Lucky Me

Lucky me is right. With one of our best years on record for snow totals, we still have lines to ride and its August! Well it was technically July when we hit the "Lucky U" line on Jones Pass. 

July 30: I meet my buddy Paul Bourdon in Idaho Springs (IS) at 6:30 to drive up Jones Pass to scout for a line still holding snow that way we could get our August day in. As I said in my earlier post we are riding every month of 2011. These are a few images from our scouting mission. 

Photo: Cory Arola

Photo: Cory Arola

"Lucky U" line from the road Photo: Cory Arola

After Jones Pass we looked at dry gulch and and St. Mary's Alice. We decided while driving back to IS to get Paul to work on time we had better get the Jones Pass line on Sunday because it was holding snow well and we were having a clear night with beautiful weather forecasted Sunday. Besides the weather cards falling in place for us we also just wanted to camp out and be on the snow again. The last time we rode was the "O-Face" on the 4th of July. Here is a link to a story on that day.

http://the-one-track-mind.blogspot.com/2011/07/show-me-your-o-facesnowboarding-on-4th.html

I went up to a place we had picked to camp about 7:30 that night, saw a beautiful sunset in a beautiful landscape. With a clear night in the forecast I elected to sleep in my hammock out under the stars. 

Photo: Cory Arola

Photo: Cory Arola

Photo: Cory Arola

As the sun crested a ridge to the east, intense rays struck my face and woke me. I have to admit opening my eyes to intense sun light felt amazing because with the turn of my head my first sight was this amazing vista! I cooked a quick breakfast of oatmeal paired with banana and peanut butter. We changed and stuffed our packs with our equipment, then drove my truck as far up the road as we could get before the snow covered the path. From there we hiked up the road until we had to traverse a snowfield to continue hiking over to our line.

Photo: Cory Arola

 We got to the top of what we picked to find the snow in better shape then we thought it would be. After taking a few photos we dropped in. 

Lucky Bunny Photo: Cory Arola

Paul Bourdon so core he doesn't wear gloves.  Photo: Cory Arola

Photo: Paul Bourdon

Photo: Paul Bourdon

We enjoyed the snow so much we made the 600' vertical climb back  up to hit it again. 

Photo: Cory Arola

Photo: Cory Arola

Photo: Cory Arola

Walking away at the end of the line, reminiscent of the lonely surfer... Photo: Cory Arola

Photo: Paul Bourdon

After the second run we made the hike back to camp. Lounging we enjoyed the Colorado sun with a couple local brews in hand. It was taking some relaxing scenery shots that Paul decided to shoot his bottle, with the idea it would make a great ad, that I thought  of the name for this post and line. I sure do feel lucky to ride on the snow July 31. 

Photo: Cory Arola

Lucky me, right?   Photo: Cory Arola

Map: Cory Arola

Photo: Cory Arola

Photo: Cory Arola

Photo: Cory Arola