I’ve always wanted to ski and envision doing some sort of grand ski tour one day. However, until recently I’ve lived really far from the slopes and never got proficient at the sport. Now that I live in Colorado, maybe that will change.
From what I heard, ski conditions for most of the winter in Colorado had been as mediocre as the San Francisco 49ers had been for the last seven football seasons. So when Raquel gave me a first-hand account that after a recent snowstorm the snow at Copper Mountain was really good, Rob and I decided to hit the slopes. After all, back in November I had purchased a relatively inexpensive ($129) Four Pass for Copper, and it was time to start using it. Continue reading »
When we talked about going skiing in southern Wyoming, Ryan and I agreed that sliding down the green runs would be the order of the day. This would be our first time downhill skiing this season, and the last time I did a blue run I ended up with a bloody lip.
But after successfully skiing down the green Roundup run twice at Snowy Range, we threw out that plan. Continue reading »
This evening, I attended the Backcountry Film Festival presentation at the Northern Hotel/Mountain Shop in Old Town Fort Collins. Well, at least for half of the presentation. I actually skipped out after the fourth film (out of seven). Despite leaving early, I came home with a few things: Continue reading »
Hooray for snow! Well, we’ve actually had below-normal levels of it this winter in Fort Collins (just three days of it this season so far), but the mountains have had some healthy doses of it. So today (Friday), I headed out to Eldora Mountain Park to do mostly downhill skiing. I chose Eldora because it is reasonably close and their pre-season lift ticket rates (which ended Friday) were only $45 for an adult. Continue reading »
“The next time it snows,” I told a friend a few weeks ago after the first snow of the season, “I am going to have to take advantage of it.”
I made good on that promise on the other day. On Monday night, we got about four or five inches of some of the fluffiest powder I have ever seen, so during Tuesday afternoon, I went out of the garage on my K2 Shuskan randonnée (alpine touring) skis. Literally. The first downhill slope was the driveway! Continue reading »
On Friday morning I bolted out of bed and looked out the nearest window. The grass in the back yard — whose yellow and green colors were exposed just a few days ago — was once again replenished with a thin coating of white powder that had accumulated the day before. Many Front Rangers were probably looking at the same snow and rolling their eyes in disgust, wondering when the record-breaking Siberian winter would end. I on the other hand was actually welcoming it. Continue reading »
