Today when we woke up the long awaited snow had arrived with gusto, looking out the window we couldn’t actually see the mountain or the Gondola for that matter so we decided that we would go to Beaver Creek and have a look round. Unfortunately we had missed the direct skier shuttle so we went to the transportation centre and got the Eco bus over to the Elk Parking lot which is where the free village shuttle stops to take us up to the village. While we were waiting for the bus we wondered if we had done the right thing as the sun came out but then it started snowing again so perhaps we did. The resort is a lot bigger than I expected but I think like Vail and Lionshead it has been expanded and upgraded as everything looks very new. We walked round the village and we were surprised to see that all the chairs round the fire pits had material cushions on them which as it was still snowing at this stage were absolutely soaked but I guess it is a nice idea! We walked up to the slopes and had a look round and spoke to a woman who was originally from Leeds and had been out here for 20ish years, she had completely lost her accent and sounded just like an American now, she confirmed that they haven’t had a season like this in her memory, she said that normally the snow is a little light at thanksgiving but by Christmas they normally have quite a bit but this year all they had at Christmas were the man made strips on the mountain and because of this the resort is a lot quieter than normal. After talking to her we went up the Chondola which is a Chair Lift and Gondola in one. Every fifth chair was a Gondola cabin they just have two lift entrances one for the chair lift and the other for the Gondola. We went to the top and had a look round, the ski area is actually quite large and now links up Bachelor Gulch and Arrowhead villages. We came back down the mountain then headed back to Vail where it was snowing quite hard again so we stopped for lunch then went back to the apartment for a relax and watched the snow which is still falling so I think tomorrow we should be skiing in powder.
