Category: Resort Skiing

TR: Kicking Horse (2/24/2010)

Posted by Brittany – March 9, 2010

After a great day in the slackcountry of Fernie we packed up our things and hopped in the car for the 4 hour drive to Golden. The long day in the slackcountry definitely had made us weary and the drive was a bit harsh. But, we arrived in Golden safely, ready to check out Kicking Horse the next day.

Ethan was our local guide for the day, who had also shown us around Whitefish just a few days prior.

Kicking Horse ski area, as seen from town. This mountain has an interesting story. A little over 10 years ago kicking Horse was a tiny ski area where only locals skied. But, a Dutch company came in and expanded it, as part of a settlement for a contract to build a bridge in the Maritimes.

So, Kicking Horse lies as it is today, largely unvisited, with fantastic terrain.

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TR: Fernie (2/23/2010)

Posted by Brittany – March 8, 2010

After crossing the border into Canada, the mountains suddenly seemed more interesting.

The drive from Whitefish to Fernie took us less than 2 hours. We were there with plenty of time to grab some dinner and drinks.

The views of the ski area from town are stunning.

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TR: Whitefish, MT (2/21-2/22/2010)

Posted by Brittany – March 6, 2010

Frank and I enjoyed our two days in Whitefish. Sunny, bluebird skies are rare there. And we enjoyed them like a rare jem, admiring the views from Glacier National Park from a distance. Someday we will get back there to tackle some of these amazing peaks…

But, for now, enjoy Frank’s trip report from Whitefish.

Other Montana-Canada Road Trip Blog Posts
Road Trip Update
Itinerary
Bridger Bowl

TR: Bridger Bowl (2/20/2010)

Posted by Brittany – March 4, 2010

Our road trip to Montana and Canada was amazing. But, like all good things, it had to come to and end. We are back in Crested Butte, and finally have some time to put up the TR’s from various segments of our trip.

Our first ski stop was Bridger Bowl. Bridger has a lot of steep terrain similar to what we have in Crested Butte. A good area for some playing :)

We had our friend Tony show us around and he showed us the goods!

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Road Trip Update

Posted by Brittany – February 24, 2010

As many of you know, Frank and I are on a two week long road trip enjoying skiing in Montana and Interior British Columbia. For our itinerary click here.

We’ve been busy skiing, traveling, and enjoying our experience on this road trip, so sorry we haven’t been posting much. But, tonight we had a bit of free time and I thought I’d post up a few pics of our trip so far.

Stop 1: Bridger Bowl, Montana. We enjoyed spectacular terrain and good snow.

Stop 2: Whitefish, Montana. Two days of skiing the resort and slackcountry allowed us to explore some good terrain.

But, we also enjoyed the lofty feeling (town of Whitefish and the lake below)

And we admired the peaks of Glacier National Park, with hopes of coming back some spring to check this area out further.

Stop 3: Fernie, British Columbia. The skies couldn’t be more blue, which is typical in Colorado, but not so much in BC.

Our friends took us out on a good backcountry tour, where we slayed these lines.

Stop 4: Kicking Horse. Only 10 years old and this resort has a lot to offer. I was impressed over and over by the terrain choices, both in and out of the ski area boundary.

Areas like these were plentiful.

And we hit up a nice backcountry couloir.

So far, it’s been an awesome trip :)

Our trip continues to Roger’s Pass, Revelstoke, and Red Mountain. We’ll do another update or two along the way. And stay tuned for full TR’s from each segment of our trip!

Other Montana-Canada Road Trip Blog Posts
Road Trip Update
Itinerary
Bridger Bowl
Whitefish

TR: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

Posted by Brittany – February 9, 2010

They came from all over Colorado, Nebraska, and even California just to come to Crested Butte- nine fabulous women who are as passionate about skiing as I am- who came to share their love and sense of adventure with other ripping women. I was psyched to show them around the ski area on Saturday, and even more excited to take them for a tour on Sunday.

A few pictures from the ski area on Saturday:

Amber

Ann

Group shot after hiking out of Teocalli Bowl:

Photo courtesy of Fast Froggy

Me

Photo courtesy of Fast Froggy

Carol, Lauren, and Julianne after having a minor collision with one another :)

Photo courtesy of Fast Froggy

After a hard day of skiing, we hit the hot tub, and then went over to Laurel’s house to experience her delicious cooking. A fantastic chili dinner with some of the tastiest corn bread and carrot cake muffins I’ve ever had.

After dinner group shot.
Back row: Ann, Corien, Lauren, Laurel, Ashleigh
2nd row: Carol
Front Row: Amber, Julianne, Me, Andi

We had a lot of fun :)

Pictures from the ladies Sunday backcountry adventure coming next!

Skinning up the mountain

Posted by Brittany – January 30, 2010

This year, I’ve done a lot of skinning up Crested Butte ski resort. I am extremely lucky to live across the street from this ski area, which I can call my playground. I’m also thankful that they allow people to skin up their slopes before 9 am and after 4:30 pm everyday. This has become my favorite form of easy winter aerobic exercise, free of worries of avalanche danger. Plus it has it’s social benefits, as I usually can recruit my friends Sydney or Heather to join me. Skinning up the mountain has allowed me to see several fantastic sunrises, and plenty of colorful sunsets, which I otherwise would have missed.

On Friday night, Heather and I headed out for our ritual skin. The full moon decided to join us and was glorious.

Everyday I’m in awe of where I live. I love it here in Crested Butte :)

CB resort update

Posted by Brittany – January 25, 2010

Everyone was smiling today. CBMR announced that the North Face lift was to open today at noon, allowing access to the Glades, Last Steep, Hawk’s Nest, and Sock-it-to-me Ridge, among many other things. Most locals arrived before noon, skiing the lines they’ve been skiing for over a month. It was like a ritualistic good-bye- most locals won’t touch these lines again until next season, once the steeps are open. Some locals chose to stand in line for the North Face chair for hours on end, braving the blustery wind, blasting snow, and bitter cold.

Knowing that CBMR typically only allows every-other T-bar to be loaded on the North Face during openings like this, we opted for a different route. You can hike and traverse across the Glades. Sure, you end up about a couple hundred feet below where the T-bar takes you. But, the line was over an hour long, and frankly, those few hundred extra feet are not worth the hour wait.

In just 3 hours, my friend Sonya and I managed 6 laps on the North Face steeps. Fresh, thick, deep powder caked on beautiful steeps. It doesn’t get much better than this.

North Face t-bar, seen from the top of Paradise. A line out the corrals means over an hour wait, especially when only every-other chair is being loaded.

I stared this cliff hard in the face- scene of where I tore my ACL last February.

Sonya and I enjoying the day.

Entering Sock-it-to-me-ridge.

Sonya making her way down Sock-it-to-me proper.

I love Sock-it-to-me. Always one of my favorites!

Me speeding down Old Pro.

A little bit more of the goods!

Conditions were right, company was great, and feeling like I’m really “back” at it after last year’s season-ending injury. It was my best day I’ve had at a ski resort in two years. I can’t ask for much more than that :)

CBMR Opening Steeps :)

Posted by Brittany – January 24, 2010

Looks like CBMR will finally be opening some of the resort’s steep terrain- the terrain which I love and live for. The few inches of snow we’ve accumulated every day since Thursday amounts to about two feet- just what the resort needed to start getting some stuff open!

From CBMR’s Facebook page yesterday: The North Face T-Bar and following areas will open tomorrow at 12:00pm: Tower 11 Chutes, Avery, Belleview, Rachel’s, The Glades, The Glades Hike, Powder Rock Glade, Pinball, The North Face, Hawk’s Nest, Hard Slab, Old Pro, Sock-It-To-Me-Ridge and Last Steep. On Monday the High Lift T-Bar will open at the normal time with the following terrain: Big Chute, Paradise Cliffs, Headwall, Schofield and Upper North Star.

No work on front-side chutes, Teocalli, or Phoenix/Spellbound, but I suspect some of these will be opening later this week or next weekend!

New Year’s Resolution

Posted by Brittany – January 2, 2010

I have lots of New Year’s Resolutions, but many of them pertain to skiing. My main resolution with regards to skiing is to do all the things I never got to complete last year after my season was cut short in February by a torn ACL. These goals include:

1) Ski 120+ days- I have never been able to ski more than 90-something days in a year. Now that I live in a ski town, have a somewhat flexible job, and can do some morning skins up the ski resort, I should be able to easily reach this goal. I was on day 50 when I torn my ACL last year in mid-February.

2) Finish my fourteeners- Since 2006 I have been striving toward skiing all of Colorado’s 54 fourteeners, perhaps becoming the first woman to finish. When I began my project, only one person had skied them all- Lou Dawson. Since then, 5 more men have finished: Chris Davenport, Ted Mahon, Frank Konsella (of 14erskiers), Jordan White, and Joe Brennan.

At this point in time, I have 9 fourteeners remaining which include Pyramid, Capital, Mt. Wilson, El Diente, Crestone Needle, Little Bear, Ellingwood, Blanca, and Pikes Peak. It was my goal last year to finish these same peaks, but my ACL injury prevented me from ever being able to try. So, this year it will be my goal to finish, once again. There are many factors that will affect my ability to finish these fourteeners, such as avalanche danger (some peaks are not safe enough to ski in particular years) and snow coverage (some peaks just don’t get enough snow some seasons to ski from the summit). On top of this, Pyramid and Capital will be challenging climbs for me and I must be both mentally and physically prepared to take on these two peaks.

Closely following me is my friend Pam Rice, who only has 13 fourteeners left. We have some different peaks remaining, but also some that are the same. I am hoping to be able to ski a few more fourteeners with her before both of our projects are complete. Check out the Denver Post Article, featuring both Pam Rice and me: A Female Presence on States 14ers, published 4/28/2009, written by Scott Willoughby.

3) To tackle my “Wish List” – Just before I tore my ACL last year I was in the midst of creating a wish list of Colorado peaks or lines I wanted to ski that were not part of my fourteener project. Check out this Wish List here.

What are your New Year’s Resolutions? What are your goals for this ski season? I’d love to hear about them!