Tuesday 02/28/12

Tuesday morning was a COLD, WINDY, SNOWY and DAMP day. We had about 2 inches of new snow and the snow continued thru the day. We skied to about 1:30pm and then gave in to the elements. The wind keeps changing form the South to the North bringing in Cold temps and then Warm temps.  The weather has been real WILD everywhere including the Denver area which has seen 60-70 wind gusts. More snow is in the forecast for tonight.

Monday 02/27/12

Again this morning the winds turned to the South. Temps quickly warmed into the 30s and 40s with alot of snow melt going on. The streams are ice clear and running and some of the trails have been closed due to rocks and trees coming thru the snow. The weekend was VERY windy and along with the crowds, alot of snow was moved around. We need SNOW again.

Sunday 02/26/12

On Sunday, the winds turned around to the North and brought very cold temps. The winds averaged 40-50 mph. While it remained sunny, the winds did us in and after about 15 minutes on the lake, we decided to call it a day. Breckenridge has its ice sculptures, but Silverthorne has its ice castles. We went to see them in the afternoon. They spray water on the castles everyday and because of the cold at night, the water freezes and adds to the castles. Pretty amazing.

Saturday 02/25/12

It was a BLUE BIRD morning. Not a single cloud in the sky. That was the good news. The winds turned around to the S-SW bringing in warm air which raised the temps to the high 30s-low 40s on the mountain. There was alot of snow melt yesterday. After breakfast, we decided to try and go skiing at Keystone. As we drove there, many signs were up indicating that the parking lots were FULL and to use the alternate lot about 2 miles away. This also meant that the lift lines would be 20-30 minutes. So we drove up the road to A-Basin and found the same conditions. At the resort we did a U-turn and went to the Nordic Center for snow-shoeing.

While the snow conditions were good, at the top of many trails, the snow had completely blown away. We snow shooed for about 2 hours and returned home and relaxed the rest of the day. The winds are suppose to die down on Sunday afternoon.

Friday 02/24/12

What a difference a day makes. This morning, while it was COLD, no wind and beautiful sunshine was the call of the day. We arrived at the ski area and the weekend crowds hadn't started to arrive yet. We were able to ski all over the mountain trails without seeing many people. Maybe they were all going to Vail or A-Basin which received between 8-10 inches of snow yesterday. The conditions are great and are expected to remain that way thru the weekend.

Thursday 02/23/12

Boy WHAT a morning! During the early morning a storm front came thru with over 90 MPH winds and heavy blowing and drifting snow.. About 5am, we lost power but quickly came back in about 1 hour. It was BLIZZARD conditions thru the morning hours until 10am. However, we decided to take a chance and go skiing anyway. We put on extra clothes and arrived at an empty parking lot at Keystone. We went to the Mountain house to make our way to the Argentine lift. There was plenty of new snow to make FIRST tracts but the wind started blowing again.

We made it til 1pm, and then the conditions forced us to stop. The wind would stop us in our tracts and it became dangerous. There are avalanche warnings all over Summit county and with 7 more days of snow on the forecast, it doesn't seem it will get better.

Wednesday 02/22/12

Boy the weather has been WILD. Winds to 75 MPH both here and in Denver. Steamboat received 20 inches of additional snow on top of the 22 received the other day. We have only received about 8 inches of snow over the past few days. The big story has been the WIND. We did go sking and again had most of the mountain trails to ourselves. The weather report for Thursday is for more WIND and snow.

Tuesday 02/21/12 FAT TUESDAY

Tuesday morning it was COLD, WINDY, CLOUDY with snow blowing all over the place. The slopes were missing all of the President's Weekend vacationers. Conditions at the top of the mountain were miserable. Winds blowing over 60 MPH, and a major avalanche at Loveland Pass just 6 miles from us closed RT 6 for the last 2 days. Winds will continue thru Thursday.

However, these conditions didn't stop us from going to Copper Mt for Mardi Gras events at JJs bar. Everyone was in costume and the music played all night.

Monday 02/20/12

Monday morning was a cloudy, snowny and VERY windy day. While temps were in the low teens, the chill factor was below zero. We decided to just relax and read a good book. In the afternoon we got ready to go to a birthday party at the Dam Brewery for two of our friends. Mert, who is 85, and Huey, who is 78, enjoyed the big birthday cake and the people who attended. Also, last night, we met up with 2 other friends who were giving out beads for tomorrow's Mardi Gras party.

Sunday 02/19/12

It was a slow day on Sunday. After going to Mass in the morning, we walked around the bike path that follows the lake. There were people on the lake Kite Skiing because the wind picked up in the afternoon. After lunch we again went to the Hockey finals and then to Copper Mt to check out the activites. At 4:30pm, the snow cats come out to start grooming the trails and the snow boarder's half pipe. The weather forecast is for lots of snow.

Saturday 02/18/12

It was a long day for us on Saturday. With the crowds for Presidents week here, we did our usual weekend activities. We snow shoed on the lake with Benny. It seemed that we had the whole lake to ourselves. Not many people or activities this Saturday. The snow shined with many crystals reflecting off the snow. After lunch we went to the Colorado Pond Hockey tournament. There were 80 teams that signed up. Each team is made up of 6 players, however only 4 players play at a time. The pond is setup with 8 rings. The teams keep score themselves and each game is 20 minutes. No goalie but to score you need to put the puck into a small rectangle box at each end of the ring. There is even a Zamboni that clears the ice after every series of games.

After we watched the games for about 1 hour, we went to Copper Mt for some pre-Mardi Gras activites. We stopped into Jacks Bar and listened to some music and watched the kids do shots. We had dinner at Copper and saw the late night fireworks. At the end of the day, I was really tried.

Friday 02/17/12

It was another beautiful sunny but cold morning. At 7am, it was -3 degrees. As we arrived at the slopes, the first thing we noticed was all the extra cars in the parking lot. I guess the people are making President's weekend a 4 day event. At the lift lines there was a 1-2 minute wait. This may not sound like alot, but we are use to 5-10 second wait.

The Ski Patrol were in groups getting their last minute instructions while down at the restaurant area,
the outside tables and grill were being setup for lunch. As we moved pass the ski racks, we saw 4 ski bikes hanging from the racks. Later on we saw the 4 people riding the bikes down the ski run. It looks like a good sport but I am not interested. By 12:30pm, the crowds were really starting to set in. So one more run down the slopes and we called it a day.

 

Thursday 02/16/12

Another sunny and beautiful day at the slopes. Still not many people on the slopes or in-town. I think that beginning on Friday, the Presidents weekend crowd will appear. No snow in the forecast but sunny skies. We will be going to the slopes early and leaving early. Lets hope for good conditions.