Colorado Early Season BC Edit

Compared to last year, powder days have been few and far between this year. That being said, there's snow out there, it has just been harder to get to. This POV edit represents some of our memorable days in the Colorado backcountry so far this season. These days wouldn't have been possible without the company of my friends: Rachel, Brittany, Frank, Adam, Jordan, Josh, Grete, and Zach. Filmed in the Crested Butte and Wolf Creek backcountry.

Back in CB

Between going to San Francisco, finishing up my degree, and a day at Wolf Creek I've been gone from CB for over two weeks. Although, Wolf Creek was fun, I'm glad to be back to the relatively stable and deeper snowpack around CB.

Yesterday Josh and I went up to the Anthracites for an afternoon tour. As we approached the top some light clouds came in framing the Raggeds:

The Anthracites were in and out of the fog as we stood and enjoyed the late afternoon winter light:


The first lap was great, I even got to ski some pillows!


As we headed back up for a second lap Josh's skins failed completely. After a 30 minute battle this put a decisive end to our day.

Although the Anthracites were great they were quickly getting tracked out, so today we decide to head a little farther out. For part of the skin we raced the setting moon:


Nice looking turns up high:


By the time we reached the top it was amazing how much the temperatures had changed: I started skinning in my down jacket, ski jacket, face mask, balaclava, and helmet; by the top I was sweating profusely in my short sleeve long underwear.

Fortunately, the north facing terrain was well protected from the warm sun. Adam dropping in:

Nick:



Adam:


Yours truly (photo Nick Matisse):

We had the zone to ourselves seeing only one other group, but when we arrived back at the start of the skin there were close to 10 sleds parked next to mine!

Three Days - One Zone

For the last three days we've skied the same zone, each day skiing within a couple hundred yards of our tracks from the day before. Its been amazing how much the weather conditions and snow have changed in the last couple days.

Friday:

Mineral Point

Maroon Peak

Owen

Adrienne

Zach

Back at the trailhead: classic CB; no snow

Saturday:

Looking at the forecast Friday night and Saturday morning I figured Saturday would be a day where it would be snowing as we skinned and skied, but there wouldn't really be much accumulation. As I left the house there was an inch of snow, and when I pulled into the trailhead it was snowing lightly with maybe two inches on the ground. As we sledded the five miles up the access road the snow got deeper and deeper, as we started the skin there were five inches of snow on the ground. The snow continued as we skinned up, and by the time we reached the top the north facing aspects must have had 10 inches of snow. Dropping in I was blown away how deep it was: we were skiing legitimate waist deep blower.

Adam

Brittany

Frank

Sunday: 

Today we woke up to warm weather and cloudy skies. From the trailhead it was apparent today wasn't going to be as perfect as yesterday as one of us quickly realized he had forgotten his beacon at home. Eventually we  were at the start of the skin, but due to the warm weather and new snow several of us were quickly carrying "80 pounds of snow" on the bottom of our skins. However, eventually we all made it to the top and were greeted with 1500 vertical feet of creamy pow. 

Zach

Luke

Its been amazing how much its changed in the last three days. Friday we were skiing surface facets. Saturday we were skiing waist deep under stormy skies. And today felt like spring: even with partly cloudy skies, the snow had already consolidated into heavy creamy pow  .

Berthoud Pass Skiing - 4.27.2011

Following the 2+ feet of snow that fell in the Front Range mountains last Monday night through Wednesday morning, Erik, Matt and I went up to Berthoud Pass for a morning mission. Well aware that the April sun would soon be baking all aspects, and had already had a strong effect on southerly aspects we quickly headed towards northerly facing terrain. We skied a long lap through the 100s, then a lap on the west side, followed by two laps in the 80s. The 80s are amazing right now, its really awesome to see what kind of an effect an extremely above average year like this can have covering up lots of large, pointy rocks.

Erik Mehus - Heading to the 80s

Matt Teuling - The 100s

Matt Teuiling - The 80s

Matt Teuling - The 80s

Alex - The 100s

Skier: Mike Records     Photo: Erik Mehus - The 80s

4.16.2011: An interesting day: Berthoud and Jones Pass

For weeks now I have wanted to ski the Hidden Knob at Berthoud. The Hidden Knob represents the region directly east of the Hidden Knoll and is a small very steep, lightly treed east facing slope. Upon arrival at Berthoud we discovered significantly less new snow than we had seen at Loveland, which was clearly at least partly due to major consolidation due to the warm spring weather. Upon arriving at the Knob we found a very hard bed surface without about 9 inches of heavy storm snow on top of it. A preliminary ski cut across the top of the slope produced no results. Aware that the storm snow would probably go Matt then skied a diagonal line down releasing most of the storm snow below him. Grete followed and the storm snow released about 15 feet above her, on such a steep (55 degrees) and slippery bed it was virtually impossible for Grete to ski out the slide, but she did a great job fighting to quickly move diagonally and stop herself against a tree. After this we quickly lost our appetite for the area and moved on to sled tandem practice/skiing on Jones pass.

Matt Teuling

Every day on my sled I feel more comfortable although I still have a long ways to go. We are developing better tandem techniques that I am really excited about, I'm getting better at not getting stuck, and getting better at getting unstuck! Eventually I managed to get Fabio really really stuck and was absolutely failing at getting unstuck. Fortunately a really friendly group of slednecks showed up and quickly got my sled out. We then watched them hit a road gap jump they built for a while. One thing that I have noticed and really appreciated about sledders that they are WAY more friendly and helpful than skiers ever are. Skiers almost always have a snobby mentality that not only frowns on beginners, but really straight up hates on them. It is so awesome and inspiring to see a group of people who are willing to share knowledge and instantly willing to struggle with you to move your sled!

After watching the slednecks for a while we got a bit cocky, forgot how much of gapers we are and decided we could make it up the hill below. Needless to say we were wrong, somehow we managed to turn the sled around, not fall off completely, drag ourselves back on, and make it down the hill alive.

O boy today was a show!!!

The Mine Dumps - 4.15.2011

In 36  hours starting about 5 PM Wednesday nearly 2 feet of snow fell in and around Loveland ski area. Originally Josh and I had been planning on a sled assisted mini golf day on Jones Pass, but after reading about 4 foot slab development from strong winds during the storm we axed our plans and headed to Loveland. Inbounds the snow was heavier than what we have been skiing throughout the winter months, both a combination of wind effect and warm temperatures, still very good skiing though! By noon we decided to head out the gates into the surrounding sidecountry. Despite cool temperatures, as the day grew later the snow got quite sun affected, its amazing how much an effect the higher angle of the sun in springtime has on snow metamorphism!

Jordan Scheremeta

Matt Teuling

Josh Nunnamker

Jordan Scheremeta

Mike Records
Photo: Matt Teuling

Fabio's First Day Out: 45 miles and 10 laps

Today was my first day out my new sled. Ben, Erik, Andrew and I went up to Jones pass. The snow was a little firm in the morning, but just got better throughout the day. It was a great time to practice tandeming and test out the ski rack for the sled, which still needs a bit of work! We got in 10 laps today, and 5 for each person. Obviously I we have a way to go before being sled experts, let alone slightly proficient, but I'm stoked to say I think we are at the point we can efficiently tandem sled-ski!!! A couple frame grabs from today:

Ben & I kicking ass tandeming

Getting our asses kicked

Erik enjoying the goods!

1st Bowl Ski - Mt. Axtell - 3.23.2011

Today I got a relatively early start and drove down to CB. Given the late start we went for a tour on Axtel, I've never skied Axtel before and I was VERY impressed with the terrain up there. I think there are something like 6 distinct bowls on Axtel, with varying levels of avalanche danger and and terrain. The first dust layer of the year came with this storm, which is too bad, definitely not as thick of a layer as last year, but its there. It was fun to get into a little bigger BC terrain than I'm used too, but the sloughing was something I have never experienced before. This was a combination of the dust layer, the hard snow layer, and the steepness of the terrain.

Adam inspects a VERY VERY sick contraption.

Axtel's 1st Bowl

Adam Buckwalter - High contrast so all the sloughs are visible.

Me - Photo: Matt Teuling

Coal Creek