Colorado 2018-19 Colorado Weather and Stoke

[Doug Briggs]

Yesterday was a mixed day. Started off the top of 8 with CJs. It was a little heavy for how smooth it wasn't. Marty's boots were giving him fits so he left. I skied a number of runs on Ptarmigan as it was delightful, especially above tree line where it was nearly untracked with a thin layer of 2 day old frosting.


Pikes Peak was less covered than I expected. From the top of Imperial chair.


Fresh Ptarmigan.




It was a very spring day.

 

[BC.]

Yesterday was a mixed day. Started off the top of 8 with CJs. It was a little heavy for how smooth it wasn't. Marty's boots were giving him fits so he left. I skied a number of runs on Ptarmigan as it was delightful, especially above tree line where it was nearly untracked with a thin layer of 2 day old frosting.

View attachment 71868
Pikes Peak was less covered than I expected. From the top of Imperial chair.

View attachment 71870
Fresh Ptarmigan.

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View attachment 71869
It was a very spring day.

Doug in your last photo at the T bar.....I’m the guy in the background over the left shoulder of the blonde rocker dude......black helmet, fire lenses.....black jacket/olive pants...lol. We were in same line as you.

 

[Doug Briggs]

Too funny. So close... I'm glad you weren't the photo bomber that I blew up!

Did you get onto Ptarmigan?

 

[BC.]

Too funny. So close... I'm glad you weren't the photo bomber that I blew up!

Did you get onto Ptarmigan?

Regrettably no.....by the time I looked at my phone....it was too late....
I needed to guide the family back from Imperial down to Mountain Thunder. I will make sure to get into it Monday.

We switched things up this am and went to Nordic Center today.....had a nice morning. Will be back out on mountain tomorrow.

@Monique....eating at Quandary tonight. Everyone’s recommendations so far have been awesome! Thank you CO crew.

 

[nay]

 

[nay]

And most of Colorado is now closed. We are down to:

Aspen Highlands reopening April 26-28
Loveland May 5
Mary Jane May 12 (Winter Park is now closed)
Breckenridge May 27
A-Basin June 2 with Fri-Sun extension weekends as conditions permit

 

[Ken_R]

View attachment 71880

I went to LL to get my Pass and get a few runs in and man it went from 50º to upper 20's and NUKING in no time. After 3 runs it started getting crunchy and I left. Good warm up after a month of no skiing.

 

[nay]

I went to LL to get my Pass and get a few runs in and man it went from 50º to upper 20's and NUKING in no time. After 3 runs it started getting crunchy and I left. Good warm up after a month of no skiing.

View attachment 71888 View attachment 71889

A-Basin would have been way better.

 

[Ken_R]

A-Basin would have been way better.

For sure

 

[tball]

Nice to see an honest assessment of conditions in the report this morning from A-basin (3" in 24 & 72 hrs):

Looks like winter has returned to the high country. It would be best to seek out the groomed terrain on the lower mountain and hope for some accumulation to build up. Not the day to venture to far out in the trees, unless it really dumps. Thaws in the spring snow will be light and late.
https://www.arapahoebasin.com/snow-conditions/
​

Any chance tomorrow will be much better? It will be a little warmer and a little less sky cover, but enough to soften?


https://forecast.weather.gov/MapCli...105.8752&unit=0&lg=english&FcstType=graphical

 

[BC.]

Had a chance to ski with the man, the myth, the legend @Doug Briggs today.

We skied a couple runs with Doug and his buddy Ken (not sure if he’s a Pug or not?) off the Tbar. What a blast following him around in his playground. He knows his spots and the snow was great. Thank you for taking a couple runs with me and my family. They enjoyed North Bowl laps.....

Hope to visit Breckenridge again. My family really enjoyed the town, loved the mountain and terrain it had to offer.

 

[JuneauTheHusky]

Nice to see an honest assessment of conditions in the report this morning from A-basin (3" in 24 & 72 hrs):

Looks like winter has returned to the high country. It would be best to seek out the groomed terrain on the lower mountain and hope for some accumulation to build up. Not the day to venture to far out in the trees, unless it really dumps. Thaws in the spring snow will be light and late.
https://www.arapahoebasin.com/snow-conditions/
​

Any chance tomorrow will be much better? It will be a little warmer and a little less sky cover, but enough to soften?

View attachment 71941
https://forecast.weather.gov/MapCli...105.8752&unit=0&lg=english&FcstType=graphical

Thinking about tomorrow and trying to read your charts. Is that essentially saying tomorrow is going to be rain and thunder for most of the day?

 

[Doug Briggs]

Had a chance to ski with the man, the myth, the legend @Doug Briggs today.

We skied a couple runs with Doug and his buddy Ken (not sure if he’s a Pug or not?) off the Tbar. What a blast following him around in his playground. He knows his spots and the snow was great. Thank you for taking a couple runs with me and my family. They enjoyed North Bowl laps.....

Hope to visit Breckenridge again. My family really enjoyed the town, loved the mountain and terrain it had to offer.

I enjoyed skiing with you and your family as well, BC. @Ken_R is indeed a pugster. We took a couple of runs in Horseshoe when you continued to Imperial. It was sun softened, fresh in places and as nice as Ptarmigan.


Looking up from Columbine just south of the T-Bar. The Patrol cabin on top of Horseshoe is the distant speck.


Watching the clouds rolling in. The lifts stopped running about 2:30 due to lightning potential (ha ha). I don't know if they started back up.


Looking up Horseshoe. So soft. So fun.

 

[BC.]

I enjoyed skiing with you and your family as well, BC. @Ken_R is indeed a pugster. We took a couple of runs in Horseshoe when you continued to Imperial. It was sun softened, fresh in places and as nice as Ptarmigan.

View attachment 71973
Looking up from Columbine just south of the T-Bar. The Patrol cabin on top of Horseshoe is the distant speck.

View attachment 71972
Watching the clouds rolling in. The lifts stopped running about 2:30 due to lightning potential (ha ha). I don't know if they started back up.

View attachment 71971
Looking up Horseshoe. So soft. So fun.

Hey....Ken is a Pug!!....@Ken_R....now I have skied with 2 Pugs....we also saw Ken at the end of day as we all tried to get down to town b/c the gondola shut down cuz of potential lightning. That was interesting....lucky it was a somewhat uncrowded Monday afternoon.

Thanks Doug and Ken....CO is a special place...Have a great Spring!

 

[tball]

Thinking about tomorrow and trying to read your charts. Is that essentially saying tomorrow is going to be rain and thunder for most of the day?

Ha, they are the weather service's charts, not mine.

No, it's not that bad. Ignore the rain graph. It's A-basin and the high temp will be around 40, so no rain. Just a trace of snow is predicted, as you can see on the snow graph.

There is a slight chance (SChc) of thunder from noon to 3 pm, then a chance (Chc) of thunder from 3-5 pm. Pretty typical when there is mixed weather. Think afternoon thunderstorms and be on the lookout for black thunderstorm clouds and graupel.

I really like those graphs in the spring for the sky cover and the temperature and trying to figure out if and when it will soften and what exposures. Wind matters too. This spring stuff is tough.

I'm betting there won't be enough softening tomorrow for my taste, so I'm out and it will probably be fantastic! Hopefully, somebody with superior wisdom will chime in!

Edit: @Doug Briggs report that it softened at Breck today has me second guessing my softening pessimism for tomorrow. It was cooler temps and thicker sky cover predicted today than tomorrow. It's always fantastic to hear from somebody that has been on the snow in the spring. This thread is always a key piece of the puzzle for me. Thanks for the report, Doug!

 

[JuneauTheHusky]

Ha, they are the weather service's charts, not mine.

No, it's not that bad. Ignore the rain graph. It's A-basin and the high temp will be around 40, so no rain. Just a trace of snow is predicted, as you can see on the snow graph.

There is a slight chance (SChc) of thunder from noon to 3 pm, then a chance (Chc) of thunder from 3-5 pm. Pretty typical when there is mixed weather. Think afternoon thunderstorms and be on the lookout for black thunderstorm clouds and graupel.

I really like those graphs in the spring for the sky cover and the temperature and trying to figure out if and when it will soften and what exposures. Wind matters too. This spring stuff is tough.

I'm betting there won't be enough softening tomorrow for my taste, so I'm out and it will probably be fantastic! Hopefully, somebody with superior wisdom will chime in!

Edit: @Doug Briggs report that it softened at Breck today has me second guessing my softening pessimism for tomorrow. It was cooler temps and thicker sky cover predicted today than tomorrow. It's always fantastic to hear from somebody that has been on the snow in the spring. This thread is always a key piece of the puzzle for me. Thanks for the report, Doug!

Haha. Seems as though you know way more than I do so I'll head that way in the morning.

You know who I'm coming to if I get rained out

 

[Monique]

@Monique....eating at Quandary tonight. Everyone’s recommendations so far have been awesome! Thank you CO crew.

How was it?

I drove to Breck today for a friend's memorial tribute at the Quandry. It started snowing just as we sat down to listen, developed into big fat flakes, and stopped snowing just as the last person was done speaking. RIP Kari. Every day skiing with you was an adventure.

 

[tball]

Haha. Seems as though you know way more than I do so I'll head that way in the morning.

You know who I'm coming to if I get rained out

I've now convinced myself it could be pretty good tomorrow after making other commitments. Just go skiing if you have the chance is what I should have told myself. Have fun!

 

[BC.]

How was it?

I drove to Breck today for a friend's memorial tribute at the Quandry. It started snowing just as we sat down to listen, developed into big fat flakes, and stopped snowing just as the last person was done speaking. RIP Kari. Every day skiing with you was an adventure.

It was very good. Thank you for the rec. All our dinners here have been excellent.....I’m sorry for the loss of your friend...RIP....I’m sure you have many positive memories of skiing at Breckenridge with your friend.

 

[Ken_R]

Breck was greeee... I mean it was awful, no one should ski there

Great skiing with @Doug Briggs and @BC.

Here is Doug heading down Horseshoe Bowl with grace and style.




We lapped this aspect a few times:


This is Vertigo I think, on my way to Pioneer Crossing Lodge:






When I went out of the lodge the mountain was empty and the lifts closed it was surreal. Nasty storm was coming over the ridge so they shut everything down due to lighting in the vicinity. Yes, even the gondola to the lot.