Loveland, CO 2-23-14

[EMSC]

Guys Trip Day 5

All but two of the other guys had left for the airport by early Sunday morning leaving 3 of us to ski some final turns. After a whole cluster duck of a morning we didn't get on the lifts until roughly 10am which was annoying given the 7" of new snow to ski (on top of the prior 3 days worth of new snow to boot). Despite that we managed to get some good turns in on partially cut up and even fresh lines of powder for a few hundred verts here and there. Skiing chair 1 for six laps before hitting the trees on the way to the chair 2 mid-load. With the wind still going but the skies clearing we hit the South Chutes on the way to Chair 9 and proceeded to hit several laps on Jelly Roll/South Chutes.

By 1pm they had to ditch to pack and race off to the airport as I continued to ski some different variations off chair 9 including #4 Headwall and North Chutes. Then skiing over to above Chair 4 where I took a couple quick laps then one lap on Chair 8 before skiing down the East Ropes area on my way under I70 through the tunnel and heading for home by 3pm. Despite my early departure I still hit ~45 minutes of delays getting to Idaho Springs before things cleared up as usual. This trip does reinforce for me that there aren't all that many of us that can get motivated and on the hill early even on a powder day... let alone go online and write about it later

 

[q]

Thoroughly enjoyed all the reports. I felt sure your friend had enjoyed himself way too much the night before when you said he was sick, I trust he made a speedy recovery.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Looks great. Is this:

... in the same place as this (very low-angle) line I skied four years ago?

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/18938538[/vimeo]

 

[EMSC]

I felt sure your friend had enjoyed himself way too much the night before when you said he was sick, I trust he made a speedy recovery.

Obviously I left out plenty of the party aspects of the trip and kept it on the skiing side, but he is recovered from the pulmonary edema at this point. I guess the Doc told him it was probably triggered by a bad flu/cold that was still in it's end game the day he flew in. That cleared up the next day but then he started getting worse again from what turned out to be altitude sickness. It was not his first trip to Colorado and he never had problems previously.

in the same place as this (very low-angle) line I skied four years ago?

Basic answer is no. My pic is deceiving - it's actually reasonably pitched Jelly Roll off of Chair 9 (lookers left going up to the ridge).

Your pic looks like it is either Chair 4 (based on the background trails visible) or Chair 8 (based on the snow coverage - chair 4 upper doesn't usually have much snow due to wind). Either of which are fairly low angle on the upper portion.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Your pic looks like it is either Chair 4 (based on the background trails visible) or Chair 8 (based on the snow coverage - chair 4 upper doesn't usually have much snow due to wind). Either of which are fairly low angle on the upper portion.

I'm reasonably sure that was skier's right of Chair 4 (the last one before the tunnel). They'd received 13 inches overnight with zero wind, oddly enough.

 

[EMSC]

These pics of Chair 4 area are generous due to the flat light and distance. In reality a lot more rocks, dirt, grass, etc... on that upper part than even this makes it appear. Hope you didn't hit anything; but then 13" and no wind will sure help.