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Gusty winds shorten ski days at Vail, Beaver Creek |
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Sunday, January 01, 2012 12:24 |
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Photo by Dominique Taylor, Vail Daily
By LAUREN GLENDENNING, VAIL DAILY
With winds gusting as high as 60 to 75 miles per hour Saturday morning, both Vail and Beaver Creek resorts started off the New Year's Eve ski day closed.
Neither resort opened chairlifts on schedule Saturday morning, shaving off hours of time on the mountain for thousands of skiers in town over the holiday weekend because the resorts are unable to safely operate chairlifts under such windy conditions.
Vail Mountain couldn't open the Born Free or Vista Bahn chairlifts until around noon Saturday, leaving skiers with about half the time of a regular ski day. Vail Mountain extended its chairlift operating hours until 4 p.m., though, to make up for some of the lost time. The lifts are normally scheduled to close at 3:30 p.m. this time of year.
It wasn't until just before 11 a.m. that Vail Mountain officials began firing up some of its lifts to prepare for opening as winds subsided.
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