Snowmass, CO 2/4/2016

tseeb

Well-known member
I parked next to DanoT's truck camper at Snowmass Rodeo lot.It was 8:45 by the time I booted up, shuttled, got my MCP set up and started skiing. We missed the main EpicSki meet-up, but found a few people at top of Village Express and skied down to Big Burn chair and went up it. Steve, the friend I'm staying with got free from work so I took a fast run down Freeway to meet him. We went up and skied Sneaky Pete's. I tried some of the powder of the left side and found a spot a lot deeper than expected and lost a ski and went down somersaulting and feeling my neck get bent but was OK.

I spent the rest of the morning skiing with Steve, mostly on intermediate groomers although I found a little powder on edges and on ungroomed runs. We went into Gwen's for 11:30 EpicSki lunch meetup and ended up spending close to an hour as volunteers that were supposed to lead groups on noon tours did not show up until almost 12:30. After lunch DanoT, Steve and I went up new high-speed High Alpine which starts lower and ends up than old, cold and slow lift. We skied Green Cabin which was in excellent shape and I went through a gate to the left for some untracked, but like a lot of skiing the last two days you get a couple of powder turns them follow an often steep and bumpy bobsled-like track through the woods to the next opening where you can make a few more turns..

Steve stayed with us for a ride up Sheer Bliss, but left us at the top when DanoT and I went up Cirque Poma to over 12,500'. We skied Ptarmigam which was slabby at the top, but held better including some untracked snow after the top bowl. DanoT was surprised that such a long steep run existed as Snowmass as the runout continues a long way down a steep gully that had a few more untracked areas. He needed to go back to his camper to check on his dog so I went back up Sheer Bliss and the poma then traversed to Hanging Valley. The entrance I took required a couple of precise turns on very steep, firm face to avoid rocks. Then I found some very good lightly tracked snow most of the rest of the way down by going farther skiers right than in previous visits. Going fast over a rollover on groomer to get back to lift I nearly overextended one hip pulling back to avoid going too far forward and getting more air than I wanted.

I went up Elk Camp and hiked up to Long Shot. But instead of skiing the 3400' vertical blue run, I went further rights and skied the first of the Burnt Mountain Glades, A-Line which took about 30 minutes to get down. There was some good untracked although a lot of it was not steep enough to stop and take pictures. This time I made sure to follow the recommended route and avoid my experience 2 years ago where I had a very long and difficult traverse across steep and deep untracked slopes and gullies to get out of what I learned is called the Mushroom Patch. I had time for one more lap on High Alpine where I skied the Edge while listening to U2. The only lift I found loading after that was Village Express and they would not let you go past mid-station so I quit before 4 with over 31K.

It started snowing lightly about 3 pm and stayed cold all day. More pictures will have to wait as I only have a couple I took at Hunter S Thompson shrine ready to go.
 

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More pictures from Snowmass on Thursday
 

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