Xplore n More Philly: Skiing, Snowboarding, Adventure Group

Summit County, Colorado boasts some of the world's best ski resorts, including many on both IKON and Epic Passes. There is terrain at EACH of these world-renowned resorts to satisfy every type of skier, from beginner to the cliff-jumping expert. These are the resorts that are within a 20-minute drive of the house, located in Silverthorne, CO on either IKON or Epic Pass:

• Arapahoe Basin - IKON Full (7 Total Days) and Base (5 Total Days)
• Copper Mountain - IKON Full and Base (Unlimited Access)
• Keystone - Epic Full and Local (Unlimited Access)
• Breckenridge - Epic Full and Local (Unlimited Access)

April 1st is Gaper Day, the best ski holiday ever created, and we will ski A-Basin on this day. If you are not familiar with this holiday, look it up! It is a huge party over at A-Basin to ring in the spring ski season and everyone is dressed up in the most ridiculous outfits they can think of!

House Details: We will be staying at this gorgeous 3-bedroom, 3-bath condo in the Wildernest neighborhood of Silverthorne, CO! Check-in will be on Saturday, March 29th and we will check out, but still ski/ride, on April 3rd. With a spacious living room, a private hot tub, an outdoor grill on the patio, and a fireplace in the living room, this condo is sure to be a real treat!
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/43862222?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=782bda71-facc-4710-829e-5dba9d6f214e

If there is sufficient interest beyond the capacity of this condo, we will look to organize a second condo/house in the area. An Epic house may also be getting organized in the coming weeks as well.

Room Details: Bedroom 1: 1 Queen Bed | Bedroom 2: 1 King Bed | Bedroom 3: 2 Queen Beds
King bed will be shared, and queens will only be shared if you inform me ahead of time that this okay with you.

Room Price: Initial pricing will be for 5 people at $324.60 per person total for the five night stay. If we end up taking on additional people willing to share the queens, everyone will get a partial refund.
Bed selection will be in the order of payment. Your spot is guaranteed upon payment.
Venmo handle is @Avery-Diamond (I am in a blue shirt on my profile picture). I can also accept Zelle and (just ask for my #).

Mountain Selection: This will primarily be an IKON-focused house and an Epic house may be organized by other members in the coming weeks, focusing on the same dates. Final IKON mountain selection will be determined as we get closer to the trip and will depend on snow conditions/forecasts. Epic pass holders will be able to decide their itinerary as they please, but initial IKON Itinerary is tentatively as follows:
3/29 (Saturday) - On your own if you arrive early enough but most people will use this as a travel day
3/30 (Sunday) - Copper (IKON)
3/31 (Monday) - Arapahoe Basin (IKON)
4/1 (Tuesday, Gaper Day!!!) - Arapahoe Basin (IKON)
4/2 (Wednesday) - Copper (IKON)
4/3 (Thursday) - Arapahoe Basin (IKON)

Lift Ticket: If you have the IKON or Epic passes mentioned above, you won’t have to pay. If you don’t have a pass, day tickets can be purchased online through the Epic or IKON websites. A bunch of us will also likely have buddy passes we will be able to share with you!

Transportation: You are responsible for your own transportation, flights, and rental cars. As this is an IKON focused house, anyone planning to stay with us but ski the Epic resorts will need to have separate transportation to the Epic mountains pre-coordinated. Suggested flights will be in Google sheet and as people book, we will track them in the 'Flights/Cars' tab. Coordination is needed before booking cars and will be tracked on the 'Flights/Cars' tab.

Refunds: Full refund is available until 1159 pm on March 2nd. After that, you must find someone to replace your spot in order for you to be refunded.

Meals: We will try to plan some house dinners and at least one dinner out. You are under no obligation to participate in group dinners. You can always cook on your own or go out on your own.

Google sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Bi8KyO3Qgb3mACap4ndKr1clDu4Vbv1V-b6mz14kOD8/edit?usp=sharing

Rules: By signing up for this (or other) XNM events, you are agreeing to the following guidelines. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_Ru11Patcv5zVsx4_1dW-YXVzvbWAhvfKh2SWqHcbco/edit?usp=sharing

VALLEY FORGE HIKE:
Sunset is at 7:34PM. Extending the hike a little more each week, as daylight is getting longer, and the hike will be getting more challenging..... This is an intermediate-fast pace 5 mile hike (not for beginners without any cardio conditioning), and we will move at a moderate pace of about 3.2mph. There are two fairly large hill climbs on this Mount Misery/Mount Joy hike, so you need to be in pretty decent shape, and the mildly rocky terrain requires hiking shoes. We need to keep a good pace to be able to finish before dark. We will start hiking at 6:15PM, and plan for this to take a little over an hour to finish.

The meeting spot will be the parking lot at the "Yellow Springs Trail Parking Lot" which is the trailhead. Google calls this address "1700 Wilson Rd, Malvern, PA 19355" although it is not exactly in Malvern.

This is a "dog friendly" hike, if your dog will keep up and is friendly with other dogs, but you can not bring your dog afterwards unless it can stay in the car while we eat/drink. Your dog is your responsibility, and must be on a leash.

FOOD AND DRINK AFTERWARDS:
We will grab a beer and bite at City Works in the King of Prussia Town Center after the hike.

Sunset is at 7:37PM so we will do the slightly shorter/steeper route on this first hike of the year, up Wolfinger Trail, around Washington's Headquarters, and then up and over Mount Joy.

This is an intermediate 5 mile hike (not for beginners), and we will move at a moderate pace of about 3.3mph. There are two fairly large hill climbs on this Mount Misery/Mount Joy hike, so you need to be in pretty decent shape, and the rocky terrain requires hiking shoes. We need to keep a good pace to be able to finish before dark. We will start hiking at 6:15PM, and plan for this to take a little over an hour to finish (we need to finish by 7:50 or it will be dark).

The meeting spot will be the parking lot at the "Yellow Springs Trail Parking Lot" which is the trailhead. Google calls this address "1700 Wilson Rd, Malvern, PA 19355" although it is not exactly in Malvern.

This is a "dog friendly" hike, if your dog will keep up and is friendly with other dogs, but you can not bring your dog afterwards unless it can stay in the car while we eat/drink. Your dog is your responsibility and needs to be on a leash.

FOOD AND DRINK AFTERWARDS:

Sushi!!! Kabuki in KOP. They close at 9:30PM.

Brauhaus Schmitz is an awesome location for our Xplore N More happy hour with tasty German food, and good beers and we will have our own private bar/room in the back. They will extend their happy hour specials for us from 6:00 until 8:00PM, although we will stay longer than that and we have the room until 10pm. Come on out and meet some other "newbies" who are gearing up for our trips, and those who just can't wait until the spring!

Make sure to click to see "all events" button in meetup to see the events farther out in the future, and reach out to the event coordinators with any questions.

Buying an Epic or Ikon ski pass for next season? Reach out for more information on our group programs and rebates.