101 | Utah . Day 02: Maybird Gulch . LCC

On our second day in Utah, Gary and I made our way to Little Cottonwood Canyon where we met up with two free-heelers in the parking lot. New to the area, we asked the couple for advice when they decided to allow us to tag along instead.

With a warm day out, we covered 1,700 feet on the climb up over two hours while trekking along three miles of terrain. Although the weather was perfect, we were quite concerned with the quality of snow given that it hasn't snowed in a few days and temperatures were way above freezing.

At the top of our skin uphill, we reached 9,200 feet in elevation and descended down through the trees where the snow was wet and heavy. Fortunately, snow quality improved drastically while offering a pleasant surprise throughout the majority of the 2,600-foot descent.



Below is the topo map showing our route (directly to the east is Snowbird Ski Resort):




A look towards Pfeifferhorn Peak which stands at 11,329 feet:




Little Cottonwood Canyon:




Our original objective:







The video with music provided by The Pioneers:


Maybird Gulch . LCC . Utah (2009.01.31) from Thomas Armento on Vimeo.

100 | Utah . Day 01: secret location

Today was our first of three planned days skiing in Utah. I've been sworn to secrecy, so the exact location of the pictures and video below will remain hidden. Perhaps some non-3.2% beer will wiggle out a more direct answer, but in the meantime, even after several days from the last new snowfall, conditions were prime. Today also marks the first time I skied a 5,000-foot face that didn't involve a slog on the return through a swamp.



Some scenics:











Did I already mention how great the snow was?



Gary:





Myself:





And the all-important video:

099 | 2009 SIA in Las Vegas with Moment Skis

Originally, I had a planned trip to Utah for the upcoming four days, but figured a quick twenty-two hour stop in Las Vegas to hang out with the Moment Skis crew was in high order. Below are a few select pictures of the 2009/2010 line with brief descriptions.



MEN'S LINE:

Jib
Lengths: 156, 166, 171, 176, 181, 186
Dimensions: 111-86-111
Comments: completely symmetrical ski | chord center mount





Rocker
Lengths: 171, 181
Dimensions: 114-92-114
Comments: full-on tip & tail rocker | flat camber





Freebird
Lengths: 166, 176, 182, 192
Dimensions: 119-85-111.5





Tahoe
Lengths: 170, 180, 188
Dimensions: 127-96-118
Comments: super light for its size | great everyday ski | medium flex | 170 weighs 7.75 lbs | 180 weighs 8.0 lbs | 188 weighs 8.5 lbs





Garbones
Lengths: 182, 192
Dimensions: 130-105-119
Comments: super stiff | tip rocker | great for charging hard in all conditions | Craig Garbiel's pro model





Ruby
Lengths: 170, 180, 188, 190
Dimensions: 139-112-130 (170), 140-110-130 (180, 188), 140-112-131 (190)
Comments: one-quiver ski that can do it all | 190 has flat tail and medium-stiff flex | 180 weighs 8.5 lbs | 188 weighs 9.0 lbs | 190 weighs 9.2 lbs





Bibby Pro
Lengths: 186, 190
Dimensions: 143-115-134 (186), 143-118-134 (190)
Comments: tip & tail rocker on both sizes | 190 is stiffer and has moderate camber | 186 has flat camber | Josh Bibby's pro model





Night Train
Lengths: 171, 181, 186
Dimensions: 140-123-135
Comments: tip & tail rocker | very small camber underfoot | 181 is stiffer than 186





Donner Party
Length: 186
Dimensions: 135-140-137-130
Comments: full-on reverse sidecut & reverse camber







WOMEN'S LINE:

Spade
Lengths: 156, 166, 176
Dimensions: 119-85-111.5





Stiletto
Lengths: 156, 166, 171
Dimensions: 111-86-111
Comments: shorter version of the Jib for the women





Sierra
Lengths: 160, 170
Dimensions: 127-96-118
Comments: shorter version of the Tahoe for the women





Pika
Lengths: 160, 170
Dimensions: 139-112-130
Comments: shorter version of the Ruby for the women





Reagan
Lengths: 160, 170, 180
Dimensions: 140-123-135
Comments: shorter version of the Night Train for the women

098 | Winter Park, Colorado

As alluded to earlier, the Front Range received some of the heavier amounts of the storm that cruised through Colorado over the weekend. With more than two feet of snow in less than forty-eight hours, I joined Gary and Dina at Winter Park where I later met up with Helena and JR.

What could go wrong yesterday, did.

Not only did we have a late start, but twice near the top of Berthoud Pass, we sat at a standstill for close to an hour in total. By the time we reached the lifts and headed up towards the fresh snow, most of it was stripped away. Setbacks notwithstanding, we managed to have an alright day.


Winter Park (2009.01.25) from Thomas Armento on Vimeo.

097 | Berthoud Pass, Colorado

Today, I made my way to Berthoud Pass along with Gary, Marc, and Chris for my 25th day on snow this season. As you can tell from the previous post, lots of snow was entering the wonderful state of Colorado. But contradictory to early reports that suggested otherwise, the bulk of the storm hit the state between Steamboat Springs and Berthoud Pass. Eagle County got their snow, but they certainly didn't get 12-plus inches of liquid heaven that we found.

Our trip started off rather leisurely while making our first lap up towards North Chute on the east side of the pass. Although we were the first ones on the ascent, we weren't the first ones standing atop at the end of the climb. Effectively, a group behind us had snaked our initial line choice leaving us to ski down a rocky Sentinel Chute.

For lap number two, our plan was to ski Skull Bite but the chute was far too boney with an assortment of chocolate chip death cookies spread all throughout for our enjoyment. It was certainly not something worth ruining a pair of skis over, so we opted instead for Sam's Knob. Again, this chute was pretty thin with a few rocks tagged along the way down. Seems to be the running them for the day, however, conditions would improve shortly.

After a extended lunch break inside Pete Rabbit Hut where we heartily indulged in blackberry brandy, we skinned up 700 feet towards the top of Perfect Trees. From there, we skied the upper and lower 110's where the snow was excellent. I did hit the bottom a few times and felt the funky sunbaked snow underneath, but otherwise, it was pretty killer. In the lower part, I entered a narrow chute but unlike previous efforts, I found myself completely buried in a whiteroom catacomb of awesomeness. This was exactly what I was looking for today, and it was well worth the time and energy to find it.



If you feel so inclined to fully understand all this Berthoud Pass terminology, please refer to the topo map below that shows the majority of the routes and lines that are significant (click image to view in larger size):





And now the very short video recap of the day with a small segment of footage:


Berthoud Pass (2009.01.24) from Thomas Armento on Vimeo.

096 | Shhhhhh ... it's coming ... first snowfall in 10 days ...

That's right. It hasn't snowed here in Colorado since January 13th (the fourteenth for areas on the east side of the continental divide). To make things more enjoyable, it's Friday and my work as a paralegal is betting shoved off to a distant world as I continually glare at weather models and predictions with great anticipation.

The current system that arrived early this morning was well on the radar earlier this week, but as we all know, anything predicted more than twenty-four hours in advance is quite the crapshoot. With that said, I took a greater interest into what the predictions were yesterday afternoon. The outlook then was pretty promising, and by sunrise today, things got a whole lot better. Just an hour ago, the forecast improved once again.

What the outcome will be is an entirely different story. But as history this year has told us, it's that Eagle County (home to Vail and Beaver Creek) has been hit hard by most snow storms that pass through the state, and this one doesn't look to fair all too differently. In the post-work hours tonight, phone calls and text messages will be traded with as much volume as a penny stock with new-found speculation. The alarm clock will be set at 5am to find out exact totals and to plan our day our accordingly.

This is the norm. This is powder fever, and it strikes again!

095 | No Name Peak . Berthoud Pass

► The Highlights:

This past weekend, me and a crew of new (Luke, Pete, and JJ) and old (Bernardo, Nick, and Kim) backcountry partners set out for a hike up towards Russell Peak which sits at 12,240 feet. Knowing full well that it hasn't snowed in a week and with strong winds scouring most of the snow above treeline, our expectations were pretty low.

It's quite the lovely situation when reality is the complete opposite of expectation, and you end up having an absolutely amazing day. Absolutely amazing in the sense that even hours after finishing the fourth and final lap of No Name on Saturday, I had a certain glow about me as if I had sex with half of South America.



Exhibit #1-4 of myself standing atop No Name with a few turns below:


(photo by Bernardo Fanti)









And now the all-important POV video with the Redanka remix of "Right Here Right Now" by Fatboy Slim providing the musical backdrop:


No Name at Berthoud Pass (2009.01.17-18) from Thomas Armento on Vimeo.



► The rest of the story:

The night before Saturday's trip to Berthoud ended sometime around midnight with the new day beginning promptly at half past four. Yes. I was forced to awaken my ass at 4:30 AM to satisfy Bernardo's quest for twilight photo-taking. Below is the outcome of such sleep deprivation:







On an extremely early start, we decided to hike up towards Russell to examine the potential while a few others would join us a little later in the morning. The winds were calm, the sun was shining, and the skies were as clear and blue as ever. In sum, it was going to be a perfect day:





As we reached the top, we met up with JJ and Pete whom Bernardo has skied with previously. We took a quick look inside the north chute of Russell, and to our surprise, we found it devoid of enough snow barely worth for a pair of tracks to ski down. After a quick glance to the south towards No Name, we quickly realized the goal at hand:





Snow was super creamy and very playful. A couple inches more would have been great, but honestly, conditions were perfect. Water content was super low and even as the day progressed, snow quality remained constant without becoming wet or heavy. Face shots were fairly consistent if you found the right patches, and snowpack stability felt solid.



Here's Bernardo finding something to jump off of:





And again, but with mixed results:















Pete soon follows, but doesn't fair much better:























We did manage a few turns in between the tomahawks.



Nick:




Luke:




Pete:




Bernardo:





The carnage:





To view these photos and over 150 more in larger size, please click here.