Barb

Two female moose casually walked up my street last night as we were getting some much needed rain

Wasn’t sure where to leave this. A friend recently introduced me to someone who has an off grid cabin locally. It is accessed by a 2.5ish mile drive in on the Lead King Loop jeep road, then another mile or so on sheep mountain rd (which is insanely rough). Then a 1 mile hike in from the road. He invited me up there last week to check it out. It is an amazing property and even more amazing that he built it himself and had to hike in all the materials on his back! Nicest guy you could ever meet. He recently sent me a link to his YouTube channel and I watched a few videos already. At the end of this video they ride snowmobiles up to the top of Sheep Mountain. My friend John drove me up there on his snowmobile a few winters ago. The views are amazing. We did plan on skiing down, but whereas I wanted a mellow descent, John had taken me to something way over my head. We ended up skinning back up because between the tight trees and the steepness I was just not going to make it. Enjoy the video. Makes me want to get a snowmobile myself

https://trewgear.com/collections/25-26-winter-collection 50% off last year’s gear. I have a Stella jacket that I really like (also bought on sale)

Our rescue team had helicopter training/certification today. It’s always so cool seeing them take off and land.

All these PASR reports of lesser known ski areas this season has been fun to read. Good stuff.

https://www.aspentimes.com/news/aspen-snowmass-to-join-ikon-base-pass-for-2026-27-season-with-access-to-snowmass/

Yes. Again what a great memory you have.

My oldest came for a visit this week and we got 3 days in at Snowmass. Mix of conditions. First day was was pretty slushy and hard to push through (but fun). Today we did a short morning sesh as I have to get him to the bus. Some runs were groomed but pretty icy and lots of small to medium cookies. I treated him to about of new gear while he was here; helmet, pants, jacket. All his were literally 15 years old. His helmet didn’t even have MIPS. So he is def leaving a happy kid.

I check for Longshot to be open daily. I think it was open 5 days this season and now closed again. I missed the short window. I am sure you can poach it, but it’s a really long run (5 miles?) with no bail out. So if conditions suck, you’re fucked. Was a mixed bag. Ungroomed runs, which were most, were pretty crappy. What was groomed was great. Didn’t hit any bump runs.

in line early today. 8:37. Already warm just wearing wool base layer and shell pants and jacket.

https://us-store.altaiskis.com/product/hok-ski-updated-2016-copy-blank-skis/ cross between snowshoe and skis. I bought some when I first moved here but I personally don’t love them or really use them. They have a permenant skin on the middle 1/3 of ski. They are short. I like my backcountry fat Nordic skis better. And they were super fun today.

Such a fun morning with the local Marble ladies. Due to snow all day and so far we have probably got about 2’. We met at the local cafe (only thing opened here in town in winter) and skied in and out of people’s property. The ladies knew where all the hills were. They were all on those Hok skis and I was in my XC fatties with fish scales. So they for sure beat me in the uphill. The downhill I had more fun. Not a ton of pics because it was just too beautiful to stop.

Finally getting some decent snow here. Several storms rolling through until Saturday. So far maybe 8”? Hard to say since it’s been very windy. Wind blew off all the snow from the Aspen snow stake yesterday. Roads are shit, visibility low, and my condo is rented so I am making do with some xc ski tours from my house.

Sorry about the knee. My friend got that same backpack and loves it. An 8.5 mile backcountry day is a lot of effort. Kudos to you

Ah ok no not the same thing. 😂

C’mon of course they have that. Would never consider one’s without that feature.

More warmth and just comfort. Mine come up very high on the chest

I don’t have a lot really. Got some new bibs on a 70% off sale last summer and an old pair of shell pants that I am going to toss. I have a back up shell that I will probably start wearing but it’s oversized so I don’t love it. I bet Atomic Jeff has way more than I do.

Woke up in Snowmass to 6” of new snow. Got in line at 8:45 and they started loading 7 min early! Snow was on the wetter side and when I got off the lift my butt was soaking wet. I was not wearing new bibs but some older shell pants. First run from top of VX down to Alpine Springs was deep! I thought no way this only 6”. Upper calf deep. When I got on Alpine Springs I realized both my shell and pants were totally wetted out. I had re water proofed them early season but since they are both about 9years old guess it’s time they retire. I was def uncomfortable being wet, but since it was warmish it was tolerable. Took a few more off Alpine Springs and they were all deep hardly touched. Went up Sheer Bliss as they only run Big Burn on weekends but it all services the same terrain. Tried Powerline Glades and there were still lots of hidden sharks so I skied back onto Sneakys rest of the way down. Sky cleared briefly the my last run down to the base it was like I was skiing thru soup, could barely see. Overall stellar morning. Hoping this is the start of the Pattern change.

Snow is finally just starting to fall here at 2:44pm. It was raining this morning! I checked out Ashcroft Nordic ski area near Aspen. When I called to ask trail conditions he said I may have to remove my skis and walk over “some” sections. In the first 3/4 mile I think I had to take my skis off 7 times to walk over dirt. sections like this I kept skis on and carefully walked over the dirt staying on the snow. I did a 3 mile loop. First section kept you next to the river and in the trees. If there was more snow it would have been really scenic. once out of the trees the wind picked up a lot. Signage was not great but finally found my return trail. There is a fancy schmancy restaurant at the turn around point that people get shuttled in by horse and carriage if they don’t want to ski or snowshoe The first section of the return was some more walking but then I was able to keep skis on and dodge the obstacles. It wasn’t steep but you would be surprised how fast you can gain speed on Nordic skis with solid sheets of ice. Lots of terrifying snow plows wondering if I would stop in time to miss the next rock. It would be a fun place to go back when there is more snow.

No. Snow due this week but right now it’s not good

That snow looks a lot better than the garbage ice I XC skied on McClure Pass 2 days ago. Well done. So all that elevation gained in about 2.5 miles. On XC skis that’s def legit!

It has been warm. My layers are good for up top though. I love my Arc’teryx shell but it doesn’t have pit zips which is a bummer. It’s pretty old. My plan for today is to slather some bio freeze on my legs and hope for the best.

Agree with everything you said about the high pressure needing to change but the snow surprisingly holding up. Chris Tomer says things may change after 2/8

That was one of our drills!