Just a short trip to Summit county area, Jan 5-9. Early snow sucked but saved by the snow on Saturday. No bowls or hiking, just darn good slopes.

Day 1. Direct SW flight RDU to DIA. Embarrassment at Keystone at night. It's not that bad, really. Well, not much more to say about that.


Day 2. Good looking offspring at the Top of Copper. This is better than any slope photos since it was a pure hardpack day.


A few slopes were open au-natural. I found a few trees that were not roped off, took a few base hits, but came out ok. Copper Mountain host said this slope was closed but it turned out to be one of the best runs, we hit it a few times including this view of the last run of the day.


Day 3. Snow at Loveland ! You just have to love this place. Saturday. New snow. Lovely terrain. No lines.




Day 4. Keystone - bluebird mini-powder day. You could see all the way down the Ten Mile range and up the Gore range. We got 5th chair and headed to the race on the Mozart slope that leads to just about anything interesting here. By 11 am it was too crowded and time for lunch. By 1 pm, the frenzy had vanished and we were left with nice soft bumps down down Elk Rum in the sunshine until 3 pm. Never any real lift lines. Hard to complain. Did not stop much to take photos. A very good day.

My Guyot and Bald Mountain in the distance.


Ten mile range.


Typical front side slope view - all groomed out.


Day 5. Butterhorn Bakery. Woke up lazy, cleaned up the vrbo* special, packed the skis, and headed for the best damn bakery in Frisco, then checked out berthoud pass, and finally dia to home.

Photo of the day: state of modern teenager a few days of skiing...


* Free advertizing for a great deal on a great condo for summit county access, http://www.vrbo.com/19878, just steps away from quality establishments like dos locos and the snake river saloon!

tada.