Denver Beer Cooler

Just stick 'em in the window! Happy New Year!

Gamekeeper's Thumb

So I had my checkup this morning and evidently my thumb ligament (UCL) isn't healing properly. I have to give big thanks to Cornerstone Othropedics and to Dr. Mazzola for giving me a workable cast so I can still take notes at work. Still wondering whether this will fit into a glove. Or whether it should be fitting into a glove right now...

It's on my mind since it looks like the holiday season is bringing some good snow over the I-70 corridor over the next few days. Hopefully you'll find some time to get a few turns in for me if I don't get out. Be safe out there as the avy warning is still considerable on the usual N-E aspects, and will only be getting more severe. Which brings me to the point of my post...

Hope all the well-wishers out there enjoy their holiday as I will. Spend some time with family and friends if you can and consider yourself blessed to have them. I wish you all good health this upcoming season and 2010 year. I've been humbled by my experiences out here over the past 2+ years both on and off snow. I think recent events have been a wake-up call for all, those directly involved and those only involved through the nightly newscast. But with the new year, a clean-slate chance for us all to learn from the experiences of 09 and get better as a result. We all made mistakes this past year and have room to improve. The good ones among us recognize this. Recognize what you aren't, and spend the next year learning and doing your best to become it. The only way to find out whether you can stand up is to fall down. All that good stuff.

So let's try to keep it positive from here on out. Life's too short.

Winter Dew Tour @ Breckenridge

Headed up to Breckenridge with Ally, John, and Lindsey today. They intended to ride, but following my recent accident, I was on foot. Got there around 9-9:30? and headed over to the Breck Connect Gondola. We were forced to park across the road and they wouldn't let us cross! We had to take a shuttle literally 200 yds . . .

It was a beautiful, relatively warm day, clear skies and sun. The tent area at the base offered lots of goodies, freebies, and a chance to play the new White snowboarding game on Wii, pretty neat. Also, I circled the Totino's free pizza roll line at least 8 times, which made for a nice free lunch.

Coincidentally, the Men's Pipe Finals were that afternoon, and it was just a couple hundred yards uphill to the pipe. It wasn't too busy and I got there early, and got a nice spot on the wall about halfway up, just behind a cameraman. I'll post some of the video soon, it was incredible. Danny Davis was dropping bombs.

The lawn chairs by Bergenhoffer offered a nice view of the pipe and chance to soak up some rays. Not a bad way to round out the day.

Day 11: I survived an avalanche today

 
First, here's one of the many related news articles - this made statewide news and I was interviewed by Fox 31, CBS 4, and the Summit County News:

This is a picture I took after crawling my way out of the slide area. No, this is not a joke, and it is totally a coincidence that Dom posted that avalanche warning this morning, while I was on the pass hiking.

I met Amy at the top of the pass around 10am, and started our hike out. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and there were many people at the pass for a Tuesday. The snow looked very good in places, and we decided to try for one of the higher lines. We'd later learn that was the stupidest idea ever.

Got up to the summit just after noon, and after a break and a snack, decided to drop in. We did examine the snow extensively at the top of the ridge, and there didn't appear to be any slabbing, wind loading, cracking, or other signs of instability on the surface. The snow was firm, and at the top, appeared to be well baked.

I still had a funny feeling, but I've ridden that line many times in the past, and knew I just had to be careful. I dropped over the ridge and made 2-3 very firm turns, and everything looked good. Took my first soft turn and sunk fairly far, but nothing out of the ordinary. As I came back around heelside, facing down the slope, I heard Amy scream at me.

A HUGE slab had formed right under me, 300ft wide, and I was on it, at the top of a 40 degree slope with over 400ft of vertical to the gully below.

Immediately everything went silent for me. I became laser focused on my feet and the feel of the ground under me. I could instantly feel the moving snow start to pull me in, and at that point I made the conscious decision to point downhill and ride with it. Immediately my board bobbed back up to the top, and all I remember is a distinct feeling of everything under me moving and churning like water. It felt a lot like what I imagine surfing would be like.

All I could see was a yellow glow that I knew was up, and I could feel my feet and the ground under me. I basically pointed down the hill and managed to ride and stay on my feet for the majority of the slide, riding it like a wave down the mountain. As the slide flattened out at the base of the main slope, it sucked me in and (while I don't remember it at the time) smacked me into the ground, resulting in a pretty bad bruise on my left elbow and hip. This is the the only time that I was completely submerged and lost sight of the light above.

I immediately began 'swimming' upwards and within one or two strokes my head popped up again. Much of the dust had settled, and I found myself slowly sliding to a stop on top of the slide about 5-10 yards from the edge of the slidepath. I was basically unscathed.

Amy followed my directions and was able to ski out above the slide, through some rocks on the left of the slidepath. She skied down to me immediately and was able to help free me from my board and my modest snow chair. She claims that I dissappeared into the melee almost immediately and she had no idea at all where I was. It is basically a miracle that I was able to stay on my feet for so long and avoid getting cheese grated on the rocks, keep myself on the edge of the slidepath and away from tumbling debris, and end up unburied and in a position to extract myself.

Avalanche Season

Since being sidelined with knee and thumb injuries from my first epic wreck in a few years, I've been forced to sit in quiet contemplation as the snow reports keep rolling into my email. It kills me not to be able to enjoy what is turning out to be a pretty good early-season run of snow dumps, especially since both of your esteemed 13S bloggers are now at best partially employed...

But this has given me time to contemplate the risks involved with living life as a proud Wookiee. Going back to this year's first backcountry run, I've been shocked at the number of people with that same itch to get out on unmanaged snow. Even 4 weeks ago, Loveland Pass was so crowded that it was approaching on-piste in terms of being tracked out and crowded. Though it may not be the most backcountry spot out there, I think there're a lot of folks out there (myself included were I out there today) who are not adequately prepared for what the wild mountains can do to the unsuspecting.

There have been some good dumps these past few days/weeks, and the common inclination is to get out there and rip it. These dumps bring with them, however, a VERY increased risk of unstable snow and (in all likelihood) slides. The more seasoned among us are probably saying, "Loveland Pass isn't really backcountry". And while I wouldn't necessarily disagree that it's easily accessible even without any hiking, it's still unmanaged terrain. Slides can kill whether you're 1000 feet from a paved road or 10 miles. It's with this in mind that I encourage anybody with The Itch to get themselves some education on the subject. The best piece of equipment any of us have is sitting on top of our shoulders. And I get the feeling that there's a lot of folks out there that forget that equipment when they head out in the morning.

Information is readily available to provide basic avalanche recognition and awareness. The most concise I've seen can be found at http://classic.mountainzone.com/features/avalanche/. A few moments spent researching could save you trouble down the road. Get in the mindframe of evaluating snow and your line through it before stepping off. Can't tell you how many idiots I've seen inspecting the top of a shaky cornice. I say idiots and not rookies because I've seen plenty of "seasoned" backcountry vets who don't know the first thing about safety and wise risk-taking.

With no formal education myself, the plan this year is to attend a 3 day AIARE Level I class, to get familiar with the basics of recognizing avalanche terrain, and recovering a buddy should the unfortunate happen (unthinkable is the first word that came to mind, but it is entirely inappropriate to get into that mindset). All classes accredited by the American Avalanche Association or AIARE will have the same basic requirements and benefits, which be reviewed here: http://www.americanavalancheassociation.org/guidelines1.html or http://avtraining.org/Avalanche-Training-Courses/.

After some light research here's what seems to be available in terms of Denver-area classes:

http://www.boc123.com/ Boulder Outdoor Center offers classes in Boulder and Littleton with on-snow instructions up in RMNP. Very appealing in that the class is conducted on shoes instead of sticks and boards. Also the BOC offers a $40 rental on all required gear (shoes, beacon, shovel, probe).

http://www.totalclimbing.com/ Total Climbing offers courses in conjunction with the Colorado Avalanche School.

http://www.adventurecentral.com/ Renaissance Guides offers a class with the bonus of making some turns the same day. If that's your cup of tea.

You'll find plenty more with a quick search of your own. All are in the range of $300 for the 3 day course, which typically includes 1 or 2 nights of classes, followed by 2 days of avalanche instruction on the snow. A small price to pay for training that could save your life, or help you save someone else's.

In the end, my plea to those brave souls is to BE SMART. Slides can happen anywhere at any time but a risk/reward assessment should be the first step to any day out of bounds. 10 inches of new snow at this time of year should be a deterrent, not a push factor. At the very least, if you've absolutely got to get some tracks, do yourself a favor and check the avalanche risk for the day at http://avalanche.state.co.us. I'm just like any of you in that I want to be out there on top of that fresh pow. But I'd much rather be here in my cubie dreaming of a fresh foot than buried beneath it.

Day 10: Killer tune @keystoneMtn new pro shop

Got my board redone . . . finally! He had to change the belt on the edger it was so bad lol! Got the full throttle top of the line tune at the employee rate of $20! Woohoo!

Met Amy at the Gondola and took some runs from 9:30 until 1:00ish. Even though Keystone reported 6" new snow, it was almost entirely tracked out by the time we took our first runs. The snow was soft, but calling it a powder day is like calling a Honda a racecar because it revs to 9k. Wishful thinking . . .

All in all it was nice to get some turns in, but nothing spectacular.

Day 9: Birthday cocktail @keystoneMtn

Got up fairly early and made my way to Keystone by myself. Took my time coming over the pass and hit the parking lot around 9:30. Started out with a slow run down Schoolmarm over to A-51 where I took two runs to start my day. Then headed back up the chair and down Mozart for a run or two on North Peak. It was bright and cold, windy at the summit, and hard and fast on the snow. Here's the view from North Peak this morning.


Workin on my 'coon tan . . .

After a few runs I headed in for a much needed warmup at the summit lodge on Dercum, and helped myself to a "Hot Momma" by the fireplace. Some concoction of hot chocolate, Kahlua, Creme de Menthe, Bushmill's and whipped cream. Incredibly tasty, and they gave me a discount for my birthday!

This is what a fireplace should look like - with boots and all.

Took several more runs on the frontside of Dercum, including A-51, and several runs on the many open blues and greens. Finished up around 1:30 and cruised easily back to Denver on dry roads. Lots of State Troopers gunning for speeders, but I was being good. Great day on the snow!

Day 8: overcast and fog @keystoneMtn

Spent the night up in East Vail and was jumping out of my skin at the 8-16" dump they forecast for last night. Way to blow that one forecast Sumco Weather! Barely 2" by the morning, and the roads were terrible! Decided it wasn't worth wasting a Vail day. Ugh . . .

Spent a few hours during the midday at Keystone with Amy Jo. The wind was a major factor in the snow quality - where the snow collected it was nice and pillowy, where it was blown off it was solid ice.

Got some great turns in on North Peak however it was quite foggy at the summit. Hit the park some more, although the jumps were closed. I'm getting all of my rail tricks back and I need to start filming this stuff. All in all it was an ok day, better than one at the office!

Day 7: Nice day @keystoneMtn

Got a later start from Lakewood and by the time we finished screwing around we were on the hill at 11:45 or so. Blue sky day, but a little chilly especially up top. Took a run down the newly opened backside and hit up the North peak for a run as well, then came back over to the front.

Took a run down A51 and the current box setups are awesome. There are two triple jump lines and they are, relatively speaking, HUGE. Even the smallest is much bigger than the jumps at A-Basin and larger than the first kicker at Breck.

Check out the new Spoon Cafe . . . good food and cheap beer!

Day 6: A-Basin and the Double Line

Got a VERY late start and left Lakewood at 10am, roads were icy and snowpacked all the way up to the Basin, and it was some of the worst highway grooming I've seen in a while. Way to go CDOT!

Got to the parking lot at 11:30 and was on the hill by noon. Took one top to bottom run on some nice groomers. The top inch of new snow made for some decent corduroy. After my warmup run, I found the double set in the mini park just above High Noon. Seen here:

These jumps are pretty tiny, and you need all the speed you can get from the first one to clear the second. The landings were excellent and not icy at all, and proved to be a good spot to throw the first 3's of the year. I could use a little work still, but I stomped the rotation a couple times.

Above the jumps are a half-dozen boxes and rails that are pretty smooth and easy to play on. The majority of their rails are still stored off-trail just below the first lift, and it doesn't look like they've even started planning the bigger park, just not enough snow.