This winter in Colorado has been nothing short of amazing. Loveland closed last weekend though it was not for a lack of snowfall. We've officially broken our season snowfall and snowpack records this year, even though our lifts were not turning when the record was broken (due to management wanting to get an early start on replacing chair 4). After a short week of spring like temps and weather, winter made its return in a big way this past Wednesday and Thursday when a significant low pressure system developed over the Great Basin bringing up-sloping winds, and big precipitation to the continental divide. On Wednesday, I did two laps at A-Basin before deciding to head back over to my side of the pass for some epic (I hate that word) turns. A-basin was incredibly inconsistent that day. Thigh deep blower shots one turn, scary re-freeze crust on the next. There was no way to get into a good rhythm, let alone open up my turns, so I bailed thinking that at least the crust layer on the pass would be smooth underneath as opposed to the death moguls lurking underneath the steeps on Palivincini.
As it turned out my hunch was right. The east side of Loveland pass was holding 14-16" of winter like snow and conditions were absolutely all-time (regardless of what month the calendar says). That last sentence should serve as a reminder to you when you see these pics; its May. The second week of May to be exact. And here we are in Colorado skiing mid-winter like snow. Wow. I constantly have to remind myself that I'm living in a bubble of winter. A last strong-hold of white, where the winds are still howling, the snow is still falling, and temps are still below freezing. I love it.
To start here's a pic I took from 5-11-11 around the Empire, CO area. Beautiful.
I wanna take this opportunity to thank David Gidley, Eric Mikolajczak, Mike Halajcsik and Bo Heristchian for helping out with the photo duties on this entry. They took some great shots. Look for the photo cred with each shot. (if unnamed, I took it.)
Bo (photo copyright: David Gidley)
David
Eric
Mike
5-11-11
On Wednesday I joined some friends of mine from Loveland, Eric Mikolajczak, Mike Halajcsik, and Ita Carn for a few laps of deeeeeeep powder.
Loveland Pass in May. Wow.
If you're not familiar with the pass, you should know that its really easy access to some fun terrain. All you have to do is put out your thumb and rely on the kindness of strangers; which on the pass is usually not in short supply. (***Wear your beacons, and use safe backcountry practices. If you do not know what this means, please educate yourself***)
Thanks to a couple of the guys from the NeverSummer factory for hooking us up on this lap. You rock!
A good look at the top of the pass and the surrounding terrain (photo:Eric Mikolajczak)
Italo at the top during one of the few moments the sun started to break through the clouds.
Eric was putting down some really nice turns that day.
I dropped a rock drop that used to be decent sized at one point this year.(photo: Eric Mikolajczak)
and then got my slash on in the trees. (photo sequence: Mike Halajcsik)
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I think we rode something like 8-10 laps on Wednesday. It was sick.
5-12-11
The plan for Thursday was to wake up and be on top of the pass by 7am. These fairly ambitious plans were subsequently modified (by me) when I looked out my window in Georgetown at 6:10am and saw grey skies, high winds, and large snowflakes falling from the sky. "Was this really May 12th?", I thought to myself. "Have I entered some weird time warp back to January?". "Fuck it, I'm going back to sleep." "With snow falling like this it'll be good all day." I called Giri, David, and Bo and we decided to meet on the top of the pass at 8:15....which became 9:20 by the time I had picked up Bo and David, got gas, went over the hill to A-Basin to get Giri and made the 15minute drive back up to the top.
(As it turns out Giri had waited for us for 40minutes on the top of the pass in white out conditions in his car before heading back down to A-Basin. I convinced him that he would only be wasting his time down there, and that the pass was the place to be.)
At the top of the pass we were greeted by 30+mph winds that weren't there yesterday, and near-zero visibility. For a minute, I thought we may not even end up riding at all since everyone wasn't too stoked on the conditions. With promises of softer and deeper snow once we got into the trees the session was on...
Giri
Airing the (now) little rock drop. (photo copyright: David Gidley)
Making a nice *switch* pow turn in the Caddilac trees. (photo copyright: David Gidley)
Bo made so many good turns on his tele's that day that I had a bitch of a time editing the good shots down. Seriously, I could've put like 20 shots of him up here that were all $$$. He killed it.
(photo copyright: David Gidley)
Bo gettin' deep in May. (sequence)
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He almost hit me on this turn, but I love this shot.
A couple more...
And since he killed it so hard out there, I have to post this shot....
(photo copyright: David Gidley)
Apparently Giri and I didn't get the memo we were also doing a hip-hop video with Bo that day.
David is usually behind the lens on most days, so it was great to get a chance to return the favor.
He came out of this turn saying, "Yep. That was definitely a faceshot!" Gotta love the May powder.
I made some turns for the camera too...
Pow surfin' sequence(photo cred: David Gidley)
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(photo credit: Boss Heristchian)
(photo credit: Boss Heristchian)
Chargin'(photo cred: David Gidley)
Heading into the white room...
(photo cred: Boss Heristchian)
Craig Kelly was one of my heroes...this toe-side turn is for him.
(photo credit: Boss Heristchian)
Did I mention that I occasionally eat shit??? Post wind-lip drop into the Valley carnage...(photo cred: David Gidley)
A few lifestyle shots, all credit to David Gidley.
We did a lap down through Loveland Valley only to find that my car wouldn't start at the bottom. Giri and I started to walk toward the Basin, and met some dudes who were willing to give us a ride the rest of the way, when we got a call from David that my car had miraculously started. Bo said he put a very old Persian voo-doo curse on it to get it to start.
Here he is working his magic. (photo: David Gidley)
We dropped Giri back off at A-Basin and Bo and I took one more lap down Cadillac. Remember, its May.(photo cred: David Gidley)
Hope you enjoyed looking/reading. Stay safe out there during the upcoming touring season.
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