IN THE DEEP

Late start to the ski blog this year, apologies ~ it's been a hectic world in the Kennedy house with a busy month of moving house, but we've managed to get in a few powder days... Steamboat's had a great first month, at this point we've clocked 150" total inches, nearly half of our seasonal average.

Today wasn't a full-on powder day, but it's worthy of posting - a glorious bluebird day after a fluff dusting late last night, and thanks to a chilly week, the snow we got about a week ago is holding up nicely.

We have Oregon guests in town, so despite a full agenda at the STARS office, we managed to sneak Craig out for a couple hours and get an afternoon of turns in. It seemed gray, flat and foggy from down below; the Gondy car dragged us through a layer of pea soup, and we were a little worried it was going to be a so-so day for these guys... but once we hit the top we were pleasantly surprised by the familiar crisp blue Colorado skies - nothing quite like that!




We toured most of the mountain today with Tash and David, from Sunnyside to the Chutes the terrain was carvy and the people were relatively spread out. Steamboat's at max-capacity right now, but thanks to that pea soup layer of fools-fog, the masses didn't seem to be up at the top with us. Instead, every building was packed with 'em, "elbow to asshole" as my mother would say, and that means good money for all the working locals!

Carvy indeed - and a nice layer of fresh stuff in the trees - good for soft landings, no matter what you land on. :)


Ok, here's the obligatory mono footage to keep us real -


And now to talk tech - I was super stoked to be demo-ing a Ride Barretta today from Powder Tools... a 151, 12cm shorter than my 10 year old, 20lb customized Burton Custom that most of you know as "the Captain." The Captain and I have been a good team for the past decade, but I'm well aware he's too big for me, he's being out-done by the new rocker technology, and at some point he's going to delaminate and need to be retired. He's still great for the deep days, but on an all-mountain carvy day like today, he's not. I have to muscle him into turns, and it's just downright ugly on the bumps and in the trees. I am pretty sure I'd be a better rider if I had better equipment... and I'm a good rider.

So how was the Barretta? Fucking awesome. Immediately down Rudy's I was squirreling thru the powder stashes, and all day I was smiling so big about this new tiny board that frankly, I didn't want to turn it in. The great thing about Powder Tools is that your demo-rental costs go towards a new board if you wind up buying. But I'm not done shopping...

When I turned the Barretta in, Vince told me I want to check out the Solomon Wonder. So I think I will. :)

I also scored a pair of new Solomon Boa boots at this year's Christy Sports "tent sale" that I'm also loving, that also are making me a better rider, so combined with a new board, the whole setup fit like a glove.

Ok, nuff tech talk... again, my apologies for missing this month's epic powder days (we've had a good half dozen, and I've skied the best of them, which is about four I think)... but we've got a whole season ahead of us!  See you in the Deep!!

Cheers and happy new year from the Kennedys and the Pilz-Bellis cru!

A birthday hike around the Vista Trail

We finally paid our favorite ski hill a visit yesterday and found progress steaming ahead! The new Four Points chalet, visible from the base but even more so from the top of Thunderhead, is looking like a castle atop that second knoll to the peak.

My reaction: no wonder they got such low marks this year on sustainability, that's a freaking monstrosity. But it'll service our visitors exponentially more than its outdated predecessor. Craig's reaction: You're going to have to ski all the way around that thing to get to Twister!  Funny how two people see something entirely different.

Four Points is starting to look like a million dollar home on the hill

In other news, they dropping additional serious cash on capital improvements this season.  Dozens of new pipes are going into the Daze snowmaking system; stacks of them were laid all over the slope under the gondola awaiting their trenches to be dug. Gaping trenches remain in the saddle with the old pipes already  removed and looking far more than just "dated." We speculated that they may have been original material, but who knows - if there were any press releases on this in the Steamboat Media Room, we'd know more... but we didn't see any at first glance.

Rows of shiny new snowmaking pipes lined the Heavenly Daze

Last piece of note were the new bike racks. 20 of them, at $5000 each spells more money invested for SSRC. They look sharp, and surely they make life much easier on the staff. Of course, we sure would have liked to see a second accessible car worked into that budget. Currently the wait for the single car wide enough for a wheelchair is over 20 minutes if you "just miss it," like we did today. Those run $30,000 and it's been 8 years since that first one went in.

20 shiny new bike racks added to the line

In their defense, economically the cyclists are bringing in more money to Steamboat than wheelchair users do... or do they...?  Access Anything's numbers beg to differ that the potential is there - 55 million Americans spending $13.6 billion annually on travel and every wheelchair user travels with a 3-6 person entourage. We were up there for about 90 minutes yesterday and saw a total of 6 other wheelchair users - all dining on the hill. Were the cyclists? Nope.
I rest my case.

Let the countdown begin: 40 days until the tent sale and 129 til the slopes open. That leaves us some time to enjoy the hill in green - ashamed we haven't been up sooner, but we have several more visits to the playground in the next month... some hiking and biking to come, so it'll be quite a while before we "see you in the deep" yet again! 

What a delivery. Following what I heard was the "worst day of the season," Mother Nature delivers a 8-10" powderday under bluebird skies. What a way to end the season, totaling 338". Not bad.

It started snowing mid morning on Thursday, so we went up for afternoon turns.  It snowed off and on through Friday morning (that day's highlights here), and then warmed up, brightened up, and clouded up again - in usual spring fashion. Saturday's continual cloud coverage eliminated the chance for soft spring snow, and high winds scraped whatever snow was left completely off. So sure enough, although we didn't venture up there yesterday, we heard from the majority that the conditions were abysmal. Glad we skipped. Instead we enjoyed the festivities - which are unparalleled in my opinion, although not that I've tested the rest (why leave?).

Steamboat throws a mean party. 11am Cardboard Classic. 2pm birthday party for Billy Kidd (70!).  3pm 3-7time Grammy Nominated (depending on who you ask around here) local favorite Missed the Boat bluegrass. And we ended it with dinner at Slopeside. Yum.


Then around 7:30 last night it came roaring back in with a vengeance - high winds blazing ahead of a dark, thick cloud front.  (God, I love weather.)  It began drizzling on our walk to the car, and by the time we got home it was a full blown rain/hail/slush storm, smacking the back door's glass with a wall of water first, then caking the door, deck, and dish (required scraping) with a heavy layer of slush.   The forecast called for a foot... we went to bed anxious.

We woke up with a spring in our step, called the report, and jumped out of bed. 9 new inches and 8 degrees at the summit.  Then we looked outside. Oh yeah! BLUE! As far as the eye could see.  Frankly I can't remember a closing day like it. And the locals came out in force.

The Gondy line? Full. The SSRC VIPs reopened First Tracks to appease the masses, and there was happiness all around.

We started out with five, our favorite monoskier and a fourpack of snowboarders, much to his chagrin. We loaded at 8:20 and enjoyed fast, silky turns down Rudy's, as the sun crested over the summit.



We snagged 2nd and 3rd chair at Four Points, only behind Straight Talk Reporter David Wittlinger and his subject Pickle.  From halfway up the lift we noticed Storm Peak wasn't running due to high winds up top... although Tornado Lane/Nelsons looked oh so untouched and smooth, the wind was whipping upward, creepily running like ghost waves over uneven surface.


So we headed over to Sunnyside right away - via Rainbow and Moonlight. From the top of Sundown we could see what the fuss was about. Howling with a knock-you-over kind of force. We beelined it down 3 to 1230 and ducked into the trees wherever we could.



Next we hit Sundial to Ramrod - best run of the day I think; although grabby it spots, the snow was heavy on the bottom but light on top, like Billy's 70th cake.  Then to Westside/Wristband, yes, the trees were powder-icious.

3rd run up Sundown the boys decide - against my better judgment I'll add - that they should at least do ONE run over on the other side. So we traverse across the Land of Hoth Storm Face and meadow, and down to test out Hurricane. GONG. Back to Four Points (yes, Storm STILL closed), Sunset, Moonlight Trees. Ahhh, much better. Again, glorious in the trees.

We did Sundial again, and then to Rolex/Land of the Little People. Uh huh. Then Morningside opened and Craig ached to do Kodak one more time, one last powder run to remember her by.

On the way down we scored last goods in the trees off Vagabond left (surely they have a name), and the trees under Thunderhead lift. By then it was time to party again, and down at the base the weather was downright springtime, with a nip in the air.

Yes, another day of ridiculousness - 1pm Pondskim, 2:30  Head forthe Hills (bluegrass) and 4:00 Leftover Salmon!  Lots of costumes, tutus, fagbags, wigs, and locals with kids, dogs, and beers in hand. Good times.



See you next year snow-covered heaven, until then, we'll put up the boots and boards and explore your lush hills on foot or on wheels.  Gotta love it -

We both skied yesterday, but we pressed glass this morning at the Gondola. It was "like" a powderday, there were 5-8" (scoped yesterday), and with no one around, it would be intact. In fact, there were 6 people in line behind us at the Gondola, that's how deserted it is around here.

We headed right for Four Points, down a buttery, gorgeous Rudy's, and eyeballed Tornado the whole way up. What was groomed was grabby underneath with 3-6" of heavier but still fluffy April snow on top. What wasn't groomed was deeper, up to 8" on top and of the bumps or in the trees, but unpredictable and lightly populated with "snow snakes."

From Tornado we hit Four Points again, and headed down Sunset to Moonlight trees - I found two snow snakes, but the trees were otherwise surprisingly soft and generous. Up Sundown through a thick thick fog, and over to Sundial to Ramrod, our boards gliding through the creamy top layer with no other tracks in sight - yesterdays tracks mostly covered.

Up Southpeak and down Westside, the right side of which (dubbed Craig's Ridge) was just the same, graceful and predictable. The view from Westside (left) was of the sky breaking apart finally to reveal what would become a bluebird afternoon... perfect the STARS employee ski day (2-4pm) and party.

Up Sundown again and down to One OClock and into 12:30, then over to Daybreak and ducking left into the trees (dubbed Andy's trees); a little less snow down in this section, but 12:30 takes the cake as usual.


From Sundown we took the Face's mustache - sketchy in the fog but if you could find the line it was lovely - to Rainbow and BC. I took Valley View down while the boys did another to-to-bottom.  VV wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible - the snow losing its fluff the lower I got, until finally it was like spring skiing again.

The end is in sight, and yet the powderdays loom - the forecast is snow right on through Tuesday so you know there will be some hikers getting their turns in after the lifts stop churning. It's bittersweet, but we're all ready to break out the bikes and bag some raise...

Hopefully there will be one more In The Deep before then though -

--

If the mountain was a butter factory, today's snow would be the homemade creamy kind that spreads easy even on cold toast. You'd think the warmer temps would have made for heavier stuff, and the lower layer may have been so, but it was coming down so hard and fast that we didn't notice, today was voted creamiest day of the year by our bunch.

Winter Storm Warning came in around 10pm last night, although it started snowing around suppertime. By morning, the 5am report said 9 inches up top, but - see Craig's last post to understand this word - it was NUKING all morning, so by the time we'd gotten to our second run, the previous tracks had been covered, and well over 9 inches.

We loaded the Gondy just early enough to beat the Thunderhead crew to Four Points yet again, and our pack of hounds started with a Cyclone-Vortex run into the clouds. Or was it fog? Or nuclear aftershock? Either way, the visibility was zilch, and we were all talking about the vertigo effects on the ride back up Storm. I had to hug the left hand trees of Cyclone to keep my bearings, and yet still found myself on DropOut instead of Vortex since I couldn't see my hand in front of my face, and rolled over the lip before the fall line because I couldn't tell the ground from the sky. But who's complaining? It's deeper now that it was then.

Next we did Storm Face-Sunset-Lights Out, still blinded and asking "Where am I?" about every 5th turn, and still cackling at the shin deep butter. The turns were silent, but to quote Dylan, "the wind was a-howlin' and the snow was outrageous!" 

Next run Craig and I ducked into 12:30 while the rest of the crew did 1:30, and everyone bragged about knee deep first tracks when we met back up at Sundown. "Amazing," "unbelievable," and "gorgeous" type adjectives were thrown around like confetti. 

Following that up with a Sundial trees to Ramrod, fast and furious. Then captured this on Westside to prove that despite the 9am report saying only 1 additional inch, we were choking down face shots like we were boxing The Hurricane.
1 inch my ass. And sometimes a run is so nice you do it twice. Sure enough, Sundial/Ramrod/Westside was a two-fer for us today.

By then it was 10:30am and I had to part ways with the crew to get some work done. They went for a 1:30 lap, then a Morningside lap, and a top-to-bottom from there.  I went straight for Storm Face nose trees again, and caught the deepest butter of the day on lower Concentration. Good gawd, untracked and knee deep all along the left side... glorious.

I sure hope if you're reading this and can make a few pm turns you do, because it's still coming down like a frozen monsoon out there.  Get some.

See you in the deep!

"It's just easier on me if we go fast, I can let the ski do what it wants to do," adaptive instructor Derrick Charpentier tells me after we've caught up with him, in the STARS office that is. Because keeping up with him and Amanda on the mountain, was, well virtually impossible.  And I don't ride slow myself.

We rolled out this afternoon for a few runs after a morning of work for me and a morning off (IE on the couch) for Craig - much deserved of course.  We met up with Keith, who I am very excited to see back - after a hip replacement at a too-young-43 - on his 195 Doughboy (things like a freaking Liquid Shredder, I don't remember it being that long), and we had to stop into the STARS HQ to pick up Craig's rig.  It's never just a brief stop into the office - of course that applies to everyone - but especially for Craig. Questions, scheduling, chatting, clients, ski donations, you name it, even at 1pm, when all the lessons are out on the slopes on a slow day, that office is a beehive.

But luckily we did stop in, because Amanda and Derrick were just coming back from lunch; it was her first day on the hill.  Amanda, in for the umpteenth year with her family from Florida, is someone we always look forward to skiing with. Her ear-to-ear grin is contagious, and she has one mission when she hits the slopes: GO FAST.  So she requests Derrick, and that's what he gives her.  Amanda skis on a bi-ski because she has CP, but her disability sure doesn't limit the way she enjoys the hill, and this, my friends, is exactly why Craig and I got into this business ten years ago. What a blast!

Straight out haulin' down Rainbow

And then down into the mini pipe.

YEAH!  I hear more snow is on the way... do your dance, we can always use more.

Mt Werner crested over the 200" mark today with the new fallen snow, and after a week of straight stormin', the sunshine came out for a Groundhog Day visit.

The mountain's enormous terrain is in impeccable shape; from buttery smooth groomers to powder stashes in the trees, it's all guaranteed to give a serious attitude adjustment. Not that we need one, living in winter wonderland and gifted a week like this last one, but the smile coming down the hill is always larger than the one going up.

I got a bit of a late start and rode the Gondola with visitors from all over today - Cayman Islands, Cleveland (shout out to our ATAB homies!), Jackson Mississippi and even Rangely, and it always reminds me how grateful I am for living here. I headed straight for the Sunnyside stashes and hit Sundial first... knee deep and glorious!

"The Captain was here!" Look at that blue sky!

Then down to Ramrod, Southpeak, and Westside.  I love the days when we get it all - beaming sunshine, surfy groomers, and powdery gifts in the trees. Another Sundown lap took me to 12:30, where the stash is always, ALWAYS, predictable:


Wanting to get a bite in before my noon Imbolc ceremony with the Goddesses, and seeing the Sundown line was already like Macy's on Black Friday, up Elkhead I went, straight for Valley View. And good what a good call it was. O. M. G.

There's nothing quite like 30 miles an hour down this one. If my attitude wasn't already adjusted, I was ear to ear by the time I got to Lower VV. Both upper and lower Valley View were g-love-carvin' magic, gifted with left side corduroy just for me:

The continual hammering snow this week has been straight from heaven, and I hear there's more on the way. Phil saw his shadow in Steamboat today, so whether it's sooner or later, those storms are now sealed with the Groundhog Day guarantee.  I got three words for that: BRING IT ON.

See you In the Deep -

The morning report announced another foot of freshies, and had it been 15 degrees still, it would have been two feet... But the much warmer temps made for heavier snow and slower going but it was still fresh, something we hadn't seen in 3 weeks, and it was a gloriously stormy powderday out there on Mt Werner. 

The boys loaded the Gondola early, and hit Cyclone-DropOut while Georgie and I made our way up to Pony in a line of a thousand powderhounds. One run down that usually untouched part of the mountain made me realize this wasn't the normal powder day for playing the flatter trees. I got sucked into the gully next to Bar-U-E, and climbed 50 yards up and out.  Breathless, not laughing, and ready for a real run, we headed right over to Dropout again on a mission for steeper terrain.

Words are lost on days and weeks like this one - 40-plus inches in 3 days so far and more is still coming down.  So here's the video from today... as I'm too weary to keep writing!  We sure are loving the GoPro, it's saving my hands, and making for some great faceshot capturing!



See you In the Deep people! What a FUN week!! Snow Gods, send more anytime!  

... they made a Pirate Theater about this day a decade ago... and we haven't heard those exact words since.  We've gotten a 28" day, some 18" days, and a lot of days in between, but either my memory fails me, or those exact words haven't made the morning report more than a few times in Steamboat history, and what music to our ears it was.

We had all been waiting, patiently, for weeks, and today was the pot at the end of the frozen rainbow.  These are the days we live for - the Phat Tuesdays, the 2 foot dumps, the bluebird powder days - especially after a three week hiatus.

The odd thing was, the 24" were at midmountain. The mountain's top side report was only 9". So with debating ideas of where to head first, we headed to the Gondola at 8:10. Low and behold, the troops loaded us early, and we didn't have a choice - head with the First Trackers on Sundown or wait 20 minutes at any of the other lifts. And what a choice it was.

First run down Keith's Ridge to One O'clock to untouched 1:30 trees had us "oh my god"ing by the time we got back to Sundown. Knee and thigh deep champagne billowing over Craig's head made for some amazing video, that is when the snow didn't completely block the entire lens.  The conditions were perfect: blue sky, late rising sun glittering through the trees,

Second run (above) we tried Three O'clock to One to 12:30 and same again; breaking trail into 1230 was worth it. And the "oh my god"s, "unbelievable"s, and more must have had the lift operators just jonesing for a breaking.  Thank you lifties, thank you snow gods, thank you Steamboat!

Third run we had first tracks again down Sundial, breaking trail out to Tomahawk, over to Ramrod, and up the SouthPeak lift to the deepest spot we found on the mountain: Westside. Alicia said it was her best run down Westside ever (and she grew up here), and by far the deepest run of the day. We did Craig's Ridge down the right side, in and out of Wristband in snow up to my waist.

By then it was 9:15, and the Sundown line was growing, so we headed over to Storm Face and Mustache, down Hurricane and headed for a couple lower mountain laps up Thunderhead, and found some of the deep on Mother Nature, Oops, and hero bumps with 2+ feet on them on Vertigo.

All in all, best day on the mountain yet. And there's still snow on the horizon. We are blessed up here, no questions about it.

See you In the Deep!