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A Wee Bit O’ Pow (and gear) — Today, Colorado

Bookmark and Share            By Lou

Headed up to Marble this morning to see what the latest climate change has wrought. Snowpack is not dissimilar to the Sierra, in that the midpack appears to be stable even without much of a nightly freeze, and was easily supporting the 18 inches or so of new it got over the past 48 hours (now settled to around 10 inches up high). While the snow wasn’t blower, it was very skiable and definitely tasty, as was the barbecue afterwards at Woody’s in Marble.

Backcountry skiing.
He balked, but I pressed Dave into duty as ski model. Check out the Zeal Flyers sunglasses. According to my fashion consultants, big lenses are in again. If that’s true, thankyou thankyou, as I’m tired of my eyes being fried by sunlight leaking behind stylish sunglasses no larger than a micro thong.

Backcountry skiing.
Dave took the digicam and shot this pic of yours truly.

Backcountry skiing.
On the up, we found the snowpack to be a bit complex in terms of avalanche safety. So we climbed and skied out of the trigger zones and to sides of the upper mainline. That’s a BCA Alp 40 backpack — still one of the best out there.

Backcountry skiing.
Dave at the start.

Backcountry skiing.
Chad scribes the foreground for “Little Alaska.”

Backcountry skiing.
Oh, almost forgot: happy birthday Chad! (That’s the birthday boy on left, while Dave celebrates the sauce and smoked brisket sandwich — along with his Orage bandanna.

Posted by Lou on May 9, 2008 | Filed Under Trip Reports 

previous post: 5Point is a Go
next post: Ho Ho Ho — more pow to go…

Comments

6 Responses to “A Wee Bit O’ Pow (and gear) — Today, Colorado”

  1. LBR May 9th, 2008 2:12 pm

    Mmmmmm….. Looks great.
    I was hoping to harvest some of that pow this am in the Front Range.
    Alas, I could find no partner.

  2. Dongshow May 9th, 2008 2:24 pm

    looks better then the spring conditions we’ve got in Alaska right now. The long day’s are cooking the snowpack a bit too much at the moment.

  3. Njord May 10th, 2008 3:52 am

    Happy Birthday Chad! Looks like I missed a heck of a day…. :(

    (Bandanas and “big sunglasses” will never be cool again. Maybe wristbands, but never the bandana…)

    Njord

  4. dave downing May 10th, 2008 5:35 pm

    in case you didn’t notice, Njord. I’m wearing the big sunglasses and the bandana, and the beard, AND I am cool. Therefore it is all cool. Ha!

  5. James C. May 10th, 2008 11:19 pm

    man i’m jealous i wish i was up there, haha. and yes! bandannas and big sunglasses are awesome. thats all i ever wear.

  6. Lynn May 11th, 2008 4:48 pm

    Skied that same area the week before, very nice terrain.

    Dave, you are looking a bit Euro with the colors and bandana, only thing missing is some 80’s lycra. You do not need to show us that however.

    It also makes me nervous to see the words micro-thong anywhere, even if you are referring to sunglasses

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Welcome to Louis (Lou) Dawson's backcountry skiing information and opinion website. Lou's passion for the past forty years has been alpinism, climbing, mountaineering and skiing -- along with all manner of outdoor recreation. He has authored numerous books and articles about backcountry skiing and is well known as the first person to ski down all 54 of Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks, otherwise known as the Fourteeners! Books and free back country information here, and tons of Randonnee rando telemark info.

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