Colorado
Skiing Low Tide @ Telluride, CO – 01/13/12
Groomers, Ski School & Epic Views!
Date:
January 8th – 13th, 2012
Location: Telluride, Colorado
Weather: Sunny, no new snow, few clouds saying hello
Riders: Skier666, Mrs. 666, child 6′er
Cameraman: Skier666
POV VIDEO – Skiing Low Tide @ Telluride – 01/13/12…..
Music: Joe Seven – Untitled Monotone
Synopsis:
It snowed 4 inches the day before we arrived. Before that, two weeks of sunshine and no new snow. But with the snow guns loaded with prime Colorado powder, we prepared for finest corduroy carpet East of Appalachia. The off-piste was chalky, wind effected, and a tad bare but nothing a few lagers at lunch can’t fix. Add the fact that the 3 year old skied 5 days straight, you cannot ask for a more perfect family gnar trip.
Begin family trip:
No snow in the Sierra, so naturally that means epic weather in SF…
Another day, another run to the bridge…
Scored this puppy at Amoeba…stoked!
The news showed the first snowpack survery…yes, he poked that patch of snow.
Off to T-ride, SFO to LAX…
Off to Montrose…LA says goodbye…
Upon arrival a mere couple of inches fell the day prior…sun in the forecast for our entire stay.
First day, first views….
Revelation bowl and the Mrs makes some extreme turns…
…taking in the view
Above treeline bump city…
Hard to not take pics on your first day. Don’t believe me? Try it sometime.
Wilson..
The Mrs finds a few pockets of fun & sun on Gold Hill…
The little guy begins skiing in group lessons…father = tears.
Reward for skiing…
Another day, another vacant lift line…
At the top of 15, we practiced memorizing our line…
Vitamin D is very important…
Ooooohhhh…
Ahhhhhh…..need to come back when this stuff is in play.
‘So you’re telling me to pizza when I want to French fry?’
There’s a mighty long DOUBLE GREEN from the top of 15…
….miles and miles of DOUBLE GREEN down to chair 1
In the afternoon, dad takes a couple laps down Revelation Ridge to search for wind deposits and jump some rocks on the bottom of skiers right…
bye bye sun, it was a fun day…
Drove over by the airport to watch the sunset…
iPhone shot from top of Gondola into town…
Its now the 13th, snowguns still on full blast…
last day for carve patrol….
A couple See Forever laps with the wife….
Groomed bliss…
Nobody here….
Next to Nastar down to Mountain Village…
‘wait for me!’…
Another lap????
Why not?
Best mountain lunch I’ve ever had…gotta go big on your last day
Yes…that’s a heat lamp…
I think I’ll make some tipsy turns up there…too bad the fun part is kinda closed….
Some fun stuff on 96mm underfoot…
One last hike over to Genevieve…
Last day of ski school warrants a celebration of sparkling water…
Last night…see ya T-ride…
Nite nite groomer….
Flying is always fun with kids…especially since those damn cars fall on the floor every 10 secs.
Approaching the Diablo Range of the Bay Area of California…
Some trippy visuals to welcome us back to the land of no snow…
Always fun to arrive home with awaiting packages…
Til’ next time San Juans…
Starving for the Gnar Couloir @ Silverton, CO – 01/12/12
Yippie, a HELI Ride!
Date:
January 12th, 2012
Location: Silverton, Colorado
Weather: Sunny with high clouds
Riders: Skier666
Cameraman: Skier666
POV VIDEO – Starving for the Gnar Couloir @ Silverton, CO – 01/12/12…..
Music: Modeselektor – Berlin
Synopsis:
Silverton Mountain is easily one of the best places to ski for a ski nerd. No grooming, long consistent pitches, chutes, cliffs, and helicopters. On this day, I opted to take a few warm up runs while the mountain ops gathered a crew to fly me over to the infamous GNAR couloir. Snow was variable but absolutely ideal given the slow start of off-piste skiing back at home.
January 12, 2012:
Its a nice drive from Telluride (where the rest of the family was sleeping)…
Headed to Ouray from Ridgeway…
A little chilly over Red Mountain Pass…
A tunnel…
An older tunnel…
Looking over Ouray…
First ride up…
Found some fun stuff near Cabin and Raff runs…
This run is at least a double black diamond…
Maybe a quad black diamond…mainly due to the presence of a rope.
The $50 heli rides took people to Pyramid across the valley…
They had snow…just a tad variable. Of course, it has snowed after my departure, but that’s a given.
Another run…more burning legs…
Some of the ‘runs’ at the resort…
Another run down Cabin…
The valley was transformed by this raging river…
Grand Couloir..
People burning calories…
The GNAR Couloir!!!!
‘Hey, think I can bum a ride? I’ll get the first Starbucks round…’
Sweet, that line worked…
‘You stoked 6′er?’
‘I lost a contact lens just over there…’
A few human beings lingered at the top of an exposed line…
The view to the South…
View to the West…
View of the entrance to the GNAR…
Overhead blower was not found…
Nice steep chalky turns were fine with me…
Nice, consistent pitch…pretty much a common theme skiing here.
Time to ski the lower section…
A couple pow turns…
Not too bad without any new snow for a couple weeks…
Boarder guide slashin’…
Paying customer skiin’…
The last pitch..
A couple good turns were found…
The line from top to bottom…
Closer view…
Bye bye, until next time Silverton…
THANKS SILVERTON FOR ALLOWING SKI NERDS TO SKI YOUR TERRAIN….
Faceting the Fatwah Couloir – Ophir, CO – 01/10/12
Finally some off-piste!
Date:
January 10th, 2012
Location: Fatwah Couloir over Yellow Mountain into Ophir Colorado
Weather: Bluebird, no wind, highs around 40F…in COLORADO!
Riders: skier666, Ian, and Angela
Cameraman: skier666, Angela
POV VIDEO – Faceting the Fatwah Couloir – Ophir, CO – 01/10/12….
Music: Dillinja – Cybotron
Synopsis:
While it was dirt in the backcountry around Tahoe, the Telluride area in Colorado actually had a snowpack to facilitate a ski tour. With Angela Hawse as a guide, we headed up from Trout Lake over Yellow Mountain to descent the Fatwah couloir into Ophir. Some variable snow, some pow, some bushes, but overall a great day out in perfect weather.
January 10th, 2012:
Driving into Ophir to pick up a 3rd person so we can do a car shuttle…
Nice freeze on the trees…
Where the hell are we????
Sheep Chute….one day.
A little thin on the skin track…
Just follow me…
skin track steeze…
Faceting…
My ride….
Hey…a house!
Nice to be out of the damn forest…
Southern exposure transition…
Southern view…
Getting close to the false summit…
Mt. Wilson looking thirsty…
My tour guides…
‘Ummm, perfect day up here…just letting you know’
Skier666 absolutely killing the uphill…
Just don’t slip here…
‘Can I help you?’
The end is in sight…
Time for lunch…
The run….
The surroundings…
Ian heads down to check things out…
666 begins the descent…
Not great, but not too bad either…
Ian is in disbelief that there’s actually some soft snow…
Angela heads down…
…in a controlled fashion
666 attempts to descend…
Ian getting setup…
Weeeeeee!
Angela displays the pitch…
…gets steep and deep
OMG POW????
Woot!
666 POV
More pow below?
Thank Yewww!
Time to make bigger turns…
Preferred over man-made snow…
Angela opens it up…
Chutes abound…
More pow…
Tons of options up here…
One day…damn right.
Getting a little tight and variable lower down the descent…
‘Just point it’…
‘We came down where???’
The notch dead center…
Fatwah with Falcon to lookers left….
Some tourist at the bottom…
One more turn…
And we’re done…
…thanks for playing
2007′s Year Ending Holidaze in Telluride/Silverton – 12/31/07
Date(s):
December 26-31st, 2007
Location(s):
Chicago, Telluride, and Silverton – all in the United States of America
Weather:
Cold…colder…and close to coldest. Also, snow fell from the sky and landed on the mountain.
Shoppers, givers, boarders, and skiers:
666, Bone, Link, StroupSkier, Nick Pappagiorgio
Photos by:
Link (courtesy of linkroberts.com), 666, Nick (cellphone hotel shots), and StroupSkier
Music:
Hot Chip – ‘Boy From School’
Synopsis:
Spend Christmas in Chicago, fly back to SF, fly to Salt Lake, fly to Montrose, ski Telluride, ski Silverton, play some PSP, eat some great food, go to sleep, go back to work, stare at weather for pending Tahoe storm, and make a TR. Sadly, Mrs 666 is still having ankle issues and is looking as if an ankle fusion is in her near future, so no skiing for her.
Holidaze
Chicago: Land of the deep dish pizza
Played some Twinbee for the JAP PSP on the plane…so cute but oh so brutal
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Chicago at night….
Michigan Ave….sure, its snowless, but its damn near coldest.
Beetlejuice fireplace….
Can you smell the xmas eve apple pie apples roastin’?
Evil snowman….I had a deep conversation with this guy after a couple single malt scotches with my father-in-law
Telluride, Coloraddy:
This is Earth, my planet. Telluride is on Earth.
Oh, and by the way, please do me a favor and DO NOT stay at the Peaks up at Mountain Village. They used to be outstanding, but in the flux of ownership, lawsuits, boarded up bathtubs, painted-shut shutters, the scramble to find early 80′s hotel furniture, and an utter complete misrepresentation offered by the website, be warned and trust me, do yourself or friends a favor and do not stay there. Yes, it was that bad.
As luck would have it, I ran into an old college buddy at Telluride. His name is Bone, and eats Turducken 5 nights a week. His brother Link, a photographer from Brooklyn, wanted to be in a ski blog so badly that he actually gave me pics from prior to my arrival….such a sweetheart to the blog community. Check out his website if you need his skills in the Empire State.
Here, Bone traverses to skiers left off of Gold Hill….
Even after a huge chicken lunch, he still managed to blur…
The excitement of the legendary Black Iron Bowl or the excitement of sunshine, hmmm?
Bone finds the fluff….
Here, his mp3 player gets cold….
Me and the Mrs. fly into town on one of our favorite airlines….
Ahhhh, cold, crisp, and cold….
View from Prospect Ridge into the backcountry….
Link schralped some pow for the blog….but only for the blog.
Bone searching for Black Iron….
…he found some.
View from the top of the new terrain….the bluebird weather washed out this photo, sorry.
Link skis very aggressive….in an alpine style.
Yes, he skis the fall line…right on the boundary line that is….
Bone shreds some winter packed powdah….
Black Iron Bowl…..full of black iron, also known as ROCKS….
However, in some areas, the snow can be deep….Bone Deep!
Bone always puts his money in the BANK!
Link, a very casual powder skier, thought that the cell-shading used in the first Gamecube version of Zelda was quite rubbish…
666 on the top of Chair 9. I think the close to 12,000 ft elevation was getting to him, as he was using to the trail map to see how he could access the terrain across the valley.
WARM NACHOS, WARM NACHOS, WARM NACHOS!!!!!!!
I had to take a taxi to get my INSANELY CHEAP rental car for the next day at Silverton…but I was able to get these shots.
Bluebird only at sunset….but of course!
Bring on Silverton…..
Location:
Silverton (retro new school)
Cold air scientists:
666, StroupSkier, and Nick Pappagiorgio
Synopsis:
While we didn’t have the epic pow pow session as others on this board have had (drool), we still managed to have a great time skiing nice pitches, and fast-cold-Coloradan-winter snow. Jen Brill told us of some opportunities of some high openings, but due to the wind, it never panned out, so we made due with what we had and it was far from shabby.
I departed Telluride at around 6:15 AM….yes the rental played MP3 cds
It was snowing when I left, at least I think it was….little hazy from the Turducken sandwich that Bone made me the night before.
The sun came up as I approached Ouray, also known as America’s Switzerland….I wonder why?
Red Mountain Pass has icicles…..
On the Summit, the temperature dropped….BALMY!
Since this is a blog….here is a view of the ROAD!!!!!!!OMG INSANE!
StroupSkier – strongest skier I’ve ever met from South Carolina, he rips.
Nick – Moment Ski collector and likes to arrive to ski resorts via Steam Engine….
On this day, he arrived on this….
The night before, the guys stayed at a local joint in a very intimate setting…
Or is it down right disturbing…..?
Thankfully, Nick woke up with his liver still intact, and we rolled up the mountain….
Here is StroupSkier’s first turn….
Nick pulls the whistle and makes a right hander above some exposure…
666 decides to jump over the exposure….totally extreme.
StroupSkier on a buffed out face….I took the pic a little early, but you get the idea….right?
Nick switches tracks and finds a route to powderdome…..
666 finds untracked days after the storm, and days after people have been skiing it….
Meanwhile, Shugs was sitting at Breck at the rear end of this….OH GOSH!
Can this guy take a bad shot? Seriously, he reminds me of Basom.
Nick on the other hand had a challenging day. On this lap, he lost his caboose, and it almost went all the way to the stream. But he does LOVE, I mean LOVE skiing down 50% of the mountain on one ski.
Stroup making a turn down a ski slope of DEATH…
Back on two skis, Nick conducts a strong turn….
666 finds some steep fresh on Riff…
South Carolina racer steeze…..
Talk about Steeze, look at those luscious red pants!
The wave above Waterfall……
It wasn’t Mavericks, but scenic nonetheless….
Retro-fun-carve……
This is the view from the rear corner of the shuttle bus. Sorry, but I can’t upload the smell as an mp3.
Well, it seems we better follow that arrow eh?
To think we waited for the sun to pop out for this shot…..
Nick sending his cargo near a patch of untracked….
After navigating the gnar of Waterfall, we were rewarded by a pow field. Stroup takes advantage….
Full steam ahead for this dude…..
Front face of the ski RESORT……
Across the valley…..
It always clears up on the last lap…..WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The new slopeside Marriott at Silverton Mountain….
The only way this shot would be better is if I added kittens…….
Jen likes to serve up the Root Beer at the end of a high altitude day…
"Ouray, a nice place to stop for a hot mocha and a cookie."
Of course, its Bluebird the day we leave……
BYE BYE……….
Turntastic in Telluride/Silverton, CO – death of 2006!
Date:
December 28th-30th, 2006. The year of 2006 nears a decaying death. 
Location:
Telluride and Silverton, Colorado, United States of Yanks
Weather & Temp:
We arrived in Telluride the night of the 27th while racing the cold front of the Tahoe storm. After 15 hours of driving, we arrived to the following forecast…7 inches during the day, 16+ overnight. Killer aye? Well, the storm spit 2 inches by morning, then turned into "California dreaming" for the rest of the trip. Oh well…at least people in Denver were skiing waist deep 
Husband and wife team:
666 and Mrs. 666.
Music: Vex’d – Bombardment of Saturn
The Drive:
So we figured driving from Tahoe on my favorite American road (Hwy 50)would be the best, easiest, and cheapest scenario to avoid any DIA transfer headaches to Montrose or Telluride. A 3:30 am departure during a Tahoe snowstorm gave us a 7:30 pm arrival in Telluride. That’s a hell of a lot of Howard Stern there folks. Of course, being the man that I am, I did not allow the Mrs. to drive. Needless to say, she really didn’t mind.
The photoblog:
Mile 0 looked like this….
Near Zephyr Cove…hoping its not like this for 900 miles.
Approaching Fallon, Nevada. Sadly, no aliens were spotted.
The roads were dry from Carson City to just before Eureka. However, Eureka to Ely was not very fun.
Did someone say Utah??????
Ok, so we decided to drive through Moab, then weave our way to 145 enroute to Telluride. This way SUCKS! Two trillion deer, one million cows, 15 mph turns, and road damage mean anything to you?
Hey there buddy…which way to Telluride?
Day one in Telluride…Chair 8 looking into town.
Scary…
Since, both of us haven’t been here since the new Prospect lift, we decided to roll a few early morning laps.
Mrs. 666 having some flat-light fun…
Transylvania stylee…
There’s going to be a recurring theme in this TR…
Inbounds Telluride has few places to rack in the gnar points, but Prospect has a few short offerings of fun…
And what would a trip to Telluride be without lapping both sides of Gold Hill? Mrs.666 gets an early start…
Yep, she’s on fire….
The snow thinned out quite a bit at the crux below but a few scratches has never killed a pair of skis aye?
Kind of insult to serve espresso in paper cups don’t you think? Hell, its even Lavazza beans….the horror.
No comment…
The possibility of a storm is now long gone…but the views aren’t too shabby.
Main Street…
So the Mrs. hasn’t skied too much this year. Naturally, her big toes turn black after her first full day of skiing. Might as well, RELEASE THE PRESSURE!
Day two:
I had one of those "high altitude you ain’t sleeping" nights and decided to make it a cruising day around the hill. Laps on a groomed Bushwacker, the Plunge, and long runs down to Mountain Village were the order of the day. I did have a generous offer to hit the BC with a local but I just wasn’t feeling it that day.
Mrs. 666 – skier’s left off of Gold Hill
This is when the storm left for Denver…
Might as well get a drink at the Peaks with the views of Mt. Wilson…
Day THREE: Silverton Mountain
After a half bottle of Tylenol PM, I finally got my needed rest. We then headed out to Silverton Mountain for our first time. The town of Silverton…
A couple coffees later (under two hours via Red Mountain Pass) we arrived at the RESORT, and after checking in at the TENT, we were on the high-speed detachable 8 person chair….
Ahhh, so cute…..(print and put on your fridge)
Rope Dee Dope/Tiger Claw was the furthest we could go up the ridge being an unguided JONG and all. The winds almost blew me to Durango.
And the views to the West…
Mrs. 666 on the hike…
Definitely some of the best mountainous views I’ve ever seen in Colorado (besides Eldora that is)
Mrs. 666 drops in…
So it wasn’t bottomless, but it was bluebird, perfect temps, and FAST!
She was enjoying herself….I think.
Terrain shot….not many pics floating around the site so I thought I’d contribute.
Coverage was good, not many hidden snowsnakes, shark fins, etc…
Ooooooooooooooohhhhhhhh…….
We rallied next to the boundary for the best snow…
She’s been in a lot of pics aye?
Terrain shot #2. Quite a few people made it up on this day….
Terrain shot #3…
….#4. If you’ve never been there before, they open up gates up along the ridge and then its fair game. Certain areas need more snow, but would be fun with better coverage…
Some guy in a millimint coat lapping Riff and Raff….
666 tries to milk one for the family…
Pretty cool…
We ventured pretty much everywhere…from Rope de dope to Riff, to Waterfall to Colorado, to the front side…got a good feel of the terrain. Mrs.666 in Colorado’s log vertical down to the UPS truck (I mean, shuttle bus.)
Colorado has a nice sustained north facing pitch..
The shuttle experience…
The apres ski experience…
View from Red Mountain Pass…
Super Retro New Sheridan Bar….
We headed to the roof of the New Sheridan to check out the torchlight parade on New Years Eve
Ok, I lied, we were playing with my Lite-Brite.
I really thought it was him until I realized he was only two-dimensional…
Back on Hwy 50…
Fueling up your horses at the local Shell station in Ely…
Around 2,000 miles traveled, 37 coffees, 532 RedBulls, and one flat tire…our trip was a success!
<GAME OVER>
Accounting of A-basin – 10/23/04
I was in Boulder for a wedding, so I was planning to ride Saturday morning at wherever and on whatever. My brother finishing up his undergrad degree at Boulder so we rolled up early and arrived around 8:30 am just as they loaded the lift.
One run, one lift, perfect temp…..BLUE SKIES, NO WIND! A beautiful day indeed.
It was extremely crowded, and took around 45 minutes or so to do a lap. It seemed that the whole world showed up to ski one run. It was pretty hard, bumpy, and granular, with the bottom section being the smoothest and the only section to let the skis rip a little. Ended up taking around 6 runs, enjoyed an O’doul’s on the sundeck and then took a run down Loveland Pass on the way back. I hiked up about 3/4ths the way to the top and skied some pretty good fresh for the first couple hundred feet but it was still extremely rocky….but hey its not bad at all for October, and on all natural snow.
Music: Photek & Fabio-No Joke
Early morning Loveland Pass:
A-basin, needs some more flakes:
View of the upper mountain:
The very short lift-line:
My bro rollin’ hard, rollin’ gangsta:
My buddy on tele gear ripping the shit out of the 65 degree couloir, also the best part of THE RUN:
One more:
