Earliest opening day ever for BC. Two and a half runs open of reasonable quality snow. By noon the temps came up and it felt almost spring like. Nice short first day out.
Awesome day. West wall corned up early. After a few run there we hiked the upper east wall. Ran down North Pole. Had a break at the beach and then headed back out. It was warm so we skied shirtless for 2 runs. By 1400 the snow was too sticky to ski so we finished the day partying at the beach.
Fantastic day. Started off crispy but by 9:30 the west wall was starting to corn up. Pali was still crunchy at 11 so we decided to hike the upper east wall. The powder that fell on Thursday was still fresh in first notch. After the hike we stopped at the beach for lunch, then a few more laps on the west wall.
Short day. Almost didnt go. Got out an hour late, but still managed decent parking. Snow pretty much sucked everywhere. Met up with Park for a few runs, then Rachel after that. Bailed at noon.
"Leftovers" from yesterdays powder day were still pretty awesome. Bummed I was unable to get the first serving yesterday, but that wasnt going to happen due to traffic/road conditions.
It was a T-Bar and Imperial sort of day. Lots of the stuff up high had untracked lines if you knew were to find them. If this was my last day at Breck this season, well, it was damn good :)
Took the day off since it looks like things are coming to an end here for us in CO. The morning was a bit crispy, but by lunch time everything started turning buttery. Good skiing today.
Skied with Clay today. Emily was supposed to come but got stuck going to work. After a minor disaster with a car lockout, I drove up to Breck. I thought conditions would be good after the storm but for some reason everything was just set up and crusty. I still found some good stuff in the trees. It got really warm though, hit 47 at one point, which really messed with the snow.
After a shortish day, Clay announced he was cooked around 2:00. I figured with the less-than-ideal conditions I should just call it a day too and decided to head back.
Passed A-Basin on the way and realized it was much colder there than at Breck. I had nothing better to do so I figured "why not" and ducked into the parking lot. Quickly booted up and grabbed 4 runs at A-Basin before they closed. Much better conditions there.
Got there early and grabbed a couple warm up runs on Dukes before joining the lesson group. Snow conditions pretty much sucked today after yesterday's warm day and then being refrozen overnight. We were still able to find plenty of shots in the trees.
Blackhawk Trees and The Burn were skiing really well. E-chair was down (mechanical issues) so we used Mercury chair and some skating to get over to the East Face of Peak 9 where we dove into The Doors.
Grabbed a quick late lunch then headed up the T-Bar for a shot down Brills Thrill to Cucumber, then another ride up the T-Bar for a run down Lone Wolf (an unnamed shot between Rustler and Outlaw on Horseshoe Bowl) to Mine Dump to High-Anxiety. Finished the day with a cruise through 007 Trees, Crescendo and 4-O'clock back to the parking lot.
Got there late due to traffic. But still managed to get to lesson line up on time. Skied with Dirk's group again and it was fantastic. Even though the storm was gone yesterday there was plenty of untracked powder to find off the T-Bar and Imperial chair.
Powder Day! Things didnt start off that well when my Nordica's binding broke. Had to go back down and get my Bonafides. Missed out on two warm up runs. Spent the day with Dirks group again. Stayed mostly in the trees due to flat light. Went in for lunch around 1:00 and lost my mojo. Skied one big run after lunch (Whale's Tail to Vertigo to Ore Bucket) and called it a day.
Braved the holiday weekend crowd. Got there extra early and was still able to get rock-star parking. Lined up for first-chair but I got run over as they dropped the rope and managed 5th chair. The place didnt get as crowded as I expected, especially once the upper mountain opened.
Zuma was open, but wasnt skiing that well. Stuck to Pali area and Lenawee. Both had some great bumps going. Chalky and firm.
Decided to bail early to avoid I-70 traffic back, glad I did.
Simply an amazing day at Breck. 4" fresh made for a fluffy powder day. 2" more fell during the day and kept everything skiing nice.
Was riding E-chair, approaching the top, when we saw patrol dropping the rope across the entrance to the Windows. We waited for him to finish, he nodded at us and we dove in. First tracks in the trees on a powder day!
Rode up the Imperial chair also, but the Lake Chutes were closed. Imperial Bowl was nice but it was skiing by braille up there so we bailed on any more runs up there.
Ended the day with another run down the Windows, and then over on Peak 10.
Spent the day skiing with Emily, Bill, Tricia, Steve and Daria. Much better than yesterday, fresh edges on the skis really helped. Snow stated skiable until later so we hung out until around 2:30. Monument Glades was the run of the day with nice soft bumps among the trees.
Silverton Day 2: woke up to 14" of fresh snow at the base and about 20" up top. My first run on the day didn't go so well. Kept getting caught in trees and deep snow.
Run #2 was much better. Patrol opened the higher terrain and we skied some wide-open faces with thigh-deep powder. Face shots were plentiful. Run #3 was much the same with a nice wide open face of powder followed by a tight gully.
At that point I was feeling pretty tired and the group was headed in for lunch. Once inside the tent I saw Monique Mudama who informed me she signed up for a heli-drop. I decided to do it as well and paid the fee.
After some avalanche control the far side was open for heli-skiing. Got a safety briefing from patrol and we loaded up. 2 minutes later we were dropped off on the far peaks and skied some beautiful untracked pow. I think today might have ruined me for life for skiing. It was that good.
Silverton Day 1: Showed up at the base to find a couple of old school busses, a lift and a tent. It was snowing lightly. I was directed to the tent to sign a waiver and then sent to a school bus to pick up an avy beacon, shovel and probe. Lined up at the "medium" speed group. After a briefing on proper procedure on the use of the equipment we were off. The lift only takes you part of the way up. Had to hike to ski the good stuff.
Started snowing some wet sticky gloppy Pennsylvania-like snow. After a few runs of done incredibly gnarly terrain we went in for a quick lunch, then went out for some more. I was done after 4 runs and went in to the tent for a beer.
Tomorrow is shaping up to be even better. Expected to snow all night.
“The best place in the world to ski is where you’re skiing that day.” — Warren Miller
