Colorado Backcountry: Loveland / Arapahoe Basin

Last Saturday I started off at LP again super early, with a couple inches of new snow I knew it would get tracked fast. Around 6:45am I got my first lift up and decided to take one of the less traveled lines back down to the east portal switchback. Made my way over to the Elevator drop and hucked myself off, landing was ok but filled with crater holes from previous hucksters. Did laps over and over and even found some stashes of pretend-a-fresh way off the beaten path. I was pretty surprised because the crowds were not really out in force today. Around 10am I met up with this skier named Aaron, we decided to get a lift up to the summit and hike back onto the ridge. After 20 minutes of hiking we were near the top of Widowmaker ready to drop, lots of good snow and untracked pow up above treeline. Be careful with the Avy danger. We boot packed up the couloirs a few times for some sweet turns down.

Sunday I rode up at Arapahoe Basin and it was pretty sick. The lower East Wall is open and the shredding is tight. Lots of drops and rock bonks, the bowls above treeline had some nice loose snow and there are tons of cornices to huck off of. I rode with Krissy for the 2nd half of the day and we tore up the moguls on Pali face. Tons of rocks over here, I'd stay closer to mid-mountain. I gotta say, Krissy f-ckking kills it in the moguls. Everyone always looks at me stupid when I say I love the moguls. Spent some time in the terrain park early in the day and they have a few features up and going. When you first enter the park you have a choice of a small boot or a small shotgun rail. A bit farther down you can hit a nice hip jump or longer trap box on the left. Once you get into the Lower Rail Yard you have a bunch of boxes to choose from, a long shotgun style rail and a bunch of kickers. Abasin crowds weren't very bad at all, but the traffic on the drive home was insane.

On a different note, I might be taking a new job within my company. I would be working for our office out in California remotely, it's in Sacramento. I heard this is kinda close to some shredding? They want me to come out there for a couple of weeks and I want to take weekends and head to Tahoe. Is this possible? What mountains or backcountry areas are near here? Anyone want to grab a beer while I'm out there? UPDATE: in Cali March 14-16th..

Don't miss the free J5 concert @ Copper Mountain Saturday. Gravity Games boy.