Red Mtn Pass touring

I left Wednesday Feb 1 on a road trip to Silverton, CO and spent 4 days fully immersed in  AIARE Level II training, hosted by Silverton Avalanche School.  SAS is a top-notch program in my humble opinion, the reputation is well-earned.  Our course instructors were field and industry leaders, and the wealth of experience at the helm was a bit mind-boggling.  I HIGHLY recommend SAS.

We spent our days in town at Kendall Mountain Recreation Center, ski slopes, and on Molas Pass, Red Mountain Pass day tours.  The days were spent practicing multiple burial rescue scenarios, transceiver techniques, snowpit craft, crystal and weak layer identification, maintaining seasonal snow history, weather pattern review, terrain choices, travel techniques and hammered away at perfecting standardized snow, weather and avalanche observations.  I’ve come away from this class with a lot more on my mind, but also a better understanding of the bigger picture and a focused approach to practicing safer BC travel. I may never fully  master this art, but I can start fully appreciating nature’s snowy works that are in front of me.

Not a track in sight - LUV Chair 2

Snowed hard all morning long and the sun began to peek thru as the place got tracked.  Can’t wait until the Ridge opens up, but still by far the best pow day of the year so far because of the number of freshies we scored.

Union Bowl from S Chair, Jupiter in close

Sunday morning pow days are trouble when you live in the Front Range.  I normally avoid them like the plague but in this case it had been so long since a good stinking pow day that I put into place my stealth plan and scored while the iron was hot.  No 3.5 hr traffic for me.  Just first chairs up Super Bee and first tracks down Jupiter Bowl.

Jupiter Bowl. Patrol ski cuts, ready for shred

Patrol informed us that the bowl was opening, and we had to follow directed skiing to ease it into operation. All good with me.  Slash and burn, slash and burn all the way down.
The storm dropped about 9″ between close of lifts on Saturday and 5am Sunday.  It continued to snow all morning, so I am probably going to call it 10″+ new by lift open.  HELLZ YEAH. Rode my Gyrator 162 for the first time and it absolutely plowed through all conditions with no chop.  Floats like a champ in the deep stuff and never got stuck.  Definitely solidified as my double-digit resort pow stick.

Usually on weekends I avoid resorts altogether, but this storm kicked off a major natural avalanche event all throughout Colorado.  Not even worth taking chances.  Several riders died in a matter of a few days here in Colorado after this storm – both out of bounds and inside the ropes.  Not worth taking a chance in the BC right now from my perspective, It will always be there next time.    I wore my beacon in bounds on Sunday at Copper.

Great day to stretch the speed limits on an untracked slice of my favorite mountain.  Copper Mountain always delivers on a pow day.

Season 2 begins for Ava and Lily

Today was not an epic powder day.  Today was not an incredible BC experience.  Today was not made of progression, exploration or fresh tracks on an untapped run.

Yet, today is one of those days that will stick with me forever.  My dad took the time to begin teaching me skiing, and the love of mountains at 6 years old.  Last year it was time to begin passing on the stoke to a new generation – my neices.

They picked it up quick last year – turning, snow plowing and full control.  All that time on ice skates has really helped.  But earlier last week, they were hesitant to go for the first time this year.  Worried perhaps that they would have to start all over, and they didn’t want to do that.

But as soon as they got on the skis, and skated right over to the magic carpet… I knew it would come right back to them.  And it did.  they were better by the end of the first day this season than they were all of last season.  “like riding a bike…”

Seeing them always smiling in the lift line, and progressing again (using their poles like racers!) in such a short amount of time…asking when they could go again afterwards – there are moments of satisfaction and shared stoke in this which no powder day can even touch.  Their excitement and joy bring joy to my heart.  Everything else pales in comparison.

More here: http://buzz.snow.com/outdoor_adventure/b/weblog/archive/2010/10/14/avalanche-forecaster-talks-powder-pain-in-the-backcountry.aspx

The skin approach was a bit more difficult than expected as I worked my way up to treeline.  Felt like I was skining up bottomless pow, but in reality it was the 6 or 7″ new overnight on top of ground to surface facets.  pole strikes went straight through.  tough sledding on the steeper sections for sure.

Above treeline the snow was untracked and very dry/fluffy.  Skin up, shred pow.  skin up, shred pow.  skin up, shred pow….and so on.  Meadow skipping laps and that familiar flow and float.