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!)
The sky is just as blue, but the mountain looks entirely different in the summer- lush with raspberry, thimble berry, indian paint brush, ferns, fireweed, and of course the aspens in full flicker. It sounds more alive with songs of wrens, swallows, hawks, and the occasional hot air balloon. The curves of the open glades are permanent and rocky, the trees unpassable for the thick brush the coats their glens.
For us, who don't get to enjoy these runs all summer for previous lack of equipment, the Inaugural Custom Color Bikin' the 'Boat Camp was a new and amazing experience we look forward to continuing each year. Thanks to Steamboat, STARS, Adaptive Adventures and the four One-Off handycle mountain bikes from Freedom for Life, we all got to enjoy Mt Werner without the lifts running.
Due to the cost of these adaptive mountain bikes, many programs don't offer this recreation. But thanks to a local grant, STARS hopes to be continuing cycling in BikeTownUSA by adding 3-5 bikes to its arsenal for next year.
- See you in the Deep
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.