Wintry Weather

You see, I'm kind of on this training plan.  The recent weather we've had up here in the big rocky outcroppings known as the Rockies (yeah - subtle name) hasn't exactly been conducive to this training plan.  This past week has been freekin' cold.  Not just "uncomfortable to be outside" cold - nope, it's been "don't touch anything metal, don't have parts of your body uncovered" cold.  On my way to Glenwood Springs last Friday, I took a snapshot of my car's temperature gauge of the outside chilliness.  This type of scene was pretty typical every morning last week:

Yup, -15F.  That, my friends, is cold.  Really cold.  So cold it wouldn't snow.

However, eventually, a little warmer air mass came into the mountains, and it started snowing.  Yay.  Good for skiing and snowboarding; bad for riding the bike on the road.  So I decided to take the day "off" on Sunday and head to Beaver Creek (hence forth known as "The Beav") for my first official day up on the hill.  Let me tell you, it didn't disappoint.  I wasn't expecting the conditions that were found, as the area hasn't exactly been hammered by snow this year...yet.

Most of the resort that was open (primarily on the main mountain) had decent coverage.  Still a lot of grassy-type brush sticking up on the more severe slopes, but the recent snow had created a pretty soft and smooth snowpack.  More than good enough for the first day.

During a drop-in into Rose Bowl, we noted that ski patrol was pulling down the ropes on one of my favorite runs - Spider.  A 30deg pitch with an off-camber fall line, great views.  Being the third or fourth person to hit this run, it was about three-and-a-half feet of untracked powder.  However, it didn't dawn on me for some reason there was no base underneath.  Riding a board not set up for powder, taking the run head on, the board couldn't stay up on the top, and ended up digging a hole to China in several different spots.  Would get totally wedged under the snow...board won't move, and I'm up to my mid-thigh in snow.  Not to mention, the lack of base underneath meant that every time the board dug in, it was getting wrecked by the rocks and sticks underneath.  Ouch.  Need some P-Tex work done now.

Meanwhile, the entire time we were out there, it was absolutely PUKING snow; the kind where you're covered in 3/4" of the white stuff when you get off the lift.  Made for constantly variable but soft conditions, but was a lot of fun.  Hopefully it'll keep doing that...just need it to STOP snowing in Eagle.  So, Day 1 is in the books, and I'm pretty happy with it.