And actually, this includes the day before Steamboat also. On the the drive up, I skied a few turns at Mary Jane in the morning. It had snowed a little, but not enough to fully cover up the re-frozen snow. Still fun though, as I continued my project to ski all the black diamond trails there, this time including Brakeman, Coupler and Boiler. Brakeman was pretty tough that day, and steep.
The drive was mellow except for Rabbit Ears Pass, which was snowy and slippery. It didn't help that the wind was kicking up and affecting visibility. The Illinois crew that had flown into Denver and was driving up was about two hours late due to bad conditions from Denver onward. A rough day to drive.
I have too many photos to post at once, and personally I wanted to keep the days straight anyway. Day one at Steamboat -- the next day -- involved 6 inches of snow on top of a prior 4 inches. A great day, but quite cold. It didn't feel or ski like springtime.
I also discovered the 3 O'Clock trees, which I skied throughout the week. Somewhat steep bumps in aspen groves, and a long haul down to the chair lift. Great trail.
A Modus après ski:
Views from the ski-in, ski-out condo:
At the end of the day my sister and her family joined us, after a day of swimming and snowshoeing. Unfortunately it turned out a day of skiing including of ski school for the two kids ($350 each!) would have been prohibitively expensive, so they didn't ski while they were in town. Great to see them however.
Distance was 33.53 miles, time 7:31 (moving 4:11), elevation gain/loss 15,892 feet, avg. speed 4.5 mph, and max speed 30.0 mph. I started the watch late so it was actually more. About 14 runs.
