snow and water ski, CO 5-6-11

[EMSC]

Guess I was mistaken.... 1 more ski day. Hit ABasin for several hours this am with great mid-winter snow on the upper portion and by late morning soft corn on the lowest portion.

Now about to launch a boat at the Boulder Res for some water skiing... 50 degree water and upper 70's air temp: should be 'sporting'

 

[EMSC]

More detail... The upper mtn was great winter snow and chalk with a wind whipping at probably 30mph with gusts over 40mph. It made the North pole Hike much tougher than usual. By early afternoon the lower 1/3 of the upper lift was becoming corn. Pali had soft snow for a little over half the vertical before about 300 verts of very firm (not really icy exactly) before corn and and slushy on the last couple hundred verts. Even Zuma skied pretty great though we only did one run back there. The scare of the day was a tumble by John in the 1st notch where, while I was positioned perfectly to get a photo, I had to move as he went hind side over teakettle with a miraculous recovery that I did get a pic of... Then headed down to the front range for some wetsuit water skiing where of course i forgot my camera in the car... really #-o

 

[EMSC]

A few more pics on a photogenic day. Oh yeah forgot to mention the 94" settled base depth...

 

[Tony Crocker]

That First Notch looks similar to Main Chute at Alta, probably as steep but not as long I'd guess. Tougher hike with the extra 2,000 of altitude though.