Loveland Pass - CDOT Avy Blast [Video/Snd.mov]
Loveland pass was closed all day today due to avalanche danger. The storm over Colorado has produced heavy snow and lots of wind. Sustained gusts of up to 45 mph on Loveland pass record by the CAIC weather station. Backcountry users should be very careful in the up coming days and keep careful eye on the large wind load slabs forming. Bring your gear and wear your beacons.

Due to the pass closed, we ended up riding at Loveland Resort. The wind was bad but the snow and crowds were great. No waiting in line, they had Chair #2 up and running but it was winding as hell up near the summit. Chair #1 is running as well and we had lots of fresh snow to shred all day. Around 9:30am, patrol lifted the ropes on Knix Knox and we had a few laps of really deep heavy pow.

By close of day, Arapahe Basin reports 14″, Copper 13″, Loveland 12″, and these reports came in at 2:00pm MST. Breckenridge and Keystone are also open with plenty of fresh snow. Tomorrow should be pretty sick snowboarding.

Check video clip link above, it shows Loveland Pass early as we wait for CDOT and crew to blast the Seven Sisters chutes.

 
CAIC Forecast - Northern Mountains: 11/12/05

Powered by Gregarious (50)

[Share This Post ]

(No Ratings Yet)

 Loading ...

Colorado Update

Date: 11/4/05-11/6/05

Quick update from last weekend, then on to the good stuff. AKD and I rode up at Copper Mountain for opening day. American Flyer was open all the way to the half point on the mountain. Excelator was open to ski racer traffice only. Copper claims 1600ft vertical of sking on opening day and they came close, easily 3 times longer then the white ribbon of death at Arapahoe Basin. They had a really nice little park setup at the top of the lift, lots of boxes, metal flat downs, metal kinks, cbox, gap to funbox, and 2 quarter pipes. After a few hours the crowds got bad so we went to the bar, had a few drinks and came back out to soft loose snow. The rest of the afternoon was mellow, riding around searching the mountain for hits. The snow started to fall late Friday night and we were out at Ceceila’s in Breckenridge, I have to say the drive home at 2am to frisco was insane. We were happy to see snow and decided to hit Abasin in the morning. Cold and windy we rode some fresh at abay for the morning until it got too crowded. The pass was closed from Friday night throughout the day and night on Saturday. I decided to head home early and rally the troops for a dawn attack on Loveland Pass. Mike and I got to the pass gates around 6:30am on Sunday. CDOT and my plow drive homeboy Rock were blasting the seven sisters slide paths and brought down a good amount of snow. We knew it would be and epic day, no one up on the pass for days and over 20″ of new snow. We were 1st and 2nd car through the gate and got a hitch up quickly. Surprised, the pow was a bit wet and a little heavy but super fun. We rode pretty much all day fresh lines, knee deep in spots and really deep in the north facing trees. Later in the day I met up with Jordan and Fejj and we got a car shuttle going. 2pm rolls around and we’ve all had such a great day we head over to Loveland resort for lunch. Sorry I don’t have ANY pictures or video from this day other then CDOT blasting the chutes. The snow was too good to stop and waste time.

Photo Spread

Date: Winter 04/05, Spring 05, Fall 05

Below are pictures that never made it into my blog entries or trip reports. These pictures are a mix of places and people from the last year or more.

   
   
   
   
  
   
 

[Share This Post ]

Arapahoe Basin / Pass Smoke Shack

Location: Arapahoe Basin / Pass Smoke Shack
People: AKD, JP, Alex, Tyler
Duration: Oct29 8am - Oct30 3pm

Arapahoe Basin/Pass Smoke Shack [Video/Snd.mov]
(parts filmed in low light - turn up brightness)
The weekend was perfect, expect for the snow. AKD and I setup camp at Arapahoe Basin early Saturday morning and got breakfast. Around 8:30am some snow started to enter the valley just as first chair was heading up. We got in line and soon we were on our way up the mountain. The 500ft of vertical or so that they have open isn’t bad, but get at it early. By noon we were waiting almost 45 minutes per lap. Around 1pm we decided to head over to the bar and start drinking, ran into Mac and crew up on the balcony and had a few beers. The crowds of gapers were difficult to deal with so we decided to call it a day and part ways. I hiked up to the terrain park with the video camera to mess around and get some shots. Mac, D, Pin Pin Mark, Sarah, and JT were in the park so that gave me a chance to play with the new camera a bit.

My plans were to meet up with Alex and camp in the backcounty smoke shack up on the pass. Around 4pm, Alex and Tyler rolled into the Arapahoe Basin lot with all the gear. We made our way back toward the pass up to the shack. Thank god Alex and Tyler brought tons of fire wood cause it was cold as hell. We did 4 or 5 laps from the car up to the shack with all the supplies. 2-3 loads of wood, our backcountry gear, and a cooler filled with beer/food. We got all settled in the hut around 5pm or so and Alex started dinner. Below the new deck on the hut is a nice powder chute now filled with jibs. The small round rail and a new tree jib are set up and shredable. I had to get it done so this is how I spent the remaining amount of light. 8pm or so rolls around, we are out standing on deck drinking beer after a rad dinner.

 
To our suprise we noticed another car pull into the lot through the trees. Next, we hear a few dudes yelling up, “Your dome light is on……”. Obvisously, a mission back to the trucks is in order.. so Tyler and I gear up and head down the mountain. Upon reaching the lot, Tylers truck is dead.. the 4 new dudes are kinda just hanging out asking were we came from. Seconds later it was realized they were here to camp out in the shack as well. Now 7 dudes deep, we thank them for the heads up on the car and head back up the mountain to the hut.

 
Evan, Trevor, Tavida, and Andy got up to the hut around 9pm or so.. now 7 deep in the small shack we started drinking heavily. Lucky, they packed up a 30 pack of PBR, 3 40oz of Olde E, and a bottle of Jack Daniels..we broke out the cards and stared some blackjack. Spent most of the night hanging out with our new friends, drinking, playing cards, checking out the stars from Colorado’s highest altitude casino. The shack stayed a nice 55 degrees most of the night, and we burnt almost 14 hours of fire wood. We went to bed hoping for snow, the next morning we woke up to alpineglo and clear skies. No snow, we decided to grab breakfast at Arapahoe Basin and get in a few laps. We parted ways with our new friends and rallied over to the basin. It was now snowing again and the gapers were starting to pile up. Don’t even know how bad the gapeage got yesterday, but we did a few laps and went home.

  

[Share This Post ]

Radiobeacon Mountain

Location: Radiobeacon Mtn, Rollins Pass, Forest Lakes Cirque
Riders: JP, Alex
Start: 10am - 4pm (at car)

The day trip started kinda late compared to normal adventures, but I met Alex up at his house in Coal Creek Hieghts around 8am. He cooked up a quick breakfast and we decided on checking out Rollins Pass. Much less snow then Jones Pass we were happy to four wheel the cruiser all the way back to Forest Lake trailhead and lakes. Searching out the window for some good snow we almost settled on a small patch above Yankee Doodle lake, but ventured on and found a nice stash off the north pitch of Radiobeacon.

 
We set off downhill, bushwhacking our way toward the snow. The hike was pretty nice and we made it to the north base/forest lakes area of Radiobeacon in an hour and a half. From there we decided to boot pack up to a small snow filled couloir that was hidden from the road. We took a few laps in spring like conditions under beautiful bluebird skies. On the decesent, we headed a bit further south and ended up below the southern ridge of Radiobeacon. This snow field was the destination and after 1 lap we were done. Got in maybe 20 or so good turns and it started to get way patchy.

  
At that point we decided to bag snowboarding for the day (except maybe from the ridge descent) and summit Radiobeacon. Alex and I booted our way up the north face of Radiobeacon to the southeast ridge. It was a pretty steep climb and we were happy to get a workout. Near the top we were greeted by a false summit and had another 400 ft or so to go. We summited Radiobeacon and decided to head north along the ridge and check out all the lines in the forest lakes cirque. Super sick, gnarly steep cliffy lines all around, too bad there wasn’t enough snow coverage to hit ‘em. We found a nasty rocking wind packed couloir and tried to shred down as far as possible. After a few really bad rocky turns we were boot packing down and out around cliffs back to the car.

 
We probably logged 5 miles or so hiking and 20 or so good turns, all in all it was a good trip and good to get out and scout the conditions. Rollins isn’t ready after the early Oct. storm.

 

[Share This Post ]