San Juan Snowcats?

[Mike Harvey]

Anyone been down to the San Juan cat operation out of Creede? I wonder how the terrain is in general and are they hating it like Wolf Creek this year? I have two cat days here at Monarch in the next couple of weeks but I am wondering about heading down there at the end of Feb.

[matobs]

snowpack sucks down here! generally the area around creede lags wolf creek in snow accumulation. i.e. this yeas it's worse than wolf creek. if it were me i'd stay north of the san juans until things radically change

[Salto]

I had friends that went to a private hut down there over new years. I believe it was typically a 3-4 mile hike. But they were able to DRIVE all the way to it. Absolutely no snow to ski.

[c--man]

I skiied w/ san jaun snow cats their 1st year in service. Although the san juan are hurting for snow, the terrain around creeded is sick. They have plenty of steeps trees and etc. Hopefully they will get snow b/c the corn in the spring would be great on the steeps. (45-50 degree chutes)

[holley]

We skied there last winter, early February, and I don't think they had gotten any recent snow at the time. But it was really really nice! Big open bowls and untouched snow for every run. And no turn-farming there. The guides let us pick our own line as long as we stayed within a certain area. Lunch might have been the most impressive part of the day, though...HOT lasagne, salad, and dessert. Ed runs a swell operation.

Doesn't sound like the snow is great now, but if you have the chance to go another time, I would recommend it. We were stoked.

[tboner]

i'll third the sic terrain vote. i skiied there a few years ago when Kip owned it and we had an epic day. too bad they are hurting so much this winter. i'd love to head back down there. -trev