Colorado Routine

Routine Item #1 - Skiing on the weekends.

Routine Item #2 - Lots of sleep.

Routine Item #3 - Oatmeal for breakfast.

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We went skiing both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was a resort day at Copper. Jesper and I met up with Sue and found some mighty good snow.

Jesper in Copper Bowl Saturday

Sunday was epic! We got up early (5:00 am) to meet up with friends (Megan and Ryan) and meet some new friends (Sue and Nancee) for a back country outing at Berthoud Pass.

Gear waiting to be donned

Located near Winter Park resort but unlike the resort, this back country area is not patrolled or avalanche controlled. There is no chair lift. Back country enthusiasts get up in elevation by their own two feet. Our group was all skiers, so we used skins on the bottoms of our skis to gain traction as we "skinned" up. This is a lot of work.

Jesper, Megan and Nancee contemplating where to skin up

Because back country areas are not bombed for avalanche control, back country skiers must be very aware of the potential avalanche dangers. All six of us had beacons, shovels and probes. We had avalanche safety training. We took care to avoid more avalanche prone areas and stick to safer slopes. When we did have to travel on more avalanche prone slopes, we crossed or skied one at a time, carefully watching each skier progress down until he/she reached safety. We were fortunate that the avalanche danger for the day at Berthoud was low to moderate.

Avalanche Rose for Saturday from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center - Yellow is moderate and green is low

It was cold and windy, something like 10 below with the wind chill, so cold we wore our helmets, goggles and hoods when skinning up! Skinning up gets you really warm, so wearing all that meant it was pretty cold.

Nancee and Jesper skinning up in the blowing snow and NOT getting warm

What did we get from all that cold hard work? POWDER, and lots of it!

Jesper hitting the POW through the trees

Sue making turns in the POW down a gully

Run after run, we hit bottomless powder and hardly saw any other people. Big smiles filled our faces; the frigid, blowing wind on the multiple ascents was worth it!

We finished the day with a beer at Southern Sun, tired but happy. Routine Item #1 satisfied completely!

After dinner, Jesper and I went to bed at 8:15!! We slept until 6:45, so we certainly got lots of sleep. Routine Item #2 satisfied completely!

This morning, after ten and a half hours of sleep, I got to enjoy a fabulous bowl of oatmeal. I ate it so fast, I forgot to take a picture of it! Routine Item #3 satisfied completely!

Yesiree - I am back into my routine!

More Berthoud Pics here.

Jesper's pics and write up here.

I'm wearing a grey jacket and a white helmet and Jesper has on an orange jacket with a black helmet.