Loveland Basin, CO 3/18/2003

[Matt Duffy]

Phat Tuesday <BR> <BR>I don't think the really heavy stuff is gonna come down for quite some <BR>time now. There was a sign at the top of Lift 1 at Loveland that at 10am <BR>read: New Record. 26" in 24 hours. At about noon it was changed to New <BR>Record. 33" in 24 hours. At 2:30, the record was broken again; 41" in 24 <BR>hours. We're talking chest deep. And no, it wasn't spraying against our <BR>chests, it was chest deep while undisturbed. The plumes must have curled, I <BR>dunno, 10 feet over our heads? Something like that. <BR> <BR> Jason & I wormed our way up the line to become the occupants of the 3rd <BR>chair of the day. We smoked the occupants of chairs 1 & 2 and got absolute <BR>first tracks on Over The Rainbow. Best run of my life. Blindness. Steep. <BR>Shortness of breath. Slow motion at high speed. I've never experienced <BR>anything quite like it. This makes Northern VT's best 2001 storm look like <BR>a little flurry. Loveland's base depth jumped 30 inches in one day. <BR> <BR> We of course were the first to come upon OTR's Mr Rock. A big, big orange <BR>formation that has the most wide open runout you could ask for. Many times <BR>this year, we've stopped atop that rock and imagined how glorious it would <BR>be to leap off the thing into a few feet of untouched powder. Neither of us <BR>had ever jumped it until today. Well.... <BR> <BR> It feels phrickin huge while in freefall. You have time to think about <BR>it on the way down. Not that I did. Then you land in a deep, deeep comphy <BR>couch and rocket. KAAAAPOOOF. ZOOOOM. Hyperventilate trying to suck in some <BR>air. Is smoked snow bad for your lungs? Is it possible to drown this way? <BR>We made 2 additional visits to Mr Rock during the day. FTO Writer Michael Bernstein had a sh!t <BR>eating grin from ear to ear after he took his dose of suspended animation. <BR> <BR> Jason's beard became so caked with snow that he complained of it <BR>weighing his head down. Hell, my 2 weeks of growth held on to a thick white <BR>beard of it's own. <BR> <BR> The whole day was ridiculous. Remember the best powder scenes you've ever seen <BR>in any movie? Well that looks like sh!t compared to what we skied today. <BR>Chest deep. Chest deep. Holy phuck!ng sh!t. <BR> <BR> <IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/your_image.gif" ALT="C:\My Documents\Colorado\Blizzard'03\me1.jpg">

 

[Matt Duffy]

Uh... Let me try that again. <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/your_image.gif" ALT="1,Me on OTR">

 

[Matt Duffy]

<IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/9/2081.jpg" ALT="Me On OTR">

 

[Anonymous]

wow

 

[John Arendt]

Man...what a day it was! Un-freaking-believable!!! The best pow day in my 36 years of skiing...this eastern carve-em-on-ice boy has finally gotten the powder day of dreams...just like in the movies.... <BR> <BR>Monday night...the night before...Weather Channel anchors broadcasting at the exit off I-70 a mile from my house...dumping...national news...setting up for the 'perfect storm'...checking the reports before lights out...is it really going to happen? So many times before the reports are awesome but the morning dawns and barely a dusting...got a feeling this is the one... <BR> <BR>Log on and check the Loveland report before it's light...26 inches...a record and still coming down. I head out towards I-70 at 6:45 am...the traffic report says a trucker blew it heading up Mt. Vernon Canyon...pull a U'ie... <BR> <BR>Made it to Loveland after deciding to bypass the I-70 frontage road...went up US 6 through Clear Creek Canyon and had snowpacked roads, no delays at all....The blizzard was just getting into dump mode that morning and I-70 was closed for a few miles due to a jack knifed 18 wheeler...(and the truckers always blame it on the 4 wheelers...ha) <BR> <BR>I call friends in Conifer...if they ever blow off a work day and bow to Ullr, this is the day to do it...meet me in Evergreen now...fortunately his driveway is already blown out...unfortunately the road is 3 feet deep already...on the way to 8 feet of dumpage...Oh well...gotta do it by myself... <BR> <BR>Getting to I-70 was a piece of cake...once hitting 70, the road was a bit of a mess...vis down to nothing in places...had to use the force from the learning to drive days near Buffalo. <BR> <BR>Fed-Ex and UPS wouldn't be delivering that day...each had a dual trailer truck in the ditch going opposite directions...most schools closed already in anticipation...The highway was down to one lane each direction in a lot of places. Cars getting stuck heading onto the off ramps...graders trying to stay ahead of the dumping...All this...and almost no traffic since the road was closed down in Denver...all hinting at an epic day to come. I hit the parking lot at 8:15 following the employee shuttle in from Georgetown. The lodge and lifts haven't even been unlocked yet...plenty of time to boot up, stretch and wonder how deep it really is. <BR> <BR>Lifties shovelling out the corral talk about how Lift 1 is the only one going to be opened for awhile. The snow is so deep it's not possible to ski to any of the other lifts until the cats do some work. Patrol is way busy doing control. Yeah...as they take lap after lap...with the biggest shit eating grins ever seen. First public chair is at 9:20...I get 6th or 7th chair...slide off...buckle down...point em...it's deep....way deep...like standing there up to your hips deep...Holy sh*t deep....Down Spillway to Cat's Meow to get my pow legs under me...Every turn a face shot...lot's of people floundering...good for the rest of us hehe...as the rest of us float by...leaving contrails behind our heads...turn, float, poof....un-freaking-believable. The Volants on auto pilot...making perfect turns, not having to worry about speed...like airbags going off as they head downhill each turn...clouds of snow boiling over and holding me in ther grasp...the quote of the day sucking air heading up the lift...un-fu*kin believable... <BR> <BR>Another couple down Cat's Meow...get it before it's all used up...though Mother Nature is doing her best to obliterate our signatures on her mountain...Then down through Busy Gully under the chair, through the buried bumps in Avie Bowl and Zoom...blasting through 3 and 4 foot piles of whipped cream... <BR> <BR>Not champaigne pow, but not heavy either. It was after all a pacific storm up from the south...the temps in Denver were barely below freezing...but this damper stuff made for a good cushion over the harder stuff beneath. And it was so deep I never hit anything hard all day. <BR> <BR>A bunch of runs off Chair 1...sucking H2O from the Camelback until it's empty I don't want to stop...it's just too incredible...whipped heading into lunch...then a rumor of the poma being opened. I head over there after eating and it is open. The snowbanks each side of the uphill track are 6-7 FEET high! Short vertical with a cat track at the botton makes for awesome yo-yoing...the boarders whine that it's not steep enough and too deep...bye bye! Go away and complain somewhere else boys and girls...they cry that they can't ride the liftline since it's the only thing packed enough. Not that I have anything against riders...just don't slow things up on a powder day...Bad for them...good for the rest of us...face hurting from grinning...permanent for days afterwards. Through the trees between South Chutes and Tomahawk down under Chair 9 which heads up to the Ridge...imagine the turns up there...if it were only open...Lungs burning from sucking pow each breath...make sure to plan your route at the bottom so you don't dive and get buried... <BR> <BR>Heading to the parking lot...digging the truck out...18 inches or so had fallen since I parked it that morning n the second row...had it in 4WD all the way up and back... <BR> <BR>Driving back down to Golden that afternoon...(burning up cell minutes with 'ya shoulda been heres'...) not really wanting to be heading that direction since the highway will surely be closed the next day...imagine the possibilities...even the idiots on the road without snow tires or chains pushing their cars up the hills in the left lane couldn't ruin this unforgetable day... <BR> <BR>Unfortunately I-70 was closed for 4 days after that...essentially closing Loveland. Every so often checking the Loveland web cams...dumping relentlessly with not a person in sight...when the road finally opens it'll be amazing...and a zoo since it'll be the weekend...shoulda been there yesterday...the one I finally made...thinking of this one will keep me going through the end of summer...after the season closes this summer over at the Basin that is...