The photos that didn’t make the first cut…
Category: Thrillhead archive- January 2008
Deepest Day Ever
Posted by – January 24, 2008
Where to go, where to go?
Jeremy and I debated this very question last night, eventually deciding on “Let’s talk it over in the morning.” Morning came and Jeremy suggested the Playground, and that was the plan. Thankfully I had dug my snowmobile out a couple of days before, because this is what it looked like (still not dug out from the early January storm):
As we began our journey up the valley, a funny thing happened. The 6 inches of new at the trailhead became 12, and then 24, and then we couldn’t see a damn thing and were struggling to breathe through the faceshot that never ended on the sleds. Screw going all the way out to the playground, we’ve got epic skiing in close. And that was the day. Sorry to all you folks with slow connections, I had a hard time deciding which photos to put up, so I just put almost all of them up.
Me:
I’m short, but I’m not THAT short:
Jeremy’s turn:
Even the skin track was making me giddy:
4 laps later, back to the snowmobiles and some really cool fog while the sun sets on Ruby.
Yet another storm is supposed to come through starting tomorrow. I’ve never NOT wanted it to snow so badly in my whole life. A warm SW storm on top of fluff like that… ugg. If heaven is a place on Earth, I’m pretty sure that Billy was making turns with Jeremy and I today.
RIP Billy Poole
Posted by – January 22, 2008
Here’s a couple of videos of Billy that have been posted on another site:
Billy was a good guy. I didn’t know him super well, but we hung out at a few freeskiing contests in the past. The last time I saw him was in Las Lenas a couple of years ago. Today, while filming in the Utah backcountry, he hit some rocks and passed away. He was 28.
Crested Butte Backside
Posted by – January 20, 2008
Jeremy, Kelly and I checked out an area that was new to me today. I had been in the general vicinity before, but I hadn’t ever gone up quite so high. It takes a good winter for the lower parts of this area to have good snow coverage, but obviously this year it’s not a problem. The skin up was really scenic, so I kept stopping and taking photos.
Kelly skinning up past one of the many cool trees:
Kelly was taking lots of photos with her film camera, maybe I’ll add a few more on the blog once she gets them developed.
Sometimes I have no idea why I live in the little town of Crested Butte, seen below.
Whetstone:
Eventually Jeremy and I couldn’t take it anymore, and we decided to take a quick break from skinning and hit one of the cool lines we saw. Kelly was nice enough to grab my camera and take a couple of photos of me on this super fun 2 stage drop:
Then, disaster struck- My camera batteries died 
So I wasn’t able to take any photos of Jeremy’s drop.
We skinned for another 45 minutes or so and then we could see the edge of the ski area (Teocalli bowl). My batteries revived for one last shot, the ski area is just up and left of Jeremy and Kelly.
There would be a bunch of great photos to share if my batteries hadn’t died. There were a bunch of steep pillowy areas that we skied, followed by a treed gully, and finally some lower-angled Aspen glades that had some amazing snow. What a great tour!!
New Boots!
Posted by – January 18, 2008
Since 1985 I have skied in only one brand of ski boot: Technica. I still remember those old yellow Grand Prix- those were some awesome boots.
This year, I tried something different- a pair of Salomon Falcon 10′s. Unfortunately, I should have just spent the extra money and purchased another pair of Technicas. The Salomons just don’t fit my foot all that well, and the flex just wasn’t working for me either. They are really nice boots, however, so if anyone is looking for a nice pair of boots in a 25.0, send me a message.
My new Technicas are awesome:
They look just like a creamsicle pop- my favorite flavor 
I can’t wait to ski them, but for now it’s time to ski the backcountry until we get some new snow at the ski area- the cold temps have really hardened things up for the time being.
The best day of your life.
Posted by – January 11, 2008
Every day skiing is a good day, but some days are inherently better than others. And then there was today, the 11th day of January, 2008.
Crested Butte has a lot of good ski terrain. But the best of the best is in Phoenix and Spellbound bowls. This area has been closed since last Friday, and in between, over 5 feet of snow fell. The quantity was astounding, to be sure, but the quality topped it. The first 4-5 feet was dense and heavy snow, much more typical of the Pacific Northwest than Colorado, but it was topped by a foot of fresh, light density snow that Colorado is famous for.
Right off the bat, I dropped into a tiny bowl which funnels into a narrow section known as toilet bowl. As many times as I’ve skied it, I’ve never consciously thought, “Just go straight!!” like I did today. Instantly, I was going 60mph, in a river and cloud of snow of my own making, before I threw my ski bases out and “spread the butter”, as I like to call the effect of fat skis slowing down in fat powder.
I could go on and on about the rest of the day, about the way the right side of “the Edge” is skiing right now as if a 60 degree run had suddenly become a green run, but it’s such an extraordinary year right now that words will never adequately describe it. i wish I had some photos, but today wasn’t a day for that at all.
Another day, Another storm in Crested Butte
Posted by – January 6, 2008
Of my 12 years in Crested Butte, 3 of the 5 biggest storms I have seen here have been in the last 5 weeks. It’s just unreal. I can’t wait for more terrain to open again at the area- the backcountry will be scary for quite some time. The view from my parking lot- those are cars, by the way 
Rossignol Axiom Beautification Process
Posted by – January 5, 2008
Over the Christmas holiday, I picked up a new pair of skis from my friend Mike in Golden. Mike knows how much I love Rossignol Axioms, and he was nice enough to let me know he was getting rid of his, so I needed to pick up another pair. If there is a downfall to the Axiom, it is that they are butt-ugly, to put it nicely.
Somewhere down the line, this particular pair had been painted orange. It was time for a new coat of paint, but what? I ended up selecting shiny chrome. As luck would have it, my friend John offered up some red paint as well, so I knew I had some extra options.
My first step was creating some snowflake stencils. I ended up saving time and finding some online. The website was some Christian thing- I guess if you go looking for snowflakes, you might also be looking for Jeebus 
Here’s one after cutting:
After painting the tips of my skis red, I glued the paper snowflakes on with some elmer’s glue-stick and was ready for chrome. After a few coats, the skis were ready.
Peeling the paper can be time-consuming, but careful peeling will eventually get the desired effect.
Finished!!!!
They look good, don’t they? Best of all, everyone will be asking, “What are those?”, and only I will know that they are just a cheap old pair of fat skis, albeit the best skis ever made (but more on that later…)
Schuykill (AKA Heart Attack ridge)
Posted by – January 3, 2008
I’ve been meaning to post up the photos Brittany and I took before the last huge storm, but I was so busy skiing powder it took a while
Schuykill ridge is a great, nearby destination for Crested Butte backcountry skiers which doesn’t require a snowmobile. As you can see, it’s a long ridge, with plenty of options to choose from (Mineral Point and Augusta mountains are behind)
We started skinning up the Slate river valley under beautiful sunny skies, with Crested Butte’s pointy peak behind.
By the time we got to the top, the storm was already approaching and our blue skies had turned gray, but thankfully we still had a long powdery descent in front of us.
Brittany:
And a few of me:
That’s the last day I went skiing in the backcountry. With that much new snow and wind, the conditions inbounds have been amazing (see previous post), while the backcountry has, sadly, been deadly. Yesterday, there was a fatality on Little Bear, a fourteener in the Sangre de Cristos, and today there was another in the East Vail chutes. The CAIC will eventually have accident reports here: [url]http://avalanche.state.co.us/Accidents/Colorado/CO_accident_list.htm[/url]
Stay safe out there everyone, give the snowpack a chance to settle out!
Happy New Year!! January 1, 2008
Posted by – January 1, 2008
So far, the winter of ’07-’08 looks to be one worth remembering. Another 20″ of snow fell during the last week of ’07, which somewhat delayed the opening of 3rd bowl at Crested Butte Mountain Resort, but it is expected to be open tomorrow, meaning that the ski area will be completely open- the earliest such occurrence since the winter of ’96-’97! A series of strong storms are expected to hit once again this weekend, so it looks like Ullr is continuing to smile upon us. Hopefully some good pics to follow soon!
