March 17, 2018 Keystone

It was only 5 miles from our overnight parking spot so we arrived early enough to cook breakfast. We walked through the village to the River Run gondola - which was great because the temperature was in the low teens. I still had a 2007-2008 map on which I marked all the groomed trails. It has been 10 years since we skied here with friends who lived in Fairplay which over the crest via major pass (a unique highway). At that time we crossed the crest in a major snow storm, and it was a relief not to have to do so this time. Keystone has a small part of the resort open for night skiing until 9pm. The map shows tons of black trails through the trees, BUT there was not been enough snow for rock coverage. They have 3 mountain areas: Dercum, North Peak, and The Outback with lifts to about 12,000'. The amazing thing is that the trails are really long - about 12-1500 VF. It was a groomer day, but the trails have great terrain with rounds, dips, nearby trees, and they just keep going. This is another Epic area and they have the lift lines with a person directing traffic and helping the little ones when need be, and we never waited for more then 2 minutes on a sunny Saturday. Pleasant surprise. There are 4 ridges that lead to the following bowls: Independence, Bergman, Erickson, North and South Bowl. The 4 ridges have a hiking trails of 1 to1.5 miles that are noted on the trail map. They also have a couple of Cat Ski tours and rides to the ridge. We saw one at The Outback that was charging $10 for the ride up. A dad paid for the ride for his 3 kids who were very excited about it. This area has more to offer than what you see on the trail map. We now remember how enjoyable Keystone is.