A couple of climbers deep in the park.

To get right to the point– it hasn’t snowed in a while so we went ice climbing. read more>>>

John Doyle stacks em.

Generally speaking, the reports coming in from the Aspen area backcountry are at best, lousy, and at worst, dangerous. Despite the disappointing conditions and eager to get out and do something, Sean Shean, John Doyle and I took a tour to see things firsthand and we actually found everything to be a notch or two better than lousy– the skiing was better described as being ‘pretty OK”.

So what’s ‘pretty OK’? Well, we noticed no settling, cracking or whumpfing on the skin up, which was nice considering how tenuous the conditions have been described recently. And the snow we found on the descent, particularly the shady NE aspects higher up, skied great. Lower down there was a bit of a crust on the sunnier, east facing aspects and the overall shallowness of the snowpack presented a bit of a challenge– the saplings and bushes lurking just beneath the surface created random pockets of hollowness that could pull you down if you didn’t keep those tips up.

On that note, while on approach John said his buddy recently started skiing on rockered skis and his comment on them was that “They lean back for you.” An interesting way too look at the more modern equipment for sure, not that any of us would EVER be caught leaning back, but you have to think it would help in snow conditions that might be prone to pulling you under. Here’s the best shot of the day, below,  capturing what happens when those tips go down and a good reason to always be ready with a camera. read more>>>

Christy goes full steam ahead into the first new snow of 2010 and a new decade, via G-6. Click to enlarge.

Hopefully January 2nd isn’t too late to wish everyone a Happy New Year. As our first day out together in 2010, Christy and I found things to be pretty good over at Highlands.

We’re psyched for 2010 and all that it could bring. The race calendar is filling up, the 14er skiing season is right around the corner, a ski expedition to Greenland read more>>>

Ski genre classic? Or straight to DVD?

Here’s my plug line– “Just when you thought it wasn’t safe to go in the backcountry– on Feb. 5th it will be even scarier inbounds!”

On a chilly winter night, three skiers huddle together on a chairlift, confused as to why their ride to the summit suddenly stops. The sting of the icy wind worsens when the floodlights power down, leaving them stranded in the dark. As they wait for help, the reality of the nightmare hits them. The ski resort has just closed, abandoning the group stranded high above the mountain slopes in an oncoming snow storm. With ominous howls echoing through the surrounding woods, they will need to make some tough decisions in order to survive. Writer/director Adam Green skillfully guides this real-world thriller, pushing three college students to confront their natural fears of the dark, cold, heights, and beyond, to see how far a human is willing to go to survive. With bone-chilling performances by Kevin Zegers, Shawn Ashmore, and Emma Bell, Frozen continues horror’s time-honored tradition of scaring audiences away from their favorite recreational activities.

Twenty eight minutes. That’s the time it took for the Elk Mountain Grand Traverse to fill up on the morning of December 1st this year. While it may not be quite as hard as the race itself, getting a slot in some of the more popular races can be pretty challenging in itself. As testament to this, a congratulatory email was sent out to all those who got one of the coveted GT slots– not for finishing, but for being able to start.

Sorry if you didn’t get in.

So even though the temperature regularly dips down in the single digits and summer seems really far away, if you are at all considering lining up for some of the more popular summer races, you better start planning now.

Here are some deadlines: read more>>>

Recession? Things seem pretty good here in the G-zones.

If you haven’t been there yet, Highlands Bowl is skiing great.

Joel Gratz from the Colorado Powder Forecast was here to catch the first rope drop on Monday afternoon. He was psyched to get it with a load of new snow from the weekend storm (which he had accurately predicted), and put together a report here.

The second rope dropped, on the Northwoods, Tuesday morning. Troy Selby and I hooked up for a couple of runs and found it to be about as good as it gets in there.

I’ve always thought that if there’s a positive spin to be put on the prospect of slow economic times this winter, it might be that less work might get you more days on the hill– something we long for those seasons we feel we’re working TOO much. read more>>>