Colorado Snow Conditions: Mary Jane

mj_lines mj_pow_trees

One word describes today, sick. Pretty much one of the best days of the year so far, with almost 9 inches of snow over the last few days Mary Jane was hot. Most of the gapers and tourist crowd were hitting the groomers, so we duck into the trees and find limitless untracked pow lines down the mountain. Upper 30s bluebird day. We did a few laps on Sunnyside waiting for the Timberline lift to open up, this lift will take you to the top of Parsenn bowl. Up on Parsenn bowl we drop skiers right and follow the ridge line and duck into the trees, conditions were great. Lots of fresh powder on top of the base, we rode the back bowl pretty much all day. Surprised at how few people were hitting the tree lines, we got fresh lines all day.

Colorado Snow Conditions: Loveland

loveland1 loveland2

GPS_Log-loveland123004

Half asleep at 6:00am driving west up I70 we arrive at Loveland Resort near the base of the continental divide. It's been snowing and windy all night and ski patrol tells us they've got at least 8" inches at the base. After watching Chaulksmack and loveHATE on the drive up we are ready to shred some pow. We jump on lift #1 and head up, fighting the wind to stay on the chair. Hearing reports of gusts up to 70mph over near chair 8 we decided to do laps in the trees near #1. The snow was great, tons of fresh powder in the trees and all over the mountain. 8"-10" on the groomers and at least 12" in the trees. We made fresh turns for a hour or two before it began to get crowded, due to the wind many lifts had shutdown and most of the gapers were chilling near the base. Off of lift #6 the LovePARK is in effect, we found a couple of hips, kicker, rainbow, 2 straight rails, kink, trap and an aframe, fighting the wind we could only handle a few laps. Cold blowing snow and wind all day, conditions sucked at times-- hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Colorado Snow Conditions: Copper Mountain

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Today a few of us decided to take a last minute trip over to Copper, the holiday crowd was in full effect. After a few early groomer runs on the ice pack, the crowds and lift lines started to build. We went up the Excelerator towards the T-bar, at the top we found more wind blown ice pack. No new snow in a week, even the trees sucked. Good news, it looks like the Superpipe is almost up and running along with the main terrain park. At the top of American Flyer they have a nice minipipe going and some beginner ride on rails. We were happy to see some of the rails rotated out of the pre-season park here. None of the back lifts were up and running, and the ambassadors were handing out groom reports like mad. After killer burgers and guinness at Endo's we split and head out, on the way we can see every single lot packed to the brim.

Colorado Backcountry: Current Creek

current_creek1 current_creek2

Heading down the north side of Berthoud Pass, you'll run into the old Current Creek section of the now defunct resort. This is where some of the more extreme steeps and lines are located. Early Christmas morning I started the long hike up the ridge heading toward the North Chutes, I was pretty happy to see only a few other people out in the backcountry. No new snow since the 23rd, I wasn't expecting great conditions. Surprised, I found a good amount of wind blown pow in the chutes from the previous days storm. Temperature outside was in the low 30s, and the sun was loosing up the snow quite well. After a couple laps in the chutes I broke for lunch and a few pictures up top.

The day turned out great, very few people up on the pass because of the holiday. Bluebird conditions, no wind, all we need is some more snow!



Colorado Backcountry: Berthoud Pass

gpslog

We arrived up at the summit of Berthoud Pass in the afternoon, temperatures are still below zero. My truck is telling me -10 degrees to be exact, I look at AKD to make sure he's still down for the hike ahead. No one else around, we decide it's worth it and head up the East Face towards the communication towers. Searching for a good spot to build a boot we settled on re-building an older kicker from a few weeks ago. We hit the jump for a few hours, messing around--just having fun! What a great time, as many of you know this is such a great way to refresh. Get yourself out in the mountains, move some snow, and just have fun!

Tempted by the 4-5" new snow on BP we decied to do a few laps in the trees. The snow back here was great, deep wind blown powder, on a good base. Hitting the trees along the old Powder Line we ended the day with huge smiles on our faces!


jp-str8air jp-capita bp-boot GPS_Log-berthoud_pass122404

Colorado Snow Conditions: Mary Jane

maryjane-freshlines maryjane-groomer

Surprised by the lack of people in the upper Mary Jane parking lot, we figured it was the below zero temperatures. With 3" of new snow over night we thought the holiday crowd would be in full effect. Thursday turned out to be a great day, as we spent most of the morning making powder turns in the trees and groomers. They had the Sunnyside lift up and running providing access to some MJ's great gladed terrain. Unfortunately, the Parsenn Bowl wasn't open and it looked pretty windy/wind blown up there. All in all, the top of MJ had at least 3" in spots and in the trees we found some nice deep untracked pow all on top of a 37" base. No crowds. The snow was cold and slow.

Today I finally had a chance to take the TP Capita out for a few laps, and I must say I love this deck. Tons of pop, great flex, stable, and very forgiving on big jumps. Did I mention it butters better than Martha on a good cooking day? Sick. Also, the 1st day on the Technine JH Dominator bindings. Very stiff, all metal binding with the baltimore toe strap. These bindings are tight, way better than my Drake MLBs.

Capita

Around 2pm we just couldn't take the cold anymore and my nose was starting to freeze together, so the decision was made to head Berthoud Pass and build a jump. More about that later..

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