IN THE DEEP

Today inspired me to get back into documenting our powderdays in the 'Boat! It was arguably the best day all year (of which I've only had 6 days to Craig's 63, but he agreed!), with over a foot of new snow that mostly fell since the early hours this morning. 

 

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!

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.

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!

Today was no foolin', another deep, epic day in the 'Boat. I had resigned myself to sitting this week out, but after two days of watching Craig come home with that poo-eating grin, I decided I had better make a few turns in this "triple threat" storm myself.

Where Monday and Tuesday were cold, (infamous local Y-Von even told me she was actually SORE from shivering yesterday) today wasn't so bitter once you got off the peak; about 15-25 degrees warmer by the reports.

However you know what that means. The powder was dense. I of course, having missed the cream of yesterday, and riding on a fat board,didn't notice. While they struggled on skis in the Three O'Clock trees, I bombed down Twilight laughing all the way. They also hit the bumps on Lights Out, while I cruised past to Moonlight Trees. I know that's cliche, but yea "it was in the trees today." But it seemed that you had to pick the right treeline with a very steep pitch that hadn't been touched since about noon yesterday to get the full throttle of today's accumulation in your face.

So we continued on in search. I think next to Twilight, my favorite run today was Cyclone, but honestly even Rudy's at 8:38 with 4-5" on a glasslike groomer was scrumptious. Next we headed to Pony, where many had been. But again, if you knew where to look, it was there.

Now I know some of you are now thinking of cherry blossoms, golfing, cycling and camping... but we're still eating it up like frosty white cupcakes here in the hills. Our base is a ridiculous 110+'' and the storms show no signs of relenting soon. We'll be back up tomorrow for more.


See you In The Deep!

We probably wouldn't have gone up today had it not been for Jeffrey Krauthamer (left) celebrating his birthday on the hill all the way from MD... we woke up to a 1" report and bad reports all week about the hill. Craig had been up once, made it to Thunderhead, and turned around because he said it felt like a skating rink. Our temps have been warm, too warm, and we just haven't gotten any snow for about two weeks. Some locals go up every day. Some, like me, are just way too picky for putting up with subpar.

But the skies were unloading by about 9am, and by the second report, there were 5 new inches to be had! We'll have to thank Jeffrey for getting us up there to appreciate it. He visits every winter since I can remember, and had his adaptive turns scheduled for 10am today. We met them at the top of the Gondy shortly after, and made some fabulous, and I'm not exaggerating, turns in Wally World.

There wasn't much to be had in the obvious places, but first turns in Sundial trees and I was in heaven, even on my short groomer day board. At least a half a foot and untouched, on top of a relatively grabby surface. A surprise from above. We kept searching for the stashes along the sides, and beelined down Ramrod for some more.

Sunnyside was the highlight (left), although the turns in Sideburns on our final descent was what we live here for as well. Light, fluffly, untracked, and deep enough to get some yips out of us!

Hopefully we'll get a few more turns in before we leave town on Monday, snow or no snow. With Jeffrey in from MD and Kevin in from Scotland, it's likely! ... video?

Another gorgeous day in the Boa, people... a perfect condition kind of day. With 11 new inches today on top of yesterday's foot, and however many before that (how long has it been snowing?), the groomers were covered, the bumps were filled in, and the trees were like butter. The snow was exponentially lighter today than it has been, the temps cooperated, and we're back to our Champagne!

A little wind blown from the dropping jet flow at the top, we ducked into the trees immediately, hitting 3:00, 1:30, and 12:30 right off the bat. A lap through Sunset to Moonlight, cutting into the trees above Moonlight yielded some of the most deep stuff out there.

The place was deserted as well, so seconds and third helpings were a-plenty. Likely the crazy inversion valley fog and clear peak is what kept the peeps at bay; their loss, it was a gorgeous bluebird powder day indeed, you just had to get above the Gondy to see it.

No equipment failure today, just tired bodies from several days of riding in the heavy powder. We had to cash ourselves in at only 10:30, just when the clouds rolled back in for some more dumpage.

Yesterday was a spiritual experience in the backcountry; in a rare location that's skied only 15% of the season by Powdercats, Soda Mountain's "expert terrain" is even most spiritual to them. Facing south, the terrain is often burned to crust by the sun; giving the steeper runs higher slide potential. With careful safety monitoring over the past few days, PC safety manager Eric ok'd us for entry. No monoskier had ever been taken to Soda before. After about 12 new inches last week and sunless skies, the terrain was mint for its inaugural turns of the season. PC Guide Scully was chomping at the bit.

We scored a gorgeous, chilly bluebird day and spent the morning on the south side of Soda until the climbing sun began to cook the top layers. Craig was gifted with the virgin run down Tasty Wave. We followed with The Tube, and finished the south with the Funnel. The Funnels' rocky couloir-like narrow chute gave them the most testing terrain, with rocks to one side and trees to the other. Kent parked me somewhere in the middle to film for Genchi, and I panned them as they all blazed by.

We stopped on the ridgeline for lunch and finished the day with two runs down the backside on the north slope, a wide open glade with scattered trees and a windlip the size of two men that the monos took turns jumping off. Cambell jumped both runs the highest, but blew the bucket off his Praschberger on the second landing, bolts and all.

We had a great group with three monos, Andy Campbell (UK), Lucian Smith (PA), and Craig; two three trackers including Chris Canfield from Breck who skis with poles (I guess that would make him a one-tracker?) and local Courtest Ski Patroller Ron McMorris; and Luanne Burke, a speedy little VI x-racer with her guide Mau Thompson of Adaptive Adventures and previous coach of the US Disabled Ski Team. Not bad for a first year; all these skiers floated through the near-knee deep powder with ease.

We were also lucky enough to have two photographers and a writer from Skiing Magazine, hopefully to push through a feature on the event sometime next winter season (09-10).

But all in thanks to Dave Genchi (SCI), Powdercats Videographer that was injured on Buff Pass in 06, who will be making the video of Legends of the Deep with the goal to expand this day into a world class event for adaptive skiers and riders to show their skills in the powder and gain bragging rights, as these guys did, in the coveted terrain of Routt National Forest. Thanks Dave, this is indeed your brainchild. Hope you're here next time...

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