Was it good for you, too?

Published: February 24, 2010

The snow was good for me...how about you?

Whelp (yes, that’s a word), I hope you got the goods.  Tons of powder fell over all the mountains of Colorado, and I even gave you the crib notes (another Seinfeld reference) on where to find the deepness, so there’s no excuse if you missed it.  Keep reading for an update packed with awesomeness.  Can’t wait for the awesomeness?  Here’s a helmet cam edit from Freeskier’s Digital Dave at Aspen over the weekend.

First, there’s more snow in the forecast for Thursday and the Sunday.

Second, here is a great article on my buddy Pete Wagner.  It starts answering the question “Are Custom Skis Worth it?“.

Third, on Monday, I checked out Powderhorn’s 40″ of fresh snow.  See the results below and in the video.

Newschool Forecast (video)

Be sure to check out the video for powder shots (from Pittsburgh?!), Powderhorn’s snow in action, a CSI-style investigation into the massive snowstorm and why it hung around so long, and oh yeah – another snowy forecast.

Antique Forecast (text & map)

  • Wednesday: Mostly cloudy through the day, but the flakes won’t fly until near or after sunset.
  • Thursday:  Powder day with 3-6″ on most morning reports, plus another 1-4″ during the day with snow ending by evening.  The storm will favor Powderhorn, Vail, Aspen, Monarch, Telluride, and Silverton with accumulations up to 12″ by Thursdday night.  All mountains should see a total of 4-10″ by Thursday night, including Eldora to the east.
  • Friday: Skies go bluebird and life is good.  Enjoy the soft snow!  Most of the powder will be cut up from Thursday as little snow will fall after 4pm, but the stashes and backcountry (be safe!) should be sweet.
  • Saturday:  Partly sunny in the morning and more clouds cover the sky through the day…but no snow until after midnight.
  • Sunday: Heavy snow for the San Juans (Durango, Silverton, Wolf Creek) with 8-16″ between midnight Saturday to Sunday night.  The east side of the Sangre de Cristo mountains should also see 8-16″ between Sunday morning and Monday morning.  All other areas north of the San Juans and Sangres might see 2-4″, mostly between Sunday afternoon and Monday morning, while the eastern Front Range around north and west of Denver could get 3-6″.  This is a southern and eastern storm.


View CPF: Snow Forecast, February 28, 2010 in a larger map

  • Monday: Maybe some flurries through the day, but generally a sunny day with some leftovers from Sunday.
  • Tuesday: Sunny!
  • Wednesday: The next storm comes in late or on Thursday.

Powderhorn’s Powder

Here’s the lowdown: It’s close to Grand Junction (Grand Junction, you say?!), they received 40″ in four days, there are lots of trees that invite you to ski between them, and the bar is full at noon on a Monday.  Oh yeah, and there were never more than three people ahead of me in the lift line.

After seeing some ridiculous snow totals through the season (including 20″ in 24hr on Saturday, 2/20), I had to find out what this place had to offer.  After driving with a friend for just more than two hours west of Vail, we made our way through desert-looking canyons and up toward the Grand Mesa (a HUGE flat topped mountain).

Driving through canyons on the way in...

A look at the Grand Mesa

The folks are friendly, most skiers & riders are locals (though there is lodging at the base), and this smaller mountain has two bars which indicates right away that people are there for a good time.

Bar is full at noon on a Monday. Sensational!

There are some EXCELLENT tree runs with about 1,000ft of vertical, though the pitch was a little mellow to plow through 40″ of snow (not complaining about too much snow, though).  Since this is a local ski hill, the lifts are pretty slow (~15 minutes bottom-to-top), but with no crowds it’s almost a plus to be able to rest your legs and spend some quality conversation time with your pals on the lift.

Beautiful Glades

If’ you’re heading toward the western slope and there’s some powder, go check out Powderhorn for the day.  For families, this place is a real value and has enough terrain options to keep the youngsters and the oldsters happy.  Here is a great write-up for families.

BONUS: With 40″ of new snow, the large boulders are transformed into fun pillows.

40" = pillows

BONUS #2: Great scenery on the drive back to I-70!

Rt. 65 back toward I-70

BONUS #3: Two miles down the road is a lost ski area offering easy backcountry access.

Recap of Last storm

I originally thought this storm would slightly favor the northern areas, but as has been the case all winter, the southern mountains were in the cross hairs.

Wolf Creek took home the Gold, Silverton won the Silver, and Powderhorn won the Bronze.  Notable runners up include Monarch, Crested Butte, Aspen, Vail/Beav, Breck, and Winter Park.  Here are all the details…and once again I came in low when comparing the forecast to actual totals.  And once again, I’m happy the that the snow gods provided more snow than I predicted!

RESORT TOTAL
Wolf Creek 50.0
Silverton 44.0
Powderhorn 40.0
Monarch 32.0
Telluride 32.0
Aspen Mountain 28.0
Snowmass 28.0
Crested Butte 27.0
Beaver Creek 26.0
Aspen Highlands 24.0
Durango 24.0
Vail 24.0
Breckenridge 23.0
Buttermilk 23.0
Winter Park 23.0
Sunlight 18.0
Copper 17.0
Keystone 14.0
Steamboat 13.5
Abasin 12.0
Eldora 12.0
Loveland 12.0
Cooper 11.0
Echo 10.0