JohnE

I still LOVE powder and I know where to find it at my local area (Loveland) after most of it is gone. But one has to really love it to tolerate the traffic & lift lines. I heard tales of driving up last Saturday: one person left Denver at 4:30 AM and arrived at Loveland at 5:30. Someone else left Denver at 5 AM and didn't get there until after 7 AM. That's twice as long sitting in traffic. Yuk. Is it "worth it"? Not for me.

For anyone that was there Friday, Saturday or Sunday: How was the traffic, lift lines and snow conditions?

........... Are a thing of the past. At least here in the Front Range of Colorado. I used to LOVE powder days. I would wake up really early on a weekend day and try to be in the parking lot of the ski area before they opened. If we had a good powder day mid-week, I would play hooky and get my powder fix. I don't think that is possible anymore. There are so many powderhounds in the Denver area, it is almost not possible to get some fresh tracks. It's like a huge school of piranha feeding on the first poor cow that wanders into the river. After a couple of hours, all that is left are a few bones. A drive that should take an hour might take 4 hours now. Once you're there, plan on 2 hour lift lines. We had some new snow here in Colorado over the weekend and most reports were of horrendous drives and lift lines. I don't think it matters anymore if it is on a weekend or a week day. It may be worst here because of our huge population growth but how are your powder days elsewhere?

On Sunday if you go to Loveland one of the crew can likely set you up with a discount pass. Loveland and Winter Park are the closest to Denver. About 1 1/2 hour in light traffic. Could be 3+ hours in heavy traffic. At Winter Park you likely won't see any other hardbooters. At Loveland, there will likely be a crew of 6+. Loveland is about 10 minutes from Georgetown.

Yesterday: Overcast most of the day, cool but not cold, no wind, light snow flurries. Recent snow was groomed nicely (much better than 2 weeks ago). The snow held up well for 3 hours. Little traffic either direction, slopes were uncrowded. Many laps on Ptarmigan, several on Deuces Wild. Tried Rookie Road off #9 but it needs more snow and grooming. Great day. About 16 runs between 9AM - 12:30.

Mario is unmistakable. Who are the others?

With soft boots, overhang can be a problem. However, if the snow is soft enough that your edge sinks in enough to cause boot drag, the resistance from the snow may not be sufficient to cause your edge to disengage. If the snow is harder, the same amount of overhang probably isn't enough to cause your boots to drag. I've put 1/2" risers between my bindings & board. I do often get overhang but it doesn't usually cause a problem.

Workshop7: I totally agree with your take on the Flux. My riding buddy & I each had Sean build one for us. Mine is 158 (don't know the SCR or width) but I love it. It is the best toy I have ever owned. My buddy is a bigger guy & his is about a 170. He's considering having Sean make him another one - as wide as Sean's equipment will go. We ride these in all conditions: powder, crud & carving. I never think "is this the right board for these conditions?".

Really? The Vail Culture! Skier friends who regularly ski Vail have lots of stories about the patroller squad expressly tasked with nabbing fast and/or reckless skiers & riders. My skier friends have often skied fast but always in control. The difficulty is that the patrollers often can't or won't distinguish between the two. Maybe their mandate is fast=dangerous? Vail seems to be very careful to not offend well-heeled customers. They probably have calculated whether they will scare off more well-heeled customers by nabbing reckless riders or living with collisions that injure people.

This sounds like an example of the entitled attitude common to a lot of parents that gets transmitted to their kids. I did stupid stuff when I was a kid. I was an accomplished skier and when I was a teenager I was sure my shit didn't stink. Fortunately nobody got hurt. However, my folks made sure I was completely aware of the skier's code and if I had ever collided with someone where I was at fault, my parents would not have coddled me.

Good day yesterday. Sunny, not too cold, not too windy. Traffic up & back was a breeze. Mostly old folks (like us) in the lodge & on the mountain. Snow is old & hard. Grooming was good. Carving was good. They did avalanche mitigation on Primer Bowl. This left a fracture face about 8' high and 100' wide at the top of Primer Bowl all the way down to the dirt. Primer Bowl is pretty much gone until they get a lot more snow. We did about 8 - 10 runs Fire Bowl / Turtle Creek and 5 runs on Deuces Wild. They need more snow!

If you didn't buy and early season pass - I don't know of any local deals. Some areas sell early season "4-Paks" that are transferable - but not Aspen.

How are snow conditions?

Sounds awful. Very serious collision. I have stopped going up on weekends. Weekday traffic is much less. Weekday traffic seems to be older, more experienced and more in control. Hope you heal quickly and completely.

I prefer to go as slow as I can and still carve. On my last day out my tracker said my max speed was 38 mph.

I never thought of it that way but you are right: If I am with skiers or "regular" snowboarders, they are typically looking for variety. They will indulge me for a few runs on groomers but then they want to look for other slopes / other terrain.

Agree w/Mario. We considered trying #8 yesterday but thought that even if the snow was good over there (not likely) there was no good way to get out. Mario - how are you healing? Broke my long-standing record of not colliding with anyone on Wednesday. We were coming down Deuces Wild and a guy was squatting in the middle of the big face getting ready to photo someone. I saw him in plenty of time. My trajectory would normally have taken me above him but I didn't want to call it close so I went below him. This gave me more speed and broke up my rhythm. I ride Regular. My buddy rides Goofy. He was following me pretty close. We were probably going about 20 - 30 MPH. We approached each other on our blind sides and collided. He outweighs me by about 80#. I was knocked off my heel edge and drove my toe edge into the snow and did a head snap / face plant into the snow. I hurt a bit but no blood and apparently no lasting damage to either of us. Could have been a lot worse.

Yesterday conditions were pretty good. Traffic not an issue. Crowds pretty much non-existent. Sunny and not too cold. Snow was old and thin but pretty carvable. They really need more snow. We had a great day carving. Mostly Fire Bowl - Turtle Creek. Some laps on Deuces Wild. One try on #4 (Mercury) - not worth it. About 15 runs and 12,900 vertical feet. Really nice to get off the lift, take a quick look over the shoulder, verify that nobody is closing and take the whole slope. Pray for snow.

Sounds good. I think we'll try the Basin tomorrow. Weather is supposed to be a bit unsettled though.

My carving buddy & I have made a similar observation: We do a right turn followed by a left turn etc. etc. etc. We're guessing that many people would see this and think "don't you get bored by that?". The answer is no. Can't really explain it but we are both completely addicted. Mind you when there is powder to be had, we're after it like everyone else until it is gone. Conditions that are right for carving are more dependable and when there's no powder, we're carving. It is more fun with others of the same mind but it is still fun all by yourself. Maybe you can entice another boarder to try it out and see if you can get them hooked on the carve.

So Mr. E - how were the conditions on Monday? Thinking of going tomorrow.

I started out as a soft-booter (not carving). I tried for many years to get into hardbooting. I worked and worked and worked at it. When the snow conditions were perfect and the slope not too steep, I could link some turns together. When one of these conditions changed, I got scared and my form fell apart. About 3 years ago I switched back to softbooting (but attempting to carve this time). I got a carve specific softboot board. I doubt that I will ever get as low as the good hardbooters here but I feel much more relaxed and can carve pretty well in most conditions. The biggest difference I feel between hard and soft is the boot angles. Having my feet more across the board and driving forward with my knees and backward with my butt seems more natural to me. How do you find the transition from feet/knees forward to feet/knees sideways?

Anyone up this weekend? What are the snow conditions?

As far as protective gear I have long used a helmet. Because I got scared about all the others sharing the slopes with me I got a POC spine protector a couple of years back. I realize that in a collision with another slope-slider these will provide only a little bit of extra protection. My solution was to start riding only weekdays. Much fewer people. Also, I note that the others on the slopes during the week tend to be older and mostly skiers. Most of them are either competent skiers or timid beginners. Very different from weekend traffic. I went to my regular slope last Friday which being during Christmas week was as crowded as a weekend. I remembered why I don't do that anymore.

A high school buddy of mine got into a lot of high risk sports: In high school & college he played rugby. He got into mountain biking early and crashed often. He got into paragliding and had a number of hard landings. He was an early adopter of snowboarding and hardbooting and got me into it. He crashed often and hard but still got back into the sport. Many years ago I asked him: "Gregory - have you seen those high-tech wheel chairs? Because I think you're going to need one someday." I haven't seen him in years. I don't know how well he is doing. I'm sure that we will all find out how the cumulative injuries we have had during our lifetimes come back to remind us as we get older.