Whiteout conditions stranded over 2,000 people in Silverthorne as officials closed I-70 from Vail to Georgetown (eastbound) on Sunday night. Hotels were full, restaurants were packed and many people never made it home. Shelters were set up on Sunday and Steamboat Springs reported over 17 inches. Visit CBS4Denver.com for more.
A snowstorm hit Colorado this week beginning with a white Christmas on Tuesday. Plenty of snow piled up in town and in the mountains and even canceled hundreds of flights at Denver International Airport. But, the mountains are still getting a few inches a day and this weekend should prove to be excellent skiing. Keep in mind though, today’s high was eight-degrees in Summit County and tomorrow will be little more than double that. Click here for this weekend’s forecast and be sure to bundle up.
I just finished up watching my first documentary in high definition: Heli-skiing: living the dream. Produced by Discovery HD Theater this was an awe-inspiring look at Mike Wiegele’s “Wiegele World” in BC, Canada.
An expensive trip that is worth every penny as Wiegele has cited numerous clients walking away telling him it was “best day of their life” every day of their trip. With snowcat and helicopter skiing you’re welcome to ski unlimited vertical feet on mountains that few have ever touched. You become part of a tour group (with highly skilled guides) and packages include three square meals, lodging and terrain you’ve never dreamed of. Things you won’t get at Wiegele World: crowds or lines.
If you’re a Comcast HD subscriber check out the documentary ON Demand. Oh, and the local tie: the documentary was produced by a team from Beaver Creek.
A number of snowmen have been assembled near Denver International Airport holding up fun signs. They appear to be hitchhiking to Copper Mountain. Read more at 9NEWS.com.
The signs point to FreeYourMountain.com, a marketing site for Copper with some fun videos and information about the mountain. Clever marketing gimmick? Yeah, I’d give Copper an A for effort with this one. The website could’ve been done a bit better though. Effective? Meh, I don’t think someone driving near DIA is really going to make a snow-related decision.
I could be wrong though…
From James: “MakeSnowNotWar.com has great organic clothing and its all 20% off right now. Just type in ‘myspace20′ as the promo code.” The shirts are pretty simple and look great plus they’re 100% organic–check ‘em out and visit their MySpace page.
In the last month or two I’ve come across a bunch of excellent ski and snowboard blogs, here is my list in no particular order:
Check back often at Colorado Snow and visit all the links in our sidebar.
If you have a cool site, blog, event or something we should check out just shoot an email to contact@coloradosnowblog.com.
Score industry recognition, the latest gear, and win a trip to the 2008 Powder video awards by posting videos of your best moves at Defy.TV, a new online video channel from The North Face.
The North Face has partnered with GoPro, a designer and manufacturer of wearable digital cameras, for The North Face Video Contest at www.defy.tv. Now through the end of January, The North Face is giving away GoPro’s Digital HERO 3 camera (Circuit City: $140) to customers who purchase a minimum of $399 of snowsports product at The North Face retail stores. Use the camera to capture your footage then post it online at Defy.tv.
If your video stands out among the pros, The North Face will hook you up with a head to toe product package and a trip to the Powder video awards to receive your prize in front of industry bigwigs. Visit www.defy.tv for all details on prizes and contest rules.
I’ve always wanted to capture myself on the slopes and this sounds like a great chance to win some cool prizes.
Learn the story of World War II’s famous 10th Mountain Division as experienced by the soldiers themselves. Using artifacts from the Colorado Historical Society’s collection and photographs, letters, maps and diaries from the Denver Public Library, the exhibit highlights the men’s experiences at Camp Hale, CO and their battles in Italy’s Apennine Mountains.
Exhibition runs through December 31. For details visit www.coloradohistory.org.
Update: After contacting customer service I’ve posted the discounted prices that apply through February 15, 2008.
As an owner of the Colorado Pass I’m entitled to “six Ski With A Friend, discounted lift tickets that are loaded onto [my] pass” (link). The Colorado Pass website states “Passholder must be present with friend to receive discount. Discounts and prices vary throughout the season. Visit coloradopass.com during the season for details and pricing.” I don’t see any pricing! For such an expensive pass there is very little information available online. Heck, when I renewed my pass online there was no confirmation that my pass was activated. I had to show up at the slopes on blind faith to know, for sure, it was ready for the season.
This past weekend kept a lot of folks at home. I know a few groups that stayed away from the slops because they weren’t crazy enough to ski in sub-zero temperatures. Of course, there were plenty that played in the high country like the rippin skiers. Seven below is a little chilly even for me…
My best day skiing was last Sunday at Vail when they got over 8 inches of fresh new snow. Sure, Vail got snow but I got a bowl! The Blue Sky Basin also opened and I can’t count the number of times I got (delightfully) stuck in the deep white stuff.
The best part of all this snow is you can’t get too terribly hurt. The worst part is that a lot of rocks, cliffs and bumps are lurking beneath. It’s also a huge drain of energy trying to stand up and work your way out of getting stuck. So, with the good (great!) comes the bad. You be the judge:
Somehow a friend of mine managed to schedule a Crested Butte ski weekend at the perfect time — right in the middle of a huge snow storm and less than a week after a previous dump of 3+ feet. Problem was, we had to get there.
We loaded up our car (2 alpine, 1 tele, 1 boarder) Friday morning, touched base with our fellow group travelers, and got out of Fort Collins before 7am with dreams of Friday afternoon turns dancing in our heads. Knowing the conditions would turn on us, we prepared ourselves for the slow trip ahead. Road conditions varied from wet to slush to snow-packed, but overall we were moving right along. Then we rolled up to Monarch Pass. CLOSED. There we sat as the open time for the pass was pushed back and pushed back. We chatted with CDOT employees and fellow stranded travelers, watched Survivor on DVD, read aloud from magazines, and tried not to go crazy thinking about the powder that awaited us at Crested Butte. We had amazingly good cell phone reception so that others in our group who had gone up the night before could keep our hopes up with tales of chest deep snow and near record snowfall (32″ in 24 hours). Finally, 12 hours later behind the wonderful blinking lights of a CDOT plow, we got to head up and over the pass. 2 1/2 hours later we were in Crested Butte, a mere 19 1/2 hours after we left Fort Collins.
Glad this isn’t my car.
But who needs sleep when there’s 4 feet of powder, right? Some of our group attempted to hit first chair, while the rest of us, after plenty of coffee, hit the slopes not too much later. And it was crazy awesome. The most snow I’ve ever skiied in for sure and plenty of soft fluff to go around. When our gang gathered after Saturday to swap stories, the rundown included numerous “then I fell into a pile of powder and almost didn’t get out” and “that was my favorite ski day ever” tales.
The view from Teocalli lift
Crested Butte’s finest opened Jokerville and International runs on Saturday as well as West Wall briefly to compact the snow. The East River lift opened Sunday, much to the glee of those looking for more fresh powder.
It took us a while to get there, but man was it awesome. Thanks Crested Butte!
(And remember, you can ski free until Dec. 15th,)
With at least 10″ in the last 24 hours at Vail, resort officials are planning to open Blue Sky Basin and portions China, Sun Up and Sun Down Bowls on Saturday, December 8th. Also, the new Highline Express Lift (Chair 10) will open for it’s first time. Visit Vail.com for more information.
It’s snowing up in the high country and Breckenridge announced that Peak 8 is now open. Additionally, the Gondola will begin service today (Friday) with Gondola parking at $5 (unpaved, south) and $10 (paved, north). If you’re looking for the free parking lots you’ll notice they’re to the left (west) of the now pay-to-park lots. Click here to see all open terrain at Breckenridge.
Sunday I visited Breckenridge and was greeted with over 11″ of powder. Inferno, a black diamond off of Peak 9, is one of the more consistently entertaining runs I’ve found.
Although it was closed this past weekend you could head down a fraction of the run, perhaps the part that mattered most: the deep powder. Take a look for yourself:
Most people overlook this slop as it’s tucked between two blues on the beginner side of the mountain and it’s not even on the trail map. But if you keep your eyes open under Chair C and you’re a fan of deep powder, fluffy trees and some bumps then this challenge is certainly worth it.
Unfortunately, to get to it you’re most likely coming up from the bottom at Beaver Run Superchair or Chair C (a slow two-person). So, the lines may not always be worth it–watch for slower days on the front.
From Snowboard Magazine:
After a major snowstorm blanketed the central Rockies with up to two feet of snow this past weekend, Vail Resorts has decided to give Colorado skiers and snowboarders an early holiday gift this season. During this coming weekend only, Dec. 7-9, the popular Colorado Pass, Colorado Pass Plus, Summit Pass and Four Pack will go back on sale at the fall prices.
Read the full story at Snowboard Magazine.
As a pass-holder this is frustrating. This is the second time they’ve extended their “deadline”. Where is my incentive to buy the pass early then, jerks?
Wednesday, December 5th is Local Appreciation Day, with lift tickets at $27 and no I.D. is required at Wolf Creek ski resort. If you hadn’t noticed they got a lot of snow this weekend so if you’re near the Pagosa Springs area it may be worth your while.
This season Alpinist Magazine is hosting a film festival in Wyoming (which is a short-enough drive from Colorado, right?):
The 2008 Alpinist Film Festival will take place January 17-20, 2008, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. In addition to the Snow, Surf and Stone nights, which showcase, respectively, the world’s best skiing, surfing and climbing films, a new People’s Choice Ceremony will screen the People’s Choice award winners from the preceding evenings, allowing the audience to choose the 2008 Grand Prize award winner.
This year’s beer sponsor is none other than Fort Collins’ New Belgium. Certainly reason enough to go, right?
Learn more about the 2008 Alpinist Film Festival.
Not only does it sound like a great time, the festival will offset it’s entire carbon footprint (and then some):
In keeping with the Alpinist’s commitment to preserve the places of our inspiration, the 2008 Alpinist Film Festival will offset its estimated carbon footprint with the purchase of renewable energy. All energy consumed by the 2008 Festival–from the travel of the speakers and the audiences to snow removal, the delivery of films and the ink consumption for posters and banners–will be accounted for in the estimated carbon footprint. In order to eliminate unaccounted carbon, an additional ten tons of offsets, nearly double the Festival’s estimated footprint, will be purchased.
Read more about the green initiative details.
The festival is sponsored by Patagonia which (via it’s founder, Yvon Chouinard) is known for pioneering the ‘green movement’ back in the 1980’s.
Tickets are not yet available but you can visit their site and learn more about prior-year’s festivals. Colorado Snow may be there this year to cover the events–stay tuned.
From Dave’s Backcountry Ski Blog (click here to read more):
The 2008 COSMIC race dates have been published on the official website and this year they are going Canadian. 7 races will make up the Cup this year, with one of them being at Whitewater in Canada. The COSMIC series started up last year and gave the ski mountaineering scene here in Colorado a taste of competition and European flare.
I’ve never even seen nor thought about a mountaineering race but they sound like a true feat. “Starts are LeMans style: athletes run 50 ft. to clip into their skis, then skin uphill to the first gate, remove their skins, ski down to the second gate and back up to the third. This continues for four to five ascents and descents (including a boot pack for the race division on some courses) … all racers must carry the following mandatory pieces of equipment:
It’s true! Our reader, Gabe, said this weekend was it and he was right. Sure, Wolf Creek may not have snow-making capabilities but it’s weekends like this last one that makes it unnecessary.
Summit Base Depth : 47 inches
Last 24 Hours : 7 inches
Last 48 Hours : 19 inches
Last 72 Hours : 47 inches
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