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 Christy cuts through the powder on the Congo Trail section on her skinny little race skis. (Christy here) The new Power of Four Ski Mountaineering Race is right around the corner, so in an attempt to scout out the complex course and get some time in our new Dynafit ski mountaineering race setups, Anda Smalls and I went out this weekend for a little familiarization. read more>>> Saturday’s bad weather made for classic storm day conditions up in Highland Bowl. The wind and low visibility kept the fair weather crowds away, and the snow only piled up deeper as the day progressed. Here’s a little video from Christy’s Bowl day. If it isn’t obvious, she’s a proud member of the camp [...]  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].” 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>>>  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>>> |
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