I was again lucky enough to get some time in Colorado, and had a wonderful week meeting with friends, meeting some new folks, doing a lot of skiing, and even seeing Mikaela Shiffrin. I've had great luck skiing in Colorado in April over the years, and this was no exception with a couple of snow days (~4" on back to back days) and some really nice weather mixed in. I got in 6 days of skiing, bringing my season total to 27... one of these years I'm going to get to 30!
Saturday, April 1st
I skied Beaver Creek on Saturday to avoid crowds... worked well as most things were relatively empty. Snow was surprisingly soft with some nice bumps in places. I also got to meet up with @noobski and family and do a little touring around the mountain. Great start!
Centennial Base in the morning
Looking down Cinch to the top of Centennial
Looking down Web/Spider into Rose Bowl
The top of Rose Bowl lift
Sunday, April 2nd
Sunday was Vail ... Nice day skiing, mainly groomer zooming, but wasn't quite as warm as hoped, so things didn't really soften. Sunday late afternoon there was a rally for Mikaela Shiffrin to celebrate her record setting 87 wins (though she actually has 88 now). Fun little event and nice hanging out in the village.
Jess and Me on Cascade - a little used lift that gives access from West Vail into the Lionshead area... A nice way to start the day if you're taking the bus
Somewhere in Vail... not sure where actually... but I like the view!
Mikaela celebration in the Village as she walks up on stage
They presented skis with all the records she has... this one is her and Jonny Moseley
Mikaela and her family as she receives a goat, for being the G.O.A.T.
Speaking to the crowd
Giving an interview after things were over
They setup a Mikaela walk of fame, with a star for each of her wins... I took a few pics of a couple of US wins, and her first win
Monday, April 3rd
Monday I skied Copper, to change things up. It was a nice day and I'd hoped for softening, but it was pretty hard all day and mostly kept me to groomers. Though I did ski a bit off Sierra and skied Little Burn. I also randomly ran into @Woodsrider427 for a little bit of a "small world" moment, as I didn't expect to. Nice seeing you again Tim!
The beach off Timberline Express chair... a nice place to hang out on a nice day
My skis for the week... Stockli SR95s... pretty versatile, though I wished I had some of my skinnier skis on the hardpack days
Sierra lift area... was pretty firm and wind affected... I didn't ski it much, as I was hoping for slush bumps late in the day, but it never got there
A few Copper Bowl views
There were several snowboard competitions going on during the week... slalom, half-pipe, and snowboard-cross at least while I was there. This is the half-pipe groomer
Snowboard-cross finish line
After skiing all day, I met up with @Drahtguy Kevin and @noobski at Outer Range brewery in Frisco... thanks for the après guys!
Tuesday, April 4th
Tuesday was back to Vail on a snowy day where they'd reported 4". It skied really well in places and was a lot of fun. I also checked out 10th Mountain for lunch at mid-Vail... pretty posh and a nice place to eat (and expectedly pricey, but the food was good). Also met up with @wgo and family for a couple of end of day runs - and the Game Creek trees were still nice, and untracked in spots!
Grey and snowy (and blowy) morning at Vail
Game Creek trees has some pretty untracked stuff that was great if you weren't on steeps or turned too hard and reached the hardpack underneath
Back up into the haze in the back bowls
Jess trying to hide from the blowing snow
Back down into it, heading for some the trees
Some great trees on Yonder and WFO!
Back to Game Creek at the end of the day... not too tracked still (and probably somewhat refilled throughout the day)
Wednesday, April 5th
Wednesday was back to BC for some solo skiing. Had lots of fun looking for easy trees and soft bumps... and I got to meet up with @MattSmith for a run while he was working, which was fun. A really nice day at BC!
Grey day looking out toward Larkspur from the bottom of Cinch
Nice easy trees around Red Buffalo that were fun for a few turns
Heading down Ripsaw into Rose Bowl... it was inconsistent snow, but nice in spots
Looking into Larkspur area from Peregrine under the Birds of Prey lift... first time I've skied it and the snow was pretty good. And the sky was clearing
Some trees off of Primrose that were short, but fun
Meeting up with Matt! We skied Screech Owl on Grouse Mountain area... first time I've skied that area too
Thursday, April 6th
My last ski day, and back to Vail one more time, with @MattSmith as a guide. We went looking for soft off-piste and found a mix of mediocre to good runs. Some nice back bowls and open fields in Blue Sky. Some runs were pretty darn tiring for me, but I had a lot of fun.
Looking across Sun Down Bowl
Matt on Ricky's Ridge
The view from the top of Red Square in Siberia Bowl
Matt and Me
Last view of China Bowl
And with that, I came home on Friday, after a great week!
Saturday, April 1st
I skied Beaver Creek on Saturday to avoid crowds... worked well as most things were relatively empty. Snow was surprisingly soft with some nice bumps in places. I also got to meet up with @noobski and family and do a little touring around the mountain. Great start!
Centennial Base in the morning
Looking down Cinch to the top of Centennial
Looking down Web/Spider into Rose Bowl
The top of Rose Bowl lift
Sunday, April 2nd
Sunday was Vail ... Nice day skiing, mainly groomer zooming, but wasn't quite as warm as hoped, so things didn't really soften. Sunday late afternoon there was a rally for Mikaela Shiffrin to celebrate her record setting 87 wins (though she actually has 88 now). Fun little event and nice hanging out in the village.
Jess and Me on Cascade - a little used lift that gives access from West Vail into the Lionshead area... A nice way to start the day if you're taking the bus
Somewhere in Vail... not sure where actually... but I like the view!
Mikaela celebration in the Village as she walks up on stage
They presented skis with all the records she has... this one is her and Jonny Moseley
Mikaela and her family as she receives a goat, for being the G.O.A.T.
Speaking to the crowd
Giving an interview after things were over
They setup a Mikaela walk of fame, with a star for each of her wins... I took a few pics of a couple of US wins, and her first win
Monday, April 3rd
Monday I skied Copper, to change things up. It was a nice day and I'd hoped for softening, but it was pretty hard all day and mostly kept me to groomers. Though I did ski a bit off Sierra and skied Little Burn. I also randomly ran into @Woodsrider427 for a little bit of a "small world" moment, as I didn't expect to. Nice seeing you again Tim!
The beach off Timberline Express chair... a nice place to hang out on a nice day
My skis for the week... Stockli SR95s... pretty versatile, though I wished I had some of my skinnier skis on the hardpack days
Sierra lift area... was pretty firm and wind affected... I didn't ski it much, as I was hoping for slush bumps late in the day, but it never got there
A few Copper Bowl views
There were several snowboard competitions going on during the week... slalom, half-pipe, and snowboard-cross at least while I was there. This is the half-pipe groomer
Snowboard-cross finish line
After skiing all day, I met up with @Drahtguy Kevin and @noobski at Outer Range brewery in Frisco... thanks for the après guys!
Tuesday, April 4th
Tuesday was back to Vail on a snowy day where they'd reported 4". It skied really well in places and was a lot of fun. I also checked out 10th Mountain for lunch at mid-Vail... pretty posh and a nice place to eat (and expectedly pricey, but the food was good). Also met up with @wgo and family for a couple of end of day runs - and the Game Creek trees were still nice, and untracked in spots!
Grey and snowy (and blowy) morning at Vail
Game Creek trees has some pretty untracked stuff that was great if you weren't on steeps or turned too hard and reached the hardpack underneath
Back up into the haze in the back bowls
Jess trying to hide from the blowing snow
Back down into it, heading for some the trees
Some great trees on Yonder and WFO!
Back to Game Creek at the end of the day... not too tracked still (and probably somewhat refilled throughout the day)
Wednesday, April 5th
Wednesday was back to BC for some solo skiing. Had lots of fun looking for easy trees and soft bumps... and I got to meet up with @MattSmith for a run while he was working, which was fun. A really nice day at BC!
Grey day looking out toward Larkspur from the bottom of Cinch
Nice easy trees around Red Buffalo that were fun for a few turns
Heading down Ripsaw into Rose Bowl... it was inconsistent snow, but nice in spots
Looking into Larkspur area from Peregrine under the Birds of Prey lift... first time I've skied it and the snow was pretty good. And the sky was clearing
Some trees off of Primrose that were short, but fun
Meeting up with Matt! We skied Screech Owl on Grouse Mountain area... first time I've skied that area too
Thursday, April 6th
My last ski day, and back to Vail one more time, with @MattSmith as a guide. We went looking for soft off-piste and found a mix of mediocre to good runs. Some nice back bowls and open fields in Blue Sky. Some runs were pretty darn tiring for me, but I had a lot of fun.
Looking across Sun Down Bowl
Matt on Ricky's Ridge
The view from the top of Red Square in Siberia Bowl
Matt and Me
Last view of China Bowl
And with that, I came home on Friday, after a great week!
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(More seriously, I often use it, but not always... and I thought of posting the pic of the lift at Copper that doesn't even have a bar, that I actually rode in the worst weather/wind of the week... but it was kind of a crappy pic. 
I was kind of wishing that one had a bar at the time though.)
