Colorado 2016-17 Colorado Weather

[MT Skull]

^Not really soft, not great viz, but I had the day off. Figured it might be my last shot at Pali, but took its toll.

Looking forward to a few recovery days at the console.

 

[mikel]

Hey shredhead are you on here? Trying to find out if you think it's worth the drive down there this weekend? Do you think the coverage off of Ajax will be ok?

 

[nay]

Snow is excellent cream cheese. For now.

Zuma is closed for season due to mechanical issues .
East Wall closed late morning.

 

[mikel]

Zuma is closed for season due to mechanical issues .

Thanks for the update. Just helped with my decision on driving to Aspen this weekend.

 

[nay]

Thanks for the update. Just helped with my decision on driving to Aspen this weekend.

Day report over in the A-Basin thread in Resorts and Travel.

I think this weekend is going to be tough. Everything got soft and plenty hadn't been fully tracked and integrated from the last storm even for an open resort (so even steep pitches like Pali got grabby), and now it's supposed to be mostly cloudy and cool through Sunday after it all refreezes into super funky reef.

I could be wrong, but that sure looks like a groomers only forecast until Monday.

 

[Doug Briggs]

I think @nay has got the skiing forecast down. It was sooo soft today all over and after it freezes, only the groomers will be good until it warms up enough to soften the off-piste. See my report in A-Basin thread: https://forum.pugski.com/threads/arapahoe-basin-2016-2017.3017/page-11#post-116225

 

[nay]

It's really crazy how soft today was, I played it wrong by not being there at first chair. If there had been zero grabiness it would have been off the charts for a late Spring day.

 

[Doug Briggs]

I rubbed on a high flouro overlay to address the stick-tion. It helped for a while. All in all, though, I had a blast on the steeps.

 

[nay]

I rubbed on a high flouro overlay to address the stick-tion.

I got a belt wax in the shop to cover the factory wax on my new M5's. Maybe this is why I suck.

Ok, the belt wax was a good idea and was done by the time I peed and picked up my son's day ticket. All for $10.

 

[ski otter 2]

It was as if the mountain were two different ski areas today, Friday: the top half with a cold front and wind coming in after 10:30 or so - pretty chilly; and the bottom mostly windless and almost in the tropics.

It started out with an inch of fresh on top of soft (not crusty) groomers, partly overcast and cooler (just above freezing @ 7:20 am).

It stayed nice and partly cloudy. often sunny. For the latest:

http://arapahoebasin.com/ABasin/snow-conditions/web-cams.aspx


On wax:
Today I skied with Rick of Pug's Glide Shop in Breck. He had a warm wax (Glide wax) plus coarser texture just for spring plus spring graphite wax (Glide again) added in, wax job a week or so old. (He's told me that when it gets really warm he adds a low fluoro dust to the wax as he's hot waxing it in.) Rick definitely had faster bases than I did from the start, but he had to stop early to leave for a Grand Canyon river trip, so he missed the further warm up.

I had a mostly right wax (Saucer red warm/slight texture) up until past 11:30 or so when the stick began a bit on the lower slopes. I could have just stayed on the upper lift but wanted to compare waxes (and skis), so I switched to wider skis with even less texture (Briko-Maplus race base soft - warm red/"like new" smooth base texture, maybe best for mid-season powder ).

The Briko skis were better, in terms of wax - less stick and faster.

Half past noon the stickiness was beginning a bit even for that wax, on the lower slopes.

Maybe I'll add graphite for next time. And stay up higher.

(I may break down and coarse texture some rock skis, if I want to ski more afternoons. Or use the Dominator Butter wax that's on a shelf somewhere. )

 

[nay]

 

[nay]

Keep in mind this is only 3 miles from the mountains. Haven't seen hail half this size here. Fortunately only a handful of these fell and they weren't super solid ice consolidated yet. And only vehicle out pulled into the garage 30 seconds before.

 

[ski otter 2]

Holy Moly, huge. earth changes.

 

[MT Skull]

It was as if the mountain were two different ski areas today, Friday: the top half with a cold front and wind coming in after 10:30 or so - pretty chilly; and the bottom mostly windless and almost in the tropics.

It started out with an inch of fresh on top of soft (not crusty) groomers, partly overcast and cooler (just above freezing @ 7:20 am).

It stayed nice and partly cloudy. often sunny. For the latest:

http://arapahoebasin.com/ABasin/snow-conditions/web-cams.aspx


On wax:
Today I skied with Rick of Pug's Glide Shop in Breck. He had a warm wax (Glide wax) plus coarser texture just for spring plus spring graphite wax (Glide again) added in, wax job a week or so old. (He's told me that when it gets really warm he adds a low fluoro dust to the wax as he's hot waxing it in.) Rick definitely had faster bases than I did from the start, but he had to stop early to leave for a Grand Canyon river trip, so he missed the further warm up.

I had a mostly right wax (Saucer red warm/slight texture) up until past 11:30 or so when the stick began a bit on the lower slopes. I could have just stayed on the upper lift but wanted to compare waxes (and skis), so I switched to wider skis with even less texture (Briko-Maplus race base soft - warm red/"like new" smooth base texture, maybe best for mid-season powder ).

The Briko skis were better, in terms of wax - less stick and faster.

Half past noon the stickiness was beginning a bit even for that wax, on the lower slopes.

Maybe I'll add graphite for next time. And stay up higher.

(I may break down and coarse texture some rock skis, if I want to ski more afternoons. Or use the Dominator Butter wax that's on a shelf somewhere. )

This kind of 2nd guessing trying to anticipate snow/weather/base conditions are exactly why I avoid waxing at all costs! Not to mention; I've heard it can be habit forming.

Tomorrow's forecast looks promising (for the moment). Thinking of going with bikini wax or mebee body-glide.

 

[dean_spirito]

It has been snowing on and off all day at 9,600ft. At times it was coming down as hard as I've seen all season. This photo was taken around 5pm...

Snow On 5-27-17

• dean_spirito
• May 27, 2017
• 1

 

[Ken_R]

On Tuesday I drove north on i25 from NM and man there was a LOT of snow still on the high peaks from the Spanish Peaks (which had more coverage than I have seen all season) north to Longs. Everything from say about 10-11k ft and up was just plastered white. Even in NM the high peaks around Santa Fe to Taos had good snow coverage. It is gonna be a good water year for sure.

 

[NonNativeRado]

On Tuesday I drove north on i25 from NM and man there was a LOT of snow still on the high peaks from the Spanish Peaks (which had more coverage than I have seen all season) north to Longs. Everything from say about 10-11k ft and up was just plastered white. Even in NM the high peaks around Santa Fe to Taos had good snow coverage. It is gonna be a good water year for sure.

And this kid went rafting today in Clear Creek after skiing ABasin in the morning... massive melt expected this coming week but it was a nice ride down today. Raft behind us tipped over on Beaver Falls 2. The girl our raft pulled out didn't even bother trying to swim... claimed she did... but we all just watched her float on her back holding onto two paddles and not swimming at all.

 

[kimmyt]

Anyone have thoughts on the conditions around Lake Dillon? Thinking of camping at the grounds there since they opened last weekend and then skiing A-Basin Sunday and want to make sure theres no snow down that low before we drive up.

 

[nay]

Anyone have thoughts on the conditions around Lake Dillon? Thinking of camping at the grounds there since they opened last weekend and then skiing A-Basin Sunday and want to make sure theres no snow down that low before we drive up.

Don't know about Dillon, but the conditions were killler today. Soft at 10 and just slushed up without getting sticky across all the open terrain. Lower East Wall still open.

Boy #3 getting his shred on.

 

[Doug Briggs]

Anyone have thoughts on the conditions around Lake Dillon? Thinking of camping at the grounds there since they opened last weekend and then skiing A-Basin Sunday and want to make sure theres no snow down that low before we drive up.

Things have dried out quite a bit. I played disc (golf) on the Peninsula and apart from recently dried puddles from snow/rain a day before, things were dry.