EMSC
Well-known member
Well I got one day in this weekend after working yesterday. Unfortunately a short day as the upper mtn shut due to wind at about 2:15pm, but a surprisingly decent ski day. My expectations were relatively low as Eldora hada gap of close to 2 weeks without snow until mid-week last week. They reported a combined 10" over 4 days and none on the snow report this am. Plus with the wind this week (everyone heard about the big fire N of Boulder right?), I figured I might even snowboard the groomers.
But today turned into a very typical Eldora day. Mostly sunny in Nederland with wind, but no ski hill showing (aka in the snow). Very windy and snowing once you got just a little bit up the shelf road. Someone decided to be brilliant in the sudden snow onthe road and flipped their SUV on it's side near the snowmaking lake. Fortunately, in such a way that the Fire Dept was allowing one lane of traffic through at a time.
It was snowing decently, but the wind was only allowing it to be deposited in certain areas (skiers left or in the trees). I headed to upper ambush to hit the backside right away. Um, interesting on Ambush - man made with big piles of fluff (only on skiers left of course).
A lot less snow so far this year than last at this time, but still a reasonable amount of coverage. For sure a few items to look out for, but much less than I had anticipated. Best run today had to be Salto glade. West ridge had the same snow, but due to the driving wind/snow the upper part was a bit of skiing by braille at times (actually a couple of times like that in Salto too). Lower section of West ridge is not yet open so you have to take the cut-off through the trees after the prime pitches (no big loss really).
It was nearly deserted back there with only a few others skiing in there. So lap after lap of skiing a couple inches of 'cream' snow on top through some of Eldo's best terrain. Very nice. Somewhere around 2:15 they shut the whole upper mtn due to the wind gusts. I was able to get one run down into Indian Peaks chair for another lap (after they roped off all of the backside trails). Then went and chatted with the Race coaches training on the poma. I even did one lap of SL gates, but that's just too painful without shin guards. Eventually leaving around 3pm.
But today turned into a very typical Eldora day. Mostly sunny in Nederland with wind, but no ski hill showing (aka in the snow). Very windy and snowing once you got just a little bit up the shelf road. Someone decided to be brilliant in the sudden snow onthe road and flipped their SUV on it's side near the snowmaking lake. Fortunately, in such a way that the Fire Dept was allowing one lane of traffic through at a time.
It was snowing decently, but the wind was only allowing it to be deposited in certain areas (skiers left or in the trees). I headed to upper ambush to hit the backside right away. Um, interesting on Ambush - man made with big piles of fluff (only on skiers left of course).
A lot less snow so far this year than last at this time, but still a reasonable amount of coverage. For sure a few items to look out for, but much less than I had anticipated. Best run today had to be Salto glade. West ridge had the same snow, but due to the driving wind/snow the upper part was a bit of skiing by braille at times (actually a couple of times like that in Salto too). Lower section of West ridge is not yet open so you have to take the cut-off through the trees after the prime pitches (no big loss really).
It was nearly deserted back there with only a few others skiing in there. So lap after lap of skiing a couple inches of 'cream' snow on top through some of Eldo's best terrain. Very nice. Somewhere around 2:15 they shut the whole upper mtn due to the wind gusts. I was able to get one run down into Indian Peaks chair for another lap (after they roped off all of the backside trails). Then went and chatted with the Race coaches training on the poma. I even did one lap of SL gates, but that's just too painful without shin guards. Eventually leaving around 3pm.
