New to me

Tuesday morning, didn't have to be into work till later due to a night meeting, so why not try a new route into work? I wish I'd do this more often than just do 'the direct route' in! It took maybe a half-hour longer, provided some great scenery, and some good rough rider-ing (paved and dirt roads switching back and forth for the 30 mile ride).

Rollerballs were everywhere from the big warm ups. This one was particularly cool looking.

This road looks like I live some place other than where I do. I feel like I'm riding through the desert southwest at times. This is a great road to ride as only one car passed me, you get some very unique views of the biggest creek in the area, and there are views to the divide and plains within feet of each other.

This was the warmest day of the year so far, up almost into the 80s in the flatlands. I got my first sunburn of the year and saw the first chipmunks since they went into hibernation last fall. The chorus frogs are singing everywhere there's some standing water too down below. It's pretty amazing seeing the wildlife wake up en mass.

Prospecting Pow with Pilots

None of us thought it would be like that. It was that good. After drinks with Timmy and Heyride at the Pighouse last night for his upcoming b-day I was unsure how good I'd feel today, but whenever there are skis on my feet and pow in the forecast I need little more motivation.

What a great way to end March, inundating myself in skiing as much pow as possible, while the getting was good. Day 6 on skis in the last 9, with nearly 16,000ft accumulated vertical doesn't even register compared to Greg Hill's journey but it's a good weeks work for me. (If I only didn't need a job!) With almost 3 feet of new snow since last Saturday, and the winds returning last night and picking up all that snow that fell on the high peaks and placing it into the little catch areas, like Prospector Gullys, I had a feeling it'd be pretty OK. Yesterday's tour to 4mile was excellent, but today's was truly insane.

The Pilot, Dubba, Heyride and me all met up at the tunnel at a nearly dawn patrol time of 7am for a 4 hour tour. Sunrise was getting obscured by the blowing snow in the parking lot, so we zipped up and headed for the safety of the trees. After an almost two hour skin up to the top, we got 3 amazing runs in what were the best turns of the year up there. Knee deep pow, straight-lining, face-shots, and just throwing ourselves around in the snow without a worry in the world. Like Dubba said, "if we had done this in the off-season while racing (bikes) full-time, we would've lasted much longer!" Yep!

The below video was inspired by Hot Dog - the Movie. I was only 11 years old when that movie came out and I remember watching it and learning all the goofy lines like it was just last year. A Classic. A larger version viewable in HQ is here.

21 degree fun

March madness continues with another 4" of new snow last night. We're still only 86% or so of average but we're seemingly catching up. Today, Hayride and i journeyed to an old favorite, 4-mile bowl, my first time here this year.

The coverage was beyond good, best I've every seen it I'd wager, as "that stuff" (W-I-N-D) hasn't affected this area nearly as much as usual. It's just really weird to be up on top of Windy Ridge with no wind; when you don't have to yell to your friends to communicate while hiding in the nearest tree well trying to get your skins off without them flying eastward to Kansas if you let go of them at the wrong time. Yeah, that stuff was noticeably absent! I could get used to that.

We were therefore able to start up high with some soft snow! There was still a little sun crust a few inches below the new snow but we found a great 100ft wide section of the bowl where it was nearly absent so we spent the next 4 runs lapping that.

This is by no means an advanced backcountry ski spot. It's all about cruiser runs. But you can really let it rip and have lots of fun carving with no worries about avalanches or hitting trees. It's good 21-degree fun.

For the last open run of the day we switched skis, me now on Hayride's new Dynafit Stoke's. I was thinking they'd not turn as easily or be as easy to ski, but I was WAY wrong, they fit like a glove. Those skis are game changers...truly amazing and better than my Manaslu's, even for carving. Yep, I now have Stoke-envy.

Dos Dawn Patrols

Yours truly, skinning up, Dawn Patrol (photo by Hayride)

Eighteen inches of new snow in 24 hours = two 5:30am wake up calls in a row for me and Hayride. Yesterday (Wednesday) we tried to get up to Anchor Mine but was thwarted by the lack of plowing. With that much wet snow on the ground, and still falling, we didn't make it 5 feet...we had to turn back.

Some joker in a 4Runner with summer tires blocked our way on the way out (why don't people have snow tires at 9,000ft...?) but we quickly pushed his rear end out of the way to make it up to some sidecountry, before the resort opened and the masses descended. A great three runs in Jugg Trees with almost 2 feet of new snow on old moguls, was a joyride barely turning through those trees. Almost too slow snow though - turns were optional. The 4th and last run of the morning found us ducking another rope for some sweet turns on a steeper line, giggling the entire way down in our slow-motion giant slalom course. I was able to look down at my ski tips and see them rise and sink each turn...a surreal feeling!

And today, the road was plowed so we had some great morning-after turns up at Anchor Mine. Amazingly better snow actually, 24 hours later - faster than yesterday's wetter flakes. But the W-I-N-D picked up a tiny bit last night (don't say it aloud!) so we stayed protected in the tree-lined alleys of the hill and scored some of the best DP turns of the season.

Back at work, after two early days of dawn patrol, only cafe' could keep my eyes open, and just barely as I sat at my desk trying to work instead of look at my new desktop photo of last Saturday's powder day. I'm going to miss winter.

Rites of Spring

Sunday, second day of spring, same start, different end. Today I went alone as I tend to do. Highs were high with almost 60 at the ranch so I had to find some shade and protection from the wind up high. I had the motivation (with the help of a quad-shot espresso morning) to run up to Prospector Glades and eek out some soft turns in the middle two gullys. It was surprisingly good, if short, on elevation loss. But as Donny put it the other day "this place is great if you're an athlete" or something like that. Said another way, "This place sure has a ton of uphill!" It feels like you climb more than you descend here, which is just fine with me because of the solitude I achieve at my lunch spots. Yep, gotta love the Mo-Fat funnel.

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.

Eiseman Hut Trip

What can you get for 100 bucks? It's not a menial amount of money but when you're talking skiing, there's not much you can get or do for $100 anymore. A lift ticket costs almost that much these days. So...yeah...i went on 3rd hut trip this year. So what?

It previews like a Visa commercial -- $60 per person for the hut, $20 per person for shared dinners, and another $20 for your own breakfast, lunch, snacks, liquor, and gas money for the two night/three day trip = Priceless. It's yet another trip I'll never forget and it cost me less than 100 bucks. The main problem with these types of trips is the harsh reality check that one cannot stay at the hut all winter. You unfortunately must go back to the political reality and grind of work life. Work's good and all, but you can't beat life at the hut.

A couple of weeks before, I got an unexpected invite from the Frozelaps to their bro-in-law's Rescue Team's Eiseman hut trip. A safe group to go with for sure! It was great to meet new people and make some new friends for future adventures. Eiseman is a prized hut, the only 10th Mountain Division hut north of I-70 and it's famed for having the best terrain for advanced backcountry skiing of any hut...right off the front porch. It sits a few miles west of the Gore Range in an area that was pretty severely logged around 100 years ago. That means there are lots of roads but also that the trees are widely spaced and great for backcountry turns.

Almost 14" of new snow in the last week made the north-facing slopes dreamy, but the very warm days approaching 50 degrees at 11,200ft made for some seriously sun-crusty slopes on all but the most north-facing and shaded aspects. We did a good job of finding those stashes though and as you'll see from the video were able to ski some great lines with great snow.

The last day provided the classic Colorado bluebird skies with temperatures up in the 40s. It was a Monday morning and the third and last day of the trip, so we quickly got out of bed, ate, coffee'd up, and put our skis on for some last turns. A perfect ending, but the drive back to work nearly ruined the high. I can only dream of future hut trips and backcountry adventures while sitting 8 hours at my desk, and like I did at the meeting that night, to make the yin and yang of life stay together. So I sit here at my desk watching the snow fall from the biggest storm of the season, thinking about the turns Hayride, Donny, and I will be getting tomorrow up there...some-where...out THERE...!

Here's the Picture album link to go check out.