Thread: Berthoud Pass 2011-2012 Observations, Conditions and Stoke

Originally Posted by PappaG

I'll likely be there by 7am tmrw (maybe earlier). Should be decent.

Get a job...wait a minute.

Headed up for some dp tomorrow too.

I guess I'll head over to Loveland Pass in the morning even though I don't have high expectations.

Originally Posted by SheRa

I guess I'll head over to Loveland Pass in the morning even though I don't have high expectations.

Above treeline at Loveland Pass was windblown with patches of soft with plenty of rocks. Below treeline was better snow, but tracked out. Hopefully we get some good snow tonight and it'll be better tomorrow.

Originally Posted by zartagen

Above treeline at Loveland Pass was windblown with patches of soft with plenty of rocks. Below treeline was better snow, but tracked out. Hopefully we get some good snow tonight and it'll be better tomorrow.

Cool, well I guess I'll do my part to work this new snow into the base and then we can have a big day Saturday.

hmmm, last Wednesday had faceshots at Berthoud, but at Loveland last Thursday, got to make fun of wasted Jersey kid who drove his car off the road.

Tomorrow doing an Afternoon Cruise at Berthoud . Will probably be in the parking lot around 1, hopefully. Last week found it to be reeaall deep around like Y-Chute? If I can't hook up with anyone with skins & avy gear when I arrive I'll probably pop on over there, or somewhere else unexposed.

SheRa, I may decide to cut my morning classes for some morning Lovin-land as well. I won't actually decide
until 5 min before leaving tomorrow, so if you see me up there feel free to say wassup. If you or someone else has gear & wants to do some touring to loose the CU/Gayper Crowd that would be extra rad. If I get a PM by tomorrow that would influence my decision.

-Gold CRV, Bright Red Beanie, Bright Red Jacket, Oakley Goggles, possibly cursing at skin falling off ski

if any of my DUAC homies are up tomorrow, gimme a shout

Shady I'd love to go skinning, but I tweaked my foot pretty good at Woodward last weekend and I'm limping around. Hope to jam on my ski boot and drop in one-legged tomorrow.

We can say hi at the bottom tomorrow. I'm the tall chick with the acid trip pants. I'll tour with you when I'm walking better again...

Went up there with Poop*Ghost this morning. Well... the base has melted off in some areas, frozen hard in others, and probably somewhat decent in others. We need a bit more snow out there for it to be worthy of the 'good-to-go' status. Still, some great pow was had.

I also found a shit-ton of rocks when I had 'no choice' but to drop down a line that I really didn't want to do (cuz I knew it was gonna be rough/thin). Skis are well-ready for that yearly early-season stone grind... hah. Pulled a nice piece of base material straight up from the core.

This morning was kind of like 'this is awesome!' 'this sucks!' 'this is awesome!'. Super-ambivalent conditions. I miss Independence Pass - wish it was open for this weekend.

I'm not exactly sure what you'd call it - but I managed to cut loose a mini-sluff/slide in Hells. It gets pretty steep in there (aprox. 40 degrees), a few deep turns then I fully hit the bottom and that let the top 12" go with me for about 20' before it stopped. Very slow and controlled movement, but not something I liked.

Lot's of hitting the bottom but we did find some reasonable turns.

^Pushalanche?

Originally Posted by Lindahl

This morning was kind of like 'this is awesome!' 'this sucks!' 'this is awesome!'. Super-ambivalent conditions. I miss Independence Pass - wish it was open for this weekend.

I think you fools are taking crazy pills. Look, it was nice to be outside and that is always good for the soul, but there was no point today when "this is awesome" applied. There were no more than a few inches of coverage at the top of HHA as evidenced by all the grass and rocks. The first pitch of mellow angle turns WAS creamy pow, but even there you were hitting bottom. It was backseat, light on the skis skiing. Then, at the roll in HHA, there was literally 8-10" on fucking rock. Super beat.

BERT IS NOT EVEN CLOSE RIGHT NOW IF YOU LIKE ACTUALLY SKIING AND/OR YOUR BASES. We need at least a foot up there, little/no wind/ and consolidation.

If you are reading this thread to decide whether or not to go up, do yourself a favor and stay home for at least another storm cycle.

At this point in the year, we're all taking crazy pills. I do think that lindahl and I actually said, "this is nice for just breathing some mountain air... but this is manky."

That said, we did get a few hip deep turns in - followed by hitting the bottom. I think that was what Lindalh was implying... not that anybody should be expecting anything even remotely good.

Nice of all you guys to pack out a base and round out those rocks for the rest of us.

^^^Hahahahaha. I love young lust for pow.

Thank you to all of you folk sluffing off the snow and setting off early season slides for the rest of us. Please boot pack all that HHA stuff down to prevent slides when there is actually snow up there.

Love, SM.

I was up there today as well w/ a buddy. Skiied 3 laps on the East Side. Lindahl and Poop* I think you were kind enough to let me pass you on the skintrack? We actually ended up skiing a similar line (i think) and saw the remnants of your push/slide...it looked sketch. Glad you are alright.

I agree with the last 3 posts. Powder snow is awesome, so is skiing, so yeah any time you get fresh snow there will be moments of awesome. The East side appears to be in better shape than the west, and BP definitely needs a few more storms to build the base. No way in hell I would be out there right now with anything other than my rock skis.

All in all a beautiful day to be out in the mountains.

Like PG said, I got some nice deep turns without hitting anything just before it rolled from 35 deg to 40 deg. That was awesome. So was the mellow creamy stuff mixed with a few taps. I guess I just have low standards when it comes to having fun on two planks on snow, which is fine by me. Either way, as I said, we need more snow before its good to go.

The HHA area we were in was really good last Wed. At least 2' everywhere. I didn't mind tapping stuff because it was all superficial and didn't mess with my flow. Was hoping that would turn into a good base but it seems it just got too warm and mostly melted off, with the rest of it refreezing, more or less. You win some, you lose some.

Overall I'm super impressed with ON3P durability. I would have come away with only superficial scratches again, were it not for being forced to descend the rock garden after the sluffalanche (we weren't the only ones to set one off, btw). I'd like to throw my hat in the ring at the CB comp either this year or next, so I just view that as training for real gnar.

Oh, and all skis are rock skis, as far as I'm concerned. Maybe if I had a weak ass pair of skis with swiss cheese bases that would core shot when I looked at a rock (Volkl Gotamas), I'd be singing a different tune (not targetted at anyone specifically).

Cheers.

Originally Posted by stupendous man

^^^Hahahahaha. I love young lust for pow.

Thank you to all of you folk sluffing off the snow and setting off early season slides for the rest of us. Please boot pack all that HHA stuff down to prevent slides when there is actually snow up there.

Love, SM.

This.

HHA is awesome for early season grass skiing. Love it. I actually try to take some care w my early season turns not to shove all the snow down the hill though.

I was thinking about pulling the trailor and shitter up there Sunday morning after the next storm cycle but.......? For years I've had good turns early in the past early but I'm skeptical and semi old like semi pro and don't want to ruin a good season to come on a dumbass rock. Who has gone somewhere besides the top of the pass? Skinned into current/2nd up high away from other humans who has some beta for old rednecks? Sound off for a man sitting on a shitter in front of a trailer, I don't get off this fucker for nothing.

^^^ No reason to leave the shitter for a while.

Pictures tend to help context.

A little bit of this...


to find this...


Before we hit this...

^^^^^^^^^^^ Lindahl skis like a gaper...

Looks fun for those 13 seconds, but everything else is plenty to make me glad I waited.

you guys make me nervous. careful up there.

Originally Posted by reidhresko

I think you fools are taking crazy pills. Look, it was nice to be outside and that is always good for the soul, but there was no point today when "this is awesome" applied. There were no more than a few inches of coverage at the top of HHA as evidenced by all the grass and rocks. The first pitch of mellow angle turns WAS creamy pow, but even there you were hitting bottom. It was backseat, light on the skis skiing. Then, at the roll in HHA, there was literally 8-10" on fucking rock. Super beat.

BERT IS NOT EVEN CLOSE RIGHT NOW IF YOU LIKE ACTUALLY SKIING AND/OR YOUR BASES. We need at least a foot up there, little/no wind/ and consolidation.

If you are reading this thread to decide whether or not to go up, do yourself a favor and stay home for at least another storm cycle.

My real BC mission for this year is to NOT ski Beater Pass anymore. Just reading this crap about 'stay light and backseat' 'It sucks it's awesome' makes me cringe. Get a fucking clue!!! Ain't no fucking snow yet!!!!!! Given the level of total clueless stupidity that goes on up there on a daily basis, I'm truly amazed more people don't die up there.

Originally Posted by Lindahl

Like PG said, I got some nice deep turns without hitting anything just before it rolled from 35 deg to 40 deg. That was awesome. So was the mellow creamy stuff mixed with a few taps. I guess I just have low standards when it comes to having fun on two planks on snow, which is fine by me. Either way, as I said, we need more snow before its good to go.

The HHA area we were in was really good last Wed. At least 2' everywhere. I didn't mind tapping stuff because it was all superficial and didn't mess with my flow. Was hoping that would turn into a good base but it seems it just got too warm and mostly melted off, with the rest of it refreezing, more or less. You win some, you lose some.

Overall I'm super impressed with ON3P durability. I would have come away with only superficial scratches again, were it not for being forced to descend the rock garden after the sluffalanche (we weren't the only ones to set one off, btw). I'd like to throw my hat in the ring at the CB comp either this year or next, so I just view that as training for real gnar.

Oh, and all skis are rock skis, as far as I'm concerned. Maybe if I had a weak ass pair of skis with swiss cheese bases that would core shot when I looked at a rock (Volkl Gotamas), I'd be singing a different tune (not targetted at anyone specifically).

Cheers.

All skis are rock skis. Nice. You are totally core.

You're going to hit rocks, you're going to get core shots, doesn't matter how long you wait, they'll be rock skis sooner or later (in CO). Has nothing to do with being core.

As far as coverage, there was 2'-3' in that same zone last Wed. Was hoping that would turn into a base. Instead it got too warm and most of it melted off. How are you going to know without getting out there? Wait at your desk job while other people are having fun? I say screw that. I'll enjoy the snow now, fix the one core shot I got, let it snow more and head back again. I've been skiing this way for at least 12 years without a single ski injury/incident (27 yrs of skiing with no injury/incident). It's not luck, it's experience. You like to be ultra conservative - good for you. Save your judgements for the real hacks who don't know about the dangers of hitting rocks and sluffing snow. I know what I'm doing, and yes, I choose to assume more risk than most (like many here).

Not sure where the 'backseat' comment came from, but yeah, staying light as you ski (not bouncing turns, but smearing turns) makes a HUGE difference.