Colorado Weather Discussion Thread

[cmsummit]

Sled laps at the local junkshow were fantastic on Saturday......2 feet up high. Biggest single day storm of the season here. The snow did get heavier quickly after the first couple of runs when the sun peaked through for a brief moment, but it was snowing again when we left.

[Name Redacted]

Maybe not the most optimal place to ask this....but does anyone know what the deal is with the A-Basin BC gate at the top of Montezuma this time of year? Can you still access that gate? If so, are you allowed to hike up standard North Pole (in-bounds) bootpack if you go through the gate as long as you exit into Thurman's Bowl or Chihuahua Gulch and don't ski the east wall?

Thinking about piecing together a tour/shuttle through chihuahua gulch that utilizes that gate as access...It looks like a gold mine of spectacular spring lines can be accessed from that gate if A-Basin allows it and you play your cards right. If that gate is accessible, it even becomes feasible to huff it with backpacking gear to camp in Chihuahua gulch and ski in there for a couple of days.

They used to not mind. You might just ask. I asked once and they said they didn't care but that was maybe 10 years ago. We even skied Thurmans and skinned back into the resort once because a storm moved in. You could at least drop into Thurmans, then skin up to Chihuahua and drop one of the lower couloirs. The classic lap is Chihuahua>Marjorie. I used to add on something on Black too when I was in shape. All skied out to Peru Creek a few times. Fun stuff back there. There's some fun straight lines and drops in Chihuahua. Not totally sure that there'd be much snow left back there this season though.

[bamboocoreONLY]

Another 5-6" in town in breck this AM

[fastfred]

gonna be epic all time out there today
which one of you morans skied silver on friday afternoon?

[brutah]

which one of you morans skied silver on friday afternoon?

morons* unless jim moran was out there skiing.

[Danno]

morons* unless jim moran was out there skiing.

Get a brain, moran.

[skaredshtles]

Get a brian, moran.

Fixed that for you.

[dmgod]

morons* unless jim moran was out there skiing.

Love the Jim Moran reference (I lost my favorite "Jimmer would launch it" shirt that was supporting his spinal injury fund). Sounds like someone else who was in the bump scene in the late 90s/ early 00s - likely a greater than 80% chance that we ran in the same circles...

[Danno]

Heading to Oak Creek for the weekend. Have one day to bike (well, I have all weekend, but only one day looks like good weather). What should I ride? I'm assuming that higher up trails are out. Not looking for a super long ride. I did Beall-Ridge loop last time I was there, which was nice, but not so nice that I want to do it again. Should I just do the front side of Emerald? If so, any connectivity suggestions?

[Name Redacted]

Heading to Oak Creek for the weekend. Have one day to bike (well, I have all weekend, but only one day looks like good weather). What should I ride? I'm assuming that higher up trails are out. Not looking for a super long ride. I did Beall-Ridge loop last time I was there, which was nice, but not so nice that I want to do it again. Should I just do the front side of Emerald? If so, any connectivity suggestions?

Front side of emerald is fun. I like the buff pass trails like flash of gold but someone else would need to verify if that open. Morning Gloria to npr is fun. Or just up lupine.

[brutah]

Heading to Oak Creek for the weekend. Have one day to bike (well, I have all weekend, but only one day looks like good weather). What should I ride? I'm assuming that higher up trails are out. Not looking for a super long ride. I did Beall-Ridge loop last time I was there, which was nice, but not so nice that I want to do it again. Should I just do the front side of Emerald? If so, any connectivity suggestions?

Sounds like most of emerald is just starting to dry/have trees trimmed. Morning Gloria, lupine and NPR all go, but not sure what else.

Spring creek to spring roll was perfect dirt this week. Flash of gold is closed till June 15th and I don't think anything off of buff pass is dry yet.

On the mountain, I think your options are creekside and lower rawhide. Maybe valley view(?)

Red dirt, mad creek and hot springs are good spring options, but I heard a bridge washed out on mad creek so maybe not an option right now.

[skiracer88_00]

Northern mountains are still going off! Coon hill was fantastic this morning. The snow this week really transformed the spring peak bagging season!

It was getting hot. I dropped around 8AM. Could have waited a bit longer, but not by much!

[skaredshtles]

<snip>
Spring creek to spring roll was perfect dirt this week.

@Danno - do this until you are sufficiently tired. Thank brutah later.

[Jax]

Heading to Oak Creek for the weekend. Have one day to bike (well, I have all weekend, but only one day looks like good weather). What should I ride? I'm assuming that higher up trails are out. Not looking for a super long ride. I did Beall-Ridge loop last time I was there, which was nice, but not so nice that I want to do it again. Should I just do the front side of Emerald? If so, any connectivity suggestions?

Danno- Spring Creek up (or Dry Lake up) and Springroll down if near Buff Pass, just know it needs some work right now. Nice one to shuttle for a few laps but if going on Saturday, well, you know the drill. Everyone and their mother will be riding because they've seen the forecast.

For Emerald, Ridge and Rotary are your best bet for a good climb on south facing terrain with more smooth flow compared to Springroll. Beall is closed through June 30th this year (not the 15th). If front side Emerald, yes, Morning Gloria for a great ride up, just don't go down because of so many hikers, it's a shame. Also, Root Canal and Lane of Pain are still closed for removal of debris from plane that crashed a few months back. Maybe they are finally done but they weren't a few days ago. So if riding Morning Gloria up, you can take Quarry Mountain back down to Little Moab for some spice, then NPR. Or Quarry to Blair Witch, MGM, then Molly's which is super fun and fast. There are so many options gtg on frontside now until the rains come, looks like Sunday will be a bust but maybe you can get a ride in Sunday morning too before it rains. Maybe.

For a big day do Morning Gloria up, Ridge/Rotary down, back up Ridge, down Quarry and any of the options down the frontside Blair Witch>Angry Grouse or Prayer Flag>MGM>Eye to Eye or Prayer Flag>Larry's>NPR. Basically doing your own half-Stinger.

For a good mixed surface ride (I don't know your style or bike type), I like to ride up Morning Gloria, take Ridge then Rotary down on backside, then take 33 (Twentymile) back to town. Or from bottom of Rotary I'll take Cow Creek up then down to red school house, then River Road back to town.

Hot Springs is gtg and as Brutah states, the bridge at Mad Creek needs repair but flows have decreased a lot past 2 days. They just recently graded the road up to the hot springs so it won't be as washboardy as it was a few days ago getting there.

Yes shit weather for the holiday but I'm ok with less chance of tourists or yocals starting fires. We need the moisture to get us through this summer! Have fun!

[Danno]

Thanks Brutah and Jax! I'll fire up mtbproject/trailforks and figure something out based on your recommendations.

My bike type is mountain (old but functional) and my style is "avoid roads as much as possible, but not afraid to grunt up a road for some good trail down". I have been on the bike very little this spring, so short to medium ride is probably my goal, then bourbon or beer or both on the deck (Saturday, bourbon/beer inside on Sunday). While I wished for better weekend weather, I am not gonna complain about the rain. I usually only start complaining about rain at the end of day 2 of rain.

Jax, come hang out with us if you're looking to be social!

[andy m]

Northern mountains are still going off! Coon hill was fantastic this morning. The snow this week really transformed the spring peak bagging season!

It was getting hot. I dropped around 8AM. Could have waited a bit longer, but not by much!

skiracer, thanks for the Coon Hill report. It looks like you skied the double-choke line. It also looks like (from the second photo) that the loose sluff had occurred before you skied the line, probably on a previous day. Could you please confirm? I know there wasn't much of a freeze Thurs. night, so curious if I ski it in the next few days. It does look like we get some good freezes Sun. and Mon. night.

[Name Redacted]

@Danno - do this until you are sufficiently tired then drink a beer and shuttle Spring Roll a few times.

FIFY

[skiracer88_00]

skiracer, thanks for the Coon Hill report. It looks like you skied the double-choke line. It also looks like (from the second photo) that the loose sluff had occurred before you skied the line, probably on a previous day. Could you please confirm? I know there wasn't much of a freeze Thurs. night, so curious if I ski it in the next few days. It does look like we get some good freezes Sun. and Mon. night.

You are correct that the loose stuff occurred on a previous day, likely yesterday afternoon. The bed surface actually skied really well, was super consolidated and supportive but corned up nicely. Where it didn’t sluff previously, the new snow also corned up nicely.

Although temps didn’t drop too low last night, it was clear with a light breeze and convection clearly worked it’s magic. Everything was well frozen and locked up this morning all the way from the trailhead to the summit.

Hope you have fun if you get out this weekend!

[bendtheski]

morons* unless jim moran was out there skiing.

You new here?


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[bendtheski]

Love the Jim Moran reference (I lost my favorite "Jimmer would launch it" shirt that was supporting his spinal injury fund). Sounds like someone else who was in the bump scene in the late 90s/ early 00s - likely a greater than 80% chance that we ran in the same circles...

It’s not a Jimbo reference either. The man was a pioneer though. Moseley stole his mute grab for the Nagano gold.


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[Danno]

Had a great ride on Emerald. We missed the turn to Morning Gloria at first, rode up the other option (Lupine?) to the bottom of Little Moab, turned around and rode down (mostly on the road), found the missed turn and rode up Morning Gloria then down Quarry to NPR. Skipped Little Moab because Jay's rear break was not working well.

Super fun.

[Jax]

Awesome! Glad you got a good ride in. Tell the gang I said hi!

I'm battling bronchitis. Turns out riding 265 miles last week with a minor a head cold in insane winds for gravel fest challenge wasn't the best idea, so I'm down for the count for a little bit. Allergies are not helping this matter. Meh.

[Name Redacted]

Morning Gloria is one of the few trails on my list of "Fun" climbs. Beall is another one.

[MakersTeleMark]

Awesome! Glad you got a good ride in. Tell the gang I said hi!

I'm battling bronchitis. Turns out riding 265 miles last week with a minor a head cold in insane winds for gravel fest challenge wasn't the best idea, so I'm down for the count for a little bit. Allergies are not helping this matter. Meh.

I always thought you were kinda smart. Heal up. We old now, don't do that shit. Just sayin.

[Danno]

Morning Gloria is one of the few trails on my list of "Fun" climbs. Beall is another one.

Yeah, it was amazingly beautiful and a pretty easy spin. And while we saw and heard tons of people earlier in our climb, once we were a good ways in we saw very few people, at least not enough to detract from our "out in the woods" experience.