So I was back home on the right coast for Thanksgiving which was great of course, but I would be lying if I wasn't concerned about missing out on the snow. For the non-snow enthusiasts reading, Ullr is our snow god and he punishes all for departing the mountains for any extended period of time by releasing the hidden snow clouds that hang high above. These hidden snow clouds are responsible for massive storms that bring large amounts of frozen liquid to those that remain home at sea to enjoy.
Luckily, it was opposite week and while back home, it was sunny and dry the entire time up in the mountains. I arrived back in town last Friday to a nice inch or two at Denver International Airport and thought,
"Okay. This could get good."
By good, I clearly meant in the neighborhood of 3-4 feet.
Yes, feet.
No typo here.
Three.
To.
Four.
Feet.
Of. Snow.
"Someone pass me a cigarette."
"BETTER MAKE IT A PACK!"
And it didn't stop snowing until Monday morning which equates to about sixty hours of non-stop snow fall at a near-healthy one inch per hour pace.
Saturday, I helped host a demo tent at Winter Park with Corky from Moment Skis. It wasn't the best day to do this considering how much snow had fallen and we were held hostage on a one-trail resort, but sometimes you gotta suck it up and give a pair of fat skis to some Sasquatch with a 379 BSL (for reference, the demo bindings had a max BSL of 383).
Situation notwithstanding, it was a great day to watch a bunch of unsuspecting skiers find enjoyment on some handmade skis from Reno, Nevada. Obviously, I'm no stranger to the company being an ambassador (or a rep if you will), but it certainly is refreshing to hear and see people excited about what we have to offer.
Needing a powder fix since I missed out on what was an incredible day, the band got back together on Sunday: Gary, Dave, Chris, and myself met up for our first tour of the season together; this would also be our first since we skied Buffalo Mountain back in early May.
Gary was at Butler Gulch the previous day and said it was "stupid deep", so that's where we decided to go.
For those wondering, we accessed Butler Gulch by skinning up from Henderson Mine. It was a 2.5 mile trek towards the goods that took us about ninety minutes while we gained over 1,400 feet. Along the way, the shit-eating grins on our face grew incessantly and exponentially larger by the minute with snow falling at a 1-2" per hour rate.
Click here for our route to Butler Gulch.
But after the first lap, the shit-eating grins went quickly into hibernation.
The reason?
There was too much fucking snow.
There ... I said it.
There. Was. Too. Much. Snow.
How this is possible is beyond me, but it happened, and I had to live it. There was just too much to do anything. With avalanche danger super high, we remained on low angle slopes in the trees which posed a very low threat to our safety. Unfortunately, there wasn't much of a slope to gain any momentum. So sure, it was awesome to have 3-4 feet of snow at our disposal, but when you make half of a turn that brings you to a standstill after straightlining a hundred feet, something's up.
And that something was down (I told you it was opposite week).
In the end, we did a total of three laps for 1,200 vertical feet cumulative. While the conditions were not the greatest, I had a blast being out there in the backcountry with the crew and getting back into the swing of things. It still is only early December, so there's plenty of powder to feast on. And with expectations sky high this season, we'll be sure to get our money's worth.
The short video below briefly displays the conditions we experienced at Butler Gulch on a particular short hit:
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