Berthoud Pass Puppy strikes again - east side
Still some freshies to be had more than 4 days after the upslope storm. NW winds re-shifted the oddly shaped upslope drifts, filled back in some of the usual spots, and created a fun day.
still wondering when the season will really begin. and still on the rock board…miss my pow sticks.
Posted in Ski Days
Tagged Berthoud Pass, Colorado, Splitboarding, telemark, where's the snow?
First day of winter solstice 2011 came in with a bang here in the Front Range. 14″ at my house and that means shreddable lines in South Boulder County.
New lines - BikeinRidge
Good times with C-Low and Don from WildyX. Don toured in from his house, Curtis and I toured in from 66th. 2 miles across the top of the mesas, scoping possible lines and enjoying the views as the storm lifted and the sun came out. We scored! pretty frickin cool when my commute back home was 3 minutes.
already scanning the mesas in my backyard for next turns and shreddable lines. I guess big Upslopes aren’t that bad after all!
Transceivers - Bracketing and pinpoint search discussion. Photo: Teddy Eick
Today was the first of several on-snow Avalanche Awareness classes put on by Friends of Berthoud Pass. A 1.5-hr classroom session in the Mary Jane lodge, followed by 3 hours on snow, where we touched upon safe travel techniques, introductory beacon searching, shoveling and hasty pit discussions.
Perfect class for the rider who is thinking about getting into the backcountry, and a first stepping-stone for the aspiring BC enthusiast. Super sunny day, shedding layers and good conversations with the group I was leading. So nice to get back into the education side, and see the wheels begin to turn up awareness for the attendees.
I'm Getting down for a bracketing example Photo: Teddy Eick
Transceiver discussion Photo: Teddy Eick
Challenger lift with Seth and KW
When there hasn’t been ay new snow recently, sunny (soft) hardpack is pretty freaking fun. Corona was open, and with the exception of the heel U-bar on my hammerheads slipping (which were replaced quickly by WildyX- Thanks!), mid mountain, I’d say this was a fantastic day.
Posted in Ski Days
Tagged Colorado, Eldora, telemark, where's the snow?
from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center’s Daily Backcountry forecast for today 14 December 2011:
“…The next low pressure system digging south from the Pacific Northwest look less impressive for Colorado as it approaches. Models are starting to agree, and indicate the system will split around us. A closed low will pinch off and dig well to our south, and the northern jet and associated moisture will pass well to our north. Unfortunately this means Colorado stays mostly high and dry into the weekend.”
This has been a recurring theme here in northern Colorado since Mid November’s start of ski season. While our brethren in Silverton, Purgatory and Wolf Creek have been the big winners this early season, fresh pow has been somewhat scarce for the rest of the state.
GOES WEST - Colorado sitting in the "Col"
The weather patterns and storm tracks we have been seeing to date have been splitting in two, right around Colorado in the middle … in the “Col” as forecasters put it, using a term most known to climbers and mountaineers for the low spot in between two high ridges, or the saddle. In meteorology terms, a Col means the point of lowest pressure between two anticyclones or the point of highest pressure between two cyclones. nerdy?
The dreaded description From the National Weather Service:
THE FORECAST AREA WILL SIT UNDER A COL IN THE SYNOPTIC SCALE SPLIT FLOW. WE WILL REMAIN POSITIONED BETWEEN THE NORTHERN BRANCH NORTH-WESTERLIES AND A STRONG CUTOFF LOW OVER NORTHERN BAJA.
In this case it’s a low spot of snowfall probability caused by high pressure - putting the “Col” in Colorado recently, and well, since high pressure usually means “NO SNOW”… it has a tendency to make powderhounds and dirtbags from Monarch north a bit irritable. 
Aspen, you scored nicely, so keep on living the dream.
Never fear, we are only halfway through December…. right??
PRAY4SNOW!
Thanks to: Colorado Powder Forecast and Summit Voice Daily for inspiring this post.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Col, Colorado, La Nina, weather, where's the snow?
Shan Sethna - Grassroots maestro with FOBP
The good folks at Backcountry Coalition interviewed Shan Sethna – Executive Director of Friends of Berthoud Pass to discuss what makes his organization the greatest GAE* (*Grassroots Avalanche Education) Program in the United States, and possibly the world.
FOBP is a unique organization that offers avalanche awareness classes, educational programs, and is an advocate for continued access for backcountry skiing at Berthoud Pass.
Read the interview here.
About Friends of Berthoud Pass from FOBP on Vimeo.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Avalanche Awareness, Friends of Berthoud Pass, Grassroots, Snow Safety
Upslope events are bittersweet to me. New snow on the ground at home always makes me smile. Hit-or-miss snow just over the divide? You can keep it.
4WD from my driveway to the Berthoud Pass parking lot. Snowing and only one car in the lot. Had to meet with a friend at WP, so I decided to go there first, then hit up Bert afterwards. Winter Park – while typically a fun mountain (especially on the Jane) – was gray, cold, windy and not an inch of new snow. Probably only a few miles as the crow flies to the top of the Continental Divide, but a world away on this particular morning.
2nd day on the teles: I am really digging my Volkl Gotama‘s with the Hammerheads. Even on this crusty morning, I still had fun.
after a few laps, decided it was time to head back up to Bert. My mission for this day was not to slay pow – it was actually to dig a couple pits, and explore top of West Side. As I got my gear on around 10:30 or so the sky started to break up. Winds weren’t even that bad either. Skinned up West Side on my Poacher splitboard, and poked around – checked the coverage on Russel and Pumphouse, then over to Current Creek and assessed the conditions.
I was able to dig 2 pits: a N/NE aspect at the top of Meadows, and a E aspect skier left side of Test Slope. Pretty ugly results: shallow (35-50cm total depth) and persistent weak layer right at bed surface. Test Slope was entirely ground to new snow layer facets…junk snow.
Noticed these 2 hiking Russell’s flank. leeward side dropping into Current Creek. Their travel techniques were to take off almost together. Watched rider2 drop in right above ryder1 on a 5 second delay, make two turns and then caught an edge,flipped. 123 quick. not a good situation considering the deeper snow in that lee side was actually scraped then loading with the wind shifts. I hope they come to Friends of Berthoud Pass on-snow at MaryJane next weekend ($20!). complacency is not the answer anywhere in the BC unless its over a pit fire with tasty beverage.
Overall, taking photos and exploring a bit overrides bad resort snow any day. Managed to score some pow too, along the way.
Posted in Ski Days
Tagged Berthoud Pass, pow day, Splitboarding, telemark, Winter Park
Friends of Berthoud Pass is excited to bring our grassroots avalanche awareness program to the ski resort.
Dates: Dec 17, 18 2011 and March 10, 11 2012
Our one-day ‘Introduction to Avalanches’ course is a great first step for the resort rider who wants to leave the ski area boundary and get into the backcountry*. The day begins with a 2-hour morning classroom session followed by hands-on, outdoor group clinics and, naturally, some skiing.
Participants will learn the basics of:
Unlike our backcountry field days, backcountry touring equipment and avalanche rescue gear is not required. If you have avalanche safety gear, feel free to bring it. No experience is necessary other than intermediate skiing ability and a desire to learn about avalanches.
*this Introductory class is not a substitute for a AIARE Level 1 avy course.
Location: Mary Jane Base, Winter Park Ski Area
Dates: Dec 17, 18 and March 10, 11
Course length: one day
Price: $20!!
Discounted lift tickets available. Click Here for more details.
Posted in Training
Tagged Avalanche Awareness, Friends of Berthoud Pass, Mary Jane, Snow Safety, Winter Park
Today was one of those early season days where no new recent snow really didn’t matter. The slopes were pretty much empty at Mt. Crested Butte, but the corduroy was soft and the skies were sunny. Ripping turns and having zero case of the “Mondays” with my wife, and our puppy – CoCo.
Posted in Ski Days
Tagged Carve, Crested Butte, Snowboarding
After visting Crested Butte in September for fall colors and Vinotok, we told ourselves we had to come back. My wife Jenna booked a ski weekend in CB for my birthday, which is coincidentally also Crested Butte’s 50th ski season. Today was my first day on teles for 2011-12 and the conditions were ripe for fun turns and easy skiing. Even though the upper mountain wasn’t open yet, taking in the incredible vistas and enjoying time with the locals is all the ingredients necessary for a fun ski day.
Posted in Ski Days
Tagged Crested Butte, telemark
