Off The Grid: January 2012

Friday, January 27, 2012

Sick Days...

With such a dry winter in the front range I was in need of some good snow badly. I got the text from Paul the Thursday before, talking up a storm that would hit Wolf Creek, CO Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. I was on the fence, I didn't want to commit to missing work if the storm was a dud. Monday morning Wolf Creek only reported 6", but after a quick check of the CDOT camera and radar we knew it was on.

Photo: Paul Bourdon

I went to work faking ill, and left midday. We packed up and made the 5 hour drive, planning to stay in South Fork, CO. We found a room at the Ute Bluff Lodge for $64! Sixty-four dollars for two bed and a hot shower in the morning, this sick day was starting of great! It snowed all day and night Monday, we woke up to a report of 18+ inches. It snowed all day Tuesday as well.

Photo: Paul Bourdon

It was heaven, finally! We didn't stop for many photos since the light was so flat and the fact that we wanted to just ride and not waste our day setting up shots.

Lunch inside, no way haha Photo: Paul Bourdon

We were lucky that the GoPro came just before we left. We managed to put this nice little edit together. It was a sick day on a sick day.

7yW@Wolfie from Paul Bourdon on Vimeo.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Making The Best Of It

With the lack of snow we have had this year in Colorado we decided to pursue snow elsewhere. Fortunately for me this post is called "Off The Grid", so Paul and I went off the grid to find some snow.

Photo: Cory Arola

Jan 2, 2012 we met up in Georgetown and headed up to Mt. Trelease. We carried up out boards in ski mode until we got to enough snow to skin. After skinning up partway I had trouble with the skin on my right ski not sticking anymore...

Photo: Paul Bourdon

Photo: Cory Arola

Paul continued up to the top of the run, I changed over and had to hike about 100 yards to the top of the line. We hydrated and got ready to drop. It was pretty awesome riding a wind crust over 14 inches of facets, almost like a pow day after riding in resorts all season.

Photo: Paul Bourdon

Photo: Cory Arola

At the bottom of the line we changed back over to tour mode, luckily my skins adhered this time. Tip: keep them warm in your coat so the glue works. Motoring back up an already set skin tract we gain the top of the line again and ate a lunch.