IN THE DEEP

It was an exciting morning in the 'Boat today; we've been watching the snow pile on since yesterday afternoon until this morning thinking... ooooh, deeeeeep. I personally couldn't sleep past 6:30 from all the excitement.

We pressed glass at the Gondy, getting first chair once again thanks to some mule help from Rob W and Travis G with the gear! We didn't make it up before the Thunderhead pressers but Rudy's tracked out on a 24" day is dreamy just the same. We reached the Storm Peak line with over 100 other dedicated 'hounds and made about 12th chair up. Giggling and bubbling excitement aside, you don't get much happier than looking down from a Storm Peak chair and seeing Hurricane and Storm Face completely untracked and beckoning yours. We had to do it, and it was one of the top 10 best runs of my life. Long, steep, untracked, and thigh deep snow with intermittant face shots, seriously? Who's hatin' that? It was of course over Craig's head, so not him. We had shouts of encouragement from the lift the entire way down

Deep doesn't necessarily mean painless though... First run Rob snapped his pole in half (see right!). Laughing, we checked the lift shacks for replacements and made our way to Sideburn and Sunset and Lights Out so we could take Sundown up to check in the Patrol shack for one. Sideburn was as deep as you can ski it, folks, literally, choking on snow. Sunset was slightly tracked but up to my waste in spots, and Lights Out was bottomless. Unfortunately however Craig jumped his bouncing rabbit-like butt into a 2' hole and three of us, including a patroller, had to dig him out. But by the time we blazed through Lights Out to the lift, his leg was jumping now too.

For Craig this isn't good... bouncing legs means something in there is wrong- you paras know this, your body tells you when your nerves can't. Needless to say we had to exit the mountain to get him checked out. Alas, a glorious morning cut short but not wasted, for sure. TONS of pow. We made our way down the hill via Storm and our meadow (or I've also heard it called "Middleburns") to Rainbow for some final face shots.

Craig's at Dr Sisk's now getting it xrayed (I'll keep you posted, we're hoping for an ankle sprain), and then we head down to Denver this afternoon and fly out to Myrtle Beach tomorrow! We'll miss the holiday week of snow, so get after that powder for us and we'll see you next year!

Happy Holidays!

Today's tasty surprises were everywhere, and the skiers were nowhere to be seen. We had the place to ourselves this morning, and it was delightful. Craig's bff Keith insisted on the Gondy, even though Thunderhead is now open, and we got first tracks down Rudy's, fresh untracked cord with a few inches of butter on the side... tasty. Storm wasn't open so we rode up BC for a few turns down newly-opened Surprise for some fresh.

Up Sundown and on to High Noon for a top-to-bottom hauler, speedy, carvy, buttery, delight. I've literally never seen High Noon look or feel so good with one person on it, me! I lost the boys who headed down Sunshine Lift Line, reporting it to be identical conditions of course. We met up via Sundown and Sunshine lifts at the top- I can effectively confirm that Sunshine is only about 2 chairs slowly than Sundown now... remember when that lift took 15 minutes?

Then on to Tomohawk, with 3-4" of fresh along the side we surfed to the tunes and followed Craig down to Ramrod. This one was so nice, we did it twice. Ramrod was carvable, again with about 4" max in spots, definitely stiff from the wind but not noticable on the big boards; we found fresh tracks through the meadow. Second time around our buddy and guest photographer Jessie parked it at the cattrack at the bottom of Ramrod and took some shots. . . apparently however we don't get to view them yet today!

We took The Face (lovely) to Rainbow and Vagabond; they're blasting Vagabond still, filling in the holes. We checked out the sad empty forest removed from Rough Rider Basin, wow, talk about Beetle Kill Meadow. It looks so different, there definitely will be some sad kids missing their wood ferries in there this year.

The views from the top extended to the hazy Flattops, glowing blue under partial clouds, looking downright magestic today. The sun is trying to peek through but it's mostly overcast, and no, it's not snowing. We did in fact only get about 4" max, but don't let that stop you from tasting the goods from the Gods. It's unbelievable up there.

We've been in the mix of a tentative- and temperamental- storm warning these last few days and I'm beginning to lose track of things already! It's Thursday, a week from Christmas, it's frigid, and it's snowing- it's not snowing- it's snowing... that's the extent of my awareness right now.

Yesterday we had a few new inches at the top and today we had a dusting as well. It started dumping huge saucer-sized flakes today around 11:30am, and snowed for several hours. But the big dark storm system they promised would drop several feet on us is unfortunately sneaking out the back door. We're all a bit disappointed to say the least, but that hasn't been stopping Craig from making turns religiously (well, it is the holiday season!). He went up yesterday morning and mid-day today, both times reporting conditions were above average~ cold, good leftovers, and empty.

I'm a little more finicky myself and have immediate plans to mount the helmet/bike cam on Craig's foot cage so he can fill in with better details when I bag it (as I have the past few days). For clarification, I prefer fresh snow, early morning turns, am ok with minimal visibility and swirling snow, and don't care what temperature it is so long as there's new snow. But then again, I also snowshoe....

Craig's single option in the winter is skiing, and by golly, he's in-it-to-win-it right now. Gearing up for the 1st annual Legends of the Deep Powder Invitational in January, Craig's not only skiing daily, he's also working out at the gym and his skiing shows it. He's bombing bumps and piles of old snow like it's UPS's popcorn. He'd never race, says it's too much "waiting around," but a powder competition? You just wait.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring us some powder but frankly it doesn't look like it; that storm front is puking itself dry somewhere Ft Collins right now... I mean even VEGAS got some. COME ON.

For the record, weathermen of the US, please don't predict "several feet" of snow for us ever. Steamboat's Bermuda Triangle of weather seems to like it best when you say "1-3 inches" instead.

Glorious day up there today friends; Steamboat is inching towards max opening and today was an outstanding advance in the right direction. The Gondy line was enormous, full of the weekend warriors and the usual faces in front, we bypassed to the disabled entrance, loaded, and made it down to Storm to collect with the early rising hikers and staff for some fresh powder. The ride down Rudys was mint: 3" of fresh or so on top of a blanket of cord? Oh my. It was a all-layers morning, 6° at the summit, giving the snow the lightness we love.

From Storm Peak we headed right over to the sunny side and caught first tracks down 2 O'Clock, almost over Craig's head in spots, we bombed through the bumps like butter all the way down Daybreak without a sound. Silent carving, deLIGHTful.

Up Sundown and down Sunshine Lift Line, through the trees to the right and over to Fawn, again first tracks, and almost too deep to surf with tacky wax and flatter momentum. Big GS turns down Fawn to South Peak, all to ourselves.

Up South Peak and down Westside, maybe 5th tracks or so, again bombing through buttery snow and loving every minute of it, despite the goggle steam and icing corners of the lenses... I made a pitstop into the shack to warm them up at the top of Sundown, and the boys did a lap without me, spending most of it chilling out (literally) on a stopped Sundown lift.

Then onward to our last runs, traversed to Storm Face, through the meadow and down Rainbow; tasty freshies to the left side, down to Storm Express for a top-to-bottom- which included Rainbow again it was so nice. These are the days we live here for.

What's new? They're blasting snow on Moonlight and Vagabond, and they opened Thunderhead lift around 9am... as we inch towards 100% and hopefully a 100" base...

See you in the Deep-

When the entire forecast shows snow... you can guess we'll be on the hill eating it up....

Stay tuned to this channel folks, low temps and 4 straight days of snow might be heading our way.

So feeling guilty we hadn't been up there, and getting some slack from one of our loyal readers in Bethesda Md, we watched the clouds roll in last night, excited to ski today. However, it never snowed very hard yesterday, despite the dedicated powderhound dance we were all doing, and despite the forecast for snow from Monday night to Wednesday morning. Alas, the storm drifted south and pounded ski areas from the CO/NM border up to Aspen. Rarely does Steamboat get jipped on storms that have dumped that much precip on the west coast, but such was the case today. We got a call around 10am telling us to stay inside, it wasn't pretty up there (despite what the marketing team is telling you ST readers).

It's absolutely gorgeous outside right now, and had our afternoons not been filled with meetings and such we'd likely be up there, but instead we look forward to Thunderhead Lift opening soon to make Craig's upload a whole lot easier (hopefully this weekend). Cutting the Gondy line at 8:25am is fine and all, but it's nice for him to get out of the wheelchair at the base and not see it again until we're done. Bringing two carloads worth of equipment up the hill with us is downright ski-schoolish, and we don't roll like that.

See you in the deep-

We uploaded a little early today, thanks to the best Gondola crew of the decade, and skied down to a deserted - and operational - Storm Peak Express. To our pleasant surprise they waved us through at 8:35 and we had the lift to ourselves for about 5 minutes, and as we climbed up to the peak we slowly started to see the glass-pressers ease in behind us.

We got to the top of Storm Peak and saw minimal tracks in 10-12" of new snow and decided without argument that we would just have to ski that untouched face. A little "set-up" on the top (it was about 10° warmer today at 25°), it was just firm enough to float over the fresh for a turnless surf under the liftline down to Cyclone. One word: Wow.

Cyclone promised a glorious second; tucked in the trees away from the wind, this snow was softer and undeniably bottomless. Craig dug himself in pretty good twice; we watched this pristine dream get chewed up before our eyes as riders passed us while digging him out. A true powder run back down to Storm, it was like we had a 2-foot dump last night, only we didn't.

Back up for another few laps... 2nd lap: Sunset had been groomed, but Storm Peak South was just as good as the North side. 3rd lap: Storm North again to our favorite meadow, some exposed rocks kept us skiers left down to an untouched glade next to the Four Points lift shack, and down Rainbow. That one was so nice, we did it twice. Last we hit Buddys, the fresh snow lying in piles on the left but a nice groomer down the middle to BC, and down the Daze, a veritable race course covered in beige snow machine chunks, ice, and attempted cord. Not the best ride down we've seen, but after the rest of the morning's bliss, who cares?

Rubber legged and well fed at the Egg&I, we're off to the hotsprings to soak the kinks out of these early season muscles.

See you in the deep-


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Well I can say it's finally here, and ya'll should be excited, 'cuz we sure are. We got first chair on the Gondy today (thanks to both Keith and Erin for helping us with Craig's rig, chair, skis, etc, man we'll be glad when they open up Thunderhead!), and that first smooth run down left side of Rudy's was mint... mind you it was cavernous in spots, but still tastycakes-good, from the cord to the 6" of fresh. It was about 11° up there so the snow was super-loft soft!

BC Lift was all we had from there, and the first lap up was frustrating with about six stops, but they got it smoothed out quick and the crowds made turn after turn after turn among happy shouts of ecstasy. We were some of the happy few to head down Lower Rainbow, its right side had some knee-deep Champagne and a blacktipped weasel sighting, complete with a mouse in his mouth (that's GOT to be some kind of sign). No clear shots of him, as he was bobbing in and out of a foot of fresh.

Fourth lap was down Norther, famous for bumps mid-season, this run was deLIGHTfully soft, fluffy, and bottomless, despite the only monoski-burial of the day. With help from Matt, Craig got dug out and back down the run in no time. Bottomless isn't always good.

Last and most epic of the day, they opened up the Daze at 10am (you literally had to download the Gondola if you wanted down before that- I know, right?? WHAT?), and it was like the freakin' Cowboy downhill- snowcross-like chaotic madness until clusters of powderhounds started filtering off down the right runs; Oops, Teds Ridge, Vertigo. We chose Teds and it was easily the nicest we've seen it in a long time, perfect pitch, perfect snow, face shots; eat your heart out... WE'RE BACK.

Tomorrow they open up Storm (if they don't screw us all and open it this afternoon) Peak and the madness truly begins. FA LA LA, Happy December.

See you in the deep-

It's been snowing since around 2am, and it's piling on!! I heard today that over last weekend we got up to 3 feet at the top, and some wiseguy at the gym told Craig that he'd skied Hurricane and it was sick. Reminding a monoskier you can hike to get your turns, some nerve. [chuckle] Not that hiking UP Rainbow sounds like our cup of tea anyway.

So Craig has vowed to get his rig sorted out today (whence last I wrote he had issues with the shock jamming) while we're up at the activity fair at the Grand, so we can ski tomorrow and Saturday.

They announced they plan to open the Gondola and Burgess Creek tomorrow and Storm Peak on Saturday (lifts) and we're excited for more terrain, to say the least. Tomorrow might even be our first powder-blue-bird day, folks; stay tuned. I've got to get some pictures of him for PMGear with his new skis, so expect some good shots over the next couple days-

I'm off to hike the hill behind our house for some cardio work to get me up to speed so I can keep up.

-See you in the deep (for REAL this time)

If small towns churn rumors like coffee beans in the grinder, Steamboat is the Rumor Mill...

Word is they're opening a few extra runs this weekend, but no more lifts: The bottom of Valley View (exit stage right off Christie) and See Me (next to See Ya). Now, that's unconfirmed, but the runs have been tilled by the grooming crew, meaning they are at least fixin' to do somethin' with them! And NOT a rumor: To entice the skiers Steamboat's offering Ski Free tickets till Christmas if you book lodging; an unheard-of deal and a sign of the times.

It's unseasonably warm today, but the skies are blackening, there's something dark red on the satellite moving across the CO-UT border as I type, and there's snow on the forecast until Thursday night. One can only hope at this point, 'cuz my snow dance seems futile; Mother Nature has a mind of her own.

At least we'll be in ridiculously good shape by the time Steamboat opens full steam, but I'm a little bored with this "ski conditioning" by now for sure.

Dreaming of Face Shots- Craig's one and only cover shot; SNS0307.

Craig also jacked his rig down, jammed into the compressed position. After all the work he did on this, its just another issue with the ProComp. The shocks that come on those are weak.

Gonna bring the camera up when we open up....

Treo Mobile

Tomorrow will be the day. Building extra base on top of that machine-made 10'' we had is slowly amping up our motivation to test the scant 45 acres (~10%). Spoiled or lazy? I'm blaming it on both triptophan and equipment. Today's 6'' at 5am and 2-3 since then just weren't better than my bed... Yet. When you can ski everyday, conditions be the judge.

Supposed to snow through the night, and the holidayers depart tomorrow, leaving us alone with Mt Werner to pile it on & ski in peace next week, as the season begins to shape up like last year if the predictions stay in line.. Now we just need some more terrain.

Stay tuned...

Treo Mobile

The other die-hards were up there, but Craig's rig isn't completely ready to go (the shock still needs to be rebuilt and the new strut needs to be put on), and although we're storing our buddy Baker's Revolution Pro Comp here too, we just couldn't make it happen today.

But we did finally get our passes yesterday, so we're official!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone... Do a snow dance for us!

-See you in the deep!

<i>Uploaded with Treo Mobile</i>

Truthfully, we never ski on Scholarship Day.But we always ski on Thanksgiving.

Now, on a year when we have a powder day on opening day and I'm really THAT itching to ski, I might very well ski on Scholarship Day- proceeds for this day ($15 tickets, season pass or not) go to our local youth Winter Sports Club- but so far, that hasn't happened in 10 years. However for at least the last seven, I've skied Thanksgiving morning, before I start churning out pumpkin pies.

2006 was the most memorable opening for me; we had a week of snow and we were all choking on it during opening week. (11-30-06, left) The rest have not been... a few runs for the kicks of it, and that's about it. Get your legs under you again, see if all that "ski conditioning" exercise was worth the puking (yes, for the first time since I was 18 I threw up after running today, OMG), and test out your new boards- unless of course it's this year, then we're dusting off our "rock" skis. You know the ones, those 210s from '91 with serious gouges out of them already? Right. Those of us who ride haven't been knuckle-dragging long enough to have "rock boards." Pisser.

So... we're at one-more-day (!) and counting hours... 38... tick tick.

With sunny skies and warm temps for over a week, talk of town is a repeat of last year's delayed opening. Consensus is that's OK if we get last year's quantity; who needs snow in November if we're up to our neck in it by January?

The ski area does, that's who. With a cut-back budget, reduced staff, and bookings far below average, a continual dumping of the white stuff would be key right now. Or as one of the higher ups told me, a national broadcasted Broncos game under snowing skies would increase bookings considerably.

The sunny skies are fading though, there's something storming over in Utah, and I noticed one of my Facebook friends in Oregon is "hunkering down, the storms have begun." So I have hope amidst my doubts of an opening in just one short week. Please do your snow dance with me... please.

The mountain is already reporting two feet of snow thus far, with a one-foot base and it's been snowing all day. A Twitter friend's update tells me that skiers are lappin' it up at Loveland already, and although we're ready, we're not.

Craig's been gathering gear like a ravaged midwestern soccer mom on Black Friday; Old skis and bindings checked? Check. New leg for the monoski? Check. New powder skis? Check. New powder outriggers? Check. Smartwool layers? Check.

But what's left to do? Bring the Revolution Pro Comp and the old outriggers down from the rafters and throw on that new leg. Put up the bikes. Wax the boards. Pick up our passes. And Open Up The Lifts!

Pick up our passes?? That should be first! Yikes, we need to get on that early next week before the lines start forming and the locals start frothing at the bit...

In doing research for our 4th annual Steamboat All Mountain Ski Camp today, I found myself on Powder Magazine's website looking at Steamboat in three-dimensional glory from a view I have yet to experience up there, Birds' Eye.

I've flown over the mountain once on the way into Hayden, but the distance was still far and the speed was fast; this view is computer animated sure, and green in color, which although it's not winter-themed, it makes the trails stand out better. What an amazing way to look at the mountain. Try it out. It's somewhere between simulated Wing-Suit sky diving and Google Earth. Now all I need is a joystick until the hill opens... 14 days, 18 hours remaining.

And yes, it's been snowing off and on all day.

Testing this technology out today to get us amped for the trick of direct-upload from ski lift. Looks like it works just dandy!

Here's another reason to be amped, brand new powder skis... mmm, the "Bro..."

Oh, and another 3-6'' on the mountain last night! And chance of snow from tonight until Thursday! We're building a ski hill!

I'm not going to start counting yet because the mountain isn't open, but I think as soon as it is, I'm going to tally the incorrect forecasts. So far they'd be 0-2, and as someone said to me yesterday, "Don't they look out their windows?" But the mountains do something strange to weather systems, and although I call myself something of a weather buff, I wouldn't want the job of predicting snow around here. Sometimes the mountains suck in the system and keep it here for days, sometimes they don't. I'm not sure if there's rhyme or reason to it, but I am sure that all the locals agree on this, never trust a forecast more than 3 days out, and rarely trust a forecast otherwise.

Although I compare forecasts with three meteorology centers (www.steamboatweather.com, www.weather.com, and www.wrh.noaa.gov), they usually all agree with each other, and I tend to make my own assumptions day to day based on how the satellite is looking. All three centers predicted sun with partly cloudy skies and warmer temps (45-50°) for yesterday and today, with the snow coming back in tomorrow. But both days have been dark and dreary, no sun to be had, with a humid 20° chill. And now we're seeing light flurries today.

I'm not complaining, they were blasting the base area yesterday and cold temps mean continual snowmaking 24 hours a day so we can get ready for opening day.

But I want to know, why do these people get paid if they're rarely right?

It's early November and many locals are saying they "aren't ready for this snow...."

It comes every year at Halloween, you know it does, and it breaks for the Sun's vitaminD charge in between storms. It doesn't get booger-freeze cold (as best a description as I've ever had for it, that's where you inhale through your nostrils and they stick together) until mid or late December, and only stays that way for 4-6 weeks when the Sun has gone to Mexico for Winter Solstice. So why the denial for some? I don't understand.

This is when Craig and I enter the short, 4-month-mode of Permanently Awaiting the Next Storm, and if we're lucky, the wait is never long. Like holding your breath while diving for shells or touching sea turtles in your snorkel gear, or better fitting, like holding your breath between face shots of Pow', we like -and need- the break between storms. Don't gasp at me like that, we do. It's a recharge for the legs, or the arms and tummy for Craig, and we do need a day or three to get some work done.

We're not fair-weather skiers. Blue bird days are for the Texans in jeans, the grandpas and grandmas, the New York ladies in fur-necked Prada, and only a select few locals who strive for 100+days on the mountain. They aren't picky. We are. We don't need the views, although nice, we've seen 'em. We don't need to see the run before us, we know every turn, every tree, every stash. We don't need clear goggles, we bring an extra pair.

So when it's early November and storming like this, we're chomping at the bit. Awing at our new skis, bringing down the rig and tuning it, getting out our ski gear and washing it, staring at the mountain and counting....

And luckily this time, according to Weather Channel's Mike Bettis, we won't have wait too long.


(NOTE: Too bad the Broncos aren't playing at home this Sunday, it's always good for ski areas' bookings when they play in the snow... )

6-10" new inches on our deck means twice that on the hill! That's right, the first Powder Day is here!

Unfortunately none of us can take advantage of it of course, what with the mountain not open, but we're building base, and it's been blowing sideways since last night, big flakes falling off and on, and if what we got on our deck is any inclination of what fell on Mt Werner, we're startin' the season out right. We're all hoping that Oak Creek prediction of 30% more this year is off to a running start...

Craig got his fat PMGear Bro powder skis delivered via UPS today, and we popped in a Warren Miller flick from '03 to celebrate.

Hopefully there will be twice as much on the deck tomorrow- 20 days, 9 hours and counting... is that wind I hear?...

That's right folks, our first winter storm warning is in effect. We've been hearing about this "Tuesday snow" for days, and since the Sunday and Monday rain forecast was wrong, we had our doubts. But I held hope, both for a change in weather and a change in government on this powerful election day. We awoke to darkness, the skies are Halloween-esque, gloomy and filled with a variety of stratus clouds- a combination of cirrostratus, altostratus and nimbostratus (mostly the latter). The temperature dropped at about 1pm yesterday but the wind didn't pick up until early today, as it typically does about 8 hours before we get hit.

Yesterday Craig and I questioned the start date of snowmaking, remembering it was always one of these first two weeks of November, depending on temperature. It has to stay cold, we reminded each other... and subsequently I had a dream that we were looking at Concentration and saw the snow guns blasting...

I got a text from a friend in southern VA expressing his jealousy about an hour ago when he saw the warning and I couldn't help but smile. Tonight folks we will have officially entered WINTER.

Right on time as always, October 31st brings precipitation to the 'Boat. Check in on Tuesday, it's supposed to turn cold then, and as we hope, not stop snowing until mid-April.

What can we say, we're powder hounds.... Bring it!

If you want to follow along on the best satellite we've found, go to:
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/satellite/ and scroll down to infrared, western US, 4km, animation... and watch it roll.

-See You in the Deep

Halloween.

This is about the time of year it begins to snow. We've all been relaxed about it because last winter trickled out long and cold well into June, welcoming the warm sunny days and lengthy fall colors. But this week, we all started getting antsy. The snow we got about 10 days ago is melting off the peaks, the sun persists, and the Oak Creek Dowser's 08-09 prediction of 30% more snow over last year's epic and record breaking 550" season seems to be teasing us.

We know it will snow soon, but with 26 days left to build a base, our impatience has finally begun.
Perhaps part of the anticipation... Craig and I have begun to organize ourselves and our fundraising efforts for our 4th Annual All Mountain Ski Camp with Adaptive Adventures, Steamboat Powdercats and Steamboat Ski Area. By writing press releases about deep fresh snow and reviewing photos from last year, it's no wonder we've finally started chomping at the bit. We are also adding a new event to follow this camp (teaser) as well as a kids camp, so our hands will be full for the next couple of months as we grow what is already a proudly successful event. Stay Tuned...

-See you in the Deep