The wrath of February

This is what it looked like at the top of Lift 1 yesterday. This storm came roaring in from the northwest and lashed Boulder with 90 mph winds, dropping about a foot at Loveland.

Slam dunk that this weekend will be extraordinary (by '11-'12 season standards), except Saturday promises windchills to -25 degrees.So...we are considering our next move carefully.

Welp...

Second snow of this still-young autumn is melting reluctantly around town. Several ski areas are open, and I just brought my Head Monsters dow to Ski Deals for their annual tune.

At the risk of stating the obvious...I guess rafting season is over.

Day 11, and that's all, folks

Had it not been for the couple of frsh inches they got the night before, and the inch or so that fell during periods of amazing whiteout, the last day at Loveland would have really sucked. Not quite corn, not quite packed powder, conditions were generally abyssmal - we did manage to find some pockets of untracked and we got in 19 decent runs, but forgettable. But we did get a nice end of day pic, looking up the creek toward an empty mountain.




And as it's been 70-ish down here since then, I'm fine with calling it a mediocre season and turn my attention to the streamflow.

Now if only the BLM would serve me up a cancel on SJ, we're good.

Surviving springtime...

...in the Rockies.



Holy smoke, Day 10 at Loveland was epic - high winds, blowing snow, zero visibility. Only saving grace was that it was April, with moderate (20ish) temperatures. Snow was very nice, but the winds were gruesome. Last endurance day of the year (we presume), spingtime beckons.

The Project is improving day by day.

Loveland Day 9

The much-anticipated 'big March dump' turned out to be a bit of a dud - we got 7" or so around the house, but Loveland only got 3". Hardpack underneath some loose stuff, but mostly (despite bright sun all day) it was freakin' cold. -1 in the morning, maybe warming to 8-10 degrees above zero by mid afternoon. Third week of March felt like January.

20 runs, the cold slowed me down a bit.

Big snow?

Loveland barely nudged past the 200" mark a week or two ago. Mediocre snow year, although conditions have been generally pretty good.

Picked up 4" last night; we noted the obviously-typo'ed total YTD tally, which seemed to reflect a bit of wishful thinking on their part. (All of our parts...)

Loveland Day 8

Started out a sunny, packed-powder burner, more than hints of approaching spring. Mountain knocked down all over (groomed lanes down Scrub and Firecut), warm temps and barely a breath of wind.

By 2PM the sun had gone in, moderately heavy cloud cover, snow started hardening and the light went flat.

Still a good day. 25 runs, and the last chair up Lift 6.

Fearing for tiering at Loveland

With a foot of freshies in the last week and promised sunny/outlandishly beautiful weather tomorrow, I am in acute dread state about not getting up there early enough to make the upper lot.

This, of course, is a holdover from Karin, who'd get very surly about being relegated to the Valley, and then mostly because it disrupted our after-ski beer in the Rathskeller, having to catch the last 4:30 shuttle down to the valley. Even downhill, it's a long walk humping skis - I've done it.

Funny how those things linger.

Although, to be fair about it, the Valley lot is a complete PITA. And if it's busy enough to send me down there, the whole place'll be a zoo.

So, some of it lingers from BITD...and some of it is now-reality based.

Loveland - Day 7

Been a bit slack about keeping up with ski-blogging, but we'll report that we've hit Day 7. Snow-wise, the season got off to a very slow start and has proceeded steadily if unspectacularly - I don't think they've had a single snow report of over 5", but no long droughts either.

Day 7 was not bad - 21 runs, generally cloudy and breezy, snow off and on.

Last few days have been 20, 21, 24 and 21 runs (if memory serves), and I'm looking at a 12-day season, with 2 or 3 weekends off to hang with Sharon...or whatever.

Me again

Hat in hand, returning again to the blog. All sorts of excuses are possible, some legitimate (work, for one), but also a bit of the reverse entropy that probably 98% of bloggers suffer.

Anyway....

Day 2 at Loveland - crowded and no surprise, since the past two weeks have been absurdly cold up there and yesterday was the first real break, with temps in the high teens/low 20's. Decent snow in the trough runs, thin cover elsewhere. All of Lift 6 is open, with pretty decent snow, and we managed to get lots of sun and 23 runs in.

Interview this week with Erik Deutsch, former Boulder keyboardist now trolling sessions with some Pretty Big Names in NYC. I don't have his CD, but then did that ever stop me?

Past that, uncertain.

Winter seems long this year.

Well...day 1

Finally got my first day of skiing in, squeezed in between three Saturday conference calls for work.

No comment on the circumstances - the skiing was okay, though. Snowing moderately when I get started, the sun came out around 1PM, good visibility and there a decent amount of loose, soft snow scattered across the December hardpack. Not mkuch for terrain, but I got 13 runs in and skiied pretty well.

A bit tired and legsore by 3:30, so quit a little early.

They got some snow this week - almost a foot - and a few runs off Lift 6 finally opened up.

No pics, sorry.

Skis season done

At the risk of repeating ourselves, ski season has finally closed...at least for me, as the time is now 4:02PM Sunday, and Loveland just roped off the lifts. See ya in November, guys.

No problem - we just hauled about 4000lbs of sod back from Home Depot, and we're a-gonna make a yard.

Loveland Days 15 and 16 - season coda

Last Sunday was day 15, a day or two after a sizable April snowstorm, and the snow was a bit weird - even the groomed stuff was lumpy and cantankerous, the off-piste was sticky and wet. Beautiful day, very warm, classic spring skiing conditions, but something of a workout.

And crowded - first time in 20 seasons I was relegated to the furthest lot, Lot 4 in the Valley - waited 45 minutes for a shuttle. Only managed 17 runs all day (9/8), but a nice day nonetheless.


Yesterday was a bit weird also - the temperature hovered right around 32F, so the spring slop varied between soft and pliant to hard and crunchy, sometimes in the space of a few minutes. Never really learned how to ski that stuff, but still managed 22 (14/8) runs, stayed right side up, and said goodbye for the year. The San Juan trip approaches and we have trip planning and some house stuff.

Stopped at The Spot on the right side of Turtle Creek, had a word or two with Karin. Kind of a ritual.

Gives new meaning to

..."last lift".

FRISCO (AP) - An autopsy will be performed on a Rhode Island man who died on a chairlift while skiing in Breckenridge.

Summit County Coroner Joanne Richardson says 48-year-old Michael Wiggins died at about noon Wednesday on a chairlift on Peak 8 at the Breckenridge Ski Resort.

She says Wiggins lost consciousness while riding the chairlift with his family, and efforts to resuscitate him at the top of the lift were unsuccessful.

Wiggins was an orthopedic surgeon from East Greenwich, R.I. Richardson says he had no significant medical history.

Sudden loss of a spouse like this is a shocker and no joke - still, it's a reminder that heavy exertion at altitude can deliver some surprises.

Loveland Day 13

Call it Winter Part II.

After a couple of weeks of frighteningly warm and dry conditions, the central mountains got a nice two week spell of steady snow - no big dumps, but Loveland's base went from 60" to 85", and the conditions were great. Even better, a smallish storm rolled in midday and dropped 2-4" of freshies all over.

Forgot to lather up and got a little singed in the hazy morning sun, but not bad. Coasting toward a 15 or 16 day season.

Weather turns

Big snow in Colorado last week, the Central mountains got a decent helping (Loveland clocked 26" in four days last week). Two more storms this week, and weather in the teens promises a return to decent snow and a reprieve from the squishy early spring we posted about last installement.

Loveland Day 12

Fifty degrees most of the day (Sat 3/21), soupy slush at the bottom and a lot of long faces amongst the hardcore regulars about the freakishly warm weather and the prospect of a unnaturally shortened season.

It was even warmer up there today. It was 77 degrees in Boulder - nice for the around-town crowd, but worrisome for skiers who always get a little panicky about how the season will end around this time.

The good news is that a massive storm is gathering up there now, which could drop 8-16" of freshies at Loveland and statewide, lingering for days, and setting up for more storms and colder/wetter weather well into the beginning of April.

Loveland Day 11

Outstanding day - one or two inches of fresh on a very even packed powder base, sun all day, no wind. 25 runs (17/8).

Went up to the ridge - there's two poling sections now for anyone who wants to take the cat track down, so it's a bit of a push.

Weather says warm and dry until next weekend, hopefully some moisture pushing through then. March has been a little disappointing in the high country this season.

Loveland Day 10

Another schizo-weather day at altitude - sunny in the morning, then heavy snow off and on from about noon onward. The very warm weather on the last week had created a somewhat anemic spring snow situation (even a little brownish snowtop bacteria growth), but the hurredly delivered freshies during the day made for increasingly good conditions. It ain't spring just yet.

Got in 22 (15/7). Now in the homestretch of the season - looking at 15 days total.

No post on Day 9, but good solid packed powder day, near perfect sunny weather, and 26 runs.

Loveland Day 6

Amazing day. 30 degree F, no wind, packed snow, sun all day.

Crowded, but I got up there early enough to make it into the Basin pasking lot - no minor feat, as the place was very busy all day.

My skiing was better, but it would be, since I do best on packed snow in good visibility. Got 24 runs in, and a little sun-color on my face today. At least 8 comments on the hat - one guy I rode up with said he thought he had ridden the lifts at least six times with me over the span of 15 years, and said "you may not know this, but you're a fixture here." It was a nice, and slightly weird, comment, and I took it as a compliment.

This is probably my 20th season up there. Fifth since Karin passed. I guess he's right.