Colorado 2017-18 Colorado Weather and Stoke

[Snowflake2420]

Saturday at Luv was pretty good. Sunny, warm and the snow stayed dry albeit wind buffed and quite packed. At least at luv there is typically some snow being thrown around when the wind hammers. I made the grievous error of going to Breck yesterday and it was absolutely horrid in the afternoon. I was banking on snow arriving and it did not. Even it did it would have helped marginally. Fortunately no crowds haha. Very sad to see the the lack of coverage from wind scouring and lack of snow, not just recently, but this entire season. But I’m still skiing even when it stinks.

 

[StuckonI70]

So help me reconcile the negative Copper report from David and the positive Luv report from Nay. They gotta be less than 30 miles apart.

One mans junk is another mans treasure.

I was at Copper all weekend and my thoughts align with UGA. Poor coverage, wind scoured, firm and overall, pretty meh. On Sunday, I think there was a 50 yard section underneath Sierra that I would consider "nice chalk". Yay. A lift was pretty good though...

All winters in the Rockies are good, but this one is trending towards "very forgetful"

 

[mikel]

@surfandski UGASkiDawg posted up pretty much what I was texting you about yesterday. Copper changed a bunch from Fri to Sun. Your ankle would not have been happy. I wasn't over off of Flyer yesterday but I heard the early morning conditions were not much fun. The wind was brutal and the snow really hard. I don't think your wife would have had a fun day. I think people gave up early because of the wind. By noon not many people.

 

[tball]

One mans junk is another mans treasure.

It's was a treasure for me. I truly had a blast at Copper Saturday. I'm not intending to over stoke the conditions, The amount of terrain open and surface conditions were fantastic for an obviously difficult year. Others I rode the lift with were remarking about the enjoyable conditions too.

Yes, there were rocks. Coverage looks like late January rather than early March. It's a below average season. At least the good stuff is open and much of it had excellent chalky snow.

No doubt you have to search for treasure. With the marginal coverage and wind, it's not necessarily where it's typically is found. One side of the run will be stripped of snow and it's deposited on the other side or the next run over. It's pretty easy to find by looking for the natural snow fences and wind buffed soft deposits.

When you find something good, enjoy it. I was not skiing my normal patterns. I skied a few great lines over and over, found them and stuck to them. The great thing about steep chalk is it's very durable. The surface can remain excellent through days of skier traffic, at least until it gets skied down to the rocks.

Saturday I skied 7 Spaulding/Reso laps with 3 Mine Dump diversions, and four laps off Sierra. I hate naming runs but stick to Sawtooth and Cabin Chute in Reso. The spring melt started too early at the bottom of the more sun exposed runs back there.

Google made me a nice little video with most of the pictures and a little video I took Saturday. Caution, these conditions might frighten small children.

 

[tball]

Some great news just released on lift upgrades at Copper:

Copper Mountain Transforms Center Village Guest Experience with the Replacement of Two Chairlifts for the 2018-19 Season

• The Resort Plans to Replace American Eagle with Combination Gondola and Chairlift and Upgrade American Flyer with 6-Person High-Speed Bubble Chair
• Copper Mountain Season Passes Go On Sale March 6 with Prices Starting at $459

COPPER MOUNTAIN, Colo. - March 5, 2018 - Copper Mountain, and its parent company, POWDR, today announced continued enhancements to the way guests access the mountain's world-class, naturally-divided terrain. The planned upgrades to replace the American Eagle and American Flyer lifts with high-speed combination and bubble-style lift service are slated to debut for the 2018-19 ski season. Plans to replace the two lifts are subject to U.S. Forest Service approval, and further details will be available in the coming days.

"Replacing our most popular mountain-access lifts will significantly improve how our guests experience some of the best skiing and riding on Copper Mountain," said Gary Rodgers, president and general manager of Copper Mountain Resort. "More guests will be able to get up the mountain quicker to enjoy a variety of easy, intermediate and advanced terrain."

The American Eagle lift, a high-speed quad, will be replaced with a high-speed lift that includes a combination of both 6-person chairs and 8-person gondola cabins. The new lift will increase uphill capacity by over 40 percent, allowing more skiers and snowboarders access to an abundance of Copper's intermediate terrain.

A high-speed 6-person chair with bubble enclosures is set to replace the high-speed quad known as the American Flyer lift, offering a more comfortable ride and greatly increasing uphill capacity. The new lift will primarily serve the easy and intermediate side of the resort's unique naturally-divided terrain and also will provide expedited access to Copper's advanced high alpine bowls.

This announcement is a continuation of Copper Mountain's demonstrated commitment to providing its guests with local experiences and easy access to authentic Colorado adventure.

"New-to-Copper guests and returning passholders have been wowed by what we've been up to over the past season," said Rodgers. "From cultivating regionally-influenced dining concepts like Toast & Co., to opening the new Rocky Mountain Coaster, to revamping our beginner area with the new Kokomo Express Lift, guests now have more reasons than ever to visit, and to stay and play. We look forward to continuing to make Copper the best version of itself for our locals and visitors."

2018-19 Season Passes
Beginning on March 6, Copper Mountain will once again offer resort season passes starting at $459 with Kids Ski Free. Season passes include unlimited access to Copper Mountain along with three free days at Monarch, Purgatory, Powder Mountain in Utah and Taos Ski Valley in New Mexico. Passholders can also enjoy free skiing and riding at Grand Targhee with the purchase of lodging. To learn more about Copper Season Passes and to purchase, visit CopperColorado.com/passes.

Copper Mountain will also be offering the Copper Four Pack for the 2018-19 ski season. More details will be released in the coming weeks.

Copper Mountain is a proud partner on the Ikon Pass. For Ikon Pass details, visit IkonPass.com.

​

 

[StuckonI70]

It's was a treasure for me. I truly had a blast at Copper Saturday. I'm not intending to over stoke the conditions, The amount of terrain open and surface conditions were fantastic for an obviously difficult year. Others I rode the lift with were remarking about the enjoyable conditions too.

Yes, there were rocks. Coverage looks like late January rather than early March. It's a below average season. At least the good stuff is open and much of it had excellent chalky snow.

No doubt you have to search for treasure. With the marginal coverage and wind, it's not necessarily where it's typically is found. One side of the run will be stripped of snow and it's deposited on the other side or the next run over. It's pretty easy to find by looking for the natural snow fences and wind buffed soft deposits.

When you find something good, enjoy it. I was not skiing my normal patterns. I skied a few great lines over and over, found them and stuck to them. The great thing about steep chalk is it's very durable. The surface can remain excellent through days of skier traffic, at least until it gets skied down to the rocks.

Saturday I skied 7 Spaulding/Reso laps with 3 Mine Dump diversions, and four laps off Sierra. I hate naming runs but stick to Sawtooth and Cabin Chute in Reso. The spring melt started too early at the bottom of the more sun exposed runs back there.

All I can say is beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
It was fine, but someone needs to shoot this winter and put it out of its misery.
Wind was nasty yesterday and scoured the death out of the hill. It looked like the Lillie G entrance from Storm King was gone!

 

[tball]

It was fine, but someone needs to shoot this winter and put it out of its misery.

Or, we just need a decent March and April. It could be a fantastic end to the season or it could be a disaster.

We are right on the edge and it could go either way. I'm hoping for snow.

 

[StuckonI70]

Or, we just need a decent March and April. It could be a fantastic end to the season or it could be a disaster.

We are right on the edge and it could go either way. I'm hoping for snow.

Of course, but I just don't feel like it is our year. We are returning to the same resilient ridge that pushes everything north.

Jan/Feb conditions are much more important to me than spring.They close some of the best terrain in late March anyway.

 

[nay]

I’m not trying to sugarcoat where we are - this is a fairly narrow saddle of good skiable snow and there are basically cat track roads hanging on to even keep 9 open. That’s crappy for early March, but it’s also fun going up there and making it happen and the drop off of Headwall #4 was fun, too.



I was fine all day on very light and not damp 105s, although maybe that’s the right strategy for essentially skiing a thin layer of chalk and ice ball bearings over a wind smoothed surface with areas of detuned edgeable depth.

But, my favorite skiing is high alpine variable terrain, so I usually like whatever the mountain is doing as long as it is giving something. I’m probably in a distinct minority there.

 

[Doug Briggs]

Yesterday at Breck was a mix of some mediocre groomers which were pretty firm and slippery interspersed with some nice chalky runs in Horseshoe and Inferno. The sastrugi and windblown-to-earth was bad enough in Horseshoe that you had to ski well down UFO to get to a point where you could turn into the bowl. Upper mountain was closed due to wind and possibly inaccessible terrain. Imperial Bowl looked downright ugly. The entire second entrance off of UFO was sastrugi and likely impassable, thus an example of why the closure.

Challenging snow is good snow; it makes you better or demonstrates your shortcomings. No snow is, well, no snow and you can't ski. Since we've been able to ski, I wouldn't call this winter a disaster. Less than optimal, for sure. Do I want more snow? Yes. Do I grouse about being able to go skiing? Nope.

 

[nay]

Of course, but I just don't feel like it is our year. We are returning to the same resilient ridge that pushes everything north.

Jan/Feb conditions are much more important to me than spring.They close some of the best terrain in late March anyway.

According to Joel, the long range forecasts are looking up for the second half of March. 2016 is a mildly optimistic reference year.



We’ve had a lot of dry winters in recent years. The difference was we had a better base due to late Nov and Dec snow before it dried out, and more importantly not so much wind during the drier months.

But, elevations below 10K are probably going to go downhill relatively quickly due to warmth. The Continental Divide spring is still up in the air and early March has been a poor predictor recently.

 

[StuckonI70]

According to Joel, the long range forecasts are looking up for the second half of March. 2016 is a mildly optimistic reference year.

We’ve had a lot of dry winters in recent years. The difference was we had a better base due to late Nov and Dec snow before it dried out, and more importantly not so much wind during the drier months.

But, elevations below 10K are probably going to go downhill relatively quickly due to warmth. The Continental Divide spring is still up in the air and early March has been a poor predictor recently.

And when we get ~10" by 3/15, will it matter?
A few weak storms on the horizon are irrelevant as a 2+ week outlook.
That 3" this morning got blown to Kansas, and what remained is getting hammered.

 

[tball]

And when we get ~10" by 3/15, will it matter?
A few weak storms on the horizon are irrelevant as a 2+ week outlook.
That 3" this morning got blown to Kansas, and what remained is getting hammered.

Yes, 10" in two weeks matters. Every inch helps and if there is a chance of snow it will probably be cold enough not to melt. The snowpack going sideways or slightly up is much better than melting off.

This Snotel graph of other recent low tide years really shows how it could go either way at this point:



There have been several worse years recently and there is no reason it can't be an Epic spring at A-basin.

 

[nay]

And when we get ~10" by 3/15, will it matter?
A few weak storms on the horizon are irrelevant as a 2+ week outlook.
That 3" this morning got blown to Kansas, and what remained is getting hammered.

I don’t think the next 10 days will matter much, because the flow/wind pattern probably isn’t going to change. The wind is the big issue, because it has eroded our snow preservation on many aspects, although there are places that have benefitted.

If my ski areas closed in the next 4-5 weeks, I’d be hard pressed to see a major shift, but the long view of early May for Loveland and early June for A-Basin has way too far to go. They average around 5’ for April and 3’ for May, although Luv closes first Sunday of May.

Here’s a glimpse of Loveland during March wind hammering and warmth last season - this was the 19th so 2 weeks later than now.



On the 15th, I decided to take advantage with an early season MTB ride.



On April 21st I busted my two youngest out of school.





We don’t know yet, but April has been good in recent persistent climate seasons, at least up high. What has happened to March? Beats me, but until something changes it’s no longer prime season.

 

[StuckonI70]

I'll believe it when I see it. Ma Nature just doesn't want to park it over Colorado.
The window for 1) quality surface conditions and 2) quality coverage has been very narrow this year.
Still some time for LL and A-Basin, but I'm not holding by breath.

 

[LowPressureKarl]

Aspen’s been skiing great!
7” new at Snowmass this morning.

 

[nay]

To add a thought to the above, here is comparing last year to this year.



That’s a 10” difference in snow water equivalent right now at 11K on the Continental Divide. But wind scouring places aren’t ever going to show this kind of seasonal difference.

Loveland and surrounding areas had large swaths of bare scoured terrain last March on aspects that like now don’t get skied (if you know better). There were still some willow tops (lower left)...



...not as many as now, but the good center line with our tracks was good yesterday. It’s a bit ugly getting in and out right now, but similar smooth firm chalky skiing. March 10, 2017.

Here’s also from yesterday, a pitch down from the pic above (lift line on ridge at top). GS goodness.



I’m actually surprised at how much it has recovered without the benefit of much new snow. The wind giveth and the wind taketh away.

I’m mostly concerned about adding to the base and not having big fire season. The latter is more important, but if this keeps up a Sept date with St. Mary’s is not gonna be pretty.

 

[dusty]

Highlands was straight on spring conditions this Sat. A bit less beat up than front range resorts for sure.

 

[Freaq]

Jane was big fun today. Four inches of very wind effected made for challenging conditions in the bumps this morning but the trees were skiing pretty well. Wasn't too crowded in the morning and just about empty by noon but somehow the bumps on Railbender-Boiler got skied/blown in to right proper shape. Top of the hill stayed closed, clouds were movin' pretty quickly. Skied Cannonball early and late......... it was a strange experience. That side got a bit baked the last few warm days but the new snow was much less wind blown. It was super crispy underneath but it seemed smooth, not rutty, so I was skiing real smooth, pretty zipper lines through fresh snow but making heinous noises while doing it.

Skied fat boards, found a few rocks but no notable damage. Still workin' on my first ptex stick.

 

[tball]

Holy Tucker! A lift could be installed on Tucker Mountain at Copper as soon as this summer.

Copper requested expedited project approval on Jan 17h, 2018. I missed this article in the Summit Daily:
https://www.summitdaily.com/news/sp...irlift-infrastructure-proposal-through-feb-9/

The Forest Service approved it in Feb. No news articles that I found, but here's the approval letter:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/nfs/11558/www/nepa/108306_FSPLT3_4265423.pdf

And the forest service project page with maps:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=53100

Wow. Sounds like they are serious this time. Are they going to do it this summer? Why wasn't it mentioned in the press release about the Eagle and Flyer upgrades today? It would make sense to do them all at once as they will be shutting down the mountain to biking and hiking this summer.