IN THE DEEP

Today started with a 5am report of 5", but by the time we racked up our first run - Four Points to Cyclone to Vortex to under-the-Storm-lift-line (newly named the Craig-BumpinJoKelley-Run) - it was probably more like 8-10".

By the end of the second run - 3 OClock to 1 OClock to 12:30 trees - we had declared it upper thigh-high and officially "nuking" (snowing more than 2" per hour).

We were in the eye of the storm. Visibility was 1-2 chairs - "the wind was a-howlin' and the snow was outrageous." The east coast Weather Channel reporters (cough, sensationalists!) have already dubbed this "Winter Storm Ion."


We rallied for several more before coming down around 10:30, including Storm Face to Mustache Meadow to Sunset to Moonlight Trees, divine! And Sundial to Tomahawk to Ramrod. So deep you had to go straight and just leeaaan back!

It snowed all day up there, and according to all those coming down late afternoon, Ion had dumped about 20" up there. It's not supposed to stop snowing until tomorrow.  The 1pm report is saying we've racked up a 65" base already. Killer. Do I smell a rivaling of the famous January of 1996? We just may!

It's supposed to be cold tomorrow, so dress warm, bring a long board, and SEE YOU IN THE DEEP!  (Forgive me if I don't brave the bare hands to take any photos or videos tomorrow!)

Oh, and if you don't have the Alpine Replay app (thanks for the tip Jake J-Dub Wolf), get it. It tallies your vertical, average speed, max speed, jumps, air time, and maps your lift rides and runs - then ranks you against other skiers using the app. Pretty darn cool.


Oh Oh, and props to the Burmans for keeping up with the locals today!

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!