Epic Ski Safari

For the Winter of 2018/2019 my family and I bought the Epic Ski Pass for the first time ever. The Epic Pass is a Vail Resort season pass that lets you ski all season at 65 resorts worldwide. Knowing I would take advantage of some of these resorts around the world, I coined the term Epic Ski Safari, and have been traveling to as many of these resort as I can. In March of 2019, I have logged 28 days of Epic Pass skiing. We went to resorts in Utah, Colorado, and California, including Breckenridge, Vail, Beaver Creek, A Basin, Park City, Telluride, Heavenly and Kirkwood. This week, I’m chasing powder in Europe skiing the Epic Resorts in the Alps. I'm planning to hit Tignes, Val d’Isere (France) and Madonna di Campiglio (Italy).

What exactly is Powder Chasing? Pretty much any advanced skier or snowboarder loves to get first tracks in the fresh snow. The quest for the perfect powder run is ongoing and can be quite stressful. By nature, you can’t plan ahead as the weather is ever changing, and as more and more people are trying to ride the fresh powder it can get quite crazy and busy on powder days.

My latest Ski Safari was in February of 2019. We took off on a road trip to chase for that elusive powder and use our Epic Passes. Our goal was to make it to Whistler in British Columbia but nature had other things in store for us. Whistler’s snow forecast, for the first time in years, was icy cold weather and no fresh snow. We never made it to Whistler, but had a few days of riding fresh snow in Park City, Utah, and drove west to Lake Tahoe in California. We found great powder but also big crowds on the weekend. Imagine lift crews trying to dig out the lifts, while ski patrol is doing avalanche control and impatient lines of skiers are waiting to get on that lift. Whew! It can be quite exhausting at times, but once you’re riding that fresh snow, it’s so worth it. We got stuck in traffic for 4 hours, and had to rearrange our plans and travel route with the pass to Kirkwood closing twice. This uncertainty and changing of plans can get quite annoying, but one good run will leave you wanting more.

We came home from our road trip to two huge snowstorms in Durango at the end of the month, and had the best days of the season right here at our home mountain, Purgatory. Sometimes you need to leave to appreciate what you have right at home.

Love Claudia