11/7/11 First turns of the year
mid vail on Nov. 6th
Well, I broke down. I couldn’t wait any longer and the eight inches of light density snow were enough to get me out of bed at six a.m. and to the bottom of the Vistibahn by seven to meet my freind Brenden. Time to get a run up on the frontside of Vail mountain to kick my ski season off. We headed out of the Visti corral and headed up the cat track/road to the cut off to mid Vail. There were many folks heading up chair ten way, so we deided to take the road less traveled to the top of chair two. The skin was a leisurely two hours,enjoying a crisp, sparkeling morning that held both snow and sun for us . We chose to gingerly ski Avanti for the first run on Vail mountain for the year. I’m pretty superstitious about early season turns. Always hear the horror stories of some poor soul ruining his ski season early due to some ill advised early season charging. I intend to never end up in that circumstance, so caution was the name of the game. Indeed, I harvested the suprsingly good early season pow turns at a less than blistering pace, always wary of what is lurking underneath the thin snow. We skied our way down to Bear Tree, enjoying the six to eight inches of light density snow without hitting bottom. As we descended, the snow gradualy set up and thinned out, but we only had to walk 25 yards of the cat track to get back to the Visti. The steep pitch on Avanti was suprisingly nice reintroduction to powder turns and we had it all to ourselves. Anytime you can start the season off with some pow turns that’s all you can really ask for. If you head up, take care and be aware of the unseen hazards of early season conditions. Water bars, stumps and of course , rocks can ruin your day. Its a long season, make sure you stick around for all of it.
11/2/2011 Surface Hoar
Next storm rolled through, dumped a few coveted inches on top of our much maligned basal layer. Came in warm, started as rain and cooled off as the night progressed. Nice to wake up to the first day of work at Troy’s Ski Shop to snow. Doesn’t seem right when you’re mounting skis in warm sixty degree weather. In keeping with the last post, I wanted to address another lurking hazard prevalent in(on) early season snow pack, surface hoar. As I was riding to East Vail before this last snow, I noticed the fern like crystals stacked up on the snow next to the bike path. Clear, cold skies and high humidity are ideal conditions to produce these feathery crystals that lie vertically on top the snow.
Strong in load, but not in shear, these crystals can support subsequent snowfalls until critical stress on the fragile slab is triggered by you, intrepid backcountry traveler. Surface hoar is hard to keep track of. It can be destroyed by wind in some areas while persisting in others. Even by digging a pit in the locale that you want to ski, it is hard to determine if buried surface hoar is still present in the entirety of the area you are going to put a load onto by riding. Next time a cold clear night happens with little wind, check around the next day to see if those crystals are around and file it into your never-ending assessment of the growing snowpack around you.
Preseason snow report 10/27/11
Everything is right with the world. Late October and the first of the storms that will constitute the beginnings of our snowpack has rolled through and given way to clear and sunny skies before we get our next storm. This is fairly typical for the late October snows, although last year was an anomaly as the snow kept coming and coming. This year it seems high pressure will build back and temperatures look like they will rise a bit before we return to a storm cycle. With the clear warmer weather moving back in, it is important to keep an eye on the snow in the coming weeks. Without getting covered by subsequent storms, this first layer can degrade into loose facets, a potential weak layer for future snow to slide on . Nothing is certain and this is only a bit of early season snow alchemy, but it is backed by my experiences in the past of our Continental snowpack and the effect of this first layer has in East Vail early season. It is one of the hallmarks of or Colorado snowpack, relatively shallow and complex with many different layers and usually a problematic layer at the bottom, at least to start the season, until it either consolidates in the snow pack or flushes out with the first significant avalanche cycle.
Of course we can’t predict the bonding that will happen with extra load until the next storms arrive, and the amount of degradation depends on many factors. Aspect, temperatures, snowfall, sun hit and elevation are some of major factors that have an impact on the metamorphosis of the snow. Bottom line, it is a storm and a layer to be mindful of as the season starts to move forward, especially as we get into the beginning of the backcountry ski season in November. As always, rely your own assessment of the snow. Just some things to think about from your friends at EVI.
Ride to the Sun EVI Training Final Exam
Five thirty in the morning and I’m headed in the darkness to the small town of Paia on Maui’s west side, across from the legendary windsurfing mecca of Ho’okipa beach. The Fuji road bike is assembled and ready for the ride that starts here, climbs up country through the ranch towns of Makowao and Kula and into Haaleakela park. I plug in the headphones and I’m off, go team!
Mile One
I feel good. I break throught the first twenty minutes and get into a rhythm, slowly leaving the ocean behind. My support vehicle, Ryan on his Honda Rebel, has decided to tag along for the entire journey. The sun comes up over the east side of the island and I catch a glimpse of the incedible sunrise. Up country Maui is a world unto itself, far from the beaches and tourists, it is a land of cattle, cowboys and sheep ranchers tucked underneath the shadow of the volcano I’m about to climb. Glimpses of unparalleled beauty here, flowering vines entwined in barbed wire, sheepdogs chasing their flock through rolling grasslands, estates with flawless Japanese gardens roll past.
Mile 15
An hour has taken me through the two towns and I stand at the Haleaakela park sign, my first break. The approach is done and now the true climb begins. I try not to think about the twenty two miles left. I still feel strong but the first fifteen miles has me sweating and legs feeling it. Time for the mental games to begin, trying to take chunks out of the miles by aiming for smaller goals, the next sign, the next switch back. Fueling and drinking as much as i can, I begin the endless parade of switchbacks up the flanks of the volcano. There are markers on the pavement for bikers like myself, indicating the elevation and giving instructions when to eat and drink. Ryan putters by me and waits every half mile to give me a towel as I am drenched in sweat 2500′ feet and climbing…
Mile 20
At 5000′ the road breaks out from the lowland trees and ranchlands and into the steep grasslands, two of the four unique climates that I will go through. Here the switchbacks tighten and my first real battle against fatuige begins. Altitude hits me and I’m sure I’m dehydrated even though I’m drinking as much as possible. My speed slows and I have to take a break, surprised at the effect of the altitude. I’ve already eclipsed my max vertical for a single bike ride and the road is relentless, up up up. Ryans’ cheerful exclamation “only seventeen miles to go!” are welcome but his voice seems farther and farther away. The view are stunning and surreal, looking down on the beaches and towns, but there is work to be done seventeen miles to go and another 5000′ feet of climbing. The bike is too small and brain is starting to find reasons not to do anymore of this silliness, but I push upward until the switchbacks mellow just a bit, savoring every extended section of road that doesn’t have a hairpin turn in it. A parade of rental cars passes me up and down, occasionally a fist pump out the window or a incredulous look. Allez allez allez.
Mile 25
Passed the lower ranger station stopped on the grassy lawn and spawled out for a bit, staring into the sky and wordering how the hell I’m gonna get up the last 2500′ vertical. I can’t seem to eat enough mini snickers or drink enough water. Up above the clouds soar up and over the rim of the volcano. The summit crater looks tantelizingly close but still 12 miles away. At 8000′ the clouds roil and churn. The land is shifting into a beautiful but barren moonscape, lava and sparse plants, reminiscent of the terra high up on a fourteener. I hunch down over bars, and deperatley try to find the mental zone where the pain fades, jabbering mind quiets and all that exists is the white line you are following and the sound of your own breathing. Final push, here we go.
Mile 30
I’m talking to dead relatives now. There is no escape from the sheer exertion I have put out and my mind is rebelling and legs are screaming. I cycle through happy thoughts to get just one more peddle. Cheeseburgers, milkshakes, powder skiing all are temporary cures for the pain. I crawl upward through the clouds whipping over the summit and down into the lee side of the volcano. The tempeature has cooled and the breeze is welcome. Trying to figure out how I can lash my bike to Ryan’s motorcycle for the rest of the way. At 9000′ up, the only option is to finish this ride so I don’t have to come back and do it again. I hate my bike with a absurd ferocity at this point. I feel like a bear at the circus riding the little bike around the ring. Get me off this thing.
Mile 37
Hit the wall harder than I ever had in my life. Staggered into the visitors center and collapsed on the first bench I could find, curled up in a fetal position and passed out for a half hour. Nothing left at all. I’ve never been so tired in my life, unable to sit up for twenty minutes. Voices fade in and out, Ryans, tourists. Like any big mountain climb getting up is only half the battle, I have no clue how I’m gonna get down. I feel like dog poo. Sat up finally and realized that the summit was another five hundred feet up another half mile. I look at Ryan and shake my head. He laughs and nods, knowing I have to finish the ride. A nice lady from Breckenridge stops and lets me know she saw me on the way up. I remember her, she mouthed the words your crazy as she went by. She gives me two bannanas and wishes me luck. Force myself to stand up and wander around the visitors center and listen to the ranger talk. The crater is so big that manhattan could fit inside it, growing two inches a year away from the lava source. It is amazing and barren, a place not to be lost in.
Summit
I recover amazingly fast. The bannanas help and my body seems to adjust to the altitude pretty quickly. Compared to how bad I felt just a little while ago it is night and day. I break no land speed records for the last half mile to the actual summit but I make it. The clouds break and we get great views of the Big Island’s 13000′ foot volcano. Ryan and I get the obligitory photos up top and turn around for the descent. All downhill now. It is done. Kind of like hitting mushroom rock in EV. Glad I did it, more glad I never have to do it again, but what a challenge. I push off for the downhill and the miles clip past, somewhere in the middle of the descent I start laughing like Stewie from Family Guy and name my bike Silky for its superoirty on the downhill(I’m still a tad loopy) Only one scary moment coming down. I hit a hairpin too fast, laid on the breaks and Tokyo drifted towards the opposite gaurdrail. I stop, reassess and proceed with a little extra caution toward the beaches and towns where I belong. I give myself a passing grade, maybe not an A but sometimes passing is enough…Aloha
EVI warm weather training Maui
We are coming down to the wire with the training as the slide toward ski seson nears its finish. To me it’s the most impatient time of year, waiting for the first big storm to erase the six months of off season. I know that the lifts are open at certain areas, but I’m not one to hit the strip of death. Hopped up college kids and eager early seasoners looking to drive you into the trees isnt what skiing is to me. Don’t get me wrong the passion I respect, the chance of injury I don’t want to deal with. Do I sound like a jaded local? I am, admittedly. I’ve paid enough insane rent and nine percent sales tax over the years to qualify. If you do go be careful, watch your nine and six o clock and I’ll see you all at the end of the month.
So what to do now? Keep training and choose somewhere warm to finish the wait if you can. As important as the physical training is, mental preperation for the seven months of skiing is equally important. Even the most die hard skiers know its a long winter, and stocking up with some memories of warm sand and lapping ocean is a good idea.
I’ve been in Maui for a week now, and my brain is saturated with perfect beach sights, beatiful girls and turquoise ocean, but now I’m restless. I can feel the pull of the season and I catch myself looking out into the ocean at the far away storms and wonder if its headed for our neck of the woods. At 39, I’m still as captivated by the cycle of the winter season as I was fifteen years ago.
Inspired by the xterra race hitting here on sun I’ve decided to put the EVI training to the test. Looming over the island of Maui is the immense volcano of Haaleakela, rising from the ocean to 10000 feet above sea level. It has been called one of the most grueling bike rides in the world. And dammit I’m gonna do(try) it. The acid test of the EVI training school.
Let’s make something clear. I’m not a road biker. I don’t shave my legs, my forearm are larger than toothpicks and I don’t own any Postal Service jerseys or spandex shorts. But sitting outside my door is a carbon fiber steed that I rented today and its waiting for me for tommorow at five am. Can a gorrila on a bicycle get up the Maui monolith? I don’t know. I do know what I’ll be thinking of to put the miles, the screaming legs and the cars of gawking tourists and the heat behind me. Three feet of blower in EV on a Tuesday morning….Aloha
A-Basin Trip Report…Shit for Brains
Hey All –
The EV season may be over, but all of us pow addicts know that the second season is in full swing and has potential to be one of the great spring seasons in recent history. DPS Dave, Brent the Lawyer, and yours truly took a trip over to A-Basin the Tuesday after Vail’s closing on a blustery three inch day and mulled over the endless options of terrain. Although the wind was up in the alpine, we after some discussion, decided that Shit For Brains, the promenent west facing couloir in the arena east of the A-bay was in play. No naturals observed in the area and moderate amount of new snow gave us the window we were looking for.
Dave and Brent had never skied it and I was looking for redemption after a starfish incident last year, too horrible to describe here (I’ll blame the wind jacked snow). We decided to climb the route instead of taking the ridge, allowing us to assess the snow on the way up, staying true to the mantra climb what you ski, especially in big terrian you are unfamiliar with.
The skin from the CDOT barn was smooth sailing, steep but relatively short. We actually were able to skin into the mouth of the chute and proceeded to strap em on the back for the rest of the way, staging under a large rock fin on the right side of the chute.
Shit For Brains is a great funnel for prevailing westerly winds, and with the wind transport of new snow it was literaly snowing uphill around forty miles an hour for the entire couple hour hike, managing to get snow underneath every layer of my clothing.
Conditions were amazingly varied from pockets of windscour to two feet of soft wind whipped snow. We definitley had our work cut out for us as we were kicking steps into the fresh and having to use poles as cross braces to pull ourselves up, exhausting and arduous work.Watching Dave kick steps, scramble up a couple feet only to slide back down was painfully comical, and the formula for ascent was ten steps, rest, ten step rest, whimper.
The chute is pretty damn steep, and in low snow years can be rocky and only a couple ski width wide with in certain sections. With the abundant snow this year, the chokes were filled nicely, but the deep wind load made the snow catchy and thick.
After forever we got to the mouth of the dammed thing and considered our future. There would be no sending, but controlled steep skiing as the conditions changed from turn to turn, having sluff build and letting it run through, watching for movement, rocks and other hazards. We leaped frogged each other for the first 500 vertical feet or so and then after no avi problems one by one skied the rest of it. I was the last one down, and the momnets I had alone in the coulior were the reason I came back.
Wind howling, stuffed between jagged vertical rock walls and the amazing vertical, craggy terrain of the surrounding area made it asthetically one of the most appealing descents of the year. I love the high alpine feel of the area and this particular chute provides it spades. My descent was deliberate and fun, roiling sluff and rolling over, it was a true test of endurance and variable condition skiing. Legs burning, I met up with the crew in the flats by the trees. We all stayed for a moment to look up the run, then were off to the chilling beer at Brent’s car at the A-bay parking lot.
4/20/11 report
Hey all,
The hits just keep coming. Hit five hundred for the year and skied EV powder the latest I ever have, not a bare spot in sight. Blustery windy and dumping yesterday, the storm preceded by some good thunder the night before. Worried about stability issues as the high wind and warmer denser snow created a noticeable 6 to 12 inch firmer spongey layer on the north aspects. Relieved to find the slab didn’t have much energy, and little or no movement at all occurred during our three lap no poma day. Very cushy, surfy surface that rockered skis are made for. The Ol Mans gash is slowly turning into a tunnel as the prevailing winds from the s/sw are doing there best to connect the outer flanks of the notch. Tried not to make eye contact with the bulging cornice after shooting the gap and running into the middle with DPS Dave on the third lap, fresh from Dtown after an airport run to get one in.
So nice to be up top and know the names of everyone there, shooting the shit and reviewing what has to be considered one of if not the best year in EV memory for consistent snow. Justifies my ski bum lifestyle for the last thirteen years. Looking forward to the second season coming up and should have ski reports through May from Abasin and beyond.
4/15/11 report
Hey all,
The reports of EV demise are greatly exaggerated. Skied the old mans again yesterday, continuing the spring old mans addiction and found winter like snow conditions with the three or four inches of fresh snow. Continuing to keep the notch viable with the saw for those who dare venture into old mans. The cornice continues to grow, a bulging overhung mass that now looms over the entire bowl. I’m sure there is a formula for the energy released by this death star sized snow load if it fell, something I’d love to see (from a significant distance). The drop in in requires putting that image out of your mind and railing it.
The end of the poma is my favorite time of year for EV. Traffic slows to a crawl, reminiscent of ten years ago, when you could count the number of tracks on one hand in Benchie and Old Mans. Conditions are the best I’ve ever seen for this time of year. An EV with winter snow and not one bare spot on April 15 is something that hasn’t happened since I’ve started skiing back out in EV. I’m truly an old fart so that’s saying something.
If your willing to skin a little longer, the reward is worth it. Peace.
4/6/11 Post storm report
Hey all,
Reporting after the latest storm blew through. Dumped eleven inches in a matter of hours on Sunday. Went to battle the cornice in Old Mans Monday the entrance topping out at a ten foot drop, even with the help of the trusty ol G3 bone saw.
The cornice to the skiers left of the gash is topping forty feet, easily the biggest I’ve ever seen. Teed it up with the boys on Monday, success ratio for the drop in for the cornice is around 40 percent, with some epic double back handsprings, luckily no injuries except bruised egos. Stability was very good with the new snow adhering well to the old snow surface, light sluffing in the middle, but no step downs past the old surface layer.
Had to go back to get the saw after it dislodged from my ski pole and dropped into the landing zone. Had and interesting time climbing down the notch with my whippet and Side Stashes as tools. Able to cut a ledge half way down, then got myself down using the tails of the skis as anchors. Lowering myself to the deck seemed like a foregone conclusion until I kicked a step into air pocket in the cornice and pulled a slide down cornice face to back handspring maneuver. A ten minute hike to my gear under the cornice with a sprained shoulder as my reward for trying to free climb down a overhung ledge. He’s a big dumb animal folks. Got my saw.
Monday skied well, with the cold temps sticking around to keep the snow good all day, reminiscent of a January day. My spring addiction to Ol mans continues, as the drop in really thins the herd and allows for great skiing the day of the storm. Tuesday was still cold, but the solar energy manked up all of Old Mans as well as the rest of EV. That time of year.
A shout out to Johnny R for skiing chutes and ladders solo Monday afternoon. Tracks looked sick coming around on the bus after my third lap, with the late day EV bus riders looking out and wondering who would ski such a line. Nice line. Waiting for the next reset button to be hit, as it looks like another pacific storm starts to roll in on Wed, and snow continuing for the weekend. Stay thirsty my friends.
4/1-4/3 reports
4/1
EV skiing was truly funky. Did an Old Man’s, the new snow was like skiing two feet of mattress. The warm temps and high winds turned everything exposed into a glazed donut. Trees are still skiing well, with deep space funk snow. Graupel warning in effect as the little ball bearings were collecting everywhere, making a possible weak layer in patches where they aren’t degraded by the sun or blown off, especially in shaded wind protected areas. Today’s sun and warm temps should mank everything out pretty well. Amazing the difference a couple days will make in the spring. Monday Tuesday were some of the best days in awhile, now we’re back to the good ol melt freeze cycle, maybe without the freeze. Taking time off from EV to let the legs rest. Watching the next possible storm on Sunday, Monday. Put on the shades and slush it up. I hope we get a few more pow days before the EV season closes out.
4/3
Watching closely the weather moving in from the NW. Forecast is for another run at Mon/Tues powder days. Looks like a good chance for significant snow this afternoon, today and tomorrow. Sobering story in the daily about a big slide near A Basin, ten to twenty feet deep on a south aspect, 300 feet wide that caught a couple skiers.
The deep snowpack has changed significantly with the warm temps, crust formation and the percolation of water into the snowpack. Planning on digging another profile pit in the Gore on Tuesday. Look forward to sharing the results with everyone.
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East Vail Institute 