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 4×4 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)

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Copper Mountain Snow Report
Wow, today was sick. Got up to Copper super early because the pass was closed and was it worth it! 12″ new this morning on top of 8-10″ they got yesterday, we got 3rd chair on the Super Bee lift as it was opening for the season. Lots of deep powder all around the mountain and tons of terrain open. Spalding Bowl is open and Resolution lift is running. The T-Bar and most other lifts are running and more openings coming soon. It snowed off and on most of the day today, forecasts are calling for another 4-8″ by tomorrow morning. Heading up to the pass (if it opens) to do some backcountry tomorrow and probably over to Keystone for some night jibbin. Will update after this weekend with some pictures and video hopefully.

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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.

   

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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.

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