The skiing at Loveland this weekend was outstanding, and it was too good to stop and take pictures most of the day. I did stop a couple times for a few shots though. The first was shortly after opening under chair 1, usually a huge field of bumps, Saturday completely covered by light snow.
So light, in fact, that it did little to soften the bumps (first run anyway) and I took a knee to the forehead after taking a small jump. Continue reading
Friday was Scout’s first day out for the season, when she joined Hans and I for a tour at Berthoud Pass. She made the cover photo for Saturday’s Colorado Powder Forecast (here) and also wins the award for making it look way better than it was. Before we get to the rest of the trip, here’s the shot of her working it for the camera:
This is my last post from the Snow Show, with a few shorter hits on specific items.
Anyone who skis with me in the backcountry knows my fanaticism for softshell fabrics. I’m in love with the Arc’teryx Gamma SK pants, and have lusted after a Gamma MX Hoody since I grew too small for my Patagonia Ascensionist (which is now discontinued, so I can’t replace it. The closest replacement is the “Knifeblade” pullover for next year, but it doesn’t offer a full-zip in front and is pretty much ruled out for that reason alone). I’ve even wondered about what it would be like if they made a jacket out of the same fabric as the SK pants (lighter than the MX), and it seems they’ve given it a try with the Acto MX Hoody. The fabric isn’t exactly the same, but feels like it will perform similarly. I’m going to try to get ahold of someone who knows the product well and get some details up on it soon.
I’m going to start off today’s post with one of the more disappointing things I saw at the show, the toe and heel blocks for the Salomon Quest AT boots. For those not in the know, Salomon shipped boots that don’t appear to have been adequately engineered. The tech-fittings were woefully weak, self-destructing with only a little bit of force applied through the binding (one of their early adopters is potentially crippled for life as a result of this), and there are reports of buckles and walk-modes exploding. They pulled units with the tech fittings from the market, and I’ve been wondering what the status was on them. Continue reading
The annual SIA Snow Show is wrapping up today, a quick blur of a weekend full of fancy new gear, networking, strategerizing, and more gear. Today’s post is just the three most noteworthy stops for me – Pieps, Dynafit, and Hestra. I’ll have another post tomorrow with lots more. My first stop was at Pieps, to check out their new GPS beacon, the Vector. Continue reading
Lauren and I took a long weekend to go see friends Frank and Brittany in Crested Butte. We got an early start, leaving Denver at the crack of 9:30 and made it to Monarch ready to ski at 12:30. We didn’t check the snow report, but there was some fresh; combined with the winds, it skied rather well.
The three-day skikend came to a close today (though I’m certainly tempted to ski tomorrow) with an incredibly windy day at Loveland. The Basin (where all the good terrain is) was closed first thing due to winds (reports of 99mph winds on the pass came in), and the whole crew came down and skied chair 3 for a few laps before Charles’ intuition told him that 1 was spinning. We hopped on the shuttle and, sure enough, it was. The skiing was fast-paced and high-energy today, despite the brutal winds. At points in the day, our group was huge.
The three-day skikend continues! I made it back up to Berthoud Pass with Gary, YC, Cody, and Lauren. Today’s plan was a hair more aggressive than yesterday’s – heading from the top of the pass down to First Creek. Not a huge day by any means, but a very solid tour crossing three drainages. We started with the standard skin up the west side of the pass.
It was about 10 degrees warmer than forecasted, and the winds were gentler than expected – nothing to complain about. Continue reading
I finally made it up to Berthoud Pass today, and took a couple mellow-ish laps in Floral Park – laps that had a lot more down than up. The snow was decent, but nothing to write home about. Some photos, starting with the skin up:
We stopped and dug around, finding pretty cohesiveless snow. Continue reading
It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve made it to Loveland. The hustle and bustle of the holidays, some mild illnesses, and an arctic blast with highs around 0F kept me at home for a couple weeks. Besides, I always need a mid-season break before I start hitting it hard again. Yesterday was a great ski day, and Loveland’s snow report was, as usual, deceptively low. After a quick warmup, we hit some trees as training before we go back to Panic Attack Trees in a week or two. Continue reading
Through Polarized Eyes 
