Friday, October 27, 2006

Day 2, The Fight, Day 3

"...this is a winter storm warning for the Front Range up through the High Country, expect blizzard like conditions..."

"Really? October...Really? No. I'm dreaming"

We packed up and started driving to Berthoud around 7:45. Late by resort standards but hey, it's October, nobody is skiing yet right? It was apparent within 5 minutes of driving this would be no standard drive. Five inches of wet heavy snow had fallen in the Boulder area and road crews were slow to do much about it. The drive down highway 93 was dicey at best, most any rear wheel car was off the road.

We powered our way to I-70, skirted our first road block by stating we lived in Genesee, a highway accessed subdivision. What we didn't know is they had closed the highway just 10 miles up the road.

Getting off the highway, we realized it was still pretty early, and being 12-20" had fallen in the foothills, we were far from saying die. We figured out a ninja route to Idaho Springs up and over Squaw Pass.

Suddenly we were emmersed in a winter wonder land. 30+" everywhere. We would have just skiied it had it not been so heavily treed. We drove up the pass hoping to at least make it to Echo Mountain Lake at the summit but unfortunutly the plows ran short, quitting about 2/3s up the pass.

After digging out some stranded vehicles, we still knew we had a chance. After all, we'd committed quite some amount of time to this adventure. We went back to 70, this time, no cop...but no cars on the road either. Weird.

We jumped on the highway, which may or may not have still been closed for a lonely eiree drive up 70 to Berthoud Pass.

We got there pretty quickly, picking up some fellow skiers about 1/2 way up the pass. When we arrived at the top state patrol was ticketing and towing cars illegally parked. Which was funny because there was no alternative parking as C-DOT forgot to plow the main parking lot. He offered up his .02 cents, telling us it would be a 40 dollar ticket and the first to be towed if we park up there....Really?

7 hours of adventuring to be ended up Mr. State Patroller? No. We're going to the Jane. We parked in Corona Lot at Mary Jane about 2 PM. Thinking big things, we decided to skin the cat track around to sunny side and then up to the summit from there. From the start it was clear there was more snow than we ever though possible in October. Maybe 3-4 FEET. 4PM came quick, and the verticle did not. Although we can claim first turns at the Jane this year, they weren't much to brag about...and we never did summit.

Friday was a whole new ballgame. On the way back to Boulder on Friday we noted the weather was getting progressivly warmer. Thinking the snow quality would not hold, we reluctently headed up for another try Friday morning.

We were rewarded. Not only the best turns of October but some of the best we've ever had. 2-3 feet deep and in the trees. October? I guess. Freakish. Very.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Can't Sleep?

If you can't sleep or are really bored (you are here aren't you?) and want to check out some socks watching ski movies than click here .

Sage Cattabriga-Alosa and others give commentary on random big mountain TGR clips. It's funny. Just click the link.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

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

Monday, October 23, 2006

October What????

Friday afternoon all of us at the PowderCast found ourselves comfortably fly fishing Boulder Creek. The wind had been blowing hard all day and we couldn't help but notice the white squall to the west. We tried to keep it out of our minds, after all, it isn't even November yet!

The night went on and around midnight it started snowing around 4" an hour. No, that's not a mistype, it really was snowing that hard.

It was clear, Berthoud would be in ski-able shape come Saturday morning. We arrived in the parking lot around 9:30. October what? It looked more like December something! Like giddy school children, we threw on our skins and trekkers and quickly found ourselves at the summit. The wind had been whipping around a good deal, we dropped in and made some "tenative" turns. The snow was deep but the ground wasn't hard to find. At the end of the day my skis looked worse than all of last years damage combined! Oh well, in the end it was worth it...

Monday, October 16, 2006

Skis Rant

It's official. We're obsessed with these skis, proving no skier is ever happy with any number of skis. No ski seems like it would be as much fun in pow this year as Line's Elizabeth or Sir Francis Bacon. Pollard says no ski should ever be narrower than a sneaker. After watching him ski in the MSP movie this year I have to agree.

I can only imagine how tight of a tree line you could ski on a 172 that is 110 under foot and light as they come. Butter pow. Ski switch in deep snow. Be creative. Go check them out. Line.

It's Here

It's been awhile since the last post...in that time we've watched the Rocky Mountains get a little whiter and we grew a little more at peace with ourselves as A-Basin and Loveland opened for the season. Sure, it's really just one run at each resort but hey, you can now ride a lift and ski some sweet man made!

More importantly Snowforecast is predicting a HEAVY storm to roll through the mountains mid-week. Maybe toss on the skins and see what Berthoud has to offer if we get hit hard enough.