An email circulated over the past week (as it usually does), talking about plans for the weekend. Berthoud Pass was the choice. As tends to be the case, no one was really sure how many people would show up. There are always random drop-outs at the last minute, leaving group size a mystery until we meet up for the carpool. Nine people and two dogs made it, for the second largest group I’ve ever been in in the backcountry. We were skinning by 8:45 or so, not too bad given the laziness imparted on our group by the warming hut on the top of the pass. Our selected route resulted in a pretty heinous skintrack through some dense woods, but Lauren was happy after recently switching to Dynafits (and earlier this year, lighter boots – a weight savings of nearly 5 pounds per foot) and had no problems keeping up. Continue reading
Friends of Berthoud Pass On-Snow Weekend
This past weekend, Friends of Berthoud Pass held the on-snow portion of their grassroots avalanche education program. I volunteered to facilitate groups both days, and I’m exhausted after two ten-hour days up at the pass. Tempted by breakfast burritos at the instructor refresher, Lauren and I signed up to show up at 6am Saturday morning to prepare the beacon-rescue scenarios. When the 4am wakeup call is three weeks away, a free breakfast burrito sounds like a great deal. At 4am, it’s suddenly a much-worse bargain. Nonetheless, we dragged ourselves up there way too early. Continue reading
A few from Loveland this weekend
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
Scout’s (first) Day Out
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:
SIA Snow Show, part III
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.
SIA Snow Show, part II
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
SIA Snow Show, part I
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
A weekend in Crested Butte
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.
Columbia Shimmer Me Timbers Jacket Review
Full Disclosure: This jacket was provided to me at no cost by Columbia. I requested a bright blue one but all they had was “Breen,” aka brown.
I’ve finally had a chance to take this jacket out enough times to get a good feel for it, which took a while due to the warm temperatures we experienced through late autumn. I wasn’t so sure about it when I was offered the jacket, for two reasons: first, I already have a couple similar puffies – the First Ascent Igniter hoody, and the Stoic Luft Down sweater; second, I’ve never had a great impression of Columbia products, as they tend to target the low-end of the product range. The Igniter is rather similar to the Shimmer Me Timbers, and has mostly served me well in the past. Continue reading
A windy pow day at Loveland
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.
Through Polarized Eyes 