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Got out touring today with the girlfriend for the first time at the local resort. Expected wind and fog, got a beautiful day! Happy to get above the sea of clouds for the morning. And she liked it, so that’s good.
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Dec 29, 2019 06:52
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spwrozek posted:Day 2 was just as good. Looks like an awesome trip!
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Dec 30, 2019 21:11
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spwrozek posted:Yeah, this is very interesting to me too. Granted I love the deluxee xv for splitting. Bit late on this but looks like a nice time out! I moved back to Golden recently after 4 years in Washington and have been getting out a little bit. I went to caribou hill on Sunday, fun enough, but the coverage was substantially less than what you all had. Would you like to meet up and do some touring? Maybe the weekend of the 14th and 15th?
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Mar 5, 2020 18:57
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I got out for some touring on Sunday. Beautiful day for it, got myself a bit of a helmet tan on accident...  Sorry to all y'all with season passes. Also feeling smart for getting a Loveland uphill access pass earlier this year that I have yet to use. Now's the time to get after it I suppose.
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Mar 17, 2020 20:37
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IncredibleIgloo posted:Was Liftopia actually any good? I never used them. Was their whole business model just reselling lift tickets? I used them occasionally back in WA. They sell (sold?) discounted tickets with the caveat of no refunds and only a certain amount per day so you've got to buy further in advance for the best price. Good for facilitating hopping between areas over the season. I'll be slightly disappointed to see them go but presumably if we ever get to ski again some other outfit will either fill their place or help resorts do the same type of pricing on their own websites.
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Jun 18, 2020 05:32
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I got some turns this morning at radio beacon. Not entirely sure the skiing was worth it, but the views, solitude, and sunrise were all top notch. If I'd had more time waiting for the snow to soften a little would've been a good plan. Ah well. No pics unfortunately.
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Jul 17, 2020 23:19
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Anyone have a recommendation for AIARE level one courses in the front range? Either companies or specific instructors. Interested in CMG's split course with tues/thurs evening classroom but wondering if it's worth the price premium vs. some of the other providers.
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Aug 12, 2020 04:10
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spwrozek posted:I did a Wednesday night/friday night and then SAT/SUN with Colorado Mountain School like 5 years ago. It was good and I didn't have to take a day off work. I have done a rescue course with APEX out of Avon and they were also good. Dangerllama posted:I liked Colorado Mountain School, but that was about eleven or so years ago. YMMV, but I believe they’re still doing strong work. I stayed in Estes and we drove into the park for field work. Thanks for the input. Meant Colorado Mountain School in my last post. Appreciate the advice about timing also, was thinking of doing it pretty early but was wondering about amount of snow. I'll at a minimum avoid any November / early December courses.
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Aug 12, 2020 20:41
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Edit: Posting with my ear trying to take a call while reading the forums... But I did go skiing today. Second day of my aiare class at Loveland pass. Some quality turns, beautiful views, a little precip in the afternoon, and now I’m nice and tired. Anachronist fucked around with this message at 01:55 on Jan 25, 2021 |
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Jan 25, 2021 01:47
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I shoved old Salomon liners that fit my feet into scarpa shells and they’re working pretty good. Touring long days without pain and ski pretty well too. I’m a cheapskate though and they’re both old pairs of boots so I don’t know how it compares to a brand new well fitted setup.
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Mar 11, 2021 03:27
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Personally I love having to jump turn down 20 degree slopes to actually slow down. Very fun. Had some of that at current creek earlier this week. N to E facing aspects were genuinely awesome skiing though.
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Mar 21, 2021 04:11
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Did some skiing at spwrozek’s secret stash today. Turns on the west aspects were excessively crusty even in the afternoon, lots of cloud cover and wind. Good views though!
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May 9, 2021 01:45
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spwrozek posted:Ha, nice. We were on the fence about skiing today thinking it might be kind of crusty. So we went mountain biking and beer drinking instead. Not a bad choice either I’m sure. E aspects were a slush fest even with the clouds in the afternoon. I got there too late to ski any of that today. Also there was a bomb threat on 70 3 miles west of the tunnel so that’s fun. Lots of backup on Loveland Pass.
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May 9, 2021 02:18
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I skied Silver couloir on Buffalo yesterday. Lots of hiking on dirt and intermittent snow until almost treeline, then was able to skin to the summit. Breakable crust to start in the couloir, followed by great corn lower down. Maybe could've waited up top for a while to get better conditions but the wind was seriously whipping and I just wanted to ski. The exit was a mess, lots of downed trees and postholing in rotten snow. I also lost the trail at one point and did some bushwhacking. Had I known what I was in for I might've chose to boot back up the couloir and ski the upper slopes back to the trail: they looked like excellent skiing still while I was skinning up. Still stoked on the day though. 
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May 24, 2021 16:31
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SeaborneClink posted:is it snowing anywhere yet? It snowed near vail on August 20th or so. No doubt it’s gone by now though.
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Sep 7, 2021 23:58
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alnilam posted:Help me buy newb backcountry skis! Are you trying to use these for the resort also or only bc? What's your budget like? Assuming bc only or mainly, and 1k+ budget, I'd try to get skis with tech bindings along the lines of dynafit radicals, fritschi tecton, etc. and something like 95-100 mm underfoot. Look up a length sizing chart and follow those guidelines. Definitely avoid frame bindings, maybe try to avoid super duper lightweight tech bindings (for knee / tib-fib safety, not because they won't work well). I'd also avoid salomon shifts but some people like them. Coming with skins is a big plus - expect to spend $150 or more to get skins if they don't come with. I'd choose pomoca over black diamond over G3 given the choice on skins. For boots you'll need tech fittings, I'd try to get a 3 buckle boot in the vein of the scarpa maestrale, dynafit radical, etc. Find the boot first and then get skis that will work with it. Possible pitfalls are not matching the boot sole length to the binding mounting length. Lots of touring bindings do not have much adjustment, maybe 20 mm back and forth. So you could get in trouble that way. Also as the boots become more and more tour oriented they are less and less likely to be alpine/frame/heavy duty binding compatible. If your budget is smaller or you're trying to also use these in the resort, frame bindings start making more sense, but they will not be nearly as enjoyable in the backcountry.
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Oct 22, 2021 18:48
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That's at least the target demographic for the shift binding. Maybe research them a little bit and see if you're up for them. Downsides are the weight penalty and quite a few reports of early mechanical failures on the shifts. Which is not ideal on a ski you bought out of warranty. Or maybe figure out what the nicest frame bindings out there are. I have a friend with Fritschi diamir frame bindings that seem pretty decent. I would not recommend the Tyrolia AAAdrenalines. The salomon/atomic guardian has a reputation for breaking but I don't have any personal experience. The marker baron seems decent but again, no personal experience using it. Going frame or shift locks you in to at minimum a Maestrale or equivalent burliness in terms of boot. Just know that if you do go with a heavy binding / boot, and get into touring a lot, you will quickly regret the weight penalty and kludge factor. But spending a season with that kind of setup and transitioning it into just resort duty once you figure out exactly what you want as far as touring gear goes is not the worst idea in the world. Budget plays a role here too. The frame binding setups will be cheaper than the shifts or a tech binding setup, generally.
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Oct 22, 2021 20:42
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Any skins with those tele skis?
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Oct 23, 2021 02:48
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I would just use the trekking poles. Off brand replacement snow baskets are super cheap, like $10/pair. They are definitely not as nice as the bd baskets though - they spin constantly and are made out of worse plastic.
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Oct 24, 2021 16:30
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Toured twice this weekend, found a few rocks, a few totally bare spots, and also some delicious powder turns. Jones yesterday and berthoud today. Jones was fully wind hammered, serious wind crust above tree line. Fine but not great near and below. Berthoud must’ve got at least 5” last night: just skied the E side obvious lines and hells half acre, pretty good as long as you weren’t finding sharks.
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Nov 21, 2021 23:08
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Yeah it was fun but I’m okay skipping a weekend or two to let it pile up a little more out there. Especially with the weather in town being so nice.
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Nov 22, 2021 05:52
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Tall tree-lets or low snow pack?!
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Dec 31, 2021 05:19
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We risked leaving the house at 6, hit a little traffic and were cooking breakfast in the A basin parking lot at 7:30. Heinous traffic getting into 70 from 6, backed up almost to the touring parking on Loveland pass. Worth it though, excellent skiing for no new snow.
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Jan 10, 2022 04:10
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I went ski camping this past weekend with my wife. Pretty fun! Got some decent turns and didn't freeze to death. Would do again. It hit maybe 8F as a low where we were at. Lots of wind affected snow above treeline. Almost spring-like below treeline on S aspects as we were heading out at ~1pm.  
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Feb 3, 2022 20:05
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I have some synthetic rei liners but they developed holes pretty quick. I have some icebreaker wool liners and they developed holes even faster. Basically I would buy multiple pairs of the cheapest synthetic ones you can find. Also we left Arvada 11:15ish cruised to WP with no traffic and parked at the snow. Approximately a dozen steps each way from car-skiing and vice versa. Got got by the return traffic though. Good skiing, seemed like maybe 5” of very light stuff on top of decently edgeable but firm old bumps.
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Feb 7, 2022 03:14
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Residency Evil posted:I have Hestra mittens: I just wear extra liners for super cold days. Our original plan was to leave 5:30 am but too much touring and drinking occurred yesterday so the alarm got turned off, we slept in, and had waffles. It was nice.
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Feb 7, 2022 03:25
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It underdelivered at WP today. Maybe 2” on crust in the morning and just a little more during the day. But at least the drive was pretty easy! Berthoud yesterday did deliver too so I can’t complain.
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Mar 6, 2022 23:51
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Gonna spray about a skiing trip I just took. I rode my bike up to the Indian Peaks wilderness outside Boulder, camped out for three nights and skied a bunch of lines in the wilderness. Then I rode my bike back home. Here I am leaving the house, full of youth and vigor, unaware of what's to come:  I didn't do a final weigh but likely the load was ~55lbs. Turns out that's a lot to pedal up 6500' to the trailhead. On the road in Brainerd Lake Recreation Area, past the car closure. You can see two of the lines I skied front and center on Apache peak.  Next morning was cold cloudy and windy. I got up essentially too early, skinned up the ~3 miles to the base of Apache Couloir. Ski crampons were nice but not strictly necessary for one little pitch on the way. Caught up with two other guys also gunning for the same line. We sat and shivered a little bit at the bottom since it was obviously still too firm for good skiing but eventually I got too cold and decided to start climbing just to keep warm. Booted about half way in decently kickable snow that got less and less kickable. Switched to crampons halfway up. Took looker's right branch which was the wrong one for maximizing vert and hit a patch of rocks 2/3 the way up. I was really feeling it from the ride the day before and called it good there. Transitioning was a bear in sustained high winds and steep-ish snow but managed to get the skis on without losing anything. The snow in the couloir was still really firm but the surface was at least smooth / no debris with a little edgeable frozen corn on top. Skied down, talked with the two guys following briefly who were still just in boots with poles out, and found a little hollow behind a rock to shelter from the wind. Ate, rested, and catnapped for probably an hour in that little spot. Finally worked up the motivation to start climbing again and went up Queen's Way on the same mountain a little to the north. The sun had worked it's magic finally so it was easily bootable. Topped out the mountain for the first summit of the trip. A little too bare for a summit ski but I tried my best. Poked my way through a rock garden at the top, then skied more fairly firm but softening stuff to the bend left where it got genuinely good. Arced some quality turns down to the tarn and then back out to my campsite. Apache Couloir on the left, Queen's way on the right:  Camp for the night:  Next day I skied in the drainage one basin north. First objective was Mt Toll, a very aesthetic mountain if I do say so myself. Nice and pointy, craggy, you can see it all the way from Boulder, etc. Lots of good qualities. Easy skinning to almost the saddle, and then I followed a nice bootpack set by two people in front of me to the summit. Warmer day and I started later so after scrambling the 50 feet of talus to the summit to tag it I dropped right away. Good skiing on big wide open faces all the way to Blue Lake. Followed another bootpack up Crooked Couloir on Audubon. This one was sneaky hard, it starts from almost the same level as Blue Lake itself and tops out as high as Toll. The climb felt like it just kept going. Conditions were pretty warm by the time I was skiing, maybe a little wetter than perfect but between the length and steepness of the line probably the best skiing of the trip. I wasn't quite satiated but the snow was getting quite warm so I went for a north facing lower angle slope off Little Pawnee for some bonus turns. From there, back to camp at a slightly different spot. Mt Toll from across Blue Lake. I skied the SE slopes on the left hand side:  Crooked Couloir on Audubon. Not it's most aesthetic angle:  Bonus turns:  Strava's cool 3D view of my ski:  Camp for the night: not bringing a closed cell pad to supplement my blow-up pad was a mistake in the snow. I found this lovely bed of a rock and cowboy camped there for the bottom warmth.  Third and final day I skied Paiute Peak. Even warmer and less windy so an early start for the day. Skinned up to blue lake again and this time up toward Paiute, between Toll and Audubon. Had seen people making soft turns the day before while the snow on Toll was still firm so figured it was the quickest to heat up. Booted up Curvaceous Couloir then across the SE face to a little notch on the ridgeline. Left the skis there and booted a little further up rotten snow and rocks to the summit plateau. The real summit is a good ways away and also a slight dip down so I didn't quite get the tick, but I got it last summer and I still got the views. Flipped it, saw an enticing but unknown (to me) line down the north side into another drainage, got back to the skis and started skiing. There's a few cliffs on the way down the face that I played with. One has a little 20 foot long chute that looked skiable on the way up. Turns out it is ~210cm wide (i.e. ever so slightly wider than my skis), so I just side-slipped it in a not particularly stylish way, but made it through and finished skiing down. At this point I was fully toasted, the snow was warm, and I was ready to get going so I started the slog back to the bike. Made some poor route-finding decisions on the flats in the willows and wallowed a little bit. Skins were also fully soaked and losing their stick and each had one total de-sticking moment on the way out. First time they have let me down in a lot of days of skiing so don't take it as a mark against them in particular. Just hard conditions I think. Finished with a mile walk on the pavement back to where I left my bike and a gear explosion as I tried to fit everything back into the bike bags while drying things out a little bit simultaneously. 48 miles of net downhill later I was back at the house. Left to right: Toll, Paiute, Crooked Couloir on Audubon.  More pretty mountain views:  For next time: -not bringing camp shoes was a terrible mistake. Didn't think it was cold enough for down booties but they would have been nice just for walking around at camp. Likewise, another pair of ski socks would have been well worth the weight. -Aluminum crampons would be some good weight savings - probably over a lb if I got nice ones! -Food was just right - finished with 4 spare bars plus one extra oatmeal serving after buying ~4 bonus bars in fear of starving at a convenience store on the way up. -Two or three easier gears on the bike would be pretty clutch for the steeper hills. -Doing this pre-May when you're allowed to camp in the wilderness proper would be pretty sweet. -Need to be more mindful about entertainment. Should've checked out an ebook or three from the library for tent time. -The buff babushka was great for keeping myself from getting too sunburned.
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May 16, 2022 16:45
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spwrozek posted:You know I already think you are a boss. Randomly someone posted on reddit about seeing a guy on sunday on 93 and wondering where you were going. I said "most likely to bed". Oh yeah that was definitely me. First stop was the kitchen for approximately 3000 calories and the second stop was bed.
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May 17, 2022 05:08
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Hope you got a buddy with one too.
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Jun 25, 2022 03:27
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Splinter posted:This is a great idea, but I'm not sure it'd work for me as I do like to have some water on me as well The soft flask is for water. This is my strategy too with a little flat 10oz bottle.
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Dec 22, 2022 00:26
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spwrozek posted:My flight has been uncancelled.... We might risk it and go to the airport in the morning. Did it work? The snow last night can't have helped I imagine.
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Dec 29, 2022 20:57
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WHERE MY HAT IS AT posted:I stayed on for quite a while, in the stupid hope that it would start again. It’s also a very steep lift so trying to let go and get my other foot in without basically doing what happened in the video was not an appealing prospect. Whippets out at all times would have solved this
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Jan 6, 2023 05:47
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We left at much the same time and suffered a similar fate but skied WP instead so got to dip out at 40. Not too bad over the pass, just slow due to conditions. Cold but good skiing and the drive back was easy enough. The real problem is that skiing is often worth the pain. If it wasn’t as fun fewer people would do it!
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Jan 22, 2023 04:01
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UZR IS BULLSHIT posted:How would you guys get 4 adults with ski gear from GVA to Chamonix, specifically a cabin in Argentiere? The largest rental car option I'm seeing is Volvo XC60, which seems like it would be a tight fit. Do you need a car once you're there? I hiked the TMB in 2018 and we took ouibus from geneva airport to chamonix. Easy 5 minute walk from exiting security to the bus depot at the airport and you get dropped off pretty close to downtown chamonix. Then public transit in chamonix was equally needs suiting. I assume there's like 10 different bus companies offering similar service. Lots of shops with ski gear - didn't look at pricing for rentals/demos but I think a viable option if you don't want to lug skis.
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Feb 14, 2023 17:54
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waffle enthusiast posted:2:45 to the tunnel. We left this morning at ten to six. I counted eleven 18-wheelers without chains starting at Bakerville (The chain-up warnings started at Georgetown). The last semi we saw was jack-knifed on the shoulder, spinning out trying to get traction. I hope CDOT/CSP fined every one of ‘em. We left A Basin at 4:30 and westbound i70 was still(?) or again? backed up around silver plume. Solid day that about made the drive worth it. Took a steep gully lap and we were maybe 4th and 5th tracks down #3 so that didn’t suck. Surprisingly nice weather too. And Pali was skiing super nice also of course.
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Mar 12, 2023 02:21
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Buy boots that fit your feet well. Buy whatever ski is cheapest or you like the look of best. Ski a bunch. Try your friend's/family's skis if you can. You'll figure out what you like/don't like about your skis and other skis and can use that to make an informed decision on your next pair in a year or three. Or if you don't ski a lot you'll keep skiing like you have been and it won't matter that much what skis you have anyway.
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Apr 10, 2023 17:20
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waffle enthusiast posted:Yesterday was cold as poo poo on top of the tunnel. 3” on top of boilerplate. We bailed by noon and went to Tommyknocker. The cask IPA is legit, and their green chile remains S-tier Skied close to there yesterday in dry gulch. Started clearing up around 1 and was downright nice by the time we were back at the car. I enjoyed the conditions a lot - not the best pow day ever but super entertaining. We found some very smooth bed surface to ski too which helped a lot. Would not want to be skiing over refrozen tracks in that.
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Apr 17, 2023 02:47
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spwrozek posted:https://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/colorados-ski-area-without-any-chairlifts-bluebird-backcountry-announces-permanent-closure/ Never went, but I feel like the pricing and the terrain they had wasn't helping either. Pretty spendy for tickets and most of the time they only had ~400-500' runs open. Probably not very many people who are going to make that drive again and again for that experience.
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Jul 10, 2023 16:10
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Skied my last day of the season on Saturday. Went up to the Indian Peaks and skied Queen's Way on Apache Peak. We got about 1900 vertical feet. Fun to make the turns but snow quality has deteriorated. Lots of dirt, runnels, sun cups, etc. Plus I haven't skied in a month or so, so making turns was quite tiring! Took a bit of work to get to the snow too - 3 miles of biking, 4 miles of hiking each way.
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Jul 17, 2023 15:36
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