Day 19: Heli-quality.
Greeley Bowl to Greeley Hill to North Greeley was a new best run of the year for me today. Bottomless untracked the whole way from Piss Pass to the Transfer Tow. Absolutely amazing.
Phase 3 of the storm was kind of a bust. While it was supposed to be the biggest part of this storm the energy shifted largely to our south. Still, we got 10" of 10% and the wind died down as the snow started last evening. And really, it's hard to call a 40-inch storm cycle a bust.
I got up and started working at 6 a.m. so that I wouldn't feel guilty for sneaking out to take a few opening bell runs before returning to work today. My boss is on PTO this week, and who do you think I ran into at GMD this morning while I was playing hooky? 8-[
#-o
A few others, though, apparently had the same idea:
Not quite the "solitude" that Jamesdeluxe experienced today, but that's only the pre-opening line which was down to two minutes by our second run.
I was joined by AmyZ, and we headed straight out the T to the aforementioned Greeley run. Oh. My. God. We dropped off the traverse into an unblemished sea of white. The wind howled during the day yesterday with gusts to 50 mph even in the base area, but the wind slab was completely insulated by the perfectly even blanket of new snow. No tracks. Bottomless. Endless face shots. Divine.
It was so good, in fact, that we did it again.
Our third run was out to Eagle's Nest/Rustler IV/Black Forest -- lightly tracked but filled with sluff except for Black Forest, which was still untracked. I suffered through my last run with a broken carbon fiber pole -- going to see if Leki is willing to warranty it.
I then headed off to work. AmyZ stayed, and hopefully she caught the rope drops on Ballroom and/or Backside, for those would have delivered runs as good as our first today.
Greeley Bowl to Greeley Hill to North Greeley was a new best run of the year for me today. Bottomless untracked the whole way from Piss Pass to the Transfer Tow. Absolutely amazing.
Phase 3 of the storm was kind of a bust. While it was supposed to be the biggest part of this storm the energy shifted largely to our south. Still, we got 10" of 10% and the wind died down as the snow started last evening. And really, it's hard to call a 40-inch storm cycle a bust.
I got up and started working at 6 a.m. so that I wouldn't feel guilty for sneaking out to take a few opening bell runs before returning to work today. My boss is on PTO this week, and who do you think I ran into at GMD this morning while I was playing hooky? 8-[
#-o
A few others, though, apparently had the same idea:
Not quite the "solitude" that Jamesdeluxe experienced today, but that's only the pre-opening line which was down to two minutes by our second run.
I was joined by AmyZ, and we headed straight out the T to the aforementioned Greeley run. Oh. My. God. We dropped off the traverse into an unblemished sea of white. The wind howled during the day yesterday with gusts to 50 mph even in the base area, but the wind slab was completely insulated by the perfectly even blanket of new snow. No tracks. Bottomless. Endless face shots. Divine.
It was so good, in fact, that we did it again.
Our third run was out to Eagle's Nest/Rustler IV/Black Forest -- lightly tracked but filled with sluff except for Black Forest, which was still untracked. I suffered through my last run with a broken carbon fiber pole -- going to see if Leki is willing to warranty it.
I then headed off to work. AmyZ stayed, and hopefully she caught the rope drops on Ballroom and/or Backside, for those would have delivered runs as good as our first today.
