Colorado Backcountry: Loveland Pass & Arapahoe Basin

Saturday at 6:30am the pass was still closed, so we decided to head over to Arapahoe Basin where they have gotten 32" of fresh in two days. Saturday we got 3rd chair on Pallavicini and we were graced with 14" fresh. The riding was out of this world, deep powder everywhere. It was really fun to have another resort day, I love just messing around run after run, hitting rails, buttering down the mountain. The crowds weren't as bad as I expected either for a huge powder day. Noon comes around and we break for lunch, Alex hooks up some killer burgers and snacks. From the basin lot I kept a close eye on the Loveland pass traffic, around 12:30 it opened up so I made my way over there.

 
The pass had been closed for 4 days while the storm dumped mass amounts of fresh powder. Most spots on the pass have 50" or more base! I made my way down to the hitch lot on the Loveland side and was happy to see Wood, Rhett and the gang shuttling in the 4x4 van. I joined up with them and drove the first lap. The snow was awesome, fresh lines everywhere. We hit all the normal spots and didn't have any trouble finding fresh all the way down. 8 or so laps of goodness later, Jordan, Fejj, Mark and Todd show up. I join up with them and we continue to shuttle the Loveland side. 3:30pm rolls around, we get bored and want some different terrain. The decision is made to shuttle the 5 car area on the basin side. Lucky Fejj brought a couple of extra Pieps beacons because the stuff was sketchy. Everyone gears up, does a beacon check and we head to the drop off point. Virtually no tracks, we drop off the first large switch back on the basin side near the Professor. The snow was very deep, we duck into the trees and get in some real steep terrain. Sluffing all around we drop one at a time from a safer location near a group of trees. Back down at the road, it's 4pm so we decide for one more lap. Fejj wants to hit this sick gulley and cliff line a bit further down the road. We agree on that and head back up. Jordan and Fejj drop first, followed by Mark and I. About half way down Mark and I come up on the first part of the gulley, I drop and make a couple of turns and a good chunk of the snow pack broke above me. I was starting to see lots and lots of sluff coming past and I didn't even try to look back, pointed the stick and straight lined it down through the trees. It was a moderate slide that broke, probably 40ft wide by 20ft with a 1 foot crown. This was NE aspect around 11,500ft, steep gulley with a slope angle of 37 degrees. After checking out our lines from the road we decided to call it a day and head over to Frisco for some beer and wings at the Blue Spruce.

Sunday I met Mike, and JJ at the pass around 6:45am. 6" new over night on top of the goodness all week, it was looking to be another great day. We started hitching the first couple of laps. Snow was a little bit heavyer and more wind blown, but really really good. We hit first triangles, second triangles and the deadwood area. The snowboarding was great, unlimited lines of deep powder. You could ride as fast as you wanted and rip huge rooster tails. I love riding powder more then anything, its the most free feeling. Listening to the IPOD and ripping huge backside slashes, 10am rolls around and rides start to suck. We decide to shuttle and hit some new areas below deadwood. It was a good choice, these were the best runs of the day. These areas get very little skier traffic so the snow was perfect. I was really starting to get tired after 3 days of deep pow riding so we decided to chill out a little bit and dig a snow pit below deadwood. Near deadwood drainage we found a nice N facing slope in sparse trees at elevation 11,892ft. The slope angle was 37 degrees. There were 5-6 destinct lays in the snow, 18-20" of depth hoar and rotted snow at the bottom. On top of that rotten layer is an even worse layer about 3" thick. This is completely rotten and less the pencil hardness. We got very very easy shears on most layers with clean breaks and lots of energy. Large slabs everywhere in the backcountry. Compression tests were a bit more positive, but the shear and ruestchblock tests were scary. We were able to make every layer fail with minimal effort. Be very careful in the backcountry.

Sorry about the video quality, it was -5 degrees or something outside and filming was pretty difficult. Not to mention the 3 feet of pow pow. And the rad pictures again, by Alex M.

Loveland Pass Video 12/03 - (right click - save as)