...aaaand I'm back!

While I had an amazing time in Colorado, a lot has happened since my last post! For those of you who weren't watching the craziness go down at the X Games last weekend there were some pretty epic moments. Vail was surprisingly quiet, most likely due to the higher traffic in Aspen to watch the games. We were very lucky to arrive shortly after Vail received over a foot of snow, and the second day of my trip it snowed another 8 or so inches which meant they were finally able to open all of the bowls. We were able to find some good powder stashes, yet in some areas the limited coverage was more obvious with an unusual amount of exposed rocks and stumps.

Stuck in powder

It was also frightening to hear about the high number of avalanches that have occurred recently due to the extremely unstable snow pack. Sadly one young boy was even killed in bounds the week before our arrival and many of the woods areas were closed off due to high avalanche risk. Despite this, we enjoyed the areas of fresh snow we could find and made a point to keep a closer eye on each other. The trip was a success but coming home to a bare east coast was rather depressing. Friends here reported warm, rainy weather and a few local mountains even closed for a day to save snow.

With all the money spent on snow making this season and the overall lack of business this will be a tough year on the books for a lot of mountains. Killington is hopeful that the after effects of the Dew Tour a few weeks ago will see increased turnouts to the host mountain from those who want to ride the same terrain as the pros. They also believe that the national coverage will help show those still suffering from backyard syndrome that there is actually a good amount of snow at the mountains, even if it's not in their yard. After the awful effects of Irene on the area, the town of Killington really needs the business: check out this Transworld Business article to learn more.

Why so afraid little buddy?

Although Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow yesterday, I'm doubtful many of the mountains around here will even make it another 6 weeks. I still maintain some hope that we will get a late-season dumping as we have in years past. Last year I was riding at Sugarloaf on May 8th and though I'm skeptical that I'll be able to stretch my season as long this year I still look forward to spring riding in a t-shirt and 60 degree weather. I would simply prefer that wasn't already happening in February!