It's STILL snowing!!!



Wow, the flakes just keeps coming down in the Boat this December with almost 10 feet of snow so far!! TEN! And we skied another 18” of the light and fluffy stuff this morning as it just seemed to keep getting better and better. (Sorry, those of you who have to work mornings!)

Instead of our staple beeline to Four Points we ducked off the front side to Teds Ridge - hero bumps at the top and thigh-high depth the whole way down - and headed right over to Pioneer Ridge for some solitude from the masses - 15,000 of them to be exact. . .

And it was simply pow-gasmic today, over, and over again. From Longhorn to Middle Rib we hit Pony lift six times in all, in and out of the trees, giggling and bouncing over powdery bumps like Tiggers, not caring if we got buried, covered, tumbled, and tossed, if the goggles failed a little or if the visibility was like ocean fog – today was the best day of the season so far!

We marveled at the fact that we were actually out enjoying the elements – what many visitors curse – blowing sideways, 50-ft visibility (at best), and 10 degrees. Not exactly ideal for outdoor fun... unless you're in Steamboat that is.

I gave the new GoPro my first test run with the chest harness, so bear with the learning curve… practice makes perfect. 


And guess what, it’s still snowing!!!  So we'll see you In The Deep sooner than later! 


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Posted by Andy Kennedy Thursday, December 27, 2012 0 comments

Santa delivers!

There's nothing better than waking up to a foot of fresh on Christmas! The presents can wait (unless you're us, and have to work on Christmas, so you opened your presents on Christmas Eve!), the powder is calling!

Craig had to work, so I was solo today, and other than having to ride the Gondola with grouchy, loud, hungover 20-something locals, it's often nice to have a day of silence in the snow.  From then on, every lift ride was pleasant, talking to folks from Orlando, San Antonio, Cody, and even Australia, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas with a smile.

I had one mission today and one mission only, enjoy, and find some new openings, and I got buried several times on the Sunnyside in the 14" inches since yesterday!

In spots, it wasn't that deep for sure, but if you know where to look, it was above the knees. Being Christmas, it was empty; the locals seemed to head right for Pony, so I was virtually all alone on the other side. 

I started with a gloriously deep run down a bumpy Norther, laughing at my solitude and headed right for Four Points. Sunset had been groomed, so next I headed there, also up to my knees, and then into the Moonlight Trees - very fluffy, very deep (the rope had been dropped today I think), and so I took my first video.

 
From the top of Sundown I did Keith's ridge - deep, untracked - to Flintlock - ditto, to Southpeak and straight to Westside, groomed with about 6" plus, riding the left treeline, which had about 10".  Snapped another video of the lone pair of skiers gliding beside me. Not another soul in sight!
 
 
Back up, I beelined it for Sundial, oops, a little deep and untracked, couldn't kick out of there!  One track before me, every time I stepped off I sunk to my knee. Laughing and out of breath, I popped out on Tomahawk and headed straight for Buckshot-Ramrod trees, and was breaking trail the whole way down. Southpeak again, this time to Rolex. Hero bumps up at the top turned into powder loveliness on the right side about half way down, and completely untracked on the bottom glade.
 
Losing steam I headed to Sundown and traversed to the Mustache Meadow, always untracked at 10am, and headed on down. They opened up the alternate routes down, so I had a first run down Concentration (powdery goodness) and into Giggle Gulch. Good times.
 
The storm has broken up for now, but it looks like we'll be hit again for two more days of goodness, so we'll see you In the Deep all week! 
 
Merry Powder Christmas!  Hope you have a good one!
 
 

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Posted by Andy Kennedy Tuesday, December 25, 2012 0 comments

Piling it on!

The snow Gods are smiling down on northern Colorado this week, making up for lost time, filling in the holes, and bringing joy to all the little powderhounds.



Our wee gaggle of single trackers honed in on first Gondy and first chair at Four Points today, (a-thankyou Craig!) and we were chomping at the bit after hearing a patroller say we got 18" in the last 24 hours.  It's the never-ending storm, so much so that I honestly can't - no really - remember when it started.  We are skiing ourselves into shape quickly on Mt. Werner, and no one's complaining. In fact, we're downright bragging. Everytime I look at my Ski Report app (get it, awesome), Steamboat still has the highest dropcount. 10" on this morning's report, but it's so much deeper than that. We're inching our base above 40 now... soon the trees will be safe again!

Rudy's and Blizzard were magic velvet, and it just kept getting better from there.  From 4P we did a Nelson's - Hurricane, hooting and hollering and OMG-ing the whole way down.  I was watching Craig get face shot after face shot on every turn, with snow billowing over his head (nearing goggle failure) , and up above my own knees in spots.  It felt like a backcountry day, weaving the outside of the track before me to assure freshies the whole way down. Glorious.  Hurricane was so nice, we had to hit it twice, taking Storm up to do a "Nose" run down the center of the face and then over to Hurricane's creamy left side.  There was nothing to do but smile, shit-eating-grin style.  It was perfect, every last bit of it. 

More terrain and lifts are opening every day- and today it was Sundown, so from there we headed over to do a Clock lap, from 3 to 2 to Daybreak, all good, all deep, all the time. Then another Nose lap to get us down before we headed into work.


It's still coming down out there, check the grooming report for openings, stay safe, and see you In the Deep!  (Which looks like it'll be tomorrow once again!)

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Posted by Andy Kennedy Tuesday, December 18, 2012 0 comments

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