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.

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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.

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I’ve tried, used, and broken a lot of gear over the years. The checklist below serves as a guide for the gear I pack on backcountry snowboard day trips. Of course, if you are doing over nighters or multi-nighters you would opt for a larger pack and include items like your thermarest and sleeping bag. The gear below has always worked great for me and it’s dealt with my abuse well. I use this stuff 2-3 times a week and it never lets me down.

SNOWBOARD - Unity Origin, or Capita Swallow Tail for the steep and deep. Make sure the board securely fastens to your backcountry pack.
http://unitysnowboards.com
http://capitasnowboards.com
SHOWSHOES - Use to break trail in deep snow, useful for long slog approaches. Break these out when you start to post hole. Purchase largest size available, I use ATLAS 1230. Rated at 175lbs - 250lbs.
http://www.atlassnowshoe.com/products/

BACKCOUNTRY PACK - Osprey switch 25+5 backcountry snow pack. With this pack you can keep your shovel assembled and have easy access to your probe and snow study gear.
http://www.ospreypacks.com/
TREKKING POLES - Get something light and adjustable. You’ll use these alot
during slog, ascent, and snowshoeing. Make sure they attach to your pack. I use Leki Ultralite Ti Air-Ergo.
http://www.leki.com
SNOWBOARD BOOTS (crampon/snowshoe tested) - I use ThirtyTwo 304s because
they fit my snowshoes and work perfectly with my CAMP crampons. Solid boot and does well hiking backcountry or talus fields.

CRAMPONS - Buy something solid that will last and make sure they work with
you existing snowboard boot. I use CAMP. They strap on to my snowboard boots vs. models made to fit hard alpine touring boots.
http://www.camp-usa.com
ICE AXE - At least 60cm, I use the Black Diamond Raven 65cm. Pick yourself up a self arrest and ice axe leash (learn how to self arrest).
http://www.bdel.com

AVALANCHE BEACON - BCA Tracker, digital beacon almost walks you to the victim. Learn how to use it along with your probe and do practice tests with you group before you leave trailhead. Don’t trust new BC partners, show them you can find a beacon and have them show you. Its your life.
http://www.bcaccess.com/bca_products/tracker/index.php

SHOVEL - BCA shovel for digging out victims and doing snow profiles. Some BCA shovels come with a probe that stores inside the shovel, these probes are generally too short for deep burials.
http://www.bcaccess.com
PROBE - BCA probe, collapsable and stored in side your shovel or snow saftey section of your pack. 300mm or longer is best for deep snow.
http://www.bcaccess.com
SNOW STUDY KIT - Inclinometer, termometer, snow crystal cards, profile
cheat sheets, ruetschblock cord.
http://www.rei.com
WATER FILTER - MSR waterworks EX, attachs to osprey pack bladder. If using in exterme cold, disassemble after use and blow out remaining water.
http://www.msrcorp.com
PETZEL HEADLAMP - 2 beam focus lamp, light, extra batteries.
http://www.petzel.com
MOTOROLA RADIOS - Communication is essential in the backcountry. The talkabout series works well, lots of people have them. 7 mile radius.
http://www.ebay.com

GPS MAP60CS - GPS with current destination topo uploaded, parking area and waypoints marked. Extra batteries for GPS.
http://www.garmin.com
FIRST AID KIT - Basic REI kit. I include smelling salts, space blanket, weather proof matches, iodine tablets, compass, fire paste.
http://www.rei.com

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The snow gods have been very good to us the last couple of weeks. Over the weekend of Nov. 5th-6th we recieved a huge dump of about 15″ setting up a nice base on top of the snow fall from October. On top of the previous week’s wetter snowfall, Summit County and the surrounding resorts recieved almost 40″ of fresh powder. Starting Nov. 12th, Loveland Resort was reporting 5″ new at 10,500ft. The 13th, came with another 8″ fresh and lots of wind. The 14th another 8″ dropped over night and we rode beautiful bluebird knee deep conditions at the Pass. Yesterday, we woke to another 10″ fresh on the slopes and very cold temps. Took Tuesday off and went up to Copper Mountain, with clear skies and summit temperatures of 7 degrees F, the powder was super light and blower. We did lap after lap on the Excelerator in deep powder, the crowds weren’t very bad at all because it was so cold. Happy to report that Copper has top to bottom skiing open with many trails and acerage open. The park is stil the same as last week with a bigger quarter pipe. Winter Park, Breckenridge, Keystone, Loveland, and Arapahoe Basin are all reporting new terrain and lift openings after this weekends storm. Most resorts are reporting almost 40″ base and its only November! Our original plans were to head to the Pass yesterday and get some more backcountry in but CDOT never opened the gates.

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