What day were you at Kirkwood? Last weekend was awesome.

3/3/2011 12:02:29 AM

Got back last night from CO. What a great trip! The conditions were fantastic everywhere we went.

Went to Keystone on Sunday. Weather was in the mid 20s and was sunny in the morning with clouds rolling in in the afternoon with some brief flurries. The snow picked up around 4 after we'd already stopped for the day. Anyway, Keystone was a good place to ski our first day. We were still getting used to the altitude so not attemping anything super hard was a good idea. Spent most of the day skiing off the North Peak and Wapiti Peak. Some fun trails for sure. Also hiked a bit so we could drop down into the North Bowl for one run.

Vail was Monday. We were gonna go Sunday but switched it to Monday b/c of the forecast of snow the night before. And it was worth it b/c they had around 4" of fresh powder. Spent most of the morning over in Blue Sky Basin in Pete's Bowl and almost all afternoon over in the Back Bowls in China Bowl. The fresh powder/groomed run combo was hard to beat! I love the back bowls so much I hardly spent any time skiing on the front of the mountain.

Last day, Tuesday, was Breckenridge. I was a little paranoid/superstitious b/c the conditions/weather/timing was identical to when I was last there 3 years ago...and tore my ACL Anyways, we started by warming up on Peak 7 with some beautiful and freshly groomed rolling blue trails before moving over to Peak 8. Hiked up to the peak around 1030 - really wanted to do it early while our bodies were still fresh, lol. I swear, every time I hike up there I feel like my heart's gonna explode. But its totally worth it for the views and bowl access. Went down Lake Chutes once but the snow there was a bit crunchy and hard; Easy Street was much better with soft powder...really just an amazing run that one. The last run before lunch was in the North Bowl down George's Thumb into Vertigo. Unfortunately there were a lot of moguls in the area but I found a fairly clean patch of snow in a rock/tree cluster with which to avoid them. After lunch in the Vista Haus we were pretty wiped so we decided to check out the long blues over at Peak 9. Ugh, what a bad idea! "Slow zones" everywhere so we GTFO of there and finished off the day where we started, with the blues on Peak 7.

Awesome trip and no injuries (other than getting some cuts/scratches from a tree branch smacking me in the face in the glades in Keystone, lol). My legs were rock solid but oddly enough my shoulders and triceps are/were quite sore.

3/3/2011 12:37:53 PM

Nice, sounds like you hit all my favorite spots too! Glad the conditions were good for you... more snow expected later this week, it's been a great year for CO, so much snow they opened up East wall at A-basin last weekend.

3/3/2011 12:56:17 PM

did night skiing at keystone yesterday, so fun!

i did experience altitude sickness and spent the rest of the evening throwing up & feeling disgusting

im home now but word to the skiiers & snowboarders, drink dat 190% h20!

3/3/2011 9:37:36 PM

^^I remember hiking the east wall back in 1994, on my first colorado trip. Just hearing you mention it brings back great memories of my first CO trip. And some of the thrilling experiences we had climbing the east wall in the middle of snow storm. ahh memories.

3/4/2011 8:27:37 AM

Yeah...you need to drink a lot. I think I averaged (per day) around 5 bottles of water and 3 bottles of gatorade (20oz), as well as 12 beers or more Our house was above 10,000 feet so taking altitude sickness precautions were key.

3/4/2011 9:25:04 AM

i blame titos vodka and my boss starting our meetings at 7:30am

i thought i was drinking a crap ton of water but apparently it wasn't enough

3/4/2011 1:07:46 PM

I got a debilitating headache the first time I went to keystone, but this past year at Vail I didn't feel bad for a second. I had already spent two nights in Denver before going up so that probably helped, but I also don't drink on ski trips (yeah gay I know) and try to hydrate for a couple of days before.

3/4/2011 4:36:58 PM

lol, altitude. I forgot about that when I went last month, until I ended up in a powder sink hole about 4 feet deep and had to claw my way out. It wasn't as bad as I expected, I felt pretty acclimated after a couple runs.

I definitely can tell the difference, but when you're used to spending your days at 7,000 feet cabin altitude, I guess a few thousand feet isn't gonna make you sick.

3/5/2011 12:35:39 AM

Quote :

"What day were you at Kirkwood? Last weekend was awesome."

Saturday, it was great bluebird day...still had loads of fresh powder all over, even after being tracked up for a day

3/5/2011 10:49:25 AM

heavenly saturday, beautiful clear day, snow not icy at all

kirkwood yesterday, snowed all night and all day, lots of good powder but poor visibility

not sure where we are going today but i do know i'm about as sore as i have ever been.

3/7/2011 11:02:05 AM

finished the trip w/ sierra at tahoe and squaw valley.

think sierra was my favorite for the trip.

squaw was decent at the top but very crusty at the bottom.

3/10/2011 9:17:06 PM

Vail & BC this Friday/Saturday

3/15/2011 6:29:58 PM

We're getting dumped on out here again this week. I've got season pass for Copper and Winter Park, and they're calling for 12-22" total snow this week

I'm planning to hit Winter Park tomorrow for my 27th day of the season, and I'll try to bring a camera and post pics. Glad to see so many of you TWWers have made it out here this season - really epic snowfalls.

3/28/2011 5:31:31 PM

<--- No snowboarding for 2011 thanks to the 16 year old who ran a red light and plowed into a car I was riding shotgun in. Hoping to be back in shape for wakeboarding this summer.

[Edited on March 28, 2011 at 5:39 PM. Reason : s]

3/28/2011 5:38:19 PM

^^where you at? i'm in Denver.

I've only made it up about 14 days or so this season, which is lower than previous years since I've been studying for my licensing exams, but good none-the-less for me.

11-16" at all the Vail resorts the last two nights... that's like 2 feet of fresh powder!!!!

[Edited on March 29, 2011 at 12:33 PM. Reason : .]

3/29/2011 12:31:20 PM