Another October Story...

By Brendon Newton (close friend of the PowderCast)

That's correct... It's only the 23rd of October and already I've got two days of skiing in the books. Now, normally I have the same reaction as you are probably having now when I hear about people skiing in October. It's that feeling of, "That's retarded. Why not sit on the couch and watch football until the real snow comes?!" Well the REAL snow did come this weekend, and it came in record amounts.
With the mountains reporting over a foot after tuesday night's dump and plenty more in store for the weekend, we quickly began making our plans for later in the week. The plan was simple: Friday, John and I would hit Loveland in order to warm up and wait on the storm to roll through, then Saturday we would join up with other assorted members of theMILL freeride ski group for a day on Berthoud Pass. With only a slight setback of crashing my car into a ditch off of I-70, that's exactly what we did!
Friday proved to be a rad day! When we finally made it to Loveland, John and I proceeded to wake our legs up with turns on soft natural snow, shifty 180s, and spins on and off the fun box. After two or three hours of making laps up and down Chair 1, the storm really rolled in and having already crashed my car once, we decided to putz my bruised up Saturn back to the Springs in time for a nap before theMILL.

The crew on the hike up!

Saturday was the day that it went down!!! We had a full crew since the two cadets(Will Johnson and Scott Robinson) and Neil were able to make it out of the city being that it was a weekend and both the Government and GE Commercial Finance take weekends off. Jeff and Patrick were there too although they were on a different program since they have cooler backcountry gear than us. The day went off with face shots, back flips and plenty of hiking that would amount to one of my more memorable days on skis.

Wide open untracked!

I can honestly say that hiking in the backcountry is largely where I see my skiing going. We'll see if this holds true but I don't know. Maybe it was the fact that there was no one in a red jacket telling me what I can and can't ski, the reality that there were nearly as many dogs as there were humans, or the fact that I didn't hear one Texan accent the whole day, but I had so much fun just being in creation Saturday I don't think that I can really describe it. But one thing's for sure; Skins, beacons, and a yellow lab by my side are a sure bet way to bring skiing back to its purest state.

Will reminds everyone that he's from Washington and can ski heavy snow better than us.

So 3200 vertical ft. of climbing/skiing, a slew of face shots, one swollen wrist and only one broken ski later, we closed the book on the first chapter of our the season. If this weekend was any indication of what's to come, it's going to be a great year. If you want to come ride with us, let us know! We're all about enjoying God's creation, pushing our limits, and enjoying fellowship in the process. There's plenty of snow to be had already! Enjoy and God bless!

Scott Robinson: backflip on his third run of the season. Ladies? Get to know this guy!

Me: 360 tailgrab. Is it really October?

Note: All photos property of John Vandervalk: Majesty Photo Inc. WWW.Majestyphoto.com