The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
This season, pass holders from every Powder Alliance resort set out in search of the best snow possible in the 2018/19 Wild West Powder Quest. Some spent days, others spent weeks. Some traveled as far as Chile and Japan but all recorded their visits on Instagram #WWPQ19 for a chance to win season passes, goodie bags and a trip for two to the Powder Alliance resort of their choice.
This season three lucky winners were rewarded for their love of their sport: Larry McDonald of Gunnison, Adam Baron and Karen Boyle.
First-place winner Larry McDonald of Gunnison gets four days of lifts, lodging and airfare for two at La Parva, Chile. This road warrior visited 15 of the Alliance’s 19 resorts making for the winter road trip of a lifetime. In celebration, he and a friend will be slaying even more fresh powder at La Parva, Chile this summer.
Larry has been skiing for more than 40 years with almost a decade spent working at resorts like Heavenly and nearby Crested Butte where he cleared trails in the summer, and skied all winter. Since then he has skied at nearly 150 areas in the U.S., Canada and Italy, averaging 50 days a season—more now that he has retired and travels with his two rescue cats, Sydney and Webster. His 2000 Toyota Tundra shows 275,000 miles and he swears more than half of those are for skiing road trips.
When asked about his journey, McDonald said, “My favorite Powder Alliance experience was at SilverStar Resort in British Columbia, where everything was ski-in and out. Ski-in and ski-out, ticket window, shops, lodging, restaurants—there was snow everywhere! Timberline in Oregon was incredible, too. The collection of resorts in the Powder Alliance is awesome and visiting so many of them this season was amazing.”
He continued, “I’ve already purchased my 2019/20 season pass to Monarch Mountain, Colo. and I can’t wait to experience the awesome Powder Alliance resorts again this winter.”
The Wild West Powder Quest is set to resume this November so, for all you snow seekers who didn’t participate this year, get a season pass to your favorite Powder Alliance resort and join the Quest. It’s free! Powder Alliance members receive three free days (restrictions apply) at all participating areas making it easy to explore some of the world’s deepest powder destinations without breaking the bank. Participants are encouraged to visit powderalliance.com for specific resort restrictions, lodging specials and travel discounts.
Created by the Powder Alliance, one of the world’s premiere season pass cooperatives, the Wild West Powder Quest encourages pass holders to visit all other Powder Alliance resorts (up to three times free) for their chance to win season passes, goodie bags and a trip for two to the Powder Alliance resort of their choice. More than 100,000 guests were eligible to participate this winter.
Once entered at http://www.powderalliance.com/wildwestpowderquest/ each Instagram post geotagged #WWPQ19 acted as an entry. Limit one entry per resort. The more resorts a guest visited, the better their chances of winning. Powder Alliance resorts for 2018/19 included Angel Fire, N.M., Bogus Basin, Idaho, Bridger Bowl, Mont., Castle Mountain, AB Canada, China Peak, Calif., Kiroro, Japan, La Parva, Chile, Loveland Ski Area, Colo., Marmot Basin, AB Canada, Monarch Mountain, Colo., Mountain High, Calif., Mt Hood Skibowl, Oregon, Schweitzer, Idaho, Silver Star, B.C., Canada, Stevens Pass, Wash., Sierra At Tahoe, Calif., Sugar Bowl, Caif., Timberline, Oregon and Whitewater, B.C., Canada.
