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 -


Posted by Andy Kennedy Saturday, February 2, 2013 0 comments


If you only read one thing this month, this might be the most important by far!

We have all walked by the Red Cross sign in airports indicating where a heart machine is located. Do you know what is in them and how to use it?

Try this video and see what you think. 
http://www.heartrescuenow.com/

If you pick the wrong choice----the man dies----choose wisely. You may save a life.

We're sharing it with all our outlets with the hope that it'll save lives (maybe mine, yours or someone you love)!



--More snow is on its way!--




Posted by Andy Kennedy Friday, February 1, 2013 0 comments

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!  

Posted by Andy Kennedy Thursday, January 31, 2013 0 comments

... 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!

Posted by Andy Kennedy Tuesday, January 29, 2013 0 comments

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