Many people don’t realize that Keystone has the most terrain of any resort in Summit County at 3,144 acres of in-bounds terrain. The mountain has a very unique 3 mountain-deep orientation where both base areas are on the front, then there is a back, then another front, then another back (with 3 bowls) then another front with 2 more bowls!
The first mountain is called Durcum Mountain named after Max and Edna Durcum, the founders of Keystone. It’s slopes are wide, long (2,500 of vertical top to bottom) and vary from gently sloped greens to blues with a few black diamond runs. The longest green run anywhere is here called ‘Schoolmarm’. Schoolmarm is wide and gentle through all of it’s 3.5 miles. Many long green runs are actually narrow fire roads. Schoolmarm is a great slope from top to bottom. It’s probably because of Schoolmarm that Keystone has a reputation as a green or blue groomer resort. It’s not…
Because off the back of Durcum mountain is blue cruiser Mozart, and 2 black runs (one groomed, one bumped) that take you down to the back of Durcum where you can come back (on the Ruby Express 6-chair) or head into the ‘Outback’ which is what the 2nd mountain is called. Use Mozart as a last resort, it’s the most crowded and worst snow conditions in the whole resort. It’s hard to imagine why so many people are on it, but let them stay there leaving the rest of the mountain for you… The Windows trees to the left of Mozart are a great find on a powder day virtually ignored and not really as hard as they look. They do get harder and harder the deeper you go into them, so pick your way down and dump into Mozart with the rest of the crowds as far down as you dare.
The outback (2nd mountain) has blue cruisers on all sides. They’re all wide, impeccably groomed and only one of them is popular. Try Alamo here for a blue groomer. The hidden/ignored runs on the Outback are right under the chair (geronimo) and even better are the runs the left of geronimo that are usually completely ignored. black, long, steady and bumpy, but powdery a week after a dump.
You can also hike (or take a cat trip) behind the outback restaurant (the best place to eat on the mountain during the day or night), to ericksson, independance and bergman bowls. all 3 great and worth the trip. The hike is long to the bowls (45-60 mins) but there are lots of places to jump into the trees before you get there where again, you’ll be alone. Make sure someone knows where you are, or better yet, ski with a friend.
On the 3rd mountain (North Peak) is one blue groomer (perfect and wide and WAY too crowded). But like the rest of Keystone, there are other places to go that are uncrowded and hidden. To the skiiers left from the top are some of the best blue treed glades I’ve ever found. the trees are wide and the terrain varied from gentle pitches to a few hidden canyons. There are also 2 hidden blue runs here (Elk Run) that appear on the ski maps but are hard to find… you ski down through a few widely spaced trees and then voila, they open up. Usually one is groomed and the other is not.
The terrain to the skiiers right from the top of the 3rd mountain is similar in that it’s treed and opens up to 3 or 4 open runs, except it’s BLACK and steeper than the terrain on the left.
And if you crave above tree-line skiing, a 15 min hike or a $5 snow cat ride is available straight ahead from the top of North Peak to 2 more bowls. The North Bowl to the left is steep at the beginning and the farther over you go, the gentler it gets. If you go all the way to the right (where the cat takes you), the pitch is an easy blue. South Peak has a steep entry (and a cornice to jump off of if you go in early to the right) and wide open deep snow for 10-20 turns before you get into a treed canyon run that is like a luge run. If you don’t like tight spaces and speed, stay out of South Bowl.
And I haven’t even mentioned the #3 ranked terrain parks, tubing hills, beginning areas, kids forts and tunnels and tree runs or a few more powder stashes that will remain ‘mine’ forever…
