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| Powder! |
From
Thanksgiving to Christmas, Colorado saw a high pressure system that prevented
any snow for duration of two weeks. I
emailed the group, preparing them for the worst, hard groomed runs. Then during
Christmas week, a Low pressure system from the West Coast came across and
hammered Colorado.
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| Heading to Colorado in the Snow |
While
we weren't able to be out there for the really deep days, we were able to catch
5 of 8 days of skiing with fresh snow. This year group included Chris, Cal Mike,
the Roth brothers and I. Kyle, Chris and I headed out from St. Louis the day
after Christmas and headed to Denver Airport where we picked up Mike and Dave
form Cali.
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| Chris looking good |
All loaded in the truck, we headed up to Pam’s house to
spend two days skiing winter Park. Pam recently bought a very nice condo in the
Fraser Valley, about 10 minutes from Winter Park. While the Eagle Wind area was still closed,
but the rest of the mountain was open. The trees were deep and powdery! We saw
fresh snow both days we skied winter park. After our last day of skiing be
headed to Pam’s to packed the truck and began the long trek south to Crested
Butte
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| All the Skiers |
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| Dave looking good |
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Driving to Crested Butte
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| Crested Butte's Village |
The drive from winter park to Crested Butte was about 4 hours and we had two passes to go up and over. On a normal day the drive isn't bad but we encountered snow that made us drive only 35 mph and unable to make out the road lanes. We stopped off in Salida Colorado for some famous Amicas pizza.
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| Chris forgot his goggles or so he says |
This
was everyone’s first time to CB. Southern Colorado was still a little behind in
the snow and high winds had blown the snow off on the peaks, because of this,
about half of the runs were still closed. We arrived with 6 inches of fresh
snow, and headed to the tress. Chris and I were able to find some cool pillows
to drop and a local worker told us to hike along a small ridge to drop down
into some POW stashes.
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| Just another day of driving |
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| No Caption needed |
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| Skiing a Chute in CB |
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| View from the parking lot |
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| CB village |
By
looking at the mountain, it was clear that Crested butte was steep, now if only
the backside would have been opened. After great 3 days of skiing CB we headed
back north to good ol’ Georgetown, for some home sweet home living.
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| Heading for the Trees |
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| selfie |
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| Lunch break |
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| Backside view |
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| Hiking for the goods |
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| 2015!! |
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| Ski Boss! |
As we settled into the Super 8, we quickly find out how
tight it was in a two bedroom hotel with 5 guys. Gear and packs were
everywhere, but the smell of man was not to strong thanks to our lonely air freshener
we brought. The day after driving from Crested Butte, we went back to winter
park of another day and to take Pam out for some food as a thank you for
welcoming us into her house.
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| Leaving CB |
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| Winter Park tress! |
The next day, we all headed up to Copper for some long fast
runs. Chris and I split from the group to head to the back bowls and I led us
down a nice completely moguled out run. It was nice a way to warm up the legs
on the first run. From there we headed up to Union Bowl, and the conditions were
actually pretty nice for not having any new snow in the last couple of days.
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| First full moon of 2015! |
The next day, we all headed up to Copper for some long fast
runs. Chris and I split from the group to head to the back bowls and I led us
down a nice completely moguled out run. It was a nice way to warm up the legs
on the first run. From there we headed up to Union Bowl, and the conditions were pretty nice for not having any new snow in the last couple of days.
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| Coming back from Copper, 70 traffic |
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| Winter Park |
The
last day we skied Winter Park because of logistics. In the morning we had to drop
off Mike’s gear with his buddy Paul, and then we were only able to ski till 2pm
because Dave had to get to the Airport to make his flight. Our last day it
snowed all day on us, and by the time we left Winter Park, 3 inches lay on the
truck. The drive to Denver Airport was not bad but with the continuing snow the
roads were starting to get worse
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| Copper's Backside |
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| 70 Closed |
As we left Denver, we heard on the radio that 70 was closed
about an hour east of us, as we drove, Chris, Kyle and I all were wishing it
wasn't true. We entered Limon Colorado and 70’s gates were closed and we had to
leave the highway. After talking to a cop, we started the drive down highway 40
to bypass the closed 70 section. In the end, we made it home the next morning,
but because of the detour and snow/ice covered highway the drive took an additional
4.5 hours to complete. Overall the trip was great, with the best December snow
conditions I’ve experienced in the 4 years of trips. Here are some pictures of
the trip. Enjoy, until the next adventure.
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| This guy |
