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Colorado Arapahoe Basin 2016-2017

Monique

bounceswoosh
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Predictions on time when Zuma is soft tomorrow? Turns out I have another commitment on Sunday (Husband is flying us to Pueblo for lunch!), so I need to choose MTB or ski. Hmmm.
 

Doug Briggs

"Douche Bag Local"
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The 'zuma groomers were nice and getting wet yesterday AM first thing. Off piste 'zuma looked pretty firm from watching people flounder on the cornice runs. There was some soft snow in the trees, it hadn't gotten wet since it fell, on the Bierstadt side of 'zuma. I left 'zuma about 10 am. I took a run below the E wall traverse that was dry for about 10 turns then got into coral pretty. Groomers were sweet and tasty.
 

Monique

bounceswoosh
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The 'zuma groomers were nice and getting wet yesterday AM first thing. Off piste 'zuma looked pretty firm from watching people flounder on the cornice runs. There was some soft snow in the trees, it hadn't gotten wet since it fell, on the Bierstadt side of 'zuma. I left 'zuma about 10 am. I took a run below the E wall traverse that was dry for about 10 turns then got into coral pretty. Groomers were sweet and tasty.

Thanks - hmm. I was thinking I wanted some ungroomed Zuma - any guesses?

Sounds like I don't need to think about bringing a skinny ski for groomers ...
 

nay

dirt heel pusher
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Got to Luv late, mostly sticky so a beer o'clock break (the Ridge is still mostly skiable).

I'll look like this so holla!

IMG_0761.PNG
 

nay

dirt heel pusher
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Not much time left! Rookie Road (the Chair 9 groomer) is the slush busting run of the mountain right now.

IMG_5491.JPG

I was getting ready to call it, but now I'm gonna lap it. There are few skiing sounds I like more than slush pile blast into ski pants :D.
 

bamaman

Getting off the lift
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Interesting. @bamaman seemed to have a different impression. Who's right??

I thought the groomers had excellent grip early (not icy at all) and didn't start getting softer till late morning. I did numerous runs down Lenawee face on both groomed and non-groomed and I wasn't hitting anything that grabbed my skis till around 1 down at the bottom of Lenawee lift. But even then, it wasn't slush. Staying up high I found good carveable snow that allowed me to confidently go off the groomers and enjoy the whole "face" and lower East Wall. Now, that's just my take on it. But again, I'm an intermediate skiier just enjoying getting to ski in May. To me, it was a great day.
 
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TS
dean_spirito

dean_spirito

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Sorry I missed you at Loveland today @nay (I forgot to check the site after I made that post :doh:).

We got to LL around 9:30am and immediately headed to the Ridge Cat. The snow down low was already pretty wet, so we figured we had a pretty short window to make some nice turns up top before the whole place turned to slop. We got 2 amazing runs out of the cat before we decided to call it. Dogleg in the Rock Chutes skied particularly well.




We decided to stop at the Basin on our way home. We took 3 laps on Pali. The snow was surprisingly good, compared to how things had deteriorated over at Loveland.
But the sticky snow in the flats toward the base got the best of me. My body can't really handle the knee jerking so I decided to call it around 2:30pm. All things considered, amazing day!
 

nay

dirt heel pusher
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^^^no worries - life conspired to delay me until around 11:30. Those early runs look awesome.

It was definitely a mess - probably the steeps off Chair 1 held up best just like Pali. I never seem to work my way back over there.

Found a couple good spots as things continued to slop transition, but try to lap it and next run was already transitioning.

All good, got in some work on my goggle tan for sure.
 

Philpug

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A-Bay is looking good. See you all Tuesday.
 
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Monique

bounceswoosh
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Colorado
My knee was giving me guff again, but I skied Powerline. Actually I was already on it before I remembered that's where I had my little incident. Not a big deal, but I did not go flying down the steep part at the end ... okay, I went around it. I'm okay with that.

The snow around Black Mountain Lodge was grabby by like 10:30. Above it was still very nice.

20170506_103631.jpg
 

Monique

bounceswoosh
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It may actually have been Norway Face. Is there a difference?
 

nay

dirt heel pusher
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It may actually have been Norway Face. Is there a difference?

Only if you have bad memories :)?

How's the skiing last couple of days for those hitting it?

I'm trying to get up tomorrow. Damn cold and rainy at home isn't super inspiring, tho'.
 

Philpug

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Only if you have bad memories :)?

How's the skiing last couple of days for those hitting it?

I'm trying to get up tomorrow. Damn cold and rainy at home isn't super inspiring, tho'.
The weather had been wacky..if you don't like what it is..wait an hour. If you do like it...enjoy it while you can, because it will be gone. I will say the skiing has been pretty darn good.
 

nay

dirt heel pusher
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Yes it does!!! :yahoo: I hope you can join us for après' today at the ski house.

Had to get home for end of school year commitments - enjoyed getting in a few runs with the crew.

:beercheer:

A few pics, none of the group. Boo.

Lower East Wall goodness.

IMG_5567.JPG

Rollers...

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West Wall after cornice not-hucking.

IMG_5571.JPG

End of day perfect slush plies Sundance porn.

IMG_5573.JPG
 

TonyC

Contact me at bestsnow.net
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Temps are creeping up, but not quite enough to close Pali this weekend IMHO. No comments today in Al's blog, which is probably a positive.
 
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