a cool, gray morning but then broke to over 40 degrees, banishing a little more of the snow. Many people took Wednesday off. It was pre-planned that way. but the forecast made the decision a good one.
Rain was forecast for the morning, with that turning to snow with potential for up to 8” overnight. Joe M. and Judy H. were our pass holders that squeezed ski time in every single day. They enjoyed the falling snow on Wednesday, which continued to fall in heaps. We enjoyed a nice happy hour in newcomers Teri and Bart H's and Bob H’s condo as we watched the snow pile up!
Thursday arrived and with it, the beauty of freshly landed powder. Everywhere. Lots of it. The total reported was 15” of accumulation overnight. All that skied said it was a huge day!! Joe and Judy topped the day with nearly 28,000 vertical feet! Lots of lifts were ridden that day.
Friday brought a little more snow, along with cold and windy conditions. The last day ended up being the shortest ski day of the week. But we were able to cap off the week with a fantastic dinner. We had the treat of being able to have dinner at the resort.
Black Diamond Bistro is a fantastic dining experience. It was an unexpected bonus in being able to dine together, something mostly banned for a group our size under restrictions. But we had two tables of five, separated just by a few feet and we felt a great sense of togetherness as we laughed and made fun plans for additional ways to visit our new friends from west of us!
All in all, a fantastic trip. Beaver Creek, with the addition of Bachelor Gulch and Arrowhead areas is enough mountain for a week trip. We were convenient to everything, had no injuries and no travel hiccups. Ah, yes….it was the very thing some weary of the world ski clubbers needed ~ to dance with the mountain. Beaver Creek is an excellent mountain dance partner!