158 | Chasing Powder in Utah | 23-24 Jan 2010

Here in Colorado, we are still facing a strong El Nino presence that is killing any hope for a persistent storm cycle to reach the central and northern mountain ranges. Last Thursday, over four inches of moisture was heading towards the southwest portion of the state. The obvious call for any skier was to flee towards Wolf Creek, Telluride, and Silverton, but Bill, Steve, and myself decided against logic and drove the extra two hours to spend the weekend in Utah. We were on the road some time after 8pm and didn't enter Salt Lake City until 3:30 in the morning on Saturday with just a few hours to rest. In most situations, such a lack of sleep would make most people miserable, but when the amount of fresh snow in feet is greater than the number of hours of sleep you had the previous night, you're gonna have a good day.

Check that.

You're gonna have an unbelievable day.


Need proof? Below are some photos courtesy of Steve Mokan - be sure to check out the complete gallery from the trip as well as the rest of his portfolio.



Your author at Solitude on Sunday with plenty of leftover powder:













Bill getting it done at Snowbird the previous day:









And now, sixty seconds of helmet camera footage:

Snowbird, UT | 2010.01.23 from Thomas Armento on Vimeo.

157 | 09/10 Early Season Ski Edit

After a long dry spell deplete of any deep powder to be excited about, the three-day weekend starting with New Year's Day at Monarch followed by two consecutive backcountry trips nearby finally brought me and the crew out of the funk. The snow was so unbelievable good on Saturday that an immediate return is in order. And on Sunday, Gary and I scored unexpected blower snow at Berthoud Pass where we skied a rare untouched line in the 90s area before skinning up Perfect Trees to Middle 110s where we continued to find great conditions. Towards the bottom of our second lap, we uncovered more than a handful of bare spots but the top section more than made up for any mishaps at the end of the run.


With that said, below is a collection of helmet camera footage from the last couple of weeks that I hope you will enjoy (for those wondering, I'm on the 190cm Bibby Pro from Moment Skis).

09/10 Early Season Ski Edit from Thomas Armento on Vimeo.

156 | Colorado Powder | 2 Jan 2010

After scoring a fulfilling resort day on Friday, I took a turn towards the backcountry with nine others as our salivating quest for powder was quickly quenched on Saturday while skiing an area within the Sawatch Range. The snow was no shallow than two feet and it was plenty dry and fluffy to match our needs during current desperate times. Below are a few photos from Forrest as well as helmet camera footage from the five-mile tour.


Here's Gary and Cody at the top before beginning the final push towards the goods:




Chris finding his happy place:




And myself getting lost in the white room:

Colorado Powder | 2010.01.02 from Thomas Armento on Vimeo.

155 | New Year's Day Powder at Monarch, CO | 1 Jan 2010

What better way is there to bring in the new year than by spending it at a skier's mountain with decent leftover powder? On New Year's Day, I made the trek to Monarch, Colorado with hopes of finding untouched areas that collected eighteen inches of new snow in the previous two days. While most of the terrain was fairly tracked, we certainly made the most of it ...

Monarch, CO | 2010.01.01 from Thomas Armento on Vimeo.