IN THE DEEP

It never ceases to amaze me the emptiness of this time of year.

With 5" new  and an excited "still snowing" following that, the 5am report fooled only 100 of us. The line at the Gondy didn't make up half the covered maze; I arrived about 8:15 and was only about 20 back in the singles line.  Craig is in Denver yesterday and today training United Airlines on how to handle customers with disabilities and their equipment (yes, 'bout time United), so I had to brave the (gasp) lines alone. Ha. Lines. Therefore I was quite pleased to find every line today as empty as can be. Only took two rides on Four Points and one on Storm, but never waited in a line of more than 20 bodies for either.

The run down Rudy's was buttery smooth still, and the two runs (that good!) down Cyclone were like scurfing along the beach in a west coast fog. Best I can explain it. Ankle deep snow with no crusty noise underneath, like water. Pea-soupy gray sky above, as if it were trying to push out the last of the flakes. Gnat-sized flakes fell for the 75 minutes I was up there, and the sun is now bursting through. The tree glade below Storm North was the deepest I saw, untracked, glorious, and scurfy-smooth.

What I like about skiing alone is the peace. While I always chat up my neighbors on the lift, the ease of riding where and how fast you want to an earful of JJ Cale is sweet symphonic bliss.  No looking around to make sure someone hasn't buried themselves is a nice, rare, change.  I met one of the new TrufflePig's bartenders on the Gondy and rode with him again when he caught up to me - heh - at Four Points, excited to test out that new eatery's Apres Ski Happy Hour!  Other than that it was me and JJ, gliding through the thin untracked goodness on Mt Werner today.  But I do miss my powderhound, and can't wait to ski with him later this week when (not if) we get more snow.

-See you in the Deep!

The season's first official powder day left plenty of locals giggling down the trails today.  We made first chair on Four Points and beelined it right to a knee-deep Cyclone, smooth like butter with two tracks down its rolling, silky glade.  Despite not remembering to switch out Craigs Tiger racing ski for the Bro powder ski, we had no incidents with a buried mono- the snow billowed over his head, leaving a 30 yard cloud in his wake.

Next we headed up Storm to hit the Face, meadow, and Sunset, all barely tracked, also knee deep, and buttery. The snow is super light, with 12• temps overnight, the conditions have been kept intact.

After a top-to-bottom Buddys our early season legs were toast, and we took one more lap down Storm Rainbow and below, making it down by 10 in time for a full days' work!

It wasn't snowing but it was socked in above the saddle, and is  supposed to start snowing again this afternoon, as well as some more on Wednesady and Friday!

-See you In The Deep!

Happy to say that after a week of warmth, we'll be going back under that white blanket sometime this evening, hopefully to stay until April.  The forecast looks dark and ominous, and the natives are restless. . .

 

The 40 day mark has arrived, as locals watch the battle between Fall and Winter pan out.

Since 2008, October is usually the month when our posts begin for In The Deep, depending on when the snow starts to fly. This past weekend wasn't the first dusting we got in Colorado, but it's the first one that's stuck in the 'Boat. In 2006, that happened as early as we can remember in 16 years, on September 9th. But the weather has been reasonably stable with an Indian Summer this year, that is until October arrived.

Last Friday the 8th, Mt. Werner got its first dusting, which proceeded to accumulate through the weekend.(photo courtesy of Steamboat PR)

Per the norm, the subsequent 4 days of rain, hail, and snow subsided into a week of sunny fall warmth, temporarily retaining the last of our yellow and orange leaves.

Here begins the battle between Fall and Winter, with just six short weeks until the mountain opens. We know who wins this battle, it's just a matter of when.

And we're all chomping at the bit, as usual, but with excited anticipation this year for some new trails that are a result of the logging of dead pine trees from the Pine Beetle Epidemic that has been sweeping Colorado for the past decade, with much the devastation happening in the last three years. The biggest opening of trees we've all been looking at all summer is between See Me, VooDoo and Vogue, and will likely be one of our first stops on the way down on November 25th. Other improvements can be found here.

-See you in the deep! (The locals all think this is going to be a big one!)

It's always these "slim" years that we get hammered in April.... the numbers don't lie. We average 350" of snowfall annually, so when I see only 225 by March 2oth, I assume it'll come sometime. Maybe after it's any use to us, but it will come. And it did. And I reveled in it. Thankfully.

Being out for 2 weeks during some of the best powder days of the year was one of the hardest acts of patience I've ever had to perform. I twisted my leg pretty bad on March 22nd, and gave myself two solid weeks to heal and retrain. My patience paid off.

Yesterday it just kept coming down, in those big potato-sized snowflakes, blowing upward, with the wind howling, for at least 24 hours straight. I knew watching that all day that I could do nothing other than assume my leg could take it. I don't breathe skiing like my husband does. I don't think about it all summer, and live by the 5am report in the winter (I know, blasphemy). But I do love my powder, and I'm a snob about it. So when they reported 24" in 24, just like the Pirate Theater play I love, there was no saying "No" to that.

And it was well worth it. Now let's move on to the snow.

On deep days, we ride the Gondola to beat the hounds to Four Points, which opened about 10 minutes late today, making the hounds restless indeed. "It's 8:48" you hear them shout, "Calm down, they're doing their best," another one says... and then the beeps start and the antsy pants dance begins. Those beeps mean "Load 'Em Up!" And those hounds start drooling.

From Four Points we bombed down Sunset to find the creamy goods that were up to our knees in spots- the 24" in 24 is definitely in the trees today (and tomorrow, there's NO one here!), but the groomers had this 6-8" coating on them that was truly like butter. There were trench-sized windlips on the top of High Noon and Sunshine Lift Line, visibility was zero so they took us by surprise for sure. But once you got down to the Clocks the fog lifted, and the tree runs were magnificent. 1230 was the best I've seen it all year. 130 was just as good. Then we went over to Sideburn, and the meadow below Storm Face where Craig found a windlip with his name on it:



And from there we rode Storm up again for another lap of the same, this time down the hero-sized bumps of Storm North/Liftline, and down to Hurricane, where both quotes of the day occured:
"So much happiness!" And, "If there WERE bumps under there, they're burried now!" So true Jennie Lay, so true! Thanks for the smiles today.

It was impossible to not to have a good time this morning, well, unless you had to leave early like I did, but my pain was secondary to the powderiferous glory of the day, and in that, I feel blessed to say, we were truly In The Deep of it today, folks. Glorious.



4 more days, and some end of the season fun to come... then it's back to the waiting game, yet again.

In The Deep – 4.1.10 & 4.2.10

So I guess you could look at our April first snow storm and powder days in two ways. April fools on all the summer lovers who can’t wait to put their short and sun dresses on is one way to see it. But I like to think it was all of us powder hounds who fooled Mother Nature into thinking we had had enough snow and were ready for Spring. Well the joke is on her because the mountain reported 14 inches in 48 hours but it was way more than that. I skied over a foot of fresh in places yesterday and today was almost as good. The fact that we have great conditions (some of the best all season) and there are no people in town makes for the perfect local’s playground.

So yesterday was perfect snow with terrible visibility but that kept people off the mountain and my lines fresh. So I hooked up with Joey and Jason and McCarthy and headed for the snow. First run took us into Sideburns and over to Lights Out and were not disappointed. Deep and light with a few inches of heavy underneath and we couldn’t even hear the ice lurking below. After that we headed for Pioneer Ridge and Middle Rib. The deeper into the trees we got the deeper the powder got and the better the face shots. After hitting a few of the regular stashes, I finished the day by breaking off from the group to take the Daze down and called it a day to save some fuel for the next day.

APRIL 2:
So knowing there were very few people on the mountain the day before, I arose very early to get first chair on Christie. This time with Pat and Shelby in tow. The first stash I shoed them was T-Head liftline. Now you can only do this when the Poma lift isn’t running but it is worth it! Next we headed for Storm Peak and my favorite warm up run down Storm Peak Face to Sunset Trees (right side) to Moonlight Trees. Next we hit Rolex for 6 inches on top of groomer heaven! Keith’s Ridge, West Side, Black Powder, RamRod, and 12:30 trees all made the list today and then I cut it short a bit to get home for some work before work. Either way it was a glorious two days and more snow is in the forecast so we will see you…In The Deep

So even though it’s a little late, I just had to brag about how incredible the mountain was on Sunday. Saturday was obviously a tremendous day for the end of March and the fun continued into Sunday. With warm temperatures in the forecast and Butch Butler, monoskier extraordinaire, in town from South Carolina, we decided to hit the mountain early in search of freshies. After a quite cold ride up the mountain (yep, temperatures stayed pretty chilly until late morning) we headed directly to Storm Peak to check out the fresh snow still waiting on the Face. So we skied the deep carpet of Storm Peak Face, veered right into the storm face meadow (a.k.a. Mustache) and shot over to Sunset to access Moonlight Trees which was still fresh and down to Sundown Express. Our net run took us to the top of the Wally World Cornice to skiers right and down through Black Powder and all the way out to Ramrod. If you haven’t skied ramrod on a 5 inch day you are missing out. Right side or left side you really can’t go wrong. Craig’s ridge was next and didn’t disappoint, especially when I cut into the trees at the bottom of wristband. This is a hard to find stash that is often missed and I had first tracks the day after a powder day! We skied Billy Kidd Trees, and High Noon, and all the regulars until I realized that it was my acciversary (14th anniversary of breaking my back on the mountain). So with the infamous Dougie Fresh in tow we headed up BC and over to the scene of the crime, Vertigo. It took me 5 years to be good enough to even ski Vertigo again and I ski it every year on that day. Today the bumps were huge and soft and I conquered my foe once again. It was a great was to end the day and as I skied up to my wheelchair I shouted, “I win!” See you next time…In The Deep

(Saturday March 27th, posted by Craig Kennedy)

It’s the end of March and there are no brown spots on the mountain. And despite what the report said this morning the mountain was in beautiful mid winter shape. The five inches that fell two nights ago and into yesterday morning with the 6 on the report this morning (and it snowed all morning too) made for over a foot of fresh (and more in spots) and barely a notice of the treacherous conditions lurking beneath.

After a buttery run down Rudy’s we loaded Four Points in the 15th position and headed directly for my favorite warm up run consisting of Sunset (right side of course) to Moonlight Trees. Riding with my BFF Keith we had to head next to Keith’s Ridge. Then we skied the top of Sunshine Lift line and cut back out towards one o’clock and onto Billy Kid Trees (it’s a secret, can’t tell you). After that we headed to my new favorite tree shot off of Sundial and finished with an untracked run down RamRod. So besides all the face shots (I am nice and low to the ground) the mountain was also empty.

Devoid of locals and tourists alike so tomorrow should be SWEEEEEEET! While the skiing was great, it had been a while since skiing a powder day and I felt a little off my game the first couple of runs. Then my armpit zipper on my jacket blew out so it was a cold morning but it was all worth it. There’s nothing better than end of the season powder days after you’ve already convinced yourself there won’t be any more. And hopefully we get one more for my lovely, but slightly injured wife.

See you In The Deep!

Yesterday's powder was so much fun, we decided to post more videos!

Craig's Ridge/Westside- barring the first 20 seconds of me getting my bearings (and maybe swearing about it, sorry!), Craig hits this jump on Westside like a champ!



Keith's shot down Buckshot- powder was in the trees today!


Ramrod- This one's long, but a nice tree run if I could only keep my hand straight. :)




-See you in the Deep!

After several weeks of what seemed like a repeat of Ice Age 2:The Melt Down, winter has finally returned in the 'Boat and locals were up bright and early this morning tasting 9 new in 24. What fell yesterday squashed nicely into the base, filling in between bumps, holes, and patches, so that when today's half-a-foot fell, it was icing on the cake.

We made turned chair on Four Points into a rare lap back to Storm for what was our best run down Cyclone all year. 5" new on a fresh mow, meow. Big swooping GS turns, we cut first tracks down that baby all the way to a slightly bumped Drop Out for 11th chair on Storm, not bad. They were all chomping at the bit, and we'd had one long, gloriously powderific run. No complaints.

Storm Peak Express took us through the soupy morning fog - visibility, one chair - to the top, where it was hard to shake off the vertigo on Storm Face, but once you got dropped over the ridge the snow was buttery and deep in the meadow, already push piles on Sunset (First Trackers delight this morning!), and then glorious again in Moonlight Trees.

Where to next was the big question, and we decided to taste the trees- as normal, 1230, 130, and Wristband- that big open glade below the trees between Rolex and Westside, tasty. Ramrod, Buckshot, treeline off Sunshine, Westside Ridge; everywhere was nicely frosted with thick buttery, cream cheese-tastic Champagne Powder!

When you hear "5" fell in the last 24 hours and none since the mountain closed," you tend to think, do I bother? But it had been a week since I had, and Craig goes up nearly every day, so yeah, we bothered. And it wasn't quite a powder day, but it'll do. We had to work a little for the stashes, but they were there.



The trees were barely tracked- Wristband was among today's favorites, and didn't get to Pumphouse or 130 today but tasted Kodak and some Morningside trees, the upper trees above Big Meadow, 1230, Twister, Ramrod and area, and the woods off Sundial were all close to knee-deep with the soft stuff. The groomers produced as well... all soft and givey, which was good for the flatlight- because the weather was the weirdest factor today by far.

It was absolutely puking on our first ride up Morningside and warmer over there, the snow coming in from Buff and the Zirkels. But it was sunny on our first ride up Sundown, with some misty flakes in the air. Then a fog layer dropped over the peaks and visibility disappeared. About 10 minutes later, some more sun on Westside for us. By the time we got down, it was snowing again. What do they say about Colorado? "You don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes."

-See you in the deep!

Unquestionably the best day and best powder we've had all year, today brought a reported minimal 8" of new in the last 24 but it was definitely more like a foot in spots as usual.

First chair up Christie to Four Points, we made our fresh knee-high turns down into Moonlight trees in light powder with Keith and Jesse, and headed up Sundown to seek out the stashes before the Saturday mob arrived. From the top we did "Keith's Ridge" under the top of Sunshine Lift Line, where visibility was pretty minimal under a thick fog but the snow was downright glorious.

From there we hit OneOClock to find some tree stashes, which were so nice we did 1230 first then 130 later on when we caught up with Drew and Jeannie from Colorado Springs. ("Look there's a whole flock of em!" -Texan says about the monoskiers.) The trees below the Duster cat track were mint, but what was groomed was also nice with about 4" on top of fresh cord.



We also found some goodies in the Sundial area trees, on Ramrod and Buckshot, and frankly, there isn't a bad run out there today! We didn't burn out until about 11, shocker, since we haven't had this much snow to burn the quads since ... well, April 2009 maybe. :)

Both Westside and Rolex were lovely, for Westside, I rode the left side into the trees towards Broadway for shin-deep stuff; and Rolex had "hero" bumps up to my waist in spots. We found similar on Hurricane, and ducked into the trees back to Rainbow for the stashes there. DIVINE!

Just like that, one day of the good and the bare and not-so-nice spots are filling in very nicely- Sundown Liftline, Thunderhead Liftline, and Sunshine Liftline were all back to excellent.

Finally, we have some deep! And hopefully more of it. Real soon.

With my parents and their college friends in town this week for the Carnival, of course we've been joking daily about old people- being old, creaking bones, social security checks, and waiting for the old men to catch up to us on the hill.

Ward Doyle however is NOT an old man. I'm officially declaring that right here.


Uncle Waddy ripped this mountain wide open today and it was US trying to keep up with him! Brilliant! Not often do we meet our match, groomer day or powder day it doesn't matter; when you spend 50-80 days a year on the same hill, week in week out, it's hard for anyone else to keep up. But this is Ward's third ski trip this year, he was bragging about Idaho on Sundown lift so we were hopeful and our hopes were granted.


The morning was sunnier than the afternoon; so we cranked out 6 runs while the rest went "gourmet snowshoe touring", and then met up with them at Hazie's for a divine lunch. The respite ceased up the joints, so come 1pm we were ready to head down the Daze. We timed it right so they could shoot us from above for a change! What a glorious day; many took advantage of it, there was a "line" at Sundown!

There's something blowing in... someone say a prayer it doesn't go to my parents' house in DC yet again... they're supposed to get FEET. Where's my Powder Day!?

See you in the deep!

The infamous Jeffrey Krauthamer, man of many nicknames, and his lovely family are in town this week with something close to 25 years of visiting Steamboat under their belts, traveling all the way from my neck of the woods in Maryland. As usual, Craig got in many days of turns with Jeffrey but unfortunately due to being gone for part of the week, I only got to ride today with his troop. Luckily it was the best one it seems!

I got a late start due to some technical difficulties with a (dare I say) mediocre tune job; lesson learned, always check your equipment when you get it back. Thanks to the stellar crew at the Yurt at the top of the Gondola however (a huge thanks to Mike and Fred!) , I was back on the slopes in less than 30 and caught up to the pack at the bottom of Storm, only missing 2 runs.

"Blue bird" days are always the best; with sun on your face, the snow softens as the day progresses. I know I've said this before this season, but it felt like March up there today for certain. Everywhere we went was very nice, from Buddy's to StormPeak to Wally World, the mountain is in great shape still, despite the lack of snow.

Jeffrey was killing it as usual, skiing with Rick and Uncle Benny- who just can't seem to stay away from Steamboat no matter how many times he tries to leave- and the two pushed JK to ski better than he ever has this week. They were carving big turns on the steep runs, and maching so fast down the long ones that this photographer could barely do her job. Good stuff, boys, good stuff.


Winter Carnival starts next week, and my folks and their friends arrive tomorrow and Monday respectively, so it'll be a fun week of photos, some more skiing, and Mother Nature permitting, hopefully a little snow for the festivities.

Not much "deep" this year, but we'll still see you in it when it comes.

The glorious day we've been awaiting has arrived. Starting out with an empty Gondy maze and 8 inches new or more to play in, we made our way to Four Points for first chair. It was blowing sideways at the top though, visibility was nil, and the temp felt surprisingly colder than 14° to all of us.

The snow was a little heavy, but buttery, up to my knees in spots where the fierce overnight winds had blown in drifts, and still shin deep everywhere else. First tracks down Keith's Ridge, Moonlight and Fawn were the best of day, Storm and Daze were blown off down to the hardpack and the peak was invisible in the fog, so we finished off with some lower mountain favorites like Concentration [images], lovely knee deep soft pow stashes all along the right side of that one!



Thankfully it kept snowing all day, so tomorrow promises to be even better... albeit colder. And snow's forecast for several more days- it looks like Mother Nature is cranking up the machine, finally, in preparation for the 97th Winter Carnival next week! So we'll likely be posting more... whew, I know this local's glad winters back!

-See you in the deep!

This one can't POSSIBLY miss us...

The girls have dubbed the boys The Bombers for their turnless technique and maching speed. This camp is aggressive this year, maybe it's the conditions, maybe it's a sign of the times; but either way, everyone is going after it like its DerbyDay in the 'Boat, and the ladies are declaring an official Morning with the Maidens tomorrow...


The troop got another 9am start on the hill and although we took a long lunch doing our group photo and dealing with grill issues, it was 4:00 by the time I walked to my car. Lap after lap we did on the sunny side, from wide open groomers to tight funnels, from giggling rollers to the jib park, we hit it all. Blue skies abound made backdrops from heaven on this glorious spring-like day.

Best quote of the day, "I ain't gonna lie to you, I'm whooped!"

In its fifth year, we're excited to bring back this wonderful camp; and for such beautiful weather. About 75 participants, coaches, on and off-snow volunteers and all the local supporting staff have made this Zero Waste event kick off with a winner. Skiing for over six hours in several groups, the first day of the Steamboat All Mountain Ski Camp enjoyed soft groomers under bright blue skies. If the temps didn't freeze your skin on impact, we'd have thought it was March out there.



We're on the mountain tomorrow and Wednesday, starting with breakfast at the Bear River from 8 to 9; volunteers welcome, ski buddies needed. Video to come!




A dear thanks to all our camp sponsors and lead coordinators:
Adaptive Adventures, Access Anything, STARS, Steamboat Ski Area, Steamboat Powdercats

It's been snowing since sometime last night, although the overnight fruition only amounted to about 5", it's piled on that again during the day, and will likely do so overnight. The 5" were nice, but more will be better. It's been dark and blistery up at the top all day, "the wind was a howlin', and the snow was outrageous!"

But what we're getting really excited about is that big mother off the coast that should bring the staple blessings in white for our annual ski camp that does have (when available) a heavy focus on Steamboat's Champagne powder. Craig's "just don't turn" lessons happen at least once during every camp of the last five years, and the final backcountry day is always better with some of that fresh snow.


It's not too late to help Sponsor a Soldier to the 5th Annual All Mountain Ski Camp; visit our Facebook casuses/donation page to donate any amount you can!