President's Weekend Ski Trip 2014

My schedule has been packed full the past few weeks after the President's weekend ski trip to Winter Park with a bunch of friends.  The ski weekend was a great experience and we stayed in an amazing cabin.  That is if you ignore getting the car stuck twice in the snow.  I do have to admit guilt for the first time due to giving unclear navigation.

Saturday the majority of lifts were not running due to high winds (100mph+ at the top of the mountain) and caused long lines.  Even so, there was enough skiing over the weekend.

I  have a new respect for those who hike a mountain with equipment to ski down.  Sunday a couple of us skied down the hill beside the cabin.  With the waist deep snow we did a couple jumps off a stack of logs.  After two short runs and hiking back up I was exhausted.

Between the deep snow, beautiful cabin, and the expressions of friends here are some of the pictures from the trip.

Mt. Herman and Monarch

Friday evening a couple friends and I did a night hike up Mt. Herman.  After the hike, drama ensued with some other friends due to miscommunication.  Between hanging out at Cracker Barrel and watching the first episode of the Walking Dead (not a huge fan) I stayed up way too late and decided to delay going to Monarch (which was getting feet upon feet of snow over the weekend).

After a few days of sleep, severe winter advisories, avalanche warnings, and over 70 inches of snow... the roads were open (for my little car) to drive to Monarch.  Some things that I have never seen before:

1. A horse on the loose with animal control trying to catch it.
2. On the drive, the temperatures ranged from -23 F to 37 F. This was after jokingly thinking the night before "but what if it's colder than -20 F?" about the windshield fluid I purchased which was rated/boasted at -20 F.
3. While skiing, two Osprey cruised by overhead.  They are an impressive aircraft.

So much fresh snow!  Monarch was a blast to ski even though there were really only three two-person lifts (although it was not busy at all).  The most intense run of the day was High Anxiety which was a steep with large (thankfully soft) moguls.  My legs were tired after all the moguls, powder, and steeps so I enjoyed the drive home not having to go through Denver for a change and geared up for the coming weekend ski trip.

Powder Day at Copper

Here are some snapshots of the best skiing (in my life so far) at Copper with 30 inches of fresh snow.  I almost missed out on this fresh powder because this past Thursday I was sick.  Fortunately by Saturday, even after a late Friday evening with friends, I was able to endure the 5 hours trek along I70 to the mountains.

Here are some previous days at Copper...

And then another great day skiing with friends.

To continue my ski bum photos...

Back in Colorado Springs...