Out 9:45 to 1:45 with lunch in the bar; clear, relatively cold and still; 19 runs; 14,855 vertical; skied the Volkl Mantra M5's; some good grooming on Karyatis, Meadows and the top ½ of Oddesey; good snowmaking progress; hit a wet gun on the very bottom of Odyssey and took a hard fall - hard enough that my new phone called 911 - seriously.
Out 9:30 to 2:00 with a coffee break in the bar; a coating of new snow overnight - overcast with a little wind, a few flurries and temps around 30° today; 20 runs; 15,500 vertical; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; especially nice grooming and snow on the Meadows and the top half of Odyssey; Olympian was even worth a redo; skied okay.
Out 12:30 to 4:00; heavy overcast with light flurries and temps around 30°; 18 runs; 14,750 vertical; skied the Nordica Enforcer 88's; good groomering on Fields/Stoic and Keryatis with totally variable snowmaking, etc. on Odyssey;
Out 9:00 to 1:30 with lunch in the lodge; sunny with temps rising through the thirties and relatively little wind; 20 runs; 30,416 vertical; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; frozen grooming in spots, but various amount of snowmaking everywhere else; lots of people but very little lift line - significantly fewer people out after lunch; skied with John P. and his daughter Anika; Minya Kona was pretty good - deep, soft snowmaking reserved till almost 11AM; skied okay.
Out 9:00 to 1:30 with a 45 minute lunch break in the lodge; overcast with the tinyest bit of wind and temps rising through the thirties; 18 runs; 27,971 vertical; skied the Nordica Enforcer 88's; frozen grooming, chunks, sticky snowmaking and plenty of rocks to start, but things got skied in pretty well by 10:00 or so and Hellgate-7th Ave-Kennedy was actually pretty good; plenty of people, but never even a hint of a liftline; surprised how many people I knew - the Tomassetti's, Dale Z., and David W. #3 (not Windhausen or Wadas); skied okay I guess.
#justgivemeagroomer
Day 1, FINALLY! Out 8:15 to 1:30 with a quick coffee break to change into my rain gear - 106 days last season in CO and it didn't rain once - welcome home; 40°, cloudy and windy with a few rain showers from 10 to noon; 23 runs; 17,378 vertical; skied the Blizzard Bonafides; softening grooming with some dirt spots poking through on Stoic; got to the hill early to pick up my pass and was rewarded when they opened 15 minutes early; plenty of old friends - Kris, Doug, David, Mark...
Out 8:30 to 2:30 with a lunch break in the Mid-Vail Lodge; cloudy and a little windy up high with temps in the thirties; 22 runs; 29,552 vertical; skied the Nordica Enforcer 88's; groomers and a little natural snow; empty early, but a few people in the afternoon; China Bowl and Blue Sky Basin were closed; almost every groomer I did was excellent: Lodgepole, Avanti, Overeasy (2), Hunky Dory, Slifer Express, Swingsville, Northstar (2), Sourdough, Boomer, Ramshorn... even skier's right through the Golden Peak Terrain Park (2); 'only' skied a couple of nats: Blue Ox, Riva Ridge (non-stop from the top of the Mountaintop Express to Vail Village) and a section of Prima; rode 11 different front-side lifts today - the only one of note that I missed was Gondola One; anything front-side, low was very soft this afternoon.
#justgivemeagroomer
Out 9:00 to 2:30 with coffee at Solitude Station and lunch in the car; 2" more overnight - cloudy and a little warmer today with temps in the teens - still very windy; 20 runs; 29,951 vertical; skied the K2 Mindbender 108 Ti's and the Nordica Enforcer 88's; plenty of groomers, but plenty of 3 day old snow too; USASA finally left so it was basically empty today; first tracks on the lightly covered grooming on High Point-Lower Carefree this AM was extra nice - the Mindbenders were actually humming on the fresh, baby soft snow; it was neat skiing directly with the 30 mph wind down High Point on both the first run and last runs; loved skiing the Enforcers this afternoon.
#justgivemeagroomer
Out 9:00 to 2:00 with coffee in Solitude Station and lunch in the car; 2" overnight - cold and snowy with a lot of wind - temps in the single digits all day; 17 runs; 27,215 vertical; skied the K2 Mindbender 108 Ti's; groomers mostly; once again nobody else out except the USASA kids; rode the bubble a lot to keep out of the wind; Andy's - Oh No - Rosi's was very good again; thought the leg was better till I tried to ski - despite today's vertical I skied very, very causiously.
#justgivemeagroomer
Out 9:00 to 12:15 with a coffee break in Solitude Station; 2" overnight; full on winter today - cold and snowing hard with the wind just starting to build when I left - temps steady around 15°; 11 runs; 14,436 vertical; skied the Blizzard Bonafides; nobody other than the last of the USASA kids out today and they were all clustered around Woodward, so no big deal; took the time to ride Lumberjact and Kokomo - both for the first time this season; missed yesterday with a mysterious left leg ailment that suddenly developed on Sunday and just as suddenly disappeared yesterday evening - it was a little tender today, so I stuckd almost exclusively to low angle groomers - feels fine as I write this, so my plan is to go a little harder tomorrow.
Out 9:00 to 1:00 with lunch in the Black Mountain Lodge; sunny, warm and a little windy - temps rising into the thirties; 15 runs; 16,999 vertical; skied the Nordica Enforcer 88's; groomers mostly and a little bit of old snow; fair number of people out, but never more that a few people in the liftline; did 3 down Beavers and 2 down Pali; Pali Face is steep; skier's right on the bottom half of Loafer was great - steep, groomed, super firm and very rolly; a little tired in the soft snow this afternoon so I just bagged it.
Out 9:00 to 2:30 with lunch in the Spruce Saddle Lodge; plenty of sunshine and wind with temps in the low thirties; 21 runs; 33,194 vertical; skied the Blizzard Bonafides; all sorts of groomers - frozen firm first thing to mushy at the bottom by the end of the day; very few people; covered lots of ground; liked Larkspur, Cabin Fever and President Ford's: great view of the Gore Range today.
Out 9:30 to 3:00 with lunch at JJ's; cold and very windy - temps rising through the teens - with the windy we had a mix of everything: sun, clouds, snow showers,... ; 19 runs; 35,141 vertical; skied the 2019 Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; groomers; nobody other that USASA on the hill today; took my second fall of the season - got caught in a pocket of deep snow coming down onto Andy's from West Encore; Andy's-Oh No-Rosi's was very, very good; I like these skis;
Out 9:00 to 2:15 with lunch at JJ's; 2" overnight - very windy with snow - maybe another 2" today; 15 runs; 27,189 vertical; skied the Blizzard Bonafides; groomers and various other things covered by a little new snow; nobody else out other than the USANA National Championship competitors; top and back of the mountain closed all day due to wind; American Flyer and Super Bee closed too after lunch - American Eagle, Alpine and Resolution the only chairs open when I left; American Flyer first thing and the very top of Coppertone were very sweet; sunk my poles in all the way to the grips on Far East.
#justgivemeagroomer
Out 8:30 to 1:30 with coffee at Two Elks; clear and sunny with temps in the thirties and a little wind that kicked up around noon; groomers mostly and a little day old; 19 runs; 27,939 vertical; skied the Blizzard Bonafides; plenty of people by noon - almost empty at opening bell; took the blue groomer tour of the Back Bowls - made it all the way back to Blue Sky Basin - it's just over 10 miles as the bird flies from the bottom of 19-Eagle Bahn to the top of 39-Pete's; Red Zinger was spectacular - perfect, sun backed softness - I did 2; beautiful view of the Gore Range today from the frontside, but's that not the picture.
Out 9:00 to 1:45 with a coffee break at Solitude Station; 2" overnight - light snow with temps in the twenties and no wind to start then afer coffee the wind kicked up giving way to plenty of afternoon sunshine and temps around freezing; 16 runs; 23,165 vertical; skied the Blizzard Bonafides; baby soft groomers with a couple inches of fluff on top (Copperfield) to frozen coral lurking just below the surface of the new snow (Cornice Chute); virtually nobody else on the hill - skied untracked all day; passed 2,000,000 vertical today; Copperfield first thing was heaven; did several things for the first time: Boardwalk, Park Place, Spaulding Glades, Enchanted Forest from the first gate on Lilly G and Cache Glades; after reviewing Google Maps and today's Ski Tracks I actually did the trees just beyond Looking Glass not Cache Glades.
Out 8:30 to 11:30 without a break; clear skies and a little bit of wind with temps rising through the twenties; 11 runs, 17,444 vertical; skied the 2019 Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; groomer; virtually empty today; Team Summit Masters - NASTAR type GS all the way down Richtor; last Team Summit training day of the year, so probably my last Keystone day as well; skied poorly again - turning in early at the top of the turn on every right footer on the steep.
Out 9:00 to 12:30 with coffee at Solitude Station; 4" overnight - snowy and windy with temps in the twenties; 12 runs; 17,217 vertical; powder that felt a lot like dust on crust; very few people again today; skied like crap.
#justgivemeagroomer
Out 9:00 to 1:00 with an early lunch at JJ's; light snow with temps right around freezing; 14 runs; 27,188 vertical; skied the 2019 Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; groomers with just a dusting of new snow to soften things the tinyest of bits; absolutely nobody else out - rode single all day except once on Super Bee and once on Excelerator; Collage was a dream - groomed flat and frozen solid with a tiny bit of new snow.
#justgivemeagroomer
Uncle Bob Day 5. Out 9:30 to 1:00 with a coffee break in the Adirondack chairs out on the deck at the base of Peak 7; 8 runs; 9,982 vertical; skied the Blizzard Bonafides; quickly softening groomers; not too many people - small to no liftlines; we made the effort and reached Peak 6; Bob's last day - he absolutely killed it this week.
#justgivemeagroomer
Uncle Bob Day 4. Out 8:30 to 12:15 with a coffee break in the lodge at Mid-Vail; sunny and warm with a little wind - after a below freezing start temps rebounded quickly into the low fifties; 11 runs; 11,703 vertical; skied the Blizzard Bonafides; the first frozen, truly crunchy groomers of the year to start, then steadily softening snow as the day wore on; to my utter surprise the crowd was very reasonable - believe it or not there were virtually no liftlines; finally got to ski a full day with Bob - we had a blast.
Uncle Bob Day 3. Out 8:30 to 12:00, no break; sunny, warm and little windy - temps rising into the low forties; 10 runs, 15,838 vertical; skied the 2015 Volkl RaceTiger SL World Cups; groomer; very few people - absolutely no liftlines other than opening bell; Team Summit Masters - 6 runs through a 40 gate SL course on Richtor; skied poorly; today's pic is of Matt Fox our coach.
Uncle Bob Day 2. Out 8:30 to noon, no break; sunny and warm with a little wind - temps rising through the twenties into the mid-thirties; 10 runs; 15,838 vertical; skied the 2015 Volkl RaceTiger SL World Cups; groomer; dropped Uncle Bob at Breck while I did Keystone - made him ride the bus home; Team Summit Masters - 15 gate GS course on Richtor; actually skied pretty well; didn't look at the schedule and got to the hill ready to train SL when we were actually doing GS.
Uncle Bob Day 1. Out 8:30 to 2:30 with lunch in the Mountain House Base Lodge; sunny and windy with temps rising through the teens and twenties toward freezing; 13 runs; 21,897 vertical; skied the Atomic Redster G9 RS's and Blizzard Bonafides; pretty good crowd, just no real liftlines; Team Summit Masters - 15 gate GS on Richtor set by David S. not Matt; skied my best run of the season the first time through the course, then just so-so.
Out 9:00 to 1:15 with a coffee break in Solitude Station; snowing lightly with very little wind and temps in the twenties; 20 runs; 31,032 vertical; skied the 2019 Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; groomers, day old groomers with a light coating of new snow and some good stuff off Tucker Mountain; good crowd for a Monday, but little to no liftlines; actually skied a little better today; these skis worked very well today.
#justgivemeagroomer
Rocky Mountain Masters SL.
11 51 Burns, Martin M8 Team Summit 1:04.45 (10) 1:01.32 (11) 2:05.77 (11)
#justgivemeagroomer
Rocky Mountain Master GS. Out 8:30 to 1:00 with a quick break in the car between runs; clear, cold and a little windy with temps quickly rising through the teens and twenties to just above freezing; 13 runs; 13,664 vertical; skied the Atomic G9 Revoshocks; not too much of a crowd for a weekend; didn't ski particularly well, but I did achieve both my goals for the day - don't finish last in my class (I was 3rd of 5) and to be within 10 seconds of the fastest time each run (+9.93 and +9.89 - just barely, but I made it).
25 51 Burns, Martin M8 Team Summit 58.47 (25) 1:01.22 (26) 1:59.69 (25)
#justgivemeagroomer
Out 8:30 to 12:00 without a break; clear and cold with the tinyest bit of wind, 3° in the parking lot to start, but 29° when I left; 11 runs; 17,157 vertical; skied the 2015 Volkl RaceTiger SL World Cups; groomer; not too big of a crowd, never a real liftline other than at opening bell; Team Summit Masters - 5 runs through a 35 gate SL course on Richtor; skied horribly.
Out 9:00 to 11:45 with coffee in Solitude Station; 6" overnight - snowing with temps rising toward twenty and very little wind - maybe 2" more before I left; 12 runs; 15,223 vertical; skied the K2 Mindbender 108 Ti's; crowd wasn't too bad considering all the snow - never really any liftlines; untracked on Copperfield, Little Burn, Endeavor, skier's right on Union Peak down through Union Gap and So Fine; also did Valentine's completing everything on Tucker Mountain; knee deep lower down on Union Peak, on So Fine and back on Tucker; got a "very nice" from the chair doing Little Burn; Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Out 8:30 to 12:00 without a break; warm with a growing overcast and temps right at freezing - no wind really; 10 runs, 15,623 vertical; Atomic D2 3.0 Race GS's; groomer; big crowd; Team Summit Masters - 5 runs through a 15 gate GS course on Richtor; very little snow kicked up in photo #2.
Out 9:00 to 12:15 with coffee in Solitude Station; warm and mostly sunny with a little wind and temps rising through the twenties; 10 runs; 15,803 vertical; skied the Nordica Enforcer 88's; groomers and some day old stuff; big crowd, so I left early; did Cornice Chute in Spaulding Bowl - it was still pretty good.
#justgivemeagroomer
Out 9:00 to 2:15 with coffee in Solitude Station and lunch in the car; 3" overnight, mostly sunny with a little wind, 16° in the parking lot this morning, 27° when I left; 15 runs; 20,761 vertical; powder and some wind blown styrofoam in places way up high; skied the K2 Mindbender 108 Ti's; plenty of people, but no real liftlines; everything before coffee was untracked - Copperfield, Copperfield, Little Burn, Kaboom, Endeavor, and Union Peak-Union Gap; finally got Boulderado - that only leaves Valentine's on Tucker Mountain; groomer adjacent parking today.
Lee and Tony Day 5. Out 9:00 to 2:30 with coffee and lunch breaks; cold and very windy with intermittent snow showers, -6° in the parking lot to start, 19° when we left; 12 runs; 15,000 vertical; skied the K2 Mindbender 108 Ti's; firm groomers and some day old stuff off Pali; pretty small crowd; just Tony and me again today.
Lee and Tony Day 4. Out 9:00 to 2:15 with coffee in Solitude Station and lunch in the car; 7" overnight - snowy, cold and windy today with temps in the single digits; 14 runs; 18,591 vertical; skied the DPS Alchemist Lotus 124's; powder; pretty big crowd, but I stayed up high and avoided most of the liftlines; rest day for Lee and Tony.
Lee and Tony Day 3. Out 9:00 to 2:15 with breaks for coffee and lunch; snowy, cold and very windy - temps in the teens with a couple of inches of new snow; 17 runs; 14,413 vertical; skied the Blizzard Bonafides; powder and packed powder; not much of a crowd; just Tony and I again today.
Lee and Tony Day 2. Out 9:00 to 2:30 with coffee in Solitude Station and lunch at JJ's; clear and cold with very little wind; 13 runs, 18,279 vertical; skied the Blizzard Bonafides; baby soft groomers; standard Tuesday crowd; just Tony and I.
Lee and Tony day 1. Out 9:00 to 1:30 with a coffee and general rest breaks in Solitude Station; overcast and cold with very little wind and some light snow, temps in the teens; 10 runs; 12,169 vertical, skied the Blizzard Bonafides; soft groomers; seemed like a big crowd right off the bat, but never really any lift lines; skied okay; the groomers on Timberline were very good.
Out 8:30 to 2:00 with lunch in the car; increasing overcast with a few flurries up high, 27° in the parking lot this morning, 37° when I left; 15 runs; 23,299 vertical; skied the Atomic Redster GS RS's and the 2019 Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; groomers mostly, some bumps; big crowd; Team Summit Masters - GS on Richtor; skied horribly.
#justgivemeagroomer
Out 8:30 to 3:00 with a long lunch in the car; warm and sunny with little to no wind, temps started right at freezing and ended in the forties; 19 runs; 29,798 vertical; skied the 2015 Volkl RaceTiger SL World Cups and the Blizzard Brahma #2's; groomers, many very firm; not much of a crowd; Team Summit Masters - SL on Richtor; first fall of the season today - lost a ski when hooked a gate - went down hard, face first.
#justgivemeagroomer
Out 8:30 to 3:00 with a long lunch in the car; warm and sunny with little to no wind, temps started in the teens and ended in the forties; 20 runs; 31,520 vertical; skied the Atomic Redster G9 RS's and the Blizzard Bonafides; groomers, many very firm; not much of a crowd; Team Summit Masters - GS on Richtor;
#justgivemeagroomer
Out 9:00 to 1:00 with a coffee break in Solitude Station; sunny and warm with temps rising into the forties; 21 runs; 27,765 vertical; skied the Blizzard Bonafides; groomers and softening stuff up high; not too many people; they groomed The Moz - very nice first thing - I did 4; Revenge softened nicely, so I did 3 up there to end the day; skiing okay; missed yesterday after getting to the hill without my pass.
#justgivemeagroomer
Out 9:00 to 3:00 with coffee at Solitude Station and lunch in the car; another 1" or so overnight - morning haze and snow flurries gave way to some sun by the afternoon - single digit temps with a little wind; skied the Blizzard Bonafides; 25 runs; 31,736 vertical; packed powder; pretty big crowd - typical for a Friday; first tracks on Copperfield - untracked, baby soft groomer with just enough new snow to fill in the ridges - I did 3;
#justgivemeagroomer
Out 9:00 to 11:30 with an early coffee break at Solitude Station to warm up my hands; 2" overnight - mostly cloudy and cold with a little wind, some snow showers and temps in the single digits; 10 runs; 16,382 vertical; skied the Blizzard Bonafides; powder and packed powder; lots of people - I left when I came back to the car for an early lunch and the lines at American Flyer and American Eagle were huge (maybe 10+ minutes); Windsong was a baby soft groomer this am; the rolls on Upper Oh No were fun enough for a second try; the bumps on the very top of Main Vein were very good as well - not sure why, but hardly anybody skis them; skiing okay; the Bonafides killed it again today.
#justgivemeagroomer
Out 9:00 to 1:00 with a warm up break in the car; 2" more overnight, on and off snow today with temps in the teens and a stiff wind coming from the south; 14 runs; 21,995 vertical; skied the Blizzard Bonafides; powder and packed powder mostly, but lots of bumps and even a few trees; another big crowd today; the untracked bumps on Union Gap stood out today; did a couple runs with some kid (26 yrs old) from Denver - he was really impressive in the bumps.
#justgivemeagroomer
Out 9:00 to 1:00 with a coffee break in Solitude Station; 2" overnight, light to moderate snow all day, maybe another inch by the time I left, temps in the teens, very little wind for a snow day; 15 runs; 23,645 vertical; skied the Nordica Enforcer 88's; 1"-2" on top of groomers early, then some old groomers and bumps; compared to yesterday there was absolutely nobody out today - in reality it was a pretty typical Tuesday crowd; tore up today's skis on Jacque's - I now need to patch all 3 of my good, all-mountain skis; Copperfield first thing was dreamy; Triple Treat was a triple treat as well; finally did Overlode; rode the same chair on Timberline two runs in a row - chair 69.
#justgivemeagroomer
Only out for 90 minutes, left at 10:30 when the crowd just got too big; clear and windy with temps in the twenties; 9 runs, 11,938 vertical; skied the Nordica Enforcer 88's; firm groomers; huge crowd; tweaked what I think is the adductor muscle way up high on my left thigh.
#justgivemeagroomer
Out 9:00 to 12:00 with a quick coffee break in Solitude Station; overcast with temps in the upper teens and a little wind - it's trying to snow, it's just not succeeding very well; 13 runs; 18,091 vertical; skied the Nordica Enforcer 88's; plenty of people - I left 1 run early when Sierra had a 2-3 minute line; Collage groomed is dreamy - they don't do that enough; changed things up a little this moring and lapped Sierra/Timberline rather than just Timberline; tried to do Valentine's or Boulderado on Tucker, but the entry from the top looked really sketchy and I didn't see an open gate in the rope line lower down; a little sick today.
#justgivemeagroomer
Out 8:30 to 10:30 without a break; clear, cool and a little bit of wind, 5° in the parking lot this am, around 20° when I left; 13 runs 14,166 vertical; skied the Blizzrd Bonafides; groomers, old snow and steeps; not too many people - never a lift line anywhere; wanted to ski Peak 6, but I circled the Freedom Superchair 4 times waiting for Zendo to open to no avail; so I got mad, did both sides of Imperial Ridge on Peak 8 and went home.
#justgivemeagroomer
Out 9:00 to 3:30 with ski change and lunch breaks at the car; clear, cold and calm - 0° in the lot this morning, 16° when I left; 31 runs, 34,741 vertical; skied the Atomic Redster GS RS's, the 2019 Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's and the Blizzard Bonafides; groomers, old snow, bumps and steeps; there were people, but the only liftline I stood in was at American Eagle right at noon; NASTAR 4.55 hcp - Platinum; last chair again on Three Bears; did The Springs on Tucker; got a compliment from the liftie at Blackjack on the way back, "Watched you come down, you're good."; Gold Digger was worth a second run at the end of the day.
Out 9:00 to 1:45 with a warm up break in the car to change skis; clear, cold and calm, -10° in the parking lot this morning, 2° when I left; 21 runs; 26,785 vertical; skied the 2019 Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's and the Volkl M5 Mantras; groomers, bumps and steeps; big crowd, had to circle Excelerator waiting for the line at the Storm King T-Bar to dissapate; did Cabin Chute and Resolution Bowl-Sawtooth both with only one stop; on my way back to Three Bears skier's left on Lillie G was basically a noon groomer; did Denverite on Tucker.
#justgivemeagroomer
Out 8:30 to 2:00 with warmup and lunch breaks in the car; clear and very cold with no wind, -17° in the parking lot this morning and 9° when I left; skied the 2015 Volkl RaceTiger SL World Cups and the Volkl M5 Mantras; 17 runs, 27,964 vertical; nobody else was out; groomers, bumps and trees; finally made it to The Outback and did The Grizz, Pika Glades and Timberwolf; did Geronimo, Bullet and a couple down Starfire on North Peak too; the flatter stuff on The Outback had much better snow - Timberwolf was fantastic; Life Flight helicopter landing.
