Squaw Valley

I've been traveling a bit. Boulder, Boston for Passover and a flood, then Tahoe. Lots of airplanes. The trip to Reno as interesting—we flew from Boston to San Francisco (right over Hetch Hetchy, which I correctly identified, photographed, and compared to Google Maps on the ground) and then backtracked to Reno.

Once we were settled in, we had an hour to kill before dinner and trails groomed at Squaw Valley. It's not really a nordic center, but a few k of trails for people who don't want to go gravity skiing. We didn't know how to get on the trails, so wound up traipsing through the new snow to get to the groomed snow. My mother didn't love that.

It was a 30" powder day so there hadn't been much action on the trails (which were pretty well groomed) as most anyone who was there before 3 had hit the slopes—in fact at 6 p.m. we were the first skaters of the day. The snow had packed well, however, and the scenery was great, although the trails were less than perfect (but not bad, just a few punch-throughs).

Some pictures:

Boulder on the crust

[Due to travel and family, this post was delayed by a couple of days; the skiing took place on Sunday the 28th.]

Hitting the crust (sans poles)

This blog operates under the assumption that crust skiing is awesome. Some of my best skis have been on the crust, especially in April on Maine in 2007, when a thick snowpack led to crust skiing on the trails in Farmington. Since then, I've looked for crust skiing where I could find it, whether it was in June in Colorado or on a golf course in Saint Paul. After a week, and two feet of snow, in Boulder, I finally was able to enjoy the crust in town, too.

The early morning view from the Chautauqua Trail Head.

Boulder has quite a bit of open space, especially along the Flatirons and other hills which rise, strikingly, out of the plains. While the terrain pretty quickly gets very steep (the Flatirons are known for their rock climbing), there are sections which aren't too steep to ski and, with the recent snows and northern exposure, had built up enough of a base that after warmer weather Saturday they'd crusted up. That's what I was heading for.

The view to the north (downtown Boulder included)

I biked the 300 foot hill up to the trailhead (a good warm-up) and hit the trails just as the sun was rising over the prairie—the views were splendid in the early morning light. I headed up along one of the hiking trails (these had been stomped and melted clean). The hill started out gradually but didn't take long to get steeper, and I was mostly V1ing. There were a few rocks and some brush to avoid, but the crust was firm and the purchase was good. I do quite like crust skiing.

Another view of the Flatirons.

I skied about a mile up he trail and in to a wooded area (less snow, but still good crust). In some shaded areas, my poles punched through the crust in to a couple of feet of snow, but for the most part my skis and poles stayed on top. At turn around time I began to retrace my tracks and realized that there was a reason I was huffing and puffing—what I'd come up was quite steep! My rock skis' edges leave something to be desired, and I was barely able to make a turn; I was definitely not carving up the slopes. But with a few well-placed turns, and a lot of skidding across the hill, I made it down to the base without incident, loaded up my bike, and shot downhill (300 feet) in to town.

And another view of Boulder and the surrounding hills. This is less than two miles from both Downtown Boulder and CU.

I was up later in the day and a the snow had melted back a good 200 yards; it might crust overnight; if not, it might be the end of crust skiing in Boulder (and I may have hit the sweet spot). I went on a trail run later in the day which was pretty mushy and then, after I'd gotten in to a narrow drainage with northern exposure, quite slippery. I ran up, but slowly walked and skidded my way down. It was in the 60s in town, but still winter up in the hills.

My tracks in the snow.

On the road again

Instead of biking back in feet of slush this evening, I strapped on my skis. Conditions weren't great, but I was able to skate in places, especially on the Boulder Creek Multi-use path, which was pretty good for V1 except for a couple of places. I'll probably hit the local trails tomorrow.

Eldora

I drove up to Eldora this afternoon to ski—after hours—on their nordic trails. The drive is narrow and twisty and gains >4000 feet, but that meant there was snow on the ground (it was 60 in Boulder but 30 up at 9k feet). The snow was transformed in places and deep, deep powder in others; it seems to depend almost solely on the exposure. In any case, kick was variable, but I skated, and it was very good. The trails are hilly and fun, and I was reminded of the altitude every time I hit a headwall.

We parked outside the gate (I had been assured it wouldn't be closed but didn't want to take any chances) and we skied until around dark. There were snowmobiles buzzing around the trails, but they didn't seem too concerned with us skiing around after hours—none stopped to let us pay our trail fee. We had to jump across a bit of a stream on the way out—I dropped my skis in to it but no harm done. I'll be back later this week; in the mean time there's another foot of snow forecast for tomorrow!

Eldora is great in that it's 35 minutes from Boulder, although it would be even better if it had night skiing and bus service after 4:00. Oh, yes, hourly (or so) bus service from Boulder to the ski trail.

Oh some "make my friends jealous" pictures:

Before the sun went down.

Views through the woods.

Tracks and clouds.

Danny practices his double poling (not bad for a first-timer).

Danny then pulled my skis out of the stream I had thrown (well, slid; I threw them across the stream and they slid back in) them in to.

North Boulder Park

Conditions at North Boulder Park were deteriorating, but not horrid. As a novelty I jumped on my friend's town bike to head up to the in-town trails in Boulder this evening. The sun and temperatures in the 30s had melted a lot of the snow, but the trails were still skiable (they were probably fantastic this morning, as they were groomed last night and it was 10 overnight). Still, coverage was continuous and except for a couple thin spots across sidewalks and a frozen, rutted puddle, it was fine for skating. And the scenery (see pictures) is very hard to beat. It's only a k and pretty fast, but also only a mile from Boulder.

Tomorrow calls for a trip up to Eldora (after hours—the guy at Eldora said "well, all I can say is 'they don't lock the gate, if you check my drift'" and the folks at Boulder Nordic Sport said "oh, yeah, people go up there after work all the time") so I'll have a report from there tomorrow, hopefully.

Here are the sweet pictures from the day today:

The Flatirons on my morning run to WFR class. It was gorgeous, but the icy roads were not meant for bicycling. Tomorrow, though, I get to ride Boulder's sweet bike trails (they are mostly concrete, so would not be great for rollerskiing. I think that's what the roads up the canyons are for—one can be skied up and you can then take a bus—the same bus that goes to Eldora—down.

And few were attempting to do so.

The trails were just okay, but the views were amazing.

The Flatirons, again.

Yeah, there was a lot of snow, but it was melting fast. This tree, however, had a lot of snow on its northern flank.

Street skiing was not meant to be

It's absolutely dumping in Boulder, but since it was in the 60s up until yesterday afternoon, the streets are staying very slushy. Being at the equinox doesn't help as some solar radiation gets through, too. If it were colder, it would probably be primo street skiing conditions, as it were I only skied a few blocks down to Boulder Nordic Sport and then a bit further to check if the bike path was plowed (it was). Oh, well, I've also found out that Eldora doesn't really mind people skiing their trails after hours. And it's light until 8! Plus, they groom a k in town that's a mile from where I'm staying, so bike-skiing will take place this week.

Boulder: part 1

Travels have taken me to Boulder, Colorado. When I arrived last night, it was in the 50s, with clouds building over the mountains. It's been near 70 this week. Here's the view out my friend's window this morning. We're in store for somewhere between 10 and 20 inches of snow; it's coming down. The roads are too warm for street skiing right now, but hopefully will freeze up as it is quite cold.

Nevertheless, they are grooming in town, and I've joined Boulder Nordic's facebook page to see if I can social network my way in to some skiing. We'll see if Eldora is cool enough to let me ski there during the evening, since it is light until 8. (Although, $19 for a trail pass, gosh!) And I am two blocks from Boulder Nordic Sport.

Yeah, I think my timing was pretty darned good. Reports will follow. Get your saliva glands ready.