EMSC
Well-known member
More races, Challenging conditions.
After a 3-4 day super warm-up, it was back to more typical weather for the front range. Cool and snowy, just no where near enough snowy at Loveland especially. Nearly a foot at Eldora, somewhat less at Winter Park, half foot at ABasin and.... a whopping 3.5 inches at Loveland. Keeping this years trend of Loveland getting relatively skunked by most storms (though not all). No explanation I can think of for why either, just seems to mostly be surprises to the downside with the vast majority of storms at Loveland this particular year.
Anyway similar to all race weekends my days were a mix of race spectating (at the Valley side) and skiing variable, but OK-ish spots up in the Basin side. Valley was closed for the year to the public, but open for the racers. Roughly 500 of them racing Slalom on two different trails for the historic and one of the longest running race series the Derby. So quite crowded at the Valley with that many racers, coaches and parents.
Sat was plenty cold. 10F in the parking lot at the start with snow still falling for the first half of the day and a nice ~10-20mph wind to add to the fun. Fortunately warming at the valley side to ~20F and some sun by mid-afternoon. Chair 9 I estimated that in the morning it was ~5F with a solidly steady 20mph wind up top (approx -15F wind chill).
Everything was ice or even refrozen "coral reef" in spots underneath with just the few new inches on top. With the wind the upper parts of chair 9 were 2-3X as deep in the right spots or were blown clean of all new snow in other spots. So choose your line wisely! Which was not easy Sat am in near whiteout conditions. I did find a few lines that were decent enough, and frequented them. Adding a couple more as visibility improved. Definitely only a few turns here and there of not hitting bottom at all, and a fair bit of poking around to find the right lines to keep the skiing from being too bumpy and variable. I should mention that I didn't even try to ski any of the steeps off Chets Dream as they had only the 3" on ice bumps on that stuff. Not worth trying given the 'powder multiplier' winds up on Chair 9.
Sunday was warmer by a fair bit. Starting in the mid-teens but with full bluebird skies. eventually getting to warm at the Valley for the afternoon race run in soft snow. But the Basin side really only the flat areas and the lowest S facing few hundred vertical feet (maybe ~300' verts up the bottom of Chair 4 for example) soften to spring conditions by late afternoon. The upper mountain skied very similarly on Sunday though the snow was definitely more wind affected overnight.
Interestingly my son has skied 2-3 trails early season before Eldora opens, or at races at the Valley, so had never skied hardly any of the decent terrain. After his final race run we had time to get him up Ptarmigan, Chair 9 and Chair 4 for one lap each (chair 4 snow was pretty terrible - I took one lap each day on it; testing on it on Sat then going back to 9). He really likes to see and ski new lifts and terrain.
The road leading S from top of 9 was horrid sheets of windblown ice. And not exactly visible Sat am.
A bit bumpy and variable underneath, but just enough fresh to be OK-ish.
Everyone in this pic is with the race.
As is everyone in this pic. It's a huge race.
Partial clearing by Sat afternoon on Chair 9.
Some of the morning tracks...
Sat afternoon racing
Multiple kids/coaches from NZ this year (they were also at the Winter Park races last weekend).
Sunday Bluebird; obligatory Loveland pic of Keystone and Breck.
I think this was from my 2nd time down Jelly Roll
Patrol Bowl and the S facing ridge above Chair 4/8. The Ridge snowcat was running, but I didn't use (too time consuming with all of my going back and forth to the races).
Pano from roughly the top of Jelly Roll
The blue lane is for walking and running only, no skis allowed in the blue lane... An extremely rare instance of skis on the ground being OK at a ski resort (this is less than half of the skis during peak lunch break).
Costumes are not required, but are encouraged for these final races of the season.
Yep, free skiing in SL race gear in wind chunky snow...
After a 3-4 day super warm-up, it was back to more typical weather for the front range. Cool and snowy, just no where near enough snowy at Loveland especially. Nearly a foot at Eldora, somewhat less at Winter Park, half foot at ABasin and.... a whopping 3.5 inches at Loveland. Keeping this years trend of Loveland getting relatively skunked by most storms (though not all). No explanation I can think of for why either, just seems to mostly be surprises to the downside with the vast majority of storms at Loveland this particular year.
Anyway similar to all race weekends my days were a mix of race spectating (at the Valley side) and skiing variable, but OK-ish spots up in the Basin side. Valley was closed for the year to the public, but open for the racers. Roughly 500 of them racing Slalom on two different trails for the historic and one of the longest running race series the Derby. So quite crowded at the Valley with that many racers, coaches and parents.
Sat was plenty cold. 10F in the parking lot at the start with snow still falling for the first half of the day and a nice ~10-20mph wind to add to the fun. Fortunately warming at the valley side to ~20F and some sun by mid-afternoon. Chair 9 I estimated that in the morning it was ~5F with a solidly steady 20mph wind up top (approx -15F wind chill).
Everything was ice or even refrozen "coral reef" in spots underneath with just the few new inches on top. With the wind the upper parts of chair 9 were 2-3X as deep in the right spots or were blown clean of all new snow in other spots. So choose your line wisely! Which was not easy Sat am in near whiteout conditions. I did find a few lines that were decent enough, and frequented them. Adding a couple more as visibility improved. Definitely only a few turns here and there of not hitting bottom at all, and a fair bit of poking around to find the right lines to keep the skiing from being too bumpy and variable. I should mention that I didn't even try to ski any of the steeps off Chets Dream as they had only the 3" on ice bumps on that stuff. Not worth trying given the 'powder multiplier' winds up on Chair 9.
Sunday was warmer by a fair bit. Starting in the mid-teens but with full bluebird skies. eventually getting to warm at the Valley for the afternoon race run in soft snow. But the Basin side really only the flat areas and the lowest S facing few hundred vertical feet (maybe ~300' verts up the bottom of Chair 4 for example) soften to spring conditions by late afternoon. The upper mountain skied very similarly on Sunday though the snow was definitely more wind affected overnight.
Interestingly my son has skied 2-3 trails early season before Eldora opens, or at races at the Valley, so had never skied hardly any of the decent terrain. After his final race run we had time to get him up Ptarmigan, Chair 9 and Chair 4 for one lap each (chair 4 snow was pretty terrible - I took one lap each day on it; testing on it on Sat then going back to 9). He really likes to see and ski new lifts and terrain.
The road leading S from top of 9 was horrid sheets of windblown ice. And not exactly visible Sat am.
A bit bumpy and variable underneath, but just enough fresh to be OK-ish.
Everyone in this pic is with the race.
As is everyone in this pic. It's a huge race.
Partial clearing by Sat afternoon on Chair 9.
Some of the morning tracks...
Sat afternoon racing
Multiple kids/coaches from NZ this year (they were also at the Winter Park races last weekend).
Sunday Bluebird; obligatory Loveland pic of Keystone and Breck.
I think this was from my 2nd time down Jelly Roll
Patrol Bowl and the S facing ridge above Chair 4/8. The Ridge snowcat was running, but I didn't use (too time consuming with all of my going back and forth to the races).
Pano from roughly the top of Jelly Roll
The blue lane is for walking and running only, no skis allowed in the blue lane... An extremely rare instance of skis on the ground being OK at a ski resort (this is less than half of the skis during peak lunch break).
Costumes are not required, but are encouraged for these final races of the season.
Yep, free skiing in SL race gear in wind chunky snow...
