Christy, descending Burnt Mountain towards Buttermilk. Low angle powder is OK, it's the big backcountry descents that aren't coming into shape.
This winter has not been like those of the past few years. We’re happy the huge early-season dry spell that settled in across much of the west has passed, and that the conditions in the ski areas are finally good. Unfortunately, the instability in the thin snow pack that resulted from our arid December may last through the entire season.
As a result, there’s been very little backcountry terrain that’s either good or safe, and even less that’s both– most would agree that when “thin” and “unstable” are the terms used to describe the current conditions, most of us would prefer to do something else.
You can count us in that group. Rather than dwell on the negative, we’ve been focusing on other activities, in particular, on the upcoming rando/ski mountaineering races, and I think we’ve filled out our calendar nicely.
I thought I should share a couple of recently posted videos from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, where a special avalanche advisory has been issued.
Here, a video showing the hair-trigger sensitivity of the snowpack leading to a remote triggered slide-
This year's logo, fitting that it's in Bronco colors.
No doubt about it, Christy and I have had a lot of cool opportunities in the outdoors. Ever since arriving to Aspen, in 1994 for me and 2000 for Christy, we were always impressed by what we saw and heard people doing in the mountains around town. From that inspiration, we’ve built our own lives in a similar fashion, and in the process, have accumulated quite a range of experiences. Through it all, we’ve been careful to never take ourselves too seriously, and always stick to the belief that we’re really just a couple of people who, at our core, just love to get out and challenge ourselves.
So it’s a great honor to have been selected, as a couple, to be this year’s King and Queen of Winterskol, Aspen’s 61-year old festival of winter (read more here). Considering the list of former honorees, ranging from pro-athletes and Olympians, to founding leaders and visionaries of Aspen, we are both immensely flattered.
Christy, finding the old facets skied like a big pile of granulated sugar.
When Kir’s email came through asking if Christy and I would like to join her and Anda at her Chair Mountain cabin for the weekend, you could hardly describe the thought process as a decision– I knew instantly we were going. Having spent nearly every day of the past three weeks working/skiing the thin coverage of Aspen Mountain, I really wanted to getaway and go somewhere. And after our ski experience on Chair last spring (see post here), I also knew Christy would be game, even if the big snows that typically bury this area hadn’t yet arrived.
It was a great weekend for all sorts of reasons– to finally see Penn and Kir’s cabin, to log some hut quiet-time and skinning miles, and even for the skiing. The snow, though heavily faceted and only about a foot and a half to two feet deep, proved to be pretty good in parts, at least in a consistent, sugary sense. read more>>>
[Christy here, again] It’s not a good sign when things look like this in January.
Sure, we need more snow, but it could always be worse. Even with a not-so-great start to the season, we’re still pretty lucky that we can get out on a nice, long tour and enjoy the gorgeous scenery.
With a random Monday off, and a need to unwind from the holidays, I took my cross-country ski set up out on the Express Creek to Richmond Ridge loop, and got in a little solo training for the upcoming Elk Mountains Grand Traverse. Since Ted had to work, he kindly offered to drop me off at the Express Creek trailhead up by Ashcroft, so that I could get out for this classic 20-mile loop back to town. read more>>>
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