Barb

Glad you are in the mend @toast21602 I start PT for my arthritic knee Monday 😂. Did some uphill at Buttermilk today and grabbed these on the way home. Love my BC Nordic skis, but they stink on groomed stuff and don’t fit in a track. Gonna play around on these tomorrow hopefully

XCD is both fun and terrifying. I only do little short hills.

Another good morning on skinny skis. Brought my dog this time. 2 out of 4 arm length booties stayed on, not bad.

They will absolutely do this. 😂

The woman that is care taker for our local air strip shut it down to xc skiing last year. Too many tourists I guess. This year as long as you have her verbal permission you can ski it. I finally ran into her and got my OK. Woke up to 3” and socked in skies. Used my fat xc skis and skied from my front door to the air strip. It’s an open straight run for about 3/4 of a mile then it goes into the trees. I went way back in the trees and I know inward on someone’s land but that someone isn’t here full time. Nobody else around, breaking trail. Those skis excel at ungroomed stuff. No hills or anything but fun little jaunt.

winter park gondola had a huge crack yesterday in what looks like a high stress point. Over 100 people had to be evacuated by ropes

There is a lot to dial in. Still figuring out all the features. But so far it has not identified when I am skiing bumps. It always says terrain is groomed. I think it is pretty cool it knows what resort you are skiing and even the individual runs. My friend tried the active coach yesterday but she found it distracting after a while so just took out her ear bud. Seems like a good tool.

My friend from Denver asked if she took a personal day from work, would I meet her at Copper. Took about 2 hours 20 min and as I pulled into the free lot with a line of cars, she was right behind me, good timing! Parking was very full but the runs were not. First run off the American flyer lift and it was in the shade (and a popular lift) and it was all scraped off and icy. Blech. We decided to try and find some better snow. We went on American Eagle lift and the one above that and the snow was so much better. Did mostly all ungroomed runs all morning. Lift lines were about 1-2 minutes and never full chairs. Making snow all over the place for the holiday. Last run we did the bumps were bigger then expected. Her and I both got the CARV gen 2 on their Black Friday sale. I have only used it 2 days but love all the info and stats it provides. 4th ski day wearing my mesh base layer and can confirm its awesomeness for keeping you dry. Would not make a habit out of the long drive to ski, but it was great to not ski alone. No snow in the forecast which is a bummer.

@Johnny Law yeah I think was on either Wineskin or Whispering Jesse. Took one more run off Big Burn and ran through Sneaky’s Glades popped out and finished with the short Jack of Hearts bump run. When I got to the bottom of Big Burn I knew I didn’t have another one left in me as it’s 3200 from top to base. Scooted down to the base, almost ate shit on some out of nowhere rocks. Stopped to compose myself and heard some girls saying “Be careful lots of rocks here” to each other. Overall stellar day.

Real time Snowmass report. It’s sunny and feels warm. After 2-1900’ baby bump runs I came in for a snack. Empty chairs and slopes! paid $9 for chips and a tiny yogurt. 😂. Back out in 5

Been slowly getting back to normal after I got a gel injection in my knee last week. Woke up following morning with my knee looking like the elephant man and had to use a hiking pole to hobble around my house. Didn’t feel quite ready for downhill, so I went to a new to me xc place about 45 min away. It’s free (donation based) and there are marked trails and they do groom it. I brought both my ancient skinny skis and my newer backcountry xc skis. I assumed my old ones could be used with my newer backcountry xc boots but I guess the metal clip is too long. So I used my fatties on the skate ski part of the trails. Also got to test out my new Brynje mesh base layer shirt. It def made a difference, my back was wet, but dried quick and my secondary layer was dry by the time I got home. Anyone try these or similar? Anyway, nice sunny day, temp was 15 with light wind felt good to move the legs

Just sharing some interesting snow observations/conditions from Colorado. After the large storm we had around Thanksgiving, we have been in a pattern of high pressure with cold nights and sunny days. As a result, there has been widespread surface hoar seemingly throughout the state. I went to a CAIC talk over the weekend and seen plenty of people comparing notes with pictures on FB. I thought it was only here where I am, but seems to be everywhere. Here is an image someone shared on FB. The surface hoar has grown to 2” feather like crystals. Needless to say, when we get our next big storms, if this layer is still present we are going to have a very weak layer.

I heard about it. On my list for this season. Also went in halves on a parking pass with my neighbor. It’s good at Highlands and a lot at Snowmass I have never been to. On other side of mountain, but that lift doesn’t open for a while.

Got my first day in on Snowmass today. Good base compared to this time last year. I took lift alone but for the first one out of the base. Very quiet. Having some knee issues so I was taking it pretty easy. Overall great first day, blue skies, relatively warm and got a baby bump run in too, my favorite.

Well this storm definitely delivered! In 36 hours I would say we got a solid 22-24” here in Marble. Hard to tell because the last round was wet and everything compressed. But the webcams at Aspen show big numbers. The Aspen base cam had a line down the stairs at 8:15. They opened 20 new trails since yesterday when I checked. After shoveling out our property (and our neighbor), I took my XC skis and skied my neighborhood. One street was plowed but most of it was untouched. Just a lot of animal tracks. This time of year my house does not see a lot of sunshine, only about 3 hours. So on sunny days, we try and sit out for the solid 20 min or so it bakes our porch. And here it is! Our full 20 min of sunshine.