Berthoud Pass, CO 11/29/2002

Matt Duffy

New member
After I flaunted my inexperience with driving in Denver by making a 25 <BR>minute drive take 90 minutes, I met Nick M in Golden, where he was minutes <BR>from starting his truck and driving away. <BR> <BR>We drove by an accident scene on I-70, where for a while we could've walked <BR>faster than the traffic. <BR> <BR>Delays, delays. <BR> <BR>Sometime after noon, we pulled into one of the old shuttle pick up areas at <BR>Berthoud, to find that we evened the balance of license plates in the lot. <BR>3 from Colorado, 3 from Vermont. Within minutes, 2 guys were dropped off <BR>after they hitched from wherever. I thought one of them looked familiar, <BR>and through conversation I found that he was. Anybody know a tele skier by <BR>the name of Craig Barnard? I'm sure most of the MRG regulars here know who <BR>he is. Small world. Ironic, too. He was skinning up Berthoud Pass on a day <BR>that conditions at Mad River Glen were vastly better... <BR> <BR>It was test number two for my new, full width phat skins and once again they worked <BR>beautifully. There was a well used skin track to use them on, but it was a <BR>real mountain this time. <BR> <BR>Some time later, after playing referee for the two dogs (Winter and Rogue), <BR>we were near the top on the west side and soaking in some sun. Temps were <BR>above freezing by several degrees. <BR> <BR>After the first few turns down in to a real nice looking swath of <BR>untouched, I stopped. It was untouched alright, untouched breakable <BR>suncrust. However, we managed to do some action filming near the top and <BR>somehow through our efforts, made the skiing look better than it really was. <BR> <BR>The skiing _was_ good actually. The conditions weren't, but skiing always <BR>is. We managed. I think we each got grabbed by the crust and faceplanted in <BR>it only once. We happenned to both fall in nearly the exact spot, leaving <BR>two gomer craters side by side. <BR> <BR>Soon, we were skiing in the shadow cast by the other mountain and <BR>occassionally were finding bits of powder here and there. The lowere we <BR>went, the less crust we encoutered. Eventually we found ourselves on an <BR>undulating bobsled track through tight trees on a mellow pitch. Finally, we <BR>could let our skis run. Through dips, over bumps, and around corners we <BR>cruised through tight trees down to the parking area. <BR> <BR>That was it, all over. It wasn't one of the better days of the year, but unless <BR>you can't walk when the day is done, there's no such thing as a bad day of <BR>skiing.
 
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