Snowmass Thursday

White out again!  Arapahoe Basin Ski Area is closed.  Vail Pass has been closed by avalanche. We're expecting six to eight more inches.  What happened to sunny and warm for Wednesday through Friday.

 

 

With a slight break in the intensity, Crystina decides we're going skiing.  We break out of the fog up mountain and look forward to good skiing.  Our euphoria is short lived, snow and fog return and we soon find ourselves in ungroomed heavy snow territory; and we're near the top of the mountain.

Meanwhile, Henry and Carol entertain themselves watching the very young children in ski school classes.

 

The great powder skiers are having a blast.  We groomed slope lovers are struggling.  We leave one couple on the slope still searching for one of their skis buried in the deep snow.  They had been searching for over ten minutes.

Sanctuary is the first lodge we come across, Ullrhof. We try to wait out the whiteout for more than an hour to no avail. A burger and shake satisfies for lunch.

 Even taking the easiest route down, it's a tough slog to the condo. We are exhausted on arrival.

 

Even Carol catches a picture of our exhaustion from the apartment.

No sooner have we finally succumbed and called it a short and exhausting day, the snow stops and the sun arrives.  We have apparently angered the Snow Gods. Our swearing at the gods doesn't last long; fog and flat light return within a half hour.

By the time the lifts close after four pm, the view from the condo, looks nearly the same as this morning's wakeup pictures. Note the similarity to the morning pictures.

 

The evening news reports the highest level of avalanche danger since 1950. They put a five point warning scale in years ago.  This is the first time the entire state has been under the highest level of warning.

I-70 is once again closed at Vail Pass.  I-70 is also closed near Copper Mountain. There is a state route closed for the first time in history. We're beginning to wonder if they'll have it cleared by Saturday when we must return to Denver. Crystina and Henry are hegging their bets.  They still have their airline reservations from Aspen and have reserved a National car.

We are praying for good conditions for tomorrow. So far instead of five days of good skiing, CJ has one great day, one ok day and two low visibility crap days.  Crystina has come all this way for an ok and a crap day.  Too much snow is the culprit.