2012/2013 CO Backcountry Skiing/Stoke Thread

Z-Juice · 2012-12-12 21:01:43

I really liked the information that was posted in the thread last year (link below). Anyone that heads into the BC is encouraged to post pictures, videos, or a little info about their trip in this thread. General conditions, snow patterns, accidents, weather, etc. Unlike the OP from last year's thread (who did a great job updating it), I am most likely going to get out 2-3 days max in the BC so I want to get the scoop on as much as possible before heading out! last year's thread: https://www.newschoolers.com/ns/forums/readthread/thread_id/655654/page/3/

Mike.Records

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Stoked to see this thread up and running, and I can't wait to contribute to it! I've been out for a bit with a separated shoulder, but hopefully I'll be able to get out for some mellow BC soon!

13 years ago

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WIfreeskier

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the snowpack is pretty hairy right now, we have another depth hoar underlayer like last year... not quite as bad, but very scary at the moment. East Vail is littered with slides. I ski East Vail most days of the week so I will keep you all updated but this year has only amounted to one lap so far, most of which was for observation

13 years ago

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mistaT

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First things first - if you haven't read the NY Times article on the Tunnel Creek Avalanche get at it!!!

http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2012/snow-fall/

Also, Friends of Berthoud Pass on Facebook has some good stuff on conditions, avy courses, etc.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Friends-of-Berthoud-Pass/122939484431707

13 years ago

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thegouda

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Pro

CAIC is a great resource to help understand what is happening with the snowpack
https://avalanche.state.co.us/index.php

13 years ago

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Hack.The.Pow.

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anybody skied loveland pass yet this year. Checked caic and says front range/vail-summit is moderate to considerable today, but would like to know from somebody who's been up there.

13 years ago

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Mike.Records

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Gotten out for some mellow tours lately. On Saturday we skied northwest of Crested Butte, finding a deeper snowpack and consolidated, but great snow:

13 years ago

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Mike.Records

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Yesterday, tried to tour on Monarch Pass. Turned around after experiencing HUGE rumbling collapses and gaping shooting cracks that extended out of sight, on all aspects on the north half of the compass.

Toured Berthoud today, some collapsing and a generally thin snowpack. Skied the West Side to Current Creek, Perfect Trees, and the 110s. Found good snow in Perfect Trees. The 110s are a shallow minefield, but they should be good to go after a couple more storms.

13 years ago

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Sklar

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hopefully doing some recon/shredding in rmnp/the front range on the 26th

13 years ago

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doGelyst

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thars a whole buncha white stuff out dere. be careful meow.

13 years ago

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.nasty

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most likely hitting VP with schaikovsky on this coming friday. Don't think either of us has skins so we'll be bootin around if anyone wants to join!

13 years ago

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Sklar

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have fun post holing around

The park was pretty fun today, snowpack seemed pretty dece

13 years ago

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DrewVG

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Wannabe

Crested Butte BC is going off!!!

13 years ago

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Mike.Records

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Has anyone skied Buffalo Pass outside of Steamboat? gonna head up there tomorrow with the sled, never been there before in the winter though. Thanks!

13 years ago

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WIfreeskier

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...did 4 East Vail laps the past two days... There is a ton of snow back there. Yesterday I got deeper snow than any day all last season. However, the snowpack is sketchy to say the least. Stuck to the tele park lines and got dozens and dozens of 3 feet deep blower turns. All face shots. Very stoked. Did a line in Tweeners and it was a bit more risky. Buddy set off a persistent slab halfway down in an opening in the trees, made it out safely, luckily. Be careful wherever you are, folks, this snowpack is quite sensitive especially if you are one of the first people in that zone

13 years ago

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.nasty

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blurry pic of a good day on loveland pass yesterday. found a lot of good snow above treeline although anything steep is sure to slide, it was cracking under our feet like crazy. We didn't dig an actual pit, but while diggin to build a booter we did noticed like 3 layers of heavy condensed pow on top of a super sugary layer, be careful out there!

13 years ago

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Mike.Records

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Skied Buffalo Pass last weekend. I've never been there before and I was very impressed. Its a huge zone, and we barely scratched the surface. No huge vertical to be had there, but lots of variety of terrain and great sled access. Deepest snowpack I've seen this year in CO.

13 years ago

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HappyTreez

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Loner

recent slide in cb

13 years ago

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HappyTreez

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link since imbed didnt work http://youtu.be/-iUM5KmW3gE

13 years ago

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Mike.Records

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Last tuesday we skied a great south facing line northwest of crested butte. Didn't experience any instability associated with the depth hoar, and probably the best snow I've ever skied on a southern aspect in CO. The snowpack was shallow, but a supportable crust under the new snow made for some great skiing

13 years ago

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Sklar

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I've been getting up in the BC a little bit,
I had a couple awesome days up in RMNP, the snowpack seems very stable, especially compared to the rest of CO. Some great pillows to be slayed.

I went on a hut trip earlier this week at Polar Star hut out of Eagle, the snowpack SUCKED. We dug a pit on a slope that was about 30 degrees at the steepest, pretty treed, I stomped above the pit, and the snowpack in about a 15' radius of me cracked on the bottom layer of facets. Scary stuff. Pretty much the same thing happened when I was stompting out the inrun to a jump (about 10-15 degrees max) we built after abandoning skiing

13 years ago

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Mike.Records

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Good to hear about RMNP. Had hoped to get up and ski Corral Coulior today, but ended up skiing inbounds cause of a cold that I've been battling. Lets get out and ski sometime man! If nothing else, I'll probably roll through Bozeman in March.

13 years ago

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hockdy13

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Where in RMNP? The terrain park? I was thinking about heading up there sometime soon...

13 years ago

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Sklar

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yeup, had some fun laps in the terrain park/dream lake chutes/around lake hiyaha

13 years ago

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hockdy13

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Sweet, good to know.

13 years ago

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Mike.Records

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Headed up Trelease yesterday hoping to ski the mellow SE facing slopes. Especially down low, the snowpack was WAY thinner than I expected, like 6 inches deep. Surprised to find facets almost top to bottom at 11,500 feet on SE aspects in open areas. Ended up dropping into Dry Gulch and skiing some of the north facing shots that are normally awesome. Truly challenging skiing conditions back there, better coverage but really bad breakable crust.

13 years ago

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Mike.Records

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Headed southwest to CB for the weekend. On Saturday skied a great south facing line north of town on Gothic Mountain. Kinda felt like spring.

12 years ago

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Sklar

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looks like it, too. Yikes!

12 years ago

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ThaLorax

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@th1337

Anybody wanna Tour around Vail Pass area on Thursday?

12 years ago

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DAPSKI

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Ridiculous

anyone looking for touring partners our someone to get out with in steamboat let me know

12 years ago

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Mike.Records

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Went deep into the BC west of CB last Sunday. Quite good snow all things considered, a little wind affected up high.

12 years ago

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ThaLorax

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Are you in the RMU catalog?

12 years ago

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Mike.Records

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Nope! You make it up to VP last week?

12 years ago

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ThaLorax

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Nope! My buddy couldn't make it up from Denver and nobody up here wanted to go (understandably). I went back and looked at the RMU catalog. It was Mike Reed, not Records. I saw an NS name with Mike and got confused haha.

12 years ago

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WIfreeskier

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...been up in East Vail everyday this past week, been getting deeper and deeper. 3 feet fresh yesterday, no joke. stability is becoming an issue with all this new snow.

heading up in an hour for the most mellow line i know up there, time for more time in the white room!

eyeing up a 50 footer to send once this storm clears out, getting stoked!

12 years ago

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ThaLorax

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I was up in the Unita area of Vail Pass today on some low angle stuff. It was really deep, probably over a foot of fresh today, but definitely not 3 feet deep.

12 years ago

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ThaLorax

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12 years ago

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Mike.Records

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Skied Buff Pass on Sunday, we were hoping to go deeper today, but bailed due to the persistent deep instabilities. Found an incredibly heavy slab from last week's first storm underlying 8 inches of settled pow. Just couldn't get into the strong over weak thing.

12 years ago

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Mike.Records

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Spent deep three days exploring the pillows, cliffs, and trees of Buffalo Pass last weekend:

Steamboating from Nick Matisse on Vimeo.

12 years ago

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Mike.Records

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Had a great sleeper day north of Crested Butte today. Wind and sun affected snow in many areas, but ended up finding some fun drops and creamy consolidated pow on protected north aspects. Evidence of big natural avalanches on many aspects and elevations out there today.

12 years ago

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Mike.Records

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Welp, I'm heading up to AK for March and April. I'm hoping you guys can keep me up to date about whats going on back in CO though!

12 years ago

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Sklar

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anyone know anything about the mt. zirkel wilderness area? or want to come with on saturday?

12 years ago

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ThaLorax

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Busy Saturday, but I definitely want to get out during the week next week if anybody is down. I don't have many BC partners round me in Summit County.

12 years ago

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Bertrand

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I had a friend go out and hit Dragons Tail this weekend. Just thought I'd let you all know. No idea what the snow was like.

12 years ago

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npease

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Anybody got some suggestions for good spots to build booters/hips/step ups in summit county?

12 years ago

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Mike.Records

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Loveland pass has some great spots for step ups and hips, booters if you time it right, although many of the booter zones can get cooked by the sun.

12 years ago

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.nasty

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I've hiked zirkel multiple times during the summer, probably way different in the winter though... haha

12 years ago

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Sklar

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road to the zone my buddy had scoped out was closed, so it was a no go

12 years ago

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Z-Juice

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Bump. My friends and I want to build a decent size jump that will last us through mid May. So we're looking for something fairly high up and something that faces North or at least East.

I've been on Google Earth a fair amount and I'm having trouble finding somewhere that has the criteria above, isn't on private land, and is road-accesible.

Summit County, Eagle County, Clear Creek, and Jefferson County are ideal. I know Loveland Pass is a good bet, but I drove up there a couple weeks ago and I didn't really see anywhere I was too crazy about. And there's always the possibility of some poachers ruining everything around there.

I doubt there is a perfect location that anyone would disclose on here, but anything that is doable into May would be great!

12 years ago

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Mike.Records

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Hey CO folks! Back in town for a bit. Got out and skied Frozen Elk last Wednesday. One of my all time favorite lines. Steep & exposed skiing with some fun mixed climbing in the middle. Plus huge rock walls and easy access.