Day 11: OK, I'll say it...we need more snow. Really.
Groomers were fun in the morning (except for Low Boy, where it was downright glassy because they blew the gun too wet) but got scratchy by lunch time. Ungroomed is firm in fast in areas that have been skied, and thick unconsolidated sugar where it's untracked. When we do finally get a big dump, nothing is going to stick to this stuff. Facets run deep.
We spent the morning tearing around the mountain. Our usual crew -- Skidog, Bobby Danger, Amy and yours truly -- were joined by jamesdeluxe, Jamey Parks and Kristen Lummis, publisher of BraveSkiMom.com who's in town from Grand Junction, Colo. with her husband and two kids, all of whom can truly rip. Aspen's their home hill. It was also Alta's annual December AT/tele demo day, and jamesdeluxe spent the morning trying different skis from Black Diamond and Voilé. There were far few vendors than normal, most likely due to the thin snow pack. Skidog, Bobby and I instead got to try some of next year's Salomon Rocker 2's mounted with Salomon's AT binding they're releasing next season, the Guardian, all courtesy of Jamey. Wow! Fresh edges...what a concept!
It was a beautiful, sunny day, and it felt great to be out in the mountains today above the inversion smog that's building in the Valley thanks to our persistent high pressure. But like I said, by lunchtime things were getting scratchy on the groomers. So after a lunch on the mountain at Alf's (still a limited grill menu, unfortunately) we decided to push off for an adventure.
That adventure involved a repeat of the boot pack up Jitterbug from last weekend, and I've got to give jamesdeluxe major props here. He arrived from sea level on Thursday night. Friday was day one of skiing for him this season, so today was day two. And I don't think a bootpack up a 43-degree line is something on his usual agenda. So when he stuck it out all the way to the ridgeline, carrying those 10-ton Volants of his, he became my hero today.
So did a father I watched carry skis up Jitterbug for both himself and his 9-year-old son. Kudos for that kid making the hike -- the steps on the bootpack were huge for me, not to mention for that kid. And then on the ridgeline, dad turns to me and asks me where this terrain ends up. It turns out that on top of everything else they were visitors from Toronto. I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that they were the only visitors to make that hike today -- besides jamesdeluxe, of course.
We struck out to find untracked, dense snow on the lower half of Gunsight before traversing all the way around Greeley Hill and North Rustler for more untracked in lower Eagle's Nest. It's a pity that jamesdeluxe and Amy got a little too low to reach the Nest, but we all enjoyed that final adventure on the day nonetheless. It certainly beat the afternoon turns on the manmade on the groomers!
Skidog got some action photos today, I didn't. I'd expect that he'll add a few here later tonight.
Groomers were fun in the morning (except for Low Boy, where it was downright glassy because they blew the gun too wet) but got scratchy by lunch time. Ungroomed is firm in fast in areas that have been skied, and thick unconsolidated sugar where it's untracked. When we do finally get a big dump, nothing is going to stick to this stuff. Facets run deep.
We spent the morning tearing around the mountain. Our usual crew -- Skidog, Bobby Danger, Amy and yours truly -- were joined by jamesdeluxe, Jamey Parks and Kristen Lummis, publisher of BraveSkiMom.com who's in town from Grand Junction, Colo. with her husband and two kids, all of whom can truly rip. Aspen's their home hill. It was also Alta's annual December AT/tele demo day, and jamesdeluxe spent the morning trying different skis from Black Diamond and Voilé. There were far few vendors than normal, most likely due to the thin snow pack. Skidog, Bobby and I instead got to try some of next year's Salomon Rocker 2's mounted with Salomon's AT binding they're releasing next season, the Guardian, all courtesy of Jamey. Wow! Fresh edges...what a concept!
It was a beautiful, sunny day, and it felt great to be out in the mountains today above the inversion smog that's building in the Valley thanks to our persistent high pressure. But like I said, by lunchtime things were getting scratchy on the groomers. So after a lunch on the mountain at Alf's (still a limited grill menu, unfortunately) we decided to push off for an adventure.
That adventure involved a repeat of the boot pack up Jitterbug from last weekend, and I've got to give jamesdeluxe major props here. He arrived from sea level on Thursday night. Friday was day one of skiing for him this season, so today was day two. And I don't think a bootpack up a 43-degree line is something on his usual agenda. So when he stuck it out all the way to the ridgeline, carrying those 10-ton Volants of his, he became my hero today.
So did a father I watched carry skis up Jitterbug for both himself and his 9-year-old son. Kudos for that kid making the hike -- the steps on the bootpack were huge for me, not to mention for that kid. And then on the ridgeline, dad turns to me and asks me where this terrain ends up. It turns out that on top of everything else they were visitors from Toronto. I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that they were the only visitors to make that hike today -- besides jamesdeluxe, of course.
We struck out to find untracked, dense snow on the lower half of Gunsight before traversing all the way around Greeley Hill and North Rustler for more untracked in lower Eagle's Nest. It's a pity that jamesdeluxe and Amy got a little too low to reach the Nest, but we all enjoyed that final adventure on the day nonetheless. It certainly beat the afternoon turns on the manmade on the groomers!
Skidog got some action photos today, I didn't. I'd expect that he'll add a few here later tonight.
