107 | Secret Location . Colorado | 22 Feb 2009

Most of my trip reports have been fairly explicit in detail which is in part due to any of the following:

1. location is easily accessible and therefore not a secret
2. location is not easily accessible and would require a long trek to reach
3. location is too burly and wouldn't interest too many people

On Sunday, I was joined by five others to a backcountry area that while access is not difficult, traffic is almost non-existent and the goods are in the far upper percentile. So I've been sworn to secrecy and cannot reveal where we skied. On this particular day, we saw two other groups sharing with us a vast amount of open terrain as well as numerous steep chutes that offered quite the technical challenge. Once you're settled in, laps can be had with minimal effort allowing you to circle around many obstacles endlessly. I'll be sure to come back here often, but will do my best not to reveal too much.

Our first run down was through a wide open bowl that spanned several hundred feet along the ridge. From there, you can pick many different ways to descend down some six hundred feet of terrain with plenty of rocks and trees to make things interesting. After a quick skin back up to the ridge, we traversed over to some steep lines.


Gary went down the 50-degree chute first to set up for some photos. Everyone else waited at the top as Murphy was getting ready:




A couple turns later, he set himself up for this rock while sailing far off to the looker's right side:



Not the most fluid in the air, but he hucked his meat to a highly inspirational backslap and was able to ski it out:




Mack soon followed and finished his run off with the appropriate "ohhhh" face:




Next was my turn and I opted instead for the next chute over with far more exposure to make the descent a bit more entertaining. Here I am near the top:



Now in the middle trying to figure out where to go next:



Two turns later, I set up for the staightline down:




Not too often have I been freaked out by a line, but this was definitely one of those rare instances that had me on guard. While I've skied slightly steeper terrain, none had as much exposure within a confined area and no room for error. Each turn produced a generous amount of sluff that added another element to worry about and navigate through. Luckily, the guys below helped guide me through the middle section, but regardless, it was fairly tricky descending with lots of rocks sticking out along the way.


Chris was last to ski down but still find plenty of soft snow to enjoy:




A look back at the damage:




Our third and final run was down another chute though it was easily double in length with less exposure and more snow. Here's me at the top:




And now with Chris near the middle:




The traverse out was a bit of a bitch, but that's because dumb and dumberer were leading the way and thought it would be a great idea to bring everyone up a skintrack staircase from hell. Those two hours notwithstanding, it was an excellent day with quality snow and challenging terrain to get worked on.

106 | Berthoud Pass, Colorado | 21 Feb 2009

Since being introduced to the backcountry last year, I've made about 40 trips outside the resorts - only twice previously was I with a group that backed out of something. The first was at Grizzly Gulch where sugar powder was our enemy, and the second was at James Peak where the snow felt unsupportable. Today, JJ and I backed away from a trip to No Name with instant reaffirmation of our decision.


Below is a topo map of Berthoud Pass with areas in red highlighting avalanche activity and areas marked by black arrows highlighting where we skied:




We arrived at the pass shortly after 7am and were the first group to ascend up the west side towards the top of No Name. Along the way, we noted new snow totals were around 6" but as we reached treeline, none of it was bonding to the pre-existing layer underneath. In fact, while traversing across a 25-degree slope, the new snow was sluffing off rather easily hinting towards similar conditions above treeline. Then as we approached the base of Russell, we saw a large east-facing slide off Current Creek Bench that was roughly 200' wide and 500' long with large debris at the base.








Given that No Name has a similar elevation and aspect (nevermind with a steeper slope) and the lack of bonding of new snow, we immediately decided against going further up and instead turned around and headed back towards Lift Gully. Everything we saw were crystal clear signs of what appropriate action we should take and we followed accordingly. It wasn't until later, was our decision painted right before our eyes.


Ultimately, we scored first tracks down Lift Gully and went back for a second lap before heading over to the east side into Floral Park.


Here's JJ scoring some fresh snow:




Carol soon follows with similar results:




My turn at a little game called "Attack, Slash, and Destroy!"







Click here to view more pictures and in larger size.


As you can see, the snow was super soft and this was a much greater alternative to dying. After our second lap, the area was tracked-out so we headed over to Floral Park where we thought the snow would be equally good. While there were some soft pockets of fresh, we did find more than the occasional top of layer of crap and some instability. More importantly, before dropping, our eyes glued far into the west we were saw avalanche activity on No Name encompassing the entire terrain we would have considered skiing. While the slides weren't as large as what we saw on Current Creek Bench, it was propagated by small cornice drops which further suggests that a group of four skiers descending would have caused something more dramatic. We quickly took comfort in our choice to back out and were actually very glad to see activity down a face we wanted to ski. Not too often does one back out of a line only to see immediate confirmation on what was the smart choice. Today, we made the smart choice and get to live another day.

105 | 2008/2009 MID-SEASON SKI EDIT

To keep the flow going through the rest of the week, here's a compilation of POV video clips over the last couple of months highlighting the better days on the slopes. Hope you enjoy!


2008/2009 MID-SEASON SKI EDIT from Thomas Armento on Vimeo.

104 | Monarch, Colorado | 13 Feb 2009

The short story: yesterday was the sickest day of the year, and the picture below tells it all.



That was me after being completely submerged in powder for a couple hundred feet on our last run just after 1pm. It was my first all-out powder day on next year's Bibby Pro from Moment Skis, and there was no disappointment with them.

Yes, I do have an affiliation with them, but the Bibby 190 absolutely killed it all day long even when skiing into the rare patch of snow with a firm layer underneath or when conditions became tracked-out. For those interested, the ski is 190cm in length (there is also a 186cm version with flat camber) with dimensions of 143-118-134 and both tip & tail rocker. I measured the effective edge at 122cm along with slight camber and plenty stiffness underfoot.

Enough of the plug. Onward and upward ....






The long story: I spent most of Thursday pissing off work (or at least making it look that I was incredibly busy and couldn't be bother) while my eyes were glued to all and every weather model I could find. The early predictions were looking fairly solid for the central mountains including Monarch. Needing a powder fix since I was skunked the previous weekend at Lost Wonder Hut, the black lung was crawling inside me and a sick day was in order; little did I know that it would be two-fold.

Friday morning, I woke up around half past five and checked the snow reports. To my delighted surprise, Monarch was the big winner of the day with 10" of new snow overnight. After a quick call to JJ, our plan was in line and three hours later, we found ourselves basking in white gore glory. We had two warmup runs in dust-on-crust conditions but spent the entire time between 10am and 1pm in the Mirkwood area which was absolutely amazing.



Now ask yourself: does this look like 10" to you?











Of course it does, and JJ most certainly agrees with you:



















I should probably check into a hospital because I look so deathly ill, right?





Probably a good idea for JJ to follow suit since he doesn't well here either:







Below is the always-necessary video edit which doesn't contain a whole lot of footage since the massive amount of face shots buried my camera for most of the day. Music is provided by Rennie Pilgrem and his track called "Go Back".





Click here to view the above pictures in larger size.

103 | Lost Wonder Hut, Colorado | 7-8 Feb 2009

Over the weekend, I joined ten others for a trip to Lost Wonder Hut on the east side of Monarch Pass near Garfield, Colorado. Unfortunately, the snow conditions were pretty crappy (read: very small pockets of powder sparsely-spaced between incredibly fun layers of sun crust and windbuffed snow). But we did make the most of it, and the atmosphere sure settled in nicely with several bottles of various liquor and the always-necessary keg of PBR.

Yes, you read that correctly. With the help of a snowmobile and a last-minute construction of a keg luge, we were able to bring some beer to the party ... lots of it.



Hobart protecting the keg from all intruders:





The hut was only 2.6 miles from the trailhead, but knowing that Jerry would help out with a couple of his snowmobiles, we packed heavily and enthusiastically. Sadly, Jerry likes to drink quite a bit, so when we should have been at the hut some time around noon, our arrival was delayed several hours because of his affinity towards beer. Awesome.



Eventually, the rest of the group made it up in the early evening and a late tour was in order.





After the tour, a jam session lasting well over an hour ensued. Without much for instruments, we improvised. There was already a guitar and banjo sitting in the lower level of the hut which Charlie and Marc took a liking to, respectively. Mack found a large Gatorade container, ripped off it's lid, and used the bottom of the jug as a bongo. Murphy put use to the ripped-off lid while stomping down on it with a broomstick. When Vince wasn't singing lead vocals, he appropriately banged on a metal bowl with a spoon. To complete, I took a couple of knives and started banging on the bottom of a Nalgene bottle which had a similar sound to a woodblock (go figure). Below is a short memory of the event.


(L-R: me, Mack, Charlie, Vince)


(L-R: Mack, Charlie, Vince, Murphy)


Jam Session at Lost Wonder Hut (2009.02.07) from Thomas Armento on Vimeo.



Later that night, Murphy and Mack discovered an alternate way to use the keg luge. After a test run down a steep slope, they quickly realized how much speed the contraption gains while having great stability. Apparently, the skis set such a solid track in snow that anything was possible with Murphy and Mack finding out all limits their new death toy possessed.


The two knuckleheads with their pride and joy:




Murphy getting some help from behind:




And now it's up to inertia:





By an amazing act of God, no one was hurt during the moonlight luge session, so we were able to get some skiing done the next day. A storm was supposed to dump at least a six inches by Sunday morning, but every forecaster seemed to miss their prediction by twelve hours. Regardless, a few decent turns were had:


Lost Wonder Hut (2009.02.07-08) from Thomas Armento on Vimeo.


In all, it was a great weekend with all things considered. Sure, it would have been epic had I been able to stay an extra night like most of the others at the hut (snowfall was at an inch-per-hour rate at 3pm while I was returning to the trailhead and there was no sign of letting up), but it's probably best to save the vacation and sick days for something better.

102 | Utah . Day 03: Cutler Ridge

With shinbang kicking in from some extensive activity on Friday and Saturday, I put the Lord's day of rest to full use and pretended to be Mormon for just a few brief moments ... then the non-3.2% beer arrived and all was wonderfully balanced in the universe. People say three-two beer isn't all that, I beg to differ. When a bottle of Dos Equis tastes more watered-down than normal Coors Light, then we got some issues. But enough of Utah's beer and religious issues (nevermind a state filled with motor vehicle drivers that make people from Jersey seem safer than Mother Theresa having sex).



This is how Gary and I spent Monday which was our third and final day of touring:




That's Willard Peak which rises above 9,700 feet. We began our tour at 10am while starting at an elevation of 5,800 feet. Three leisure hours later, we found ourselves 2,500 feet closer to the sun. Although we didn't quite make our goal of reaching Ben Lomond, we did manage some decent turns through a flaky surface hoar layer that was roughly six inches deep in some spots. Can't complain with those conditions especially when it hasn't snowed in almost a week.


Our uphill route which was about 2.5 miles long:




Idiot's guide to the area:




Gary taking a short break while ascending:




The view below towards where we had started the day:




One final look at a beautiful peak that offers over 2,000 feet of terrain-trap-skiing that eventually funnels into a very narrow chute:





And now a little video:


Cutler Ridge . North Fork Park . UTAH (2009.02.02) from Thomas Armento on Vimeo.




Reflecting back, it was a very fun tour and one I hope to do again with better conditions and higher aspirations. The wind had been hammering hard on the slopes above treeline, so we had to stay below 8,000 feet where the snow had much better quality.