Colorado 2018-19 Colorado Weather and Stoke

[Doug Briggs]

Tarzan/Jane at the bottom of ******?

I don't know all those 'minor' names of locations. But between FMN and WC.

It was a fun run as two gentlemen (my age) went out of there way to remark on Peter's and my turns on George's. Peter followed me to the right a bit as I had spied some fresh and the two guys followed us into the best snow of the day. I paused for Peter and then resumed and got slightly out of control and had to 'announce' myself as I came blasting out from a narrow alley. I apologized to the guy I came close to creaming and he laughed and said it was all good. We spoke for a little while and went our separate ways.

 

[nay]

That was a good start. 2” on the stake. Ahem.

Primer Bowl.



@Noodler I took the sucker bet. It had some tricks top third, but then...



Castle Rock. It’s just getting tracked out so fast. These were all clean tracks top to bottom down through west South Chutes, run after run. Most people up there today didn’t know the mountain.



Snowing from Summit Co.



Jelly Roll. Stupid good. Twice. ms. nay there in the middle.

 

[Monique]

I don't know all those 'minor' names of locations. But between FMN and WC.

It was a fun run as two gentlemen (my age) went out of there way to remark on Peter's and my turns on George's. Peter followed me to the right a bit as I had spied some fresh and the two guys followed us into the best snow of the day. I paused for Peter and then resumed and got slightly out of control and had to 'announce' myself as I came blasting out from a narrow alley. I apologized to the guy I came close to creaming and he laughed and said it was all good. We spoke for a little while and went our separate ways.

Yup, that's it. Those trees have special meaning for me. My instructor Dirk introduced me to them years ago. He told our class that they were a secret stash, and we must not tell anyone about them. I took it Very Seriously. I think technically they are Tarzan, Jane, and Cheetah, but I don't remember which line is which. Dirk died last February, the week before Eric did, of melanoma. He was a beautiful skier, a great instructor (43 years! at Breck!), and just all-around nice guy. I wasn't in his class anymore, but I walked into Vista at lunch one day, and Dirk complimented some aspect of my skiing - he'd recognized me from the lift.

https://www.summitdaily.com/news/obituaries/obituary-dirk-s-muller/

Ahem. *wipes eyes* Fuck Cancer, amirite?

 

[RikkiBobbi]

Great day at breck for me, too. Was there for the rope drop on Intuition and had plenty of fresh tracks off Whale Tail after 2pm. Wish I had gotten over there earlier. Also wishing my east coast a** was in good enough shape to take the long hikes. Might try the Imperial Hike on Wednesday...seems like the most reasonable one.

 

[Monique]

Might try the Imperial Hike on Wednesday...seems like the most reasonable one.

Shorter than peak 6, but steeper.

 

[Noodler]

That was a good start. 2” on the stake. Ahem.

Primer Bowl.

View attachment 69519

@Noodler I took the sucker bet. It had some tricks top third, but then...

View attachment 69520

Castle Rock. It’s just getting tracked out so fast. These were all clean tracks top to bottom down through west South Chutes, run after run. Most people up there today didn’t know the mountain.

View attachment 69521

Snowing from Summit Co.

View attachment 69522 View attachment 69523 View attachment 69524

Jelly Roll. Stupid good. Twice. ms. nay there in the middle.

View attachment 69525

Yep, we took a couple laps on the "sucker's bet" on Sunday and it held the best turns of the day. It's a fight through the sastrugi, but that's why it stays great. It's like the mountain's built-in defense system protecting the goods.

 

[nay]

Yep, we took a couple laps on the "sucker's bet" on Sunday and it held the best turns of the day. It's a fight through the sastrugi, but that's why it stays great. It's like the mountain's built-in defense system protecting the goods.

Watched a guy head in there on some shorter skis, hit a buried pile and double eject face plant in a full scorpion.

10/10 for style with bonus points for wrong skis and lack of intel.

 

[Freaq]

The wind came back with magic and gifts. There's been a preponderance of eerie stillness around here for the last couple of weeks but last night the wind turned one inch into several and all the children shouted with glee.

Relive

 

[tball]

Another big squall came through last night making a super fun sleeper bluebird powder day today.

Two fun powder laps with lots of untracked even on the second lap began our day.







We moved on to lots of powder bumps that turned into perfect spring conditions in the afternoon.



She's loving air in spite of a couple of hard landings today.





What an amazing day! Oh, the horrors of Summit County on spring break.

 

[nay]

^^^^nice capture on that last pic .

With seemingly every day this season having competition, I’ve been wondering when all the powder flu days and energy would finally run out here. Seems it has happened, even if briefly.

Yesterday was one of the calmest days I’ve skied at any point all year. Left Monument at 7:15, was able to take C-470 with no slowdowns except a very brief bit at Santa Fe, the base wasn’t particularly crowded even at lunch and it seemed like no locals on the mountain as clean lines persisted well into the afternoon, and then we drove home after a stop at Guanella Pass Brewery on Rt 6 through downtown with no slowdowns.

Need a lot more days like that.

 

[kimmyt]

I skied A Basin yesterday and agree that it was soooo mellow. I didn't even get on the snow until 9:30 because I had a leisurely breakfast and was lapping Lower East Wall with fresh tracks every time until about 11. Hiked when they opened up the East Wall and was only the third into 2nd notch, then hiked Willy's Wide and was the third set of tracks at 12:30! I was finding untracked in Beavers trees and off of Palli up until the end of the day, it was mind blowingly good. I'll take a sleeper spring pow day any day!!!

This was taken at 12:30 from the deck of Black Mountain while listening to polka music, with my boots off after doing two hikes in a row (my aim was to hike all three hikes without riding a lift between but my quads crapped out at the top of Willie's so I'll have to try for that goal some other time). I skied back to this area around 3:30 and the wind had filled in a lot of the lower East Wall and people were making fresh tracks again.

Spring in CO is magical.

 

[nay]

The chillness really was nuts. This is 11:30 at the top of Jelly Roll, which is basically dead center to what you see coming up Ptarmigan (center lift to mid-mountain). There were 2 tracks sitting there for like an hour. We finally decided to add a bunch more.



Here’s 10:30.



And 3:00 headed viewers right off Chair 9. You have to do more work than this to get to the groomer. The snow was fast, so lower angle stuff was sweet.



All time day for having to do so little for a fresh line each run. What’s even more nuts is that if the ridge cat had been running, the like 10 of us actually working the mountain would have had this to ourselves.



I know it will be sun affected when it opens again, but dreams of corn abound.

 

[RikkiBobbi]

Went to Vail today. Looks like I missed out.

 

[nay]

Went to Vail today. Looks like I missed out.

Those last two posts were from yesterday. How was the snow? Anything getting sticky in the warmth?

 

[tball]

How was the snow? Anything getting sticky in the warmth?

I don't know about down at Vail, but not sticky up higher.

Just very nice spring snow, some might even call cornish, on north-facing slopes 9,700-12,000 ft. Tuesday.

 

[nay]

I don't know about down at Vail, but not sticky up higher.

Just very nice spring snow, some might even call cornish, on north-facing slopes 9,700-12,000 ft. Tuesday.

Thanks. I’m trying to avoid skiing cloudy refreeze with probably low accums over the weekend, without trading for a sticky mess in the warm before the storm. Tomorrow is the warmest day - all time highs may be broken along the urban corridor.

May get into the mid-80’s in Denver.

 

[tball]

@nay it will be firm in the morning for sure. It was very warm and I was down to May A-basin layering Tuesday, but at 4 pm the bottom of the hill was more icy than slushy.

Even though it was warm, I don't think the sun angle is there yet. I'd vote for sun over snow until the next big storm.

 

[Freaq]

Had a very fruitful Tuesday staying up high and north facing early then down low and south facing late. Deep soft blown in then buttery sweet corn. Nice spring day, 52* as I drove away.

 

[RikkiBobbi]

Skiing the backbowls before the melt was one of the most jarring ski experiences I've ever had lol. Was fine and pretty fun in the afternoon once the melt started...but by then my quads were pretty roasted. Doing the little drop-ins/mini cliffs at speed off skiers left under High Noon was pretty fun too.

Thinking I'll go back to Breck today....but going to wait out the reef and hope it softens up a bit by 10-11.

 

[Freaq]

The soften up came early and rapidly today. Had several corny/slushy bump runs after a morning of zoomin'. Big, big fun but seemed I was a tad behind the curve and hit 'em a bit post prime.

This was day 69, the penultimate of my season, what a good'n' = )