Barb

I have been giving the dogs lots of love. They are very cuddly. They are putting out apres food now. We stopped at Ouray Brewery for lunch, mistake since now I am not hungry.

We made it to the lodge finally. It is truly a lodge and not a hut. We actually didn’t even have to skin in. You park 1/4 mile from the forest road. So we loaded up our stuff at the car, carried our skis down the road. Then it’s like a 5 minute walk from the road to the lodge. There are 2 awesome lodge dogs here also. some pics our little room cubbies. 2 beds per space. can’t wait to ski tomorrow!!

Just got back from the morning at Eldora. Blue skies, the usual Eldora wind and light crowds. First we did a warm up run then both decided we wanted to practice in the trees. The snow was great on the tree run. After 2 tree runs we wanted to switch to bumps. The access trail to the bumps was so windy. You could see all the snow blowing away. And as @JFskiDan would say, it was slick. Not too fun. So we went back in the trees. We ended up doing 6 or 7 runs in Jolly Jug Glades for the day. Last run I was feeling pretty good. Then some dick snowboarder decided he was going to come up right on me, take my line and zoom past. I didn’t even hear him. He didn’t make contact w me but I was so freaked out I almost fell. And…the confidence was sucked right out of me. Told my friend that was my last run and she agreed her legs were getting tired too. Got in some good practice for the San Juan’s. Gonna drive to Marble to break up the drive tomorrow and spend the night. Then onto the top of the Pass from Ouray and ski into the hut Sunday. We have a guide set up for Monday then skiing Tue solo, drive back Wednesday. The avalanche danger is settling somewhat but glad we have a guide for a day. I packed super light and was able to fit everything into my 30L touring pack. The hut provides bedding and cooks your meals so that helps a lot.

Lake city is a cool little town. Lots of good hiking there.

Skiing into a backcountry hut in the San Juan’s Sunday. We specifically picked the last week of March because we thought the snowpack would be settled down. currently 5/5 extreme. Really hope it calms down in the next few days.

I switched. At first it felt so weird to have my legs independent of each other instead of strapped into one board. I have taken a lot of ski clinics over the years and that helped. Getting out of the back seat took years. Funny Deb Armstrong is mentioned. I watch her videos and at my most recent clinic I was told I am bending my knees too much and not standing up straight. I admitted I watch her videos for pointers and she always has a deep knee bend or so it seems. My instructor pointed out she is a ski racer. But I still find her videos good. Good luck!

Uphill day at Buttermilk. Storm fizzled out. Was supposed to get 10-20” but got 6 and yesterday was sunny and nice instead of all day snow as predicted. I wanted to go skiing yesterday but we really had a lot of stuff to did out here in Marble as my snow shovel got hurt his back and hasn’t been here for a while. my dog could just sit outside for hours scanning for any movement in the trees to chase. or up on his tall perch Our resident fox came by for a visit. Luckily my dog was inside napping at the time. The roads were nice and dry on the drive to Aspen. Decided on the easiest lap, West Buttermilk. I didn’t have my watch last time I did it but I now have the stats; exactly 1 mile and 922’ to the ski racks at Cliff house. It was 20 but felt tropical in the strong sun, I shed a layer after 15 min and took off my gloves. 56:25 to get to the top and took a quick snack break inside. When I was going down somehow I took a wrong turn, things look a lot different going down then going up. I stopped to check out the map and realized I was on the front side and there was no way I could get back to my car. So at the base I asked the liftee if he would let me in without a scan so I wouldn’t waste one of my 3 remaining days just to get back to the parking lot. He said, “You could always skin back up”. I said I could but asked if he would take pity on me and he did. So back up and went real slow until I was sure I was on the correct trail down. Whew.

And all the people that voted yes to that are absolutely NOT the people who will have wolves in their neighborhoods/ areas. Current reintroduction sides are Gunnison corridor and Crystal Valley corridor. Coincidentally where I own my places. I do not think this is a good decision. edit-sorry thought this was the random thought thread

Just got back from a morning Eldora session. Typical Eldora wind this morning, runs not too bad but lifts were windy AF. They got some snow over the weekend and 2” overnight. Conditions were very good. Crowds were non existent. Decided to try and focus on trees today. Did 4 of my runs in Jolly Jolie glades. Not exactly skiing, but sliding around. It made me laugh that they are marked a double black and not half as steep as the tree run we did in CB which was only a single black. But it definitely made my session more fun to check out something new at Eldora. One lonely picture

Cb webcam 24 hour total overnight snow totals damn

#statstalk…….. love it!

Epic passes just went on sale today. $676 for epic local. Still a good deal even if I only use it for Crested Butte.

Did an afternoon session at Eldora today. It was a sunny warm day with no wind. So rare for Eldora. Started out on the front side. The snow wasn’t great. Hasn’t snowed in a while and things were pretty scraped off. After 4 different runs in the front I went to the backside to see if the snow was better there. And it was a bit. Corona trail was pretty scraped off as it’s the main one on that side. Then I did a couple on Muleshoe, that snow was much better. Did one more back there forget the name then called it a day. No lift lines whatsoever. I miss Crested Butte. Lol

Those pictures are great! I wish I had outdoorsy parents and had active vacations growing up. Your kids are so lucky and are little rippers.

Aspen just announced they are extending their season until 4/23! Woohoo

Not even a little bit. I absolutely love skiing.

My son’s cable broke on his snowboard boots once and I found a local skateboard shop to fix it. However, the guy gave me a lecture about how much boa systems suck and that we should all use laces. I used to love my boas. I find it interesting that some ski boots are starting to use boa systems. I would never buy a pair of first generation technology though.

Beautiful house

A great day to end my skiing at Crested Butte. A day of milestones. Ski day 30, previous record was 26 and still plenty of season left. One year ago today I broke my knee. The best milestone is that I did my first steep tree run. Not a big deal for you pros, but for me it was an accomplishment. Too chicken to try with @JFskiDan but since my friends were here I felt good about it. As Dan knows, my friend Ilise is great in the trees so she guided us down. We did the trees off East River. Dan knows where they are. Before the tree run we did bumps all morning. Some pics Natalie Me. Could never get an action shot of Ilise since she is just too fast Ilise tree run I skied the top and “survived” the bottom. Natalie By far my favorite ski day of the season ❤️

Skipped the resort today and did a mellow ski tour at Washington Gulch. Pretty flat, kept skins on whole time. About 8 degrees, windy, snowing and not much visibility. Was glad some snow mobile guys had been there first to lay a path for us. I am the dot in the center

Whew what a great morning! Yesterday was super warm in the high 30’s and sunny. Today the promised storm finally arrived. Webcam said 4” this morning. Been snowing hard all day. The last few days of coughing fits have left my ribs feeling like I was in an MMA match. Popped some extra strength Mucinex, loaded my pockets with cough drops and away we went. I could not believe how empty it was! I guess CB peeps don’t bother unless it’s at least 6”. Skied right onto every lift. Found some well spaced trees that had mid calf powder, they were fun. then the wind picked up and you could barely see 5’ in front of you. What it looked like at the base, you can hardly make out the lift tower

I am pretty sure I have a sinus infection now. Ugh. Day 9 of feeling lousy. But I have a friend here so skiing it is. I heard the last 2 days were the worst crowds people have seen here. Glad I skipped it. I left my friend at a lesson as he hasn’t skied in over 20 years, yikes. He gave me slightly different info when said he was coming. But he has a great attitude and I give him lots of credit for getting out there. Another poor visibility day. Headed right down to East River from Paradise. And to be honest it wasn’t too good down there either. Started dumping snow. After about 4 laps, I tried to find some mellow trees off the front side. Ran those a bit and now taking a break for lunch. If the visibility does not improve gonna call it a day. Snow was supposed to arrive tomorrow thru Wednesday night. Seems it’s early. Forecast is 10-20”. A few pics from the tree runs

Was a fantastic morning for Dan’s last day. Got in line at the Queen at 8:40 and since it’s a powder day there was a small line. Visibility from the top was terrible, snowing hard. The viz on Paradise is always bad on cloudy days. So I tried my usual trick and went right down to East River. Much better down there, and narrower runs w trees on the sides so they help. For me, I felt it was the best I have ever skied in powder. I was playing it conservative as I wanted to break the streak of bad voodoo and season ending injuries while Dan is visiting. The snow was heavy-ish and work to push thru but really really fun! Nothing had a lift line. No action shots as I didn’t want him to have to wait for me. I realize the picture game has been super weak. But I have some girls visiting and we usually stop and take more pictures of each other so will do my best to step it up soon. Chris Tomer just put this forecast in his blog 😍😍

Not an insane amount of snow but I’ll take it. Still snowing hard now.

Very short session for me this morning. Fighting a head cold and the visibility was pretty bad. Started at Silver Queen but it wasn’t loading and we heard them say it would be an hour. So we had to skate back uphill to the Red Lady Lift. First run down Paradise and I couldn’t see shit. Took it real slow. Told Dan I was going to go down to East River to see if it was better down there. It was a bit. Took a couple from there then met Dan. I decided to just call it a day, didn’t seem to be my day. Dan took a few pics before his phone died. I only took a few also. Snowing hard now and will continue all day