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had plenty of shooting cracks on steep road cuts, not much whoomphing in the flats. Got some small slides to go below the aqueduct road, basically to the ground with plenty of facets. I wouldn't go near anything steep just yet.

Went to Bert Tuesday. Heinous. 1'-2' drifts at the higher elevations looked promising, but gave way to 3" on dirt and rocks at lower elevations. No base and the new snow just scraped off to the ground. My board took a beating and we had to unclip and walk out. Needs 2-3' of something heavy and dense to setup. Looks like a British Columbia trip may be closer to reality now...

Jones Pass area 12/15/12. Lots of shooting cracks and settlement on the skin track. Slope was either too low angle, or the snowpack wasn't consistent enough to start a slide. Actually a pretty good day considering the season so far in the front range. Didn't hit many rocks, though they were lurking close to the surface. Maybe 2-3' total depth.










Check the crack to the right of the tree

Wolf Creek has reported 42" in 72 hours!!!

Its a good week to be a San Juanito....

Although not as deep as the Wolf, Steamboat is going off now. Haven't been in the backcountry yet but the reports I'm getting from patrol make it sound pretty dicey. Going to rack up some days on the pass the next couple days, maybe head out for a tour later in the week when the storms subside. Snotels making it look as the Front Range is getting skunked.

Keep it safe everyone.

BTW Side country gates should be open this week

Just got back from a wolfies trip last night & it is DEEP!!! Season on down there! About 3-4 ft as of yesterday. Stayed in terrain as mellow as we could keep moving in... wasn't easy!! Looks like its still snowing and a few more ft on the way Bring it Ullr!!!

The storm power split the San Juans. I was in Silverton, and north of Molas got about 12 inches, of low density, very bad bonding snow. South of Molas got around 2 feet, but there wasn't much prior to do much with it. Wolf Creek was certainly the winner. Snow depths still too low to really get after it by Silverton, so rode low tide meadows Sunday. Silverton Mtn was boney in spots Saturday, but if you found the right aspect, it was really good (face shots on Ropedee 4). No core shots, so that says something though.

We have another storm that is coming, which favors the W San Juans more then Wolf Creek and calling from 10-30 inches depending where. Hoping it pans out. Good thing I'm feeling sick, and 4 day weekend (maybe 5 now.. )

Sure hope you can beat that cold of yours! Don't want to infect your co-worker after all...

Might be making a trip to the Monarch area this week. Not as much snow as you guys, but looking good none the less!

yes indeed! finally getting some snow in these parts! rode Jones pass saturday and it was a boney skin up in spots but pure excellence on the way down. starting to build a nice base!

Go to Steamboat now!!!! Deep!

Went and skinned up Vail MT last night with the dog. Poached some sweet closed runs and got some very nice turns. I would say about 20-30" deep.

At times like this, the semi flat, grass underneath terrain that Vail has to offer, makes for some nice pre-season turns. Lots of Avy activity up on Vail pass this morning and still not enough base to ride anything to exciting. 5" from 10pm to 6am this morning and it’s been dumping all morning.

Nothing like the Mt Baker trip I had Dec 6th - 10th, but at least I am riding some fresh.

Praying for the snow to keep coming, the base to keep building and the snow pack to settle. I would say much better already than last year!

Be careful out there. Typical Colorado- sketchy snow pack

Got out to Wolf Creek yesterday for some rides on the chairlift. Gotta get those legs back in the preseason. There was 50" of snow prior to the storm. Then they got 12" in 24 to start yesterday, and easily 7" during the day, into bluebird pow. Needless to say, stupid good. I expect the backcountry is very sketchy, even on resort we got one huge settlement, and Alberta face ripped on a few explosives.

Getting out on the splitter this weekend. Will report stability, but I expect its not super.

Had a couple great days at Monarch this week! 60" in a week always helps! Free resort day Wednesday thanks to TGR and Further (super high avy day). We did get out yesterday and rode Monarch Pass BC. It had good coverage, and plenty of wind loading for a full day of bottomless powder. Snowpack is not that deep, but enough to get a good start to the season. S-W facing didn't really have the "persistent death" layer that is showing up around the state. N-E did have a bad bed layer that received substantial weight and wind loading. We experienced a lot of whomphing on all aspects, but only got cracking/shooting and movement on shaded north'ish facing aspects; including a fracture of 20'x20' on a low angle 25 degree area at treeline. This was enough to scare us into sticking to moderate angle S-W. We lapped the hell out of that area and had no instability issues all day.

Perfect blue skies and nice cool weather made it a great day

Be safe out there people...