We jumped in the SUV today and took the drive from Vail across to Keystone to check out the snow conditions over there. It’s about 45 minutes in good weather to do the drive, with most of the miles on the highway.

Once at Keystone, we spoke with some of the locals to get the low down on the conditions. It was no surprise to hear that it was the same story here as everywhere else in the area at the moment.

Groomers were most definitely the go, if not the only option on the mountain. There are some bump runs that are holding well, but you do roll the dice on many of them as rocks and trees are showing through in many places. Unfortunately, the alpine areas are looking worse for ware, although we hear some protected areas which have benefited from wind loading are still skiing ok – if you can find them.

It’s obvious Keystone has some amazing tree lines, though they are a long way from having enough snow to make them even possible. In many areas among the trees, they are well and truly down to bare ground.

In good news, the forecast is starting to look up with snow expected tonight into tomorrow, before some more serious storms roll in over the weekend and then again with the real deal mid next week. Don’t break out the aged scotch yet though as it is still too far out to be certain of a big score, though this is certainly the most interesting forecast we have had so far this year.

My prediction… I’m going to sit on the fence and say only a few inches over the weekend and maybe 6-10 inches with the storms Tuesday and Wednesday, which is pretty much an average assessment of all the forecasters and models I am currently looking at.

We’ll keep you posted!