Barb

It was!

Some pics from xc skiing last evening Went to Aspen today. I started my tracker on the Aspen app but it told me I skied 0 today which is a bummer. I like my stats. For Christmas week the crowds were amazing. 5-10 min lift lines and mostly empty slopes. We need snow like everyone else so conditions were somewhat icy and scrapey. But then I hear @JFskiDan’s voice in my head saying “boo hoo, Colorado is icy” Natalie in the bumps There is a jr race at Aspen tomorrow think we are going to try out Snowmass, I have never been there. after being down with the flu for over a week it felt good to ski again

The other day we had a Lexus from Texas trying to get up a hill in my neighborhood. We asked if she wanted us to try and drive it up. She declined, next morning I saw it at bottom of hill to side. She owns a place here, I feel like she should know better. Meanwhile, my studded snow tires are the bomb!

Went to Highlands today for the first time. Wow, the snow was fantastic!! I went with my neighbor who is in his early 70’s with a nice beer belly and doesn’t look like he is athletic. This guy can fucking ski! He still does races in Vail and Beaver Creek. He has been skiing Highlands for 50 years and knows every inch of the place. He gave me a very nice tour. There was nobody there, I mean at all. He definitely pushed me for day #3 on the snow. We started on Exhibition lift and did 2 off there, then moved over to Cloud 9 lift and did a bunch off of that lift. He wanted to take me to Thunder Bowl but it was closed. last run of the day we went to the top (of the lift, obviously not the bowl) pics from the top the next ridge is Highland Bowl. I didn’t feel like I could take many pictures while we were skiing, since he is from a different generation and just doesn’t do that. He showed me picnic point and I took a pic there, really pretty view of the bells I realized why my legs were so tired (even after some midway stops) when we got to the bottom. I looked up the trail map and it’s 3600’ of vert top to bottom. Very solid day for me.

@Johnny Law thanks! We have plans to go on Thursday. Happy to be shown around by someone who knows the terrain @GrilledSteezeSandwich the first time I made them I just used beans, but this time I substituted shredded chicken, which I think is how they are usually made. Along with Mexican spices, tomatoes, red onions etc.

Left this morning when the concrete guys were doing our second pour (on freaking Dec 11th) Decided to go to Buttermilk today, they just opened on Sat. Parked at Tiehack, booted up and walked 100’ to the lift, amazing! Saw lots of uphill peeps starting from the bottom and suddenly felt very lazy that today was a lift serviced day. The snow felt a bit better than the other day. Buttermilk is about 2000’ lower than Aspen so coverage seemed thin. Vegetation popping up everywhere. My second run I took another trail and half way down there were lots of brown spots. I was trying to avoid them and then proceeded to eat shit. Looked up where my pole was and saw a nice brown patch I must have skied over, whoops. Never took a lift with anyone, skied right on each time, very empty. When I got home I ran into the neighborhood snow plow guy (who is chatty). He asked me if I wanted to go to Highlands with him later this week, so I guess I will get to check out that mountain for the first time. It’s always good to be on the good side of the snow plow guy! ** edit food report for Doug**. I made homemade floutas/taquitos and took one for a pocket lunch. Even good cold.

Beautiful cold morning here. We got about 10+” of snow in the last 48 hours. Nobody had skied at the park. I broke trail all over the place and it was fun and deep! About 9 degrees and after an hour my toes were frozen and my dog ripped all his booties so his toes were cold too and we called it a day.

Probably go to Crested Butte off and on starting next month. It’s weird though, now that I live in the mountains I do t feel the need to run over there as much.

Had my first alpine ski day of the season at Aspen. The logistics are definitely more of a pain then skiing Crested Butte. Have to drive to the commuter lot near Snowmass then take the free bus into town. Parking in Aspen is a huge pain in the ass. So by the time you gets to the base of the gondola from my house it’s probably between 1 hour 30 and 1 hour 45. Went in to get my fancy premier pass printed. Got to gondola and pass wouldn’t scan in my jacket, had to take it out. I will have to play with that next time. Didn’t have to scan it the rest of the day from mid mountain. We did get snow over the weekend but surprisingly it was scraped off and icy in spots. The bumps looked treacherous especially for day one. One side was a bit better conditions then the other. Don’t really know trail names yet. No lines, hardly any people, bright sunshine and warm. The last run down to the base was very icy. I remember now that when we did our bump class last Dec, they had us download each day. The reason being that December sun doesn’t hit the bottom half of the mountain and it gets pretty icy, especially on tired legs. Aspen girls gonna Aspen. Note the pink twins.

Same

So far it’s been a lot of fun. Not sure if I would do a true backcountry day here because not only is the terrain very steep, but it is very avalanche prone. We have already had one avalanche on 11/25 that partially buried 4 skiers. CAIC issued an avalanche warning for this weekend naming 2 entire mountain ranges and “The mountains around Marble.”

I admit it’s a little lame of me that I haven’t been downhill skiing yet. But today we woke up to about 6” of powdery snow. On my morning dog walk the neighborhood roads had not been plowed yet. So I immediately went home and got my new XC skis and skied from my front door all around my neighborhood on untracked snow. Some fun sustained “downhill”. Took it slow, still getting used to going downhill on XC skis. Husband had his own fun fooling around with the snowblower.

Tried out the HOK skis today! We got about 4+ inches overnight and it was snowy all morning. There were 5 of us today and we went to the same park but went in the trees more. The HOK skis are definitely good for that, walking over logs etc. Descending the small hills is so much easier. With the permanent skin on the middle third it really slows you down. It fees much different then trying to descend with full skins on my touring skis. These don’t grab as much. Overall we just tooled around looking for little hills do go down. Some look like they will be fun when they get filled in more.

Some of the local ladies said there was just enough snow to XC at the Marble Mill site Park. They used their HOK skis but I was anxious to try out my Madshus. They have so much glide to them! In the first 5 minutes we went down a very small hill, and down I went. lol. By the next small hill I figured out how to descend without falling. Not graceful, but I got down it. The park is where they used to process Marble. There are a lot of random pieces carved and the old marble foundation pieces. 15 degrees and brilliant sunshine! Snow moving in this weekend. What a great spot that is a 10 min drive from my house to get some quick cardio in! These 2 ladies are in their 70’s but getting out there in a regular basis. I hope to be this active at their age. Plus they have such great stories.

Look into aqua bricks. That’s what we got. A box of 6, they are 3 gallons a piece so easily moveable and lock together like legos when you stack them to take up less space. Just change out water every 6 months.

I couldn’t resist. I still wanted a pair of backcountry XC skis. Picked up these Madshus Panorama 78’s

We looked into a whole house generator and they are insanely expensive. Something about high altitude makes them more expensive. We have a gas generator and we always keep 5-8 gallons of gas handy. And yes, propane. Power outages are a very regular occurrence here. But yesterday was unusual. It’s a learning curve living here for sure….

got about 4” of very wet heavy snow so far. It was dumping earlier. My power has gone off and on about 6 times so far today. My well pump didn’t reset and I had to dig out the manual and reset it. First time I have had to do that. But I do have 15 gallons of emergency “prepper” water in the closet just in case.

were they aware of your presence? Did they just walk by or check you out at all? Curious

Probably bigger.

I think this was discussed. 25 x 30, all for my husband. He needs his man space

We have been trying since May to get a permit for a detached garage here. The powers that be just kept working against us. We finally got a permit last Thursday and my excavator was here Friday to begin work. Still have to finish excavating then pour some involved concrete as nothing here is flat terrain. As much as I want snow (and it is forecasted this weekend), this Braveheart clip sums up how I feel about snow holding off just a tad longer so we can get this done.

Abasin on opening day is not something I would enjoy. But happy things are moving along.

Abasin just announced opening 10/29