JohnE

Great day on Friday! Gregory & myself met Arne up there. Snowed HARD from opening until at least 1 PM. Got separated from Arne due to boot issues. We headed over to #8 (as usual on a powder day). I was on the catwalk from #4 to #8 20 - 30 people waiting at the ropeline for #8 to open. Just as I approached, the patrol dropped the rope and I didn't even slow down. Probably 16" of powder all day. Snowing really hard with 20 - 30 mph winds with 10 degree air temp. Zero visibility. We kept doing In The Mood over and over getting fresh tracks every time. Even at noon. Almost nobody was going over there because the visibility was so bad. I wouldn't have ventured over there if I didn't know it like the back of my hand. I thought we were really going to pay for the great snow with a really slow ride home. We left the lot about 1:45. We heard the tunnel siren just before leaving. The Pass was closed. When we got onto I-70 the westbound traffic was at a standstill. The eastbound lanes were empty. Turns out they closed the tunnel for Hazmat. By the time we got to Bakerville, the snow stopped and the roads were completely clear. We drove almost 80mph all the way to the top of Floyd Hill with almost nobody else on the highway (except westbound). I have never been on I-70 with so few vehicles. At the top of Floyd we ran into the upslope and driving slowed to 30mph or so to the Dino lots. WB traffic up Genessee was gridlock. One of the best powder days in memory.

I love my Donek Flux. I think it is 28cm waist by 158cm long. Does almost everything well. My buddy also ordered one. I think his is 30cm x 170cm. He loves his too.

I've never ridden a Skwal. However, it seems to me that extreme soft-boot carving would be a duck stance (never done this) and the extreme hard-boot stance would be on a Skwal. A duck stance should be very stable and a Skwal stance would be very unstable. Stability and being relaxed are not the same thing but I think they are related.

I always get that angle definition wrong. It seems more logical that zero degrees would be where the board axis and the boot axis align. So to correct my above statement: I find low angles to be much more stable (and relaxing) than high angles. You should come to Colorado where you can legally partake MJ for a really relaxing ride.

I have regressed from hardboots to soft. The high angles that a wide board allow seem much more stable to me. If I just stand on the floor with my feet at low angels -vs- high angles and have someone try to push me over, I find that I'm much more stable with the high angle stance. I feel that translates to stability and a more relaxed experience on the slope. Also, I find that driving my knees forward and back is much more natural than driving them laterally.

Was up at Loveland Friday with Arne. About 3" new overnight. Snowed lightly all day. Not cold and zero wind. Fairly crowded for a weekday but maybe normal for a Friday. We rode Ptarmigan, #4 (once), #8 many times and a few on #6. Packed it in about 1 PM. Good day.

If we get some soft snow, there is nothing like softbooting in powder (in my opinion). My latest setup is a Donek Flux with firm softboots. It carves pretty well and I'm guessing it will ride powder pretty well too.

The biggest contingent of hardbooters near Denver ride at Loveland (mostly on Sundays). However you can find good softbooting and hardbooting at any of the places you note above. If you are flying with gear from Ct you will probably want to go either soft or hard (but not both) - just to reduce the amount of gear you have to haul. Whether you decide to go hard or soft, you probably won't go wrong and we often have the best snow in late March.

A couple of years back we went to Wolf Creek over the holidays. I think we had the only car in the parking lot. All the rest were big trucks & SUVs with Texas plates. I had never seen anyone ski in a hunting camo suit. That day I saw two.

Not familiar with the term "Jerry" (except as a derogatory term for a German). I'm assuming this means lots of clueless fellow slope sliders. I can't take them either on the roads or the slopes. That's why I got a mid-week pass this season. It is such a pleasure driving up, boarding, and driving back mid-week and not having to deal with the hoards. I've only been up once this season. I think it was mid-week sometime in the first of second week of December. Nice bluebird day, snow was decent and very few people. However, I did get clipped by a straightline skier near the top of Turtle Creek. He clipped my board and was gone before I knew what happened. Scared the crap out of me. So, mid-week is not immune from irresponsible slope sliders, there are just fewer of them. Loving my new Donek Flux and softboot carving. Probably won't see the crew because you won't likely be coming up mid-week and I'm not going to fight the weekends. Have fun & be safe!

No lodging near either hill. The biggest advantage of Eldora over Loveland is not having to drive I-70 on a weekend. If you do choose Loveland, you can probably find lodging in Georgetown. If you choose Eldora, a hotel in or near Louisville would be only about an hour away.

I don't know your age or experience level but here is my $0.02: I started life as a skier and transitioned to softboot snowboarding. After a bit I saw some hardboot carvers and really wanted to try that. For many years I worked and worked at hardboots and could make a descent carve in ideal conditions. However, when the snow got firm or the slope got steep, I started skidding. I then tried a new softboot carving board (a Donek Flux) and really liked it. I still can't carve as well as those on hardboots in difficult conditions but I can carve pretty well in softer conditions. I think the biggest difference for me are the boot angles I can run on a wider board. A lower (nearer to perpendicular to the board) angle feels much more stable to me. I've tried to explain this to others by demonstrating just standing on the ground in shoes in both a hardboot stance as well as a softboot stance. The softboot stance is just much more stable to me. If you can ride that edge well with both feet facing nearly forward - great! I just never got comfortable with it. Good luck!

I heard that Keystone just closed due to wind.

My snowboard buddy & I got new Fluxes (?) late last season. We got them up to Loveland last Friday for the first time this season. We both started the day on other old boards. He was on a Head. I was on a Ride Mecca. We were both having a pretty good time carving up on Ptarmigan. About 10AM we both switched to our Fluxes. WOW! What a difference! We both noticed that the Doneks held an edge much better than the other boards. We had a great time. We both agree that they are our favorite new toys.

Great to hear Pete! Sounds like you found a great place to carve. I looked at the map and Taos is some distance further. I recall that it is a pretty good ski area but I don't know about the carving conditions. Don't you miss the I-70 parking lot?

Sooo - Pete - this is your new handle! How are things in ABQ? I haven't heard your voice on CPR recently. I miss it. Do you still have most of your snow-sliding gear?

For sale: Head Stratos Pro heat-moldable boot liners. Mondo Point 26.5 Molded once. Ridden just a few times. Very good condition. I cut a slit in the heel of each boot in order to install boot heaters (see photos) $45 via PayPal shipped to lower 48 states

Out of curiosity - how much was shipping from Moscow?

In general, I don't like waiting for others - regardless of conditions. I like to ride a my pace. That doesn't mean fast or slow - just the pace that works for me. I also don't like others waiting on me. Riding in large groups gets very unwieldy. The group tends to move a the speed of the lowest common denominator. My favorite is to ride with a couple of others who very nearly match my pace. I like to go, go, go until I'm exhausted and then quit for the day. Lunch? Almost never. I'm usually spent by one o'clock or so - so why stop for lunch? The exception might be at the sessions at Aspen. There is no rush to get back home so I can ride later and take it easy.

Around here powder gets eaten up in a hurry - like 2 hours it is pretty much gone. The shear number of people trying to "get the virgin cord" is substantially less. So, it lasts longer because it is more durable and there are fewer folks trying to get their licks in. I think the biggest difference between fresh powder and fresh cord is that one can find little stashes of powder and have a pretty good time. To get the best fresh cord, you need treeline-to-treeline and all the way down the slope (little stashes don't work).

Great all-around board for use with soft boots. Base is in great shape. Top has normal scratches from riding. Just have too many boards: https://www.ebay.com/itm/153242171727

Price reduced

Sold

I ride Alpine cuz there's no powder.

Interesting info on the new lift. I think they said that it reduced the ride from 8 minutes to 3 (I think that is correct). Often, when we would spend the day on Lift #8, we were doing laps in 12 - 13 minutes (5 runs per hour). We would often ride for 4 hours non-stop or about 20 runs in a day. If they were to take 5 minutes out of that lap, we might be able to do 8 - 9 runs per hour. 20 runs would only take 2 1/2 hours or so. So we would be done by 11AM. What to do with the rest of the day?