Check out this video Dave Metsky made from Sunapee! Dave is a client and friend, dedicated East Coast tele skier, and great photographer and video maker! Thanks for putting this together for us!

Is there anything more fun than skiing soft fluffy white powder, (that you do fully clothed)?  I think not.  The smooth soft snow under foot and floating with gravity down the slopes, aaahhhh,  it is truly blissful!

The snow gods have blessed Crested Butte and we got a little holiday cheer early around here.  It has lifted spirits brought smiles to faces, created some very tired, happy people.  Even my 6 and 3 year old little groms are loving it and that is all they want to do.  Addison learned what a “freshie” was today, talk about a milestone!

This is starting our snowpack off right.  We might have the extreme terrain open before the new year which is a darn good thing here in CB.  Come on down and ski Irwin backcountry powder with us in February or come anytime and check out all the great terrain at the ski area.  It is very nice to see so many people out enjoying the snow…by all accounts, not a bad thing to do on a snowy Sunday.

Merry Christmas to all you snow-sliders, have a great time, get out and challenge yourself and spread the love!

HP

Early season skiing is funny. “Technical” skin tracks, variable snow conditions from deep and creamy turns, chest deep on the dog to sun-baked crust only a few inches deep.

The snowpack is always changing and the tour is often more adventure, less ski. I usually find myself making some sort of boot pack over mud or side-stepping up dirt.

But the feeling I get in my belly from making those first tele turns of the season is amazing. I can’t hold it in, I laugh out loud and realize how much I love skiing. I feel euphoric for the rest of the day.

 

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Think snow!

It is really nice, to once again, look out to the mountains and see them covered in white.  I always want to hang on to fall and savor as much trail running and biking as possible, but once that first snow sticks, I am dreaming about sliding on snow.  Winter is in the air and I am fired up!

Many signs have led me to believe this winter might be one to remember.  If you believe the farmers, the elk or the multiple moose sightings, you know it is going to be a good one too.  I am putting my faith in all these theories and praying for snow!  I am also creating some cool new camps that I hope can ignite the Ultimate Groove passion in even more skiers.

Ever since the rain turned to snow yesterday at about 9 am, Crested Butte has been a Winter Wonderland! The switch has been flipped: it is no longer Fall – Winter has come to town.

Last night, after the mountain had reported about 15″, I figured it was time for me to get out there and see for myself. Lily Lake, here I come! I called HP to see if she was game and we planned to head up mid-morning.

It was still snowing and the wind was really gusty when we got out of the car. I was super thankful that Heather had an extra Marmot power stretch fleece hoodie for me to put on, otherwise I would have been a Kirsten-popsicle! We agreed that since it practically a blizzard, we would just go up a little ways and turn back if we were too cold. So off we went – as soon as we got around the corner we were protected from the wind and heat began to travel back to our fingers and toes. We kept going for a while, wrapped up in the shhhh, shhhh, shhhh sound of our skis gliding through fresh snow.

HP nordic skiing

With a weather report like this, I’m hoping that my ski conditioning routine soon becomes cross country skiing, but we’re still waiting! I thought today would definitely be the day that I woke up to snow on the ground, but all we have is fog…

If you want to have a good start to your ski season without feeling like someone threw you under the bus, pre-season training is the way to go. There are a variety of ski conditioning classes offered here in Crested Butte – but what about the days between, if your area doesn’t offer a class like this, or if you travel and have to change your schedule? What is the best way to get in shape for ski season?

Snowy Peaks

The leaves are changing in New England, it’s still in the 90’s in Arizona, but here in Crested Butte Winter is starting to poke out it’s head and say, “hi!”

We’ve had a beautiful fall with lots of high pressure days and amazing gold aspen leaves that stayed on the the trees for as long as they could. Now, the winds have come and the leaves have gone and we have woken up on several mornings to snow on the peaks. It’s such an exciting way to wake up… to know that soon we will be out nordic skiing, then the mountain will open, then our whole valley will be covered in snow with roads closed until spring.

Well, this post is more than a little over due, but better late than never!

At the end of January, I flew back east to coach 2 camps with Tori and Marta. Both camps were a great success! It started off with Sunapee. Sunapee is a small family mountain in New Hampshire. The east coast isn’t particularly known for it’s blue bird weather, but we couldn’t have asked for better weather if we tried. Sunshine and soft snow were what we found. And the largest group of tele-ladies to take on Sunapee! There were 16 women signed up for the camp, ranging from their first day on telemark skis ever all the way to women ready to ski anything, anywhere. And they all brought their smiles and enthusiasm! We had a full day of drills and new learnings, and no one wanted to stop for lunch! Ewa even liked it so much, she signed up for the clinic at Jay Peak the following weekend! Everyone made so much improvement in one day, it was amazing!

The holidays have come and gone. I hope that everyone enjoyed spending time with loved ones and has gotten out on the snow to make some turns! Winter has been a bit lean around Crested Butte, but the surrounding backcountry has pretty good coverage and cross country skiing seems like the activity of choice lately.