It’s been pretty much snowing non-stop since I got here… well, and even before I got here. The news was saying that this year has set a record for snowfall for the last 5 years, although you could have fooled me in November when I was here. The snowfall started late, and has been pretty much constant. There was around 10cm of settled snow in the street in town this morning, and as evening advanced, the snowfall resumed, so there should be another good layer tomorrow morning.
Archive for the 'Snow' Category
Page 7 of 14
At Denver International Airport, after a early rushed airport vendor Mexican, we find out our plane has some kind of issue & is being taken out of service. Replacement being flown in won’t be here and ready for four hours at least. Looks like spending the day at DEN. Hey, maybe I can call work to legitimately say flight is delayed, go rent a car, and go hit a Colorado slope!
Getting ready to leave for airport & leave Salt Lake, of course another 7 inches of snow. What a tease to make us want to come back.
Saturday morning wake early, Solitude reports 5″ overnight, and still snowing. We join the caravan of weekend warriors heading up the canyon road to the resorts but arrive at Solitude as one of the early birds. A weekend with good snow and still no big lines, I’m getting to like this! We head up to the very top I asking one of the hosts he said the back area, Honeycomb was open. We make our way up there to be greated with high winds and a closed sign. Second time up it is open and we drop in. The high winds make for not so great conditions and we take the “easy” ride out which end up flat and sucking majorly. I’m not a happy camper. We break for lunch, I decide to dump my pack in a locker. The snow is really dumping now, and with a light load I feel much more positive. Hook back up with Dave & Derek & we session the front mid section until the lifts close. Lots of fun snow to find, and it’s still dumping! And the snow that is falling now is real powder snow. Too bad this is our last day, but bodies are thoroughly sore and worked. I have to say after a bad start, the rest of this trip was excellent, I will be back!
Friday, another clear sunny day. No new snow, lazy morning & head to Solitude mid morning. Zero crowds, snow surface looks ok, anythings better than the ice & rain soaked stuff we saw earlier. See some inviting stuff still on the sidelines. Heading to the top. When I asked, lifty said he’d go for it and do the backside into Honeycomb area, so that’s where we go! Unfortunately the traverse burns already worked legs. We find a nice little kicker in an open field out in the sun, have lunch and end up seasoning the jump for the rest of the day. Jumping is fun’
Thursday dawns clear, only a couple inches of snow at some of the resorts from the remnants of yesterday’s wonderfulness. We decide to try Brighton again. Winds are calm this time, and no crazy lines. I think at most we wait behind two rows of people. Bluebird sunny day, and there still are fresh lines to be found all day. Not quite as nice as yesterday, there are more patches of icy that get revealed, but still nice conditions. It still amazes me how so much people love to stay on the groomers. It’s like getting a mountain bike and riding it only on the street. Again we are enjoying the riding so much that lunch is done on the go, although this time we do actually take time for it.
No new snow in the forecast until tomorrow night, so we need to get it while it’s still there!
Forgot to blog Wednesday, too busy riding! Forecast snow actually happened overnight, we decided to head to Powder Mountain that reported 8 inches. We heard good things about Powmow, and what we heard was true, no lift line at all. the eight inch of freshies is true, and it’s not stopping! Only drawback is you can’t see, but its still great! Forecast was clearing at noon, never happened, but we pound the snow so much we don’t even stop for lunch, pow is our food! Memories of the days of crud fade replaced by happiness of smooth buttery fresh snow, with only a handful of other happy souls seen on the slopes at any time. This made it all worthwhile, I can only imagine what it’s like when they get a real powder day.
I think this gets six thumbs up from Team Cobra!
A moderate snowfall was reported last night and it still raining down here in town. This may be as good as we get this trip, time to check it out!
So all that wind and rain equaled icy on our visit to Snowbasin. Venturing off the groomers was rewarded with superhardpack bumpy jarring ride. It was a groomer only day. A shame because there was a lot of really nice looking terrain at Snowbasin. We made what we could of it, capped it off by trying to ride a box at the very end and falling on my ass onto the concrete hard “snow”. It was still a fun day.
Reported 6 inches of snow at Snowbird, head out there. Step out into parking lot to a chilling wind. Stand in snail pace line for what seemed like half an hour to arrive at window to find all but three lifts closed. Make last minute decision to bail & try Brighton. Brighton is also chillingly windy, & crowded with people with the same idea. We decide to save the legs & call it an off day for riding.