Day 67 - Copper Mountain

Last day out west. Out 9:30 to 12:30 no break; sunny and warm; skied the Head I.Speed GS Cheater 19's; 16 runs, 15,000 vertical NASTAR only again - 10 hcp Platinum.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 66 - Copper Mountain

NASTAR only again. Out 9:15 to 12:15 no break; sunny with temps rising into the upper twenties and a little wind; skied the Atomic D2 3.0 Race GS's; 17 runs; 17,000 vertical; NASTAR hcp 7.54 - Platinum.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 65 - Copper Mountain

NASTAR only today. Out 9:30 to 12:00, no break; clear, cold, and windy; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 19's; 14 runs; 12,000 vertical; soft groomers; light crowd; lots of racing coming up the next 3 weeks, so I'm trying to conserve my knee while still getting days; with the soft snow they set a DH - not really, but it was awful straight; NASTAR hcp 5.26 - Platinum;

#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 64 - Copper Mountain

Out 9:00 to 1:00 with a ski change and a lunch break; clearing, 2-3" overnight with diminishing clouds, temps in the teens, and very little wind; started with the 2015 Volkl RaceTiger SL World Cups and almost immediately changed to the Line Supernatural 108's; 9 runs, 17,500 vertical; groomers and bumps; saw John Matisko today;

#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 63 - Copper Mountain

Out 9:00 to 1:00 with a coffee break; 25° and a little windy with this morning's high overcast building into a light snow by noon; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 19's; 18 runs; 20,000 vertical; groomers were pretty firm; plenty of snow here, just none recently; enough people out today to make a few lift lines; feeling ok, despite my right knee hurting a little; always thought A-nets were more or less permanent, but they were taking down the A-net at the US Ski Team Speed Center; NASTAR 9.39 hcp - Platinum.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 62 - Winter Park

Bored? Tired? Homesick? Left early when I went to the car to change skis and just left. Out for about an hour and a half; 3" snow last night; beautiful day - clear skies, light winds, and temps rising into the thirties; skied the Volkl Katanas; just 4 runs; 6,000 vertical; powder and wind blown snow; big crowd; disappointed when my first run strategy of heading for Eagle Wind backfired - Eagle Wind was still closed and I ended up wasting the first run on some flat run on High Lonesome; left hand still hurts from hitting it on a gate last week at Steamboat; right knee is a little balky too, but nothing that a little Vitamin I won't fix; I'll be glad to head home, even if it's only for a few days.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 61 - Winter Park

Out 9:00 to 12:30 with a coffee break; mostly cloudy and very windy with temps in the thirties; skied the Line Supernatural 108's; 10 runs; 17,000 vertical; groomers, trees, and bumps; top closed from opening bell, but surprised when other lifts like Olympia and Super Gauge closed later; liked the trees skier's left of Drunken Frenchman even though it got tobaggany at the bottom - not sure that's a word, but think steep Echo Woods; dinged both skis - narrow line of bumps with a large rock exposed in one of the troughs.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 60 - Winter Park

Out 9:00 to 1:00 with a fairly long break at the car changing skis; sunny and warm with just a little wind today; skied the Line Supernatural 108's and the Atomic D2 3.0 Race GS's; 14 runs; 20,000 vertical; Sunday's snow awaited up top, albeit with a nice 2 day wind crust; got the first chair, ok second, when they opened Panorama at 9:30 - got 3 nice runs up there before the hoards arrived; all groomers after break; liked Hughes and Sleeper; still haven't got to Eagle Wind or The Cirque - we'll Belle Fourche at least, since I'm not getting a Cirque Sled Pass.



#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 59 - Winter Park

Out 9:00 to 1:00 with a quick break; overcast and windy with temps rising into the thirties; skied the Blizzard Brahma #2's; 14 runs; 20,000 vertical; top of the mountain still closed due to high winds; explored most of the rest of the mountain today; tons of lifts here.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 58 - Winter Park

Definitely a holiday. Out 9:00 to 12:00 with a coffee break; snow, 2" overnight, 2" more this morning; 25° snowing and windy; skied the Line Supernatural 108s; 8 runs; 11,000 vertical; plenty of fluff on a firm base; not as much snow here overall as I've seen recently; the wind closed all the top of the hill - Panorama and Eagle Wind; mostly skied Mary Jane - plenty of bumps and trees with the requisite groomers; left early when it got crowded.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 57 - Steamboat

Five for Five. Out 9:00 to 11:45; sunny with temps rising through the twenties; skied the 2015 Volkl RaceTiger SL World Cups; 2 runs, plus a dozen on Bashor doing NASTAR; 5,000 vertical; took the Atomic D2 3.0 Race GS's out first thing, but changed skis when I looked at the NASTAR course; ski and drive today; 7 hcp - Platinum.



#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 56 - Steamboat

Late NASTAR. Out 9:15 to 2:00 with a long, early coffee break when NASTAR was booked for a private function until noon; high, thin overcast barely dimmed today's sunshine - temps near freezing, no wind; skied the 2015 Volkl RaceTiger SL World Cups; 3 runs and maybe 20 over at NASTAR - ran the training course 4 times before coffee; early groomer was pretty firm on the pitch; right hand is a little sore today after hitting it on a gate yesterday; 13 hcp - Platinum

#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 55 - Steamboat

Out 9:15 to 3:00 with a long lunch break; sunny and warm, temps in the upper thirties this afternoon; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 19's and the Line Supernatural 108's; 7 runs, plus 15 or so on Bashor running NASTAR; 13,000 vertical; lots of groomers; explored Sunrise and Sundown areas this afternoon; Billy Kidd just showed up at NASTAR this morning - sorry, none of the pictures came out very well; worked hard for that last tenth, last run of the day was my fastest and only Platinum; 14 hcp - Platinum

#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 54 - Steamboat

NASTAR and a nap. Out 830 to 3:15 with lunch and a nap; sunny with temps around freezing and no wind; skied the 2015 Volkl RaceTiger SL World Cups and the Line Supernatural 108's; 10 runs or so and 15+ over at NASTAR; 19,000 vertical; big crowd for Tuesday; things are starting to firm up on the groomers, otherwise it's skied in but still soft; very tired this afternoon exploring, I guess NASTAR is more work than I give it credit for; 8 hcp - Platinum.



#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 53 - Steamboat

Just NASTAR this morning. Out 9:45 to 12:00; overcast with temps in the twenties; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 19's; just 1 run up to the NASTAR hill, maybe 16 runs up and down that lift; 4,000 vertical; 6 hcp - Platinum.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 52 - Brighton

Spoiled - despite new snow, got bored and left early. Out 9:00 to 12:00 with a lunch break; 3" new snow overnight; mostly sunny with temps rising into the twenties and no wind - nice day for pictures; skied the Line Supernatural 108's; 8 runs; 10,000 vertical; baby soft groomers, baby soft trees, and baby soft bumps; crowded; did my skis last night.



#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 51 - Brighton

Out 9:00 to 3:00 with a breakfast break and a nap; overcast with light snow - no real accumulation; 12° this morning, 18° when I quit; skied the Line SuperNatural 108's; 18 runs; 22,900 vertical; a few groomers, lots of natural snow trails and some trees; just a couple of things left here to ski - one of the steep chutes through the trees off Great Western and something looker's left off Milly; liked the aspen glade between Rockin' R and Golden Needle - found it last run of the day.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 50 - Solitude

Out 9:00 to 2:00 with a lift ticket and lunch break - I'll explain later; partly cloudy and cold with very little wind - 1° this morning, 16° when I quit; skied the Line SuperNatural 108's; 21 runs; 27,500 vertical; lots of very nice groomers; started at Brighton this morning and skied to Solitude; I took an early break when I had to walk into Solitude's village to get my lift ticket; my skis need done badly; liked Serenity to Stumble, Inspiration, and Blue Spruce.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 49 - Brighton

Out 9:00 to 2:30 with coffee and lunch breaks; high, thick clouds and very little wind - 0° overnight, 14° when I quit; skied the Line SuperNatural 108's; 18 runs; 21,500 vertical; mostly packed powder, but soft, soft, soft; mostly groomers, a few trees and such; liked Pioneer to Pine Marten and aspen/pine glade off ???; didn't get to Milly - I'll do extra over there Thursday.



#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 48 - Brighton

Pow - 11" overnight with light to moderate snow continuing all day! Out 9:00 to 2:30 with a coffee and a lunch break; 15° snowing and windy - new snow accumulating at least a couple of inches; skied the Volkl Katanas; 17 runs; 19,575 vertical; powder - tons of snow here; lots of short tree shots; fair crowd as you'd expect for a foot of snow; fresh tracks all day if so inclined; kept skiing into flat spots; rode every lift - all 6 of them; Brighton's RFID lift tickets actually say Crystal Mountain on them.

#justgivemeagroomer