Always preferring to check conditions firsthand, AHSP's Powder Weasel-- seen above in the Northwoods-- determined things were pretty good. If I were him, I might have deemed a second run through as necessary to fully assess things before opening it to the public.

Because I found myself with so many deep powder pics I decided that a third post from our huge storm was warranted– if it pushes my coverage from our big weekend into overkill, well, I’ll take that chance. But I’m also posting more from the weekend so I can pass along a big thanks to the Aspen Highlands Ski Patrol, for their efforts in getting everything opened in such a timely manner– that is, as fast as possible. read more>>>

Tim blasts through a stacked "Stop Sign" on Sunday. It seemed the snow was refilling old tracks wherever we went.

If you weren’t around this past weekend you missed out on a special offering at Highlands– free refills from Saturday to Tuesday– and not the type that come from the soda fountain at the Merry Go Round.

Through the entire extended weekend it seemed like every lap in Highland Bowl was stacked with new powder, that each time we clicked into our skis and readied to drop in, all the old tracks had been filled in. We can thank several factors–  the storm that kept snowing, the winds that kept loading, the limited number of skiers the hike up the bowl allows and the periodic gate closures and openings– all one needed was some smart, tactical decision making, i.e. thinking outside the “pack mentality” box, and you could avoid the herds and/or time the openings of certain areas and find untracked lines all weekend.

So here’s a few more pics: read more>>>

Amy Beidleman agreed it was likely more than 3-5, but couldn't get an official number as her ruler didn't have a measurement that went all the way to 'waist deep'. Click pics to enlarge.

I’ve seen it before, during extended dry periods of past winters, people can become a little jaded and skeptical of storm predictions. Whether the forecasts are incorrect or simply not calling for any big dumps, after long stretches of winter that lack significant snowfall, some just refuse to believe it’s really coming when it finally does.

So when I got an email from Christy in regards to Joel Gratz’s big forecast for the weekend, I saw an opportunity. The message read,”I don’t know, if you read between the lines, it doesn’t really sound like more than a few inches for Aspen, if we’re lucky….”

I knew it was coming, so I challenged her.

“I bet we get 3-5 inches total, through the whole weekend.” she said, after which I insisted the storm could be big. “You think we’re getting more? Well how about the loser buys Takah [sushi].”
“You’re on.” I said, smirking.

Forget about what we got by Sunday, or even Monday (pics to come), she had lost the bet with the 5:30am snow report Saturday morning. read more>>>

Adam Dennis drops into the "facet farm." On the plus side-- facets are pretty good for getting powder photos.

On the plus side, everything we encountered on our lap off of Highlands Ridge was better than we expected. Of course in full disclosure we had all set the bar pretty low.

Deeming it an important product research/ snow conditions survey, Dirk checked out of the Aspen Expeditions office on an extra long lunch– and along with Jesse Durrance and Adam Dennis, the four of us made the run off the west side of Highlands. Now midway through the season, the snowpack still leaves much to be desired insofar as depth and quality, but with the avalanche danger having subsided a bit lately, we thought we would go check things out.

The hasty snowpit confirmed lousy but acceptable conditions, it was clear from the abundance of facets and dearth of layers that a good back seat technique combined with some downhill momentum would come in handy. So, much like another recent foray into the backcountry–  keep those Tips Up!

Actually, like that day, it skied pretty OK, and it only improved as we got lower down. In fact the middle stretches skied really well. read more>>>

Another awesome night at "Airport." Glow in the dark discs, and a satellite or two light it up. Click to enlarge.

The hump of the ski season upon us and spring is coming. Punxsutawny Phil thinks otherwise, after seeing his shadow he declared there to be six more weeks of winter– but apparently Staten Island Chuck (who? read here) says Phil’s got it all wrong. After Christy and I opted to stay in bed this morning, rather than brave the negative double digit wind chill on our planned skin up Aspen Mountain, I thought I’d post some pics from warmer days, from our White Rim trip last fall.

Day 2- heading from Airport to White Crack, the Washerwoman Tower is in the background.

As has been the case for years now, Jared and Diana secured the coveted permit required for the trip into Canyonlands National Park, but this year’s loop around the White Rim wasn’t always sure to happen. The recent addition of second baby girl to their family left the trip up in the air– Di was going to sit this one out and Jared couldn’t decide if planning the trip this year was maybe a bit more than he wanted to take on.

Enter Jeremy Barbin, who kindly offered up his assistance to Jared in organizing the trip. What a nice guy to help you say? Well, as a result of Jeremy’s swift and silent hijack of the permit for the annual desert retreat, the group this year was not the typical set of couples, friends and family but was instead a raucous lineup of 16 guys. And despite a collective ‘roll of the eyes’ by all of the spouses/girlfriends when the roster of trouble making weekend participants was made public, I think Jeremy still insists, at least to his wife Lisa, that it really was just a mellow mountain bike weekend for the guys. read more>>>

Neal Beidleman, halfway into his second frame.

Hang out at Aspen Highlands enough and you’ll eventually overhear conversations rehashing the days exploits up in the Bowl using proper bowling terms, and in a style more commonly reserved for the 10 pin, Budweiser sponsored, indoor “sport.” Basically, this type of ski slang/ Bowl-speak works like this– to ski the Bowl from the top is considered a strike, and to ski any line short of the summit, i.e. any lower B-zone or Y-zone, counts as a spare. Score your day accordingly.

The storm that seemed to be dumping snow everywhere but here finally materialized, and conditions were prime for a few frames Saturday. Neal, Christy and I all scored turkeys– it was fun.

Here are a few pics: read more>>>