Anticipating the Storm

Here in the Rockies we've been watching the storm soak California...they are talking about 10 inches of rain around LA and similar amounts up north in SF. You can never tell what will happen to a storm as it hammers the coast, sweeps across the Sierras, and then blows through the deserts of Utah. Sometimes it can loose all it's moisture in the Sierras; sometimes it can dry out over the desert; sometimes is can go north to Idaho or Wyoming; sometimes it can go south to New Mexico and southern Colorado. But, sometimes it happens just right, stalling over the mountain of northern Colorado and dumping copious amounts of snow on Ski Town USA. Temps have been warm today, grey and overcast. We are anticipating the storm.

President's Day Powder

The President’s Day Snow Report said 7” at mid and 10” at the summit, 9 degrees with low wind. Perfect! Ashley and I got to the Gondola at 8:20am, a little late we thought, but apparently everyone was sleeping in. The doors had just opened and by the time the line filled in we were about 10 people before the glass. We waited the 10 minutes until the gondola opened wondering where everyone was.

Met Ben at the top of the Gondola and skied Norther to 4-Points Lift. Up 4-Points and hit an untouched, nicely groomed Hurricane with about 7” on top. A pure delight! The snow was light as can be and conditions underneath were soft and carve-able. We skipped down to Pony Express looking for more of the same – delicious groomer with powder on top. Longhorn was groomed later than Hurricane so the powder on top was much shallower. We decided on the left side of Pony Lift Line – sweet, fresh and nobody around. We had the trail to ourselves as we dipped our knees extra low to induce the elusive face-shots. The snow was awesome!

Up Storm Peak lift and over to Sundown. The Sundown side was definitely deeper than Pony Express, but it gets tracked before the lift opens due to the First Tracks program (pay extra to ride Sundown a few times before opening). We skied Priest Creek Lift Line, 2:30 Trees and 1:30 Trees – all were terrific. We decided to end our morning with a run from the tippity-top - Gate D, Second Pitch and out, so up Morningside we went.

Gate-D was terrific! I skied the left side of Million Dollar Rock and hit a cliff I’d been eyeing earlier. A slow take-off, quick drop and soft landing. As soon as I landed the snow from the top of the cliff came down on me like a wave crashing over my head. I had plenty of momentum to carry me through and into a few more turns before I hit the bottom. Very exciting! On to Second Pitch where I found a nice steep untouched line where I got face-shots on every turn. The rest of our ski posse continued to the Bog via Clem’s. Ashley and I had to continue our commute to work via Flying Z.

Still no place like home (Steamboat)

I was forced to continue my travel following last week's journey. My wife's step-family was in Breckenridge over the weekend so we drove there on Friday night. The party consists of two new babies under a year old, Ashley's two step-sisters and their husbands, Ashley's brother and wife, and her dad and step mom. Being the junkie I am, I ponied up $75 for a lift ticket on Saturday to ski with the family. I figure it's better than strolling main street and shopping. The conditions were not as bad as expected. We got to ride the highest lift in the US, the Imperial Express ascending to 12,895 ft. Wow is it windy up there! I found some great lines high-up as well as in the trees as I ran the low-landers ragged. On our last run Ashley’s dad caught a rock under-ski and got thrown down. He dislocated his shoulder. Bummer! He’s a strong man (although careless sometimes) so he took it well.

Drove back to Steamboat on Sunday around noon. I joked with Ashley’s dad that we’d probably have to drive through a snow storm to get home. Well, I was right! It was dumping between Kremmling and Steamboat, especially on the pass. Tomorrow should be nice on our home mountain.

No place like home

All sun and no snow makes Jack a dull boy! Dave, Pete and I had a great trip to Jackson. Surface conditions sucked at the three resorts we skied, but we managed to have an awesome time anyway. Sunny skies and warm temps for the prior week made everything windblown and hard pack. Bullet proof may be too strong a word, but man it was hard. We managed to ski our tits off despite the poor snow conditions. With a deep snow base everything was open, so we skied as much of all the steeps as we could. Being from Steamboat, we don’t see too much terrain like that. Jackson Hole should change its name to Pucker Factor 5. We had a friend take us into Granite Canyon to the north of the ski area for a backcountry tour. Man did the snow conditions suck out there - super firm, windblown, breakable crust, but the terrain was sick.

On the way back to Colorado we went through Utah for some more steep terrain, skiing at Snowbasin one day and Snowbird the next. Both great ski areas. Snowbasin was top notch with a great base lodge that rivals some 5 star hotels. They have two gondolas, a tram and some high-speed quads. Amazing terrain here as well, super steep bowls and chutes accessible right off the lift. Anything you want. Snowbird was nothing short of mind-blowing. I can’t imagine a powder day there…the possibilities are endless.

My knees and back are very sore from four days of skiing hard pack snow on my alpine gear, but here comes the good news…It snowed a foot last night in Steamboat.

It’s always good to come home to Steamboat, especially when you’re welcomed with a foot of fresh powder. This morning was cold and windy with 11 inches at mid mountain and only 7 up top. Due to the cold temps I knew it wouldn’t be bottomless. You could feel the hard pack underneath, and the snow was so light that a sneeze could displace it. The runs that were groomed had anywhere from 5-12 inches on them. Those were the money runs today, but I also found some great stuff in the trees of Twilight/2:30. At 10:00 I went to Morningside for a little hike to finish off the morning. I met up with Charlie from the Mahogany Ridge Brewery at the top of Gate D. We skied Gate D, Second Pitch by the rope line and then over to North Woods for the Third Pitch. Considering this was a mid-mountain storm the Third Pitch was the best. I had a few choker turns where the snow got stuffed down my throat….ahhh – refreshing. Hopefully the snow will continue through the weekend.

Sunny Week

It's been blue skys and no snow since Sunday. I've taken the opportunity to get some work done before I leave for Jackson Hole on Friday. I'll be traveling with Dave and Pete from Backcountry Provisions. They're going to check up on their new sandwich shop in Jackson and we'll get a couple ski days in. After Jackson we'll go through Utah on the way back to Steamboat. Not much in the way of snow forecast for the weekend, but you never know. I'll tell you all about it when I get back.

Super Bowl Sunday - Super in more ways than one

Very windy, and not a lot of new snow on the report. Skied the mountain with Joey until we hooked up with Baker. On-piste was very wind blown creating wierd drifts in the trees. There was some aspects on the mountain that held 3-5 inches of very nice light powder. Man, the wind was blowin up top.

Baker and I decided to try out the back side of mountain....good idea! The heavy winds were blowin right up until we got to the Microwave Towers. The measuring stake read 126", the wind was calm and the snow was falling straight down in large fluffy flakes. We skied the steep section of Gate D to the right. Wow! The powder was flying over our shoulders...way deep. I took the line that weaved in and out of the trees and over the Buck and Quarter drop. It was sweet. We continued down 2nd pitch and than into the Bog via Parkers. I launched Parker's rock and landed in some of the softest, deepest snow I'd seen all season. Baker and I were staring up at Dead Tree Cliff talking about the crazies that negotiate the take-off around that sharp looking dead tree. Just then two guys come through the trees and hit it in succession with no hesitation. Both flew about 40 feet and created huge bomb holes on the open bowl below. It was quite something to watch.

Baker and I continued down to Lower Canyon, skiing Granola Bowl into Endless Gully. The snow was bottomless all the way down. Just lovin it!

A Deep Weekend

Well, Saturday was awesome! We knew it would be. Besides the crowds the skiing was phenomenal, and the sun even made an appearance late in the day. I skied with Ashley (my wife) and friends.What can I say -- it was nothing like I imagined yesterday to be. The snow had firmed up over night from the wind, but it was still soft. We skied a good 4 or 5 hours. I could have kept going, but Ashley was pooped. I can ski again tomorrow.

First Week in February - Fantastic

The first week in February was incredible! The snow fell consistently Monday thru Wednesday, let up slightly on Thursday and then came down seriously on Friday. I had skied three mornings already this week so Friday I decided to work....bad idea. Although there was only 1" mentioned on the 5am snow report, it was snowing so hard that there must have been 10" of new snow by noon. With work piling up on my desk it just did not seem right for me to leave. I was not being very pleasant to the others in my office. Joey came in to find me staring out the window at the falling snow with the fuzzy live mountain camera on my computer monitor. I was dreaming of Storm Riding. That's when the snow is falling so hard that you can't see the chair lift in front of you; where your tracks are filled in before you get back to the top of the mountain; where every line is fresh and the silence of the falling snow is deafening.

I'll be skiing tomorrow.