Snorkel Skiing at Winter Park on January 31st, 2014

snorkel skiing Winter Park DEEP!
Colorado Ski areas got POUNDED with snow in late January, 2014. We had decided to drive up to Winter Park Friday morning (leaving super early for first tracks) when we heard that CDOT was closing Berthoud Pass Thursday night at 8:00PM for avalanche control ... with an expected re-opening at 8:00AM Friday morning.

Needless to say, this would jeopardize first tracks ... so after a mad scramble, we drove up Thursday night with the Majcen's in Dave's awesome Denali. After a pleasent night at their wonderful place in Grand Lake, we woke at 6:00AM and were on the road at 7:01AM ... arriving before 8:00 at the Mary Jane parking lot ... and scoring a front row spot! We heard that Berthoud had not opened yet (believe it did around 8:30) so we geared up and were in line by 8:40 (20 minutes before lifts opened) and were one of the first 100 people on the untouched slopes.

I had brought my snorkel (just in case - heh, heh!) so while it wasn't as deep as this truly sick snorkel skiing video, it was still darn, darn good. I've been fortunate to have some pretty sweet days of resort skiing (such as Snowbird, Utah, Solitude, and good times at Mission Ridge Washington) and even an incredible Utah Heli-skiing experience ... but this was a top-10 day for me as I was getting face shots all day long! ;-)       Pictures all taken with my iPhone so sorry about the sketchy quality.

8:07AM - Standing in knee deep powder - lifts open at 9:00

snorkel skiing Winter Park before lifts open

8:21AM - Getting suited up in the Majcen lockeroom
Plus makeshift powder cords - don't want to lose a ski!

snorkel skiing Winter Park ready to go

8:40AM - Ready to go with Snorkel and getting in lift line 20 minutes before it opened

snorkel skiing Winter Park ready to go

8:44AM - Kyle and Drew (Donna to left) ready to hit the pow-pow!

snorkel skiing Winter Park ready to go

While it wasn't quite this deep, the pow-pow was very, very good!

snorkel skiing Winter Park DEEP!

Kyle took some turns with the snorkel!

snorkel skiing Winter Park kyle

snorkel skiing Winter Park kyle uphill

snorkel skiing Winter Park kyle trees

While it got crowded once Berthoud Pass opened, we didn't have lift lines like Vail
Check out this parody of Adolf Hitler planning to ski Vail that day - very creative/hilarious! ;-)

snorkel skiing vail lift line

snorkel skiing vail lift line long