Life on the Lee-Side: January Snowboarding

Andrew, Jess, Chris and Lizzy came out earlier this month for a winter visit. We planned 4 days of snowboarding in Summit County. Andrew got us discounted rooms at the La Quinta in in Silverthorne, which was a lot more ghetto than I remembered it but worth the discount. The first day we went to Loveland Ski Area for a taste of local flavor. Loveland is great because it's close, it's got steep terrain, and it doesn't attract the out of towners that the destination resorts do. It was super cold and windy, but there was fresh snow was falling. The trees on the Northside of I-70 offered the best shelter and freshest snow.

The Parking Lot

Looking Down from Cloudbase

We spent day two at Copper Mountain. It was Chris's first day on a snowboard. After giving him a lesson Andrew, Jess, and I headed off to the Copper Bowl. Intrawest has done a good job of marketing Copper Mountain as destination resort. Even though it was a week day there were a ton of vacationers and tourists there, it felt more like Breckenridge than Copper. I wasn't impressed. The best snow was actually under the lift lines and in the trees on the blue runs closest to Vail Pass. There were a couple spots where blind commitment at speed was necessary to avoid post holing and make it through the flat spots. This theory is sound, good snow can always be found in the harder sections of easier areas. The people riding there don't go on them and the people who are good are all riding the hard areas of the mountain. Example: go ride the front side of Vail on powder days because everyone is in the back bowls. Hmmm.

Lizzy and Jess

Alex and Lizzy Teaching Chris

Chris's First Run

(He was linking turns by the end)

Trees

Hiking Out from the Good Stuff

In the Clouds

Jo came up that night and we all hung out in the hotel. After eating dinner in the lobby I practiced landing the helicopter on Chris. It worked out good the first time, but the second and errant gust blew a rotor into his chin. He was a good sport about it!

Dinner

Fun with the Heli

We headed up to Vail on Friday. It was one of the best days I've ever had in Colorado. When I lived in Utah my roommate Dre and I had a 6 inch rule. We would only pay to ski if there was more than 6" of fresh powder, otherwise it was backcountry only. The snow in Colorado doesn't offer the same luxury, but lift tickets are cheap so it works out. Our day at Vail was epic even by my old standards. We met John and Allie and even though we didn't strap in until 10am, we still made fresh tracks down groomers on our traverse across the mountain to the back bowls and Blue Sky Basin (proof of my theory). It was a mission to get there we all endured a flat endless catwalk that was hell on a snowboard.

Starting the Day

Chris and Lizzy on the Gondola

Andrew and Jess

Jo and John

Andrew Riding the Endless Catwalk

Looking Down into Sun Up Bowl

Jess, Jo, and Andrew Cutting Across Tea Cup Bowl

John Throwing a Rooster Tail

The Blue Bird

Finally in Blue Sky Basin

We split up into different groups in Blue Sky Basin. Jo, John, Andrew, Jess, and I spent most of the day carving out pockets of fresh powder in the trees at the boundaries between different bowls. The powder was up to our waists in spots. At speed you could throw a 20 foot rooster tail on command. We rode straight through the day, breaking up into smaller groups until about 3pm. We all met up for a quick lunch then tried to sneak in a few groomers on the front side before the lifts closed, but didn't make it resulting in a bit of a hike. It didn't matter though, it was such a good day the sorest part of my body was my face from smiling!

A Beautiful Sign

Starting Out Above the Trees

Alex

Jess

In the Trees

The Blue Bird in the Trees

John

Jo and Her Rooster Tail

Alex and Andrew in Earl's Bowl

Andrew in the Trees

Alex in Earl's Bowl

Jo and Alex

The funniest part of the day was when Jess crashed on a small ridge. She's gonna kill me for posting this, but it is just too funny not to. We've all been there and crashed for seemingly no reason before. Listen to the grunt as she hits and then we all make excuses.

The next day we drove up to the top of Loveland Pass so Andrew and I could take a backcountry run. We didn't have beacons or shovels so we hung high on the shaded south side of the bowl, dropping into the main chute at treeline. The top of the chute was super fun, like a steep natural half pipe that went on forever. After a while we stopped so Andrew could get out his camera. Unfortunately, it flattened out significantly after that so the video isn't that great, but you can get an idea.

Loveland Pass