087 | Berthoud Pass, Colorado

Yesterday was another Colorado morning where my alarm sounded off at the always appropriate dawn patrol hour of 4.5 past midnight. Since I was in Birmingham, AL and Atlanta, GA the previous weekend, I missed out on the 2-3 feet of snow that most resorts received. The text messages flowed all throughout Saturday and Sunday reminding me how awesome the conditions were. With the powder flu sending my body temperature well above 98.2 degrees Fahrenheit, I needed a fix and met up with Hans for a couple laps in the area known as Hell's Half Acre.

On the skin up to treeline, the snow was fairly variable in spots; some sections were soft and fluffy while other areas felt a bit more compacted and dense. The ski down would be no different, and while the snow wasn't blower, it was nice getting my feet back on snow after a week-long hiatus.



After climbing 400-500 feet, Hans and I dug a pit to assess the conditions. We were on a west-facing slope at 25-30 degrees right at treeline. As you can see, there was a new wind slab forming near the top. Below that was new snow from the recent storm, and at the bottom was a more finer layer of snow.









I was only able to take one photo which normally wouldn't be worth sharing, but if you don't take pictures and share with everyone, than you didn't go skiing (inside joke):





We skied until just before 8am and I was back at work an hour later. Cool thing about where I work is that I managed to spend the rest of the day in my ski pants without anyone noticing. Perhaps, people in the office expect it from now on.



For the artsy segment of our program tonight, here's a picture from Denver International Airport shortly before taking off for the south last Saturday morning: