Alex, Mike and I got up to the first switch back on the pass around 6:30am Saturday morning. Loveland Resort reported 2.5″ over night and the pass had a little bit more. Disappointed by the lack of snowfall we slowly dawned our gear, did a beacon check and waited for a hitch. First lap down by 6:45am, it was better then we expected. 4-5″ in most spots and quite a bit more wind blown in areas. We took a few more laps in the main gulleys and then started up a shuttle when rides got slow. We shuttled the lower areas and found lots of nice stashes in the north trees and a good 5″ fresh on top.
 
The areas that see less ski traffic had deep snow and we even found a sweet little pillow line down deadwood creek. It was off and on greyday all day with light bursts of snow, on Sunday it didn’t get above 9 degrees F. We took our time each lap and shot some pictures. Alex really killed it on the action shots, nice work! As you can see from the pictures we had a great time riding the steeps, schwacking the trees and slashin up the gnar. 10:30am rolls around, Mike decides he’s had enough and heads home. Alex and I got a couple more laps in and took off around noon trying to beat the I70 traffic mess. We left really early from the Eisenhower tunnel area and still got caught in traffic.

 
It seems the large storm that was supposed to hit over the weekend never really materialized for the Northern Central mountains. Aspen, Snowmass, and Steamboat got huge dumps of over a foot or more. Although, snowforecast.com is calling for unsettled weather and 3-5″ of snow over the next couple of nights.

   

This map uses the google maps API and generates an html page based on the spots we love in the backcountry. You can click on the map marker and view the info window which contains data about the way point, weather, snow conditions, and trip report links. This is in proof of concept mode and will be continually developed. Most of my points are setup, although some of the info window data is not correct. My idea behind this is to have an interactive map of locations we’ve hit, places we want to go, and any other information useful for checking out backcountry locations. Check back as this is completely beta right now, we will be adding more waypoints and lots of data. In addition keep an eye out for interactive maps with Colorado snotel data, and avalanche conditions. Map, Satellite, Hybrid, LANDSAT7, Topo, and JPL Global Mosaic overlays available. Click the above map image or use the link on the sidebar to navigate to the map.

 
Berthoud Video 11/24 - (right click - save as)
Got to the summit of Berthoud Pass yesterday around 6:45am, bluebird conditions as the sun was rising. No one else around, I geared up and started hiking the boot pack west from the summit parking lot. After 30 minutes or so of hiking I reached the west ridge summit where the old lift towers used to stand. I decided I was going to drop into the first creek area and hitch hike back up to the summit. Above tree line, there is still plenty of little powder stashes and fun spots to rip. I dropped down northwest into the first creek drainage, the snow was good and I found nice spots in the trees with a foot or so of pow untracked. Good coverage almost everywhere, 6-8″ pow in most spots still, foot or more in the trees. Once you get back into tree line you need to head skiers right and follow the tracks or you end up dead end at a nice cliff line. The snow below tree line was really tracked out and hard pack, so I made my way to the hitch hike point and waited for my friend Sarah on her way up from the Winter Park side.

 
Sarah picked me up and we headed back to the summit, from there we dropped her car back down at the first creek pull out for shuttle use later. Back at the Berthoud Pass summit we dawned our gear, did a beacon check and started hiking west from the summit lot. We reached the west summit and the old lift area and decided to continue on up the next mountain and make our way to some sweet powder stashes up on the cirque. We scoped out a line and made our way over to dig a snowpit, lucky someone else had already done this so most of the work was complete. We dug a pit at 12,300ft, North facing aspect, with a slope angle of 32 degrees. I was unable to reach the gound after digging almost 6 ft down, tested the shear and compression on the top layers and noticed a small weak layer about 18″ below the surface. The snow pack up there is pretty much one large hard slab. We decided to play it a little safer and drop a mellow slope with less wind load. We made our way down into the upper part of first creek basin and it was great shreddin. The sun was out and we had our choice of what lines to hit, we made nice mellow roller turns down the basin to another spot we saw during the hike. We stopped at this smaller ridge and did a few more laps before following the creek back down to the hitch spot. The snow in the trees is still quite nice, although its feeling more like spring snow and pow. Fast and wet.

The snow was pretty stable in most spots, but the conditions vary greatly from area to area. Depending how the next storm sets up we could be in for some exterme Avalanche danger.

The video is mostly of the route, peaks and lines we hit. Also, some local booter action from a dedicated group of skiers.

 
Loveland Pass Trees Video - (right click - save as)
Spent the last 3 days riding endless pow up on the pass. The north facing trees are completely going off right now and there is still plenty of fresh tracks to rip. We started early Friday morning, met up with Tele Adam at the first lot around 6:45am. After a beacon check we quickly got our gear and started to hitch, took a warm up lap down the main chute and it was awesome. 3-4″ fresh and lots of wind blown snow the conditions weren’t bad at all. After another lap or two we decided to start hiking the ridge from the pass summit. Bailey (Adam’s dog) lead the way and we followed his boot pack toward the ridge. We decided to play it safe and ski the mellower lines near the first sadle. Keeping an eye on each other and the dog we dropped one at a time down the north facing fingers out on to the ironing board. The snow was really nice above tree line and we easily had deep turns all the way down to the flats. Back down at the car we hitched up again and made our way further along the ridge, hitting each little pow gulley. After 4 laps hiking the ridge, Adam took off and I did a few more tree runs.

 
Saturday we met back up at the pass again, Adam and I decided to hike again only to find out the previous nights high winds removed most of the snow above tree line and made for some dangerous avy conditions. We played it safe and dropped before the first ridge saddle down to the safety of treeline. On the summit it was like 15 degrees F and the wind was blowing bad. We decided on doing laps in the trees and it was great. Stay away from the main areas and you can have endless pow runs pretty much all day. On top of the 5″ additional snow the pass recieved Friday night things were going off! We spent most of the day shuttling the more hidden areas of the pass and just having fun. It was great seeing everyone and meeting new people too. Big shouts to my homie Sarah from Boulder, Jay from Aspen and Adam’s boy Alex. Nice turns. Stayed up on the pass until 6:45pm and we still got caught up in the I70 traffic mess. Be ware!

 
Sunday came with no new snow, I met Mike and the crew up at the pass around 6:30am. We started car shuttling right away and still managed to find plenty of untracked pow in the trees. Did 9 or 10 laps, and after everyone riding for days straight we called it a day and beat traffic back down.

The video from this weekend was mostly filmed on Saturday at pass in the north facing trees. The snow was very light and cold, super blower pow. Drifts up to a couple of feet deep, lots of wind blown features to slash. 20-30″ base in the trees, best coverage I’ve seen in a few years. Please right-click and choose save as to download the movie and save bandwidth.