Quickie Berthoud Report

Went up to BP early this morning to poke around a bit. Rolled in just before 7. No one else in the lot but the construction crew. Not much snow to see either. Went over the pass to eyeball Hell's Half Acre (?). More there. Left the car at the pickup hairpin, skinned back up and then a bit more.

West
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...P-101604-3.JPG

East
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...P-101604-2.JPG

Open areas were sun crusted, but soft underneath, until hitting crust 20cm down. In the trees it was better, although anything that had been disturbed or skied was crunchy. Lots of tracks around.

Dug a little off in the woods, to see the underbelly of the beast before it grows.

Couple layers and crusts forming up.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...P-101604-1.JPG

Skied down, sort of, to the car.

It's coming.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...P-101604-4.JPG

Sorry I didn't make it up there this morning. Up too late last night. Had some nice runs at Loveland though...

No worries, there's going to be plenty more occasions.

I just went on a spending spree...I think I'm figuring out how I'm going to do this winter...I have a Colorado Pass, and a midweek Loveland Pass, and I picked up a WP/MJ 4pak. So...it looks like:

BP on weekend mornings, early am;
Loveland on weekday mornings (when there's fresh and I can ditch work);
Vail/East Vail after the big storms;
and A-basin or MJ in between.

all for a little over $20 a day, not too shabby!

Really great plan. Almost as good as mine. ;)

I got the full Loveland Pass - I've got so many friends there that I want to see on Saturdays. And I'm getting the Vail ten day dealio, prices go up on Monday for that btw. But I just got a new pair of freerides and some Explosives, so paying for all this stuff is starting to hurt mightily.

Anyway, I want to do Berthoud like once a week at dawn and Loveland Pass at dawn on other days. Sundays I want to do long hikes. Also excited about east vail.

I'm hearing from everybody that the snow is getting weird. I haven't been in the bc for a week now - we'll see what tomorrow's like. Loveland ski area has really been fun the last couple of days. Feels good to get whisked up by a chair...

I managed to talk the wife into celebrating our 12th anniversary with some turns at Berthoud. It been tough year for her with 2 cervical spine surgeries. She hadn't hiked for turns before and wasn't sure if she could or if her spine would allow. But all was well. We hiked above treeline up the east side. Snow was a bit crusty, so I lead her through the trees. She was very tentative all the way down, but finally relaxed when she saw the road. The snow was way more chewed up than I expected. But it was deep. I had the rock skis, but didn't need them.

Our thanks to the 3 dudes that gave us a ride back up - empty milk bottles, chunky soup cans, and all.

thanks for the update on the berthoud scene. looks like things are quite a bit different from Thursday. also appreciated the pic of the snowpack...i'm a dork, and really enjoy the snow science component of this stuff (after all, it can be life/death stuff)...kind of cool how the layers showed up so well in that photo...unless that was because you distinctly 'cut' the layers...

forecast is looking good for coming week...a few light dustings which could always be localized dumps, and a solid amount forecasted for Wed...

nice work lurker!

thomson, nope, didn't cut to distinguish the layers, that's how they showed up. The thick one 20cms down looks like a 2-3 cm rain crust perhaps, definitely one to watch. More snow coming in the forecast indeed, maybe will have to make a Thur am excursion...

cletus + digicam = a cool season full of TRs ahead. :D

I think me and a buddy will be out there thur. am. Shoot me a pm if anyone is planning on heading up.

Art & Yossarian...

I'll be watching the weather and doing what I can to get out there as conditions warrant. I've talked to one other guy about Wed/Thurs, but haven't heard back yet... Let's see how things unfold, and maybe we can get together for some turns...




P.S. I've got a lame username, no question...and you, Art, have got the username I'd rather have. I guess I could go with H.E. Pennypacker or Kel Varnsen, but those just don't have the same ring... :D

Nice report, I made it up there around 9:30 on Saturday and found some really good deep snow in the Mines area. Up high on the west side you could see remants from a pretty good sized slide, so there's some instability for sure.