EMSC
Well-known member
Guys Trip Day 1
There s an annual Guys trip that I have frequented in the past, though with a few missing years in recent times for things like an infant in the house or to prioritize a trip to Europe. In fact in the 9 years it's been going on, only one guy has made it every year. The core of the group is my brothers and cousins with various associated friends of that core group. Anyway this years trip was decided by popular vote to be based out of Frisco and to hit the I-70 resorts. My oldest brother and a couple of his friends flew in a day earlier than most and stayed at my house on the flatlands before we headed up to Winter Park for our first day.
Colorado has had a banner year for the "I70 resorts" of central Colo as far as snowfall and snowpack, however for 4 days prior to this trip things got really, really warm and sunny which skunked the snowpack way too early and way too high up. I had feared we'd be skiing refrozen crap, but was pleasantly surprised that it was just firm with some fluff on top; but fairly chalky/carvable snow. Decent conditions in many years, but almost disappointing this year. After driving up all the way from the front range we didn't get on snow till mid-morning (a common theme with this group). One member of the group on day one was a groomer skier so we stayed on those for a bit until after lunch when we split up. Initially hitting Parsenn bowl for a few laps before hitting Eagle Wind and eventually as clouds built up we lapped a few groomers down into Mary Jane and winter park to end the day.
Nothing too exciting, but a solid day of skiing. We kept off the bumps down low (aka Mary Jane area) due to the hard surfaces. The good news was that the clouds were building to bring in some fresh snow. One other point about this years snowpack is that while deep, the last week or two has brought 100+ MPH winds and totally changed things in the high altitude locations. Completely scouring out many areas and drifting extensively in others, etc... Some of the most wind affected snowpack up top that I've seen in a while (esp with as much snowfall as we've gotten). Wind will be another of this year's themes on this trip...
There s an annual Guys trip that I have frequented in the past, though with a few missing years in recent times for things like an infant in the house or to prioritize a trip to Europe. In fact in the 9 years it's been going on, only one guy has made it every year. The core of the group is my brothers and cousins with various associated friends of that core group. Anyway this years trip was decided by popular vote to be based out of Frisco and to hit the I-70 resorts. My oldest brother and a couple of his friends flew in a day earlier than most and stayed at my house on the flatlands before we headed up to Winter Park for our first day.
Colorado has had a banner year for the "I70 resorts" of central Colo as far as snowfall and snowpack, however for 4 days prior to this trip things got really, really warm and sunny which skunked the snowpack way too early and way too high up. I had feared we'd be skiing refrozen crap, but was pleasantly surprised that it was just firm with some fluff on top; but fairly chalky/carvable snow. Decent conditions in many years, but almost disappointing this year. After driving up all the way from the front range we didn't get on snow till mid-morning (a common theme with this group). One member of the group on day one was a groomer skier so we stayed on those for a bit until after lunch when we split up. Initially hitting Parsenn bowl for a few laps before hitting Eagle Wind and eventually as clouds built up we lapped a few groomers down into Mary Jane and winter park to end the day.
Nothing too exciting, but a solid day of skiing. We kept off the bumps down low (aka Mary Jane area) due to the hard surfaces. The good news was that the clouds were building to bring in some fresh snow. One other point about this years snowpack is that while deep, the last week or two has brought 100+ MPH winds and totally changed things in the high altitude locations. Completely scouring out many areas and drifting extensively in others, etc... Some of the most wind affected snowpack up top that I've seen in a while (esp with as much snowfall as we've gotten). Wind will be another of this year's themes on this trip...