it's.....back....!

It's a lot, if not all about the up

Biggest snowstorm of the year even though it was less than predicted amounts. I'd say 4-8" up at the Tunnel with more in 'catch' areas. And in this area, with snow comes wind. We have been blessed with the least windy winter that I can remember but also one of the lowest snowfall years. You gotta be OK with the wind if you love the snow here. So, today we got reunited with an old friend up high.

The snowfall count was very varied around Colorado. Aspen got over a foot, Eldora claimed 10", and Loveland got 3", other places none. The southwest flow grabs the moisture right out of the gulf and flows northeast and swirls up the east side of the Continental Divide and just plops all that moisture on the east side of the Divide, the Front Range. Spring is the time we get the most snow around here.

I awoke to 19.5 degrees. Oops...wait...there's a NEGATIVE sign in front of that 19. WTF?! Once again the DVR valley proves to be the coldest spot in the area. Hayride had -10, our old place on Mag had zero...and we almost tripled the lowest. The horses were going bonkers, bucking and snorting when i looked outside. Glad they're warming themselves up! Of course they were pissed about the time change and not getting their hay "on time."

Today I headed up to the Tunnel with Hayride and Donny, the world traveler who has recently set up base camp back in Boulder these days. We had big plans to go high into the alpine, but once we realized the extent of the wind we went as high as we could and farmed the best snow we could find - which was mostly NOT in alpine but below treeline. This was perfectly fine with me because it was fewer than 20 degrees and the windchill counted in the negative teens from the ~40mph gusts.

Hayride got some new skis - Dynafit Stokes, the sweetest lightest fattest skis out there in my opinion (ski envy). But I love my Manaslus so I ain't complaining. After the first run he looked like he was telling them what to do just fine (below - this is my favorite picture that I've taken in a long time so zoom in!).

Donny was sporting rather large 190 BD Verdicts which likely tripled the weight of my setup which I'm sure hurt on the uphill but he could sure ski those things on the down.


As the day went on, the wind got stronger, and the snow conditions got worse above treeline. All in all we got 3 runs of 'varied' snow up higher and pretty darn deep pow in the trees for these parts. I can't tell you how excited I am that spring is here in the Front Range.