Day 21: Pow at Keystone - FINALLY!

The title says it all - we FINALLY got some pow pow. Dom had rented some snowshoes and planned on heading up and over Loveland Pass with me, but the weather had other ideas. Even though we got an early start, the sky was cloudy and the roads were sloppy. We encountered some traffic on the way up, and the pass was closed, so we took the tunnel and the long way around to Keystone.

We got a few runs in on our way to the Outback, and we were teased with fresh tracks in the top few inches on both of our runs out there. Our third summit, around 9am, lead us to the top of the Outback bowl, which was closed at this point. We the skier's left line through the trees off the right of the chair, and were rewarded with fresh turns in 6in of powder all the way down through the trees.

Our next run up the outback yielded open bowls. They were running the Cat but we didn't have any cash, so we hoofed it up the tracks to the outer part of the South Bowl past the gates. There was some sluffing along the ridge, but overall the snowpack was fairly stable. After dropping below the ridge, all I could do was lean back and float through the foot or more of powder that had deposited on the leeward side. This made for some good floating but tough turns. The traverse was gnarly and the catwalk out required that I point it the whole way to keep my speed up. Dom fell off the ridge behind me, lost a ski, and took more than 30 mins to reach the bottom . . .

This is a panorama of the New Moon Cafe at the base of Keystone. For the last few years Kickapoo has been our spot, however with the addition of Spoon and their $2 PBR drafts, and now my new favorite the New Moon Cafe, the crowded Kickapoo is seeming a bit overrated.

Coolest couch ever - reminds me of the old one that used to be in my living room back in Buffalo.