Barb

Yes I am pretty sure it is Sneaky’s. According to my Aspen App, I do Dallas Freeway the most off that lift. Next time I go I really need to explore a new zone, but that is a fun area. Thanks for the beta!

Hit Snowmass today. Lift lines were actually busier than Christmas week. I guess because conditions are much better. Base lift had about a 20ish minute wait. Went to where I knew and headed back to the Big Burn lift. Lines were 10-15 min but I kept taking the singles line and it was like 3 minutes. conditions were good, everyone spread out and runs felt empty. There is some fun terrain off that lift. Lots of stuff in between runs not groomed. Tried to do a bunch in there, as my instructor at Aspen said last season “practice makes permanent.” just a few shots Was nice to actually ski with some sunshine today. Last few times have been very flat light.

I had that this summer, it’s terrible! 3 rounds of cortisone shots, a break from hiking and from now until eternity; no barefoot walking. Always have to have slippers or crocs on inside.

It is absolutely puking snow here. 12” overnight The other cam gets cleaned off at 5:45 am. It is 6:27 am and it already has 4” on it. Meanwhile in Aspen it snowed 2” overnight

I can hear the avy bombs going off from my house. Bitter cold and windy today. Getting soft in my old age, gonna skip skiing today. Another winter storm on tap tonight through Monday, gonna drop feet. I hear this is what I70 looks like now.

Got to CB Tuesday afternoon. Had to find a hole in the storm cycle to travel. In winter when Kebler Pass closes, it’s just as far from Marble as it is from Boulder to get here. There is a route that cuts 30 min off the time, but you skirt the road of Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Did it once in winter. It’s icy, foggy, twisty and desolate. I kept thinking if I slid off the road nobody would find me until spring! So now I drive here via Montrose and stay on the main roads. All of Colorado seems below snowpack levels. When I arrived my house wasn’t blocked by a mound of snow. But maybe winter has finally arrived. Yesterday woke up to a fresh 4”. It was negative temps and the wind was whipping. So I was lazy and took the 10:15 bus. I was told Paradise was socked in and absolutely freezing. So I stayed on the front side. It was bitterly cold. My face hurt after an hour so I left. Today the webcam said 7” when I woke up. By the time I left it was up to between 8-9”. Surprisingly quiet. Again, due to very low viz, I stayed on the front side. Decided to try and work on my very mediocre powder skilz. Did 6 powder laps and a few groomed. Snow was deep!! Only a few pics as it was pretty cold again. Supposed to snow all weekend. It’s a holiday so will probably be busy

Inbounds avalanche at Palisades Tahoe. Unknown if anyone was caught

Valid point, didn’t consider how much day tickets increased.

The whole Epic/Ikon thing is interesting. I think it definitely encouraged more people and families to take up skiing, which is a good thing, for them and for the sport. Once upon a time Epic pass ruled in Colorado. When Eldora was on Epic they had the same problems you guys are experiencing at Blue. But they have such limited capacity parking it was unsustainable. They switched to Ikon. I never went to Eldora on weekends but I think now it’s just as bad as when they were on Epic. I think both passes, here at least, are the same. Most of my friends who used to be on Epic switched to Ikon. They hated dealing with Vail and Breck. But now Winter Park and Copper are just as bad crowd wise. I have seen the huge increase in crowds since Crested Butte went Epic. It’s not as bad as the front range resorts but people have definitely discovered it. I puked in my mouth paying for a full Aspen pass this season. I haven’t skied there too much yet, but based on crowds Christmas week, the full price definitely keeps it manageable. I agree with you guys that if Blue goes full Ikon, it’s gonna be a shit show and that’s a shame.

I saw he was going to be! Thanks for the tag damn the limelight hotel! That place is a fortune. Surprised he didn’t just stealth camp at a brush a creek lot edit to the edit. Ok I see he didn’t pay for his room. Should have watched more then 30 seconds of video first

Love the top sheets on those Black Crows!

Keep in mind these snow totals are for 3 storms over an entire week, but let’s just say Chris Tomer’s forecasts has me a little excited.

I am very lucky indeed! I did get a full Aspen pass this season. It was the right call. I would not have been happy with 7 Aspen days on ikon pass. Plus I probably would not use ikon anywhere else. Another thing about Snowmass was that people really spread out. I thought it would feel busy since it’s a very family friendly mountain but it seemed empty. Only had a short line at the base. The lift we lapped was 3-5 min tops every ride. Nothing off that lift was groomed. Really really fun

Snowmass was really fun today! It’s a huge mountain. We mostly stayed in the big burn lift. Those runs are 2000’ of vert. And had some nice baby bumps, my favorite. However, I had been told it’s a Rocky Mountain and it is definitely true. I hit 2 rocks going in the bumps that I didn’t even see. When I got home I saw this nice shot to my skis Not even sure I can ski on them unless I get this fixed. Crap! Other then that it was a great day. Coming back to the base there was a cat walk so I had my speed up, turned a corner and it looked like someone threw handfuls of gravel on top of the snow. There was no way to avoid it. I could have gotten the ding from that as well.

It was!

Some pics from xc skiing last evening Went to Aspen today. I started my tracker on the Aspen app but it told me I skied 0 today which is a bummer. I like my stats. For Christmas week the crowds were amazing. 5-10 min lift lines and mostly empty slopes. We need snow like everyone else so conditions were somewhat icy and scrapey. But then I hear @JFskiDan’s voice in my head saying “boo hoo, Colorado is icy” Natalie in the bumps There is a jr race at Aspen tomorrow think we are going to try out Snowmass, I have never been there. after being down with the flu for over a week it felt good to ski again

The other day we had a Lexus from Texas trying to get up a hill in my neighborhood. We asked if she wanted us to try and drive it up. She declined, next morning I saw it at bottom of hill to side. She owns a place here, I feel like she should know better. Meanwhile, my studded snow tires are the bomb!

Went to Highlands today for the first time. Wow, the snow was fantastic!! I went with my neighbor who is in his early 70’s with a nice beer belly and doesn’t look like he is athletic. This guy can fucking ski! He still does races in Vail and Beaver Creek. He has been skiing Highlands for 50 years and knows every inch of the place. He gave me a very nice tour. There was nobody there, I mean at all. He definitely pushed me for day #3 on the snow. We started on Exhibition lift and did 2 off there, then moved over to Cloud 9 lift and did a bunch off of that lift. He wanted to take me to Thunder Bowl but it was closed. last run of the day we went to the top (of the lift, obviously not the bowl) pics from the top the next ridge is Highland Bowl. I didn’t feel like I could take many pictures while we were skiing, since he is from a different generation and just doesn’t do that. He showed me picnic point and I took a pic there, really pretty view of the bells I realized why my legs were so tired (even after some midway stops) when we got to the bottom. I looked up the trail map and it’s 3600’ of vert top to bottom. Very solid day for me.

@Johnny Law thanks! We have plans to go on Thursday. Happy to be shown around by someone who knows the terrain @GrilledSteezeSandwich the first time I made them I just used beans, but this time I substituted shredded chicken, which I think is how they are usually made. Along with Mexican spices, tomatoes, red onions etc.

Left this morning when the concrete guys were doing our second pour (on freaking Dec 11th) Decided to go to Buttermilk today, they just opened on Sat. Parked at Tiehack, booted up and walked 100’ to the lift, amazing! Saw lots of uphill peeps starting from the bottom and suddenly felt very lazy that today was a lift serviced day. The snow felt a bit better than the other day. Buttermilk is about 2000’ lower than Aspen so coverage seemed thin. Vegetation popping up everywhere. My second run I took another trail and half way down there were lots of brown spots. I was trying to avoid them and then proceeded to eat shit. Looked up where my pole was and saw a nice brown patch I must have skied over, whoops. Never took a lift with anyone, skied right on each time, very empty. When I got home I ran into the neighborhood snow plow guy (who is chatty). He asked me if I wanted to go to Highlands with him later this week, so I guess I will get to check out that mountain for the first time. It’s always good to be on the good side of the snow plow guy! ** edit food report for Doug**. I made homemade floutas/taquitos and took one for a pocket lunch. Even good cold.

Beautiful cold morning here. We got about 10+” of snow in the last 48 hours. Nobody had skied at the park. I broke trail all over the place and it was fun and deep! About 9 degrees and after an hour my toes were frozen and my dog ripped all his booties so his toes were cold too and we called it a day.

Probably go to Crested Butte off and on starting next month. It’s weird though, now that I live in the mountains I do t feel the need to run over there as much.

Had my first alpine ski day of the season at Aspen. The logistics are definitely more of a pain then skiing Crested Butte. Have to drive to the commuter lot near Snowmass then take the free bus into town. Parking in Aspen is a huge pain in the ass. So by the time you gets to the base of the gondola from my house it’s probably between 1 hour 30 and 1 hour 45. Went in to get my fancy premier pass printed. Got to gondola and pass wouldn’t scan in my jacket, had to take it out. I will have to play with that next time. Didn’t have to scan it the rest of the day from mid mountain. We did get snow over the weekend but surprisingly it was scraped off and icy in spots. The bumps looked treacherous especially for day one. One side was a bit better conditions then the other. Don’t really know trail names yet. No lines, hardly any people, bright sunshine and warm. The last run down to the base was very icy. I remember now that when we did our bump class last Dec, they had us download each day. The reason being that December sun doesn’t hit the bottom half of the mountain and it gets pretty icy, especially on tired legs. Aspen girls gonna Aspen. Note the pink twins.

Same

So far it’s been a lot of fun. Not sure if I would do a true backcountry day here because not only is the terrain very steep, but it is very avalanche prone. We have already had one avalanche on 11/25 that partially buried 4 skiers. CAIC issued an avalanche warning for this weekend naming 2 entire mountain ranges and “The mountains around Marble.”