• 1/2 cup red onion, diced
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 1 tomatillo, chopped
• 3 ears fresh sweet corn kernels
• 5 jalapeno peppers, finely chopped
• 2 avocados, diced
• 1/2 lime, juice
• salt

yes!

Spring suddenly slipped into Summer and the temps spiked to crazy mid-eighties on Saturday after several days of extremely warm and sunny weather. It was astounding to see how much snow was lost, so quickly. Shorts and t-shirts were the rule.

Conditions were wet but really good. Ripcord, Spillsville, and Organgrinder still had great coverage with only a few bare spots here and there as well as some water-undermined snow in places. Steins and Spring Fling had wall-to-wall snow. Natural snow trails like Twist were still open but were challenging with lots of bare ground and even running water.

We had a great time soaking up lots of sun and skiing the soft bumps.

Sunday was another bright, sunny day. It wasn’t quite as warm (no shorts), but it was still beautiful.

Sunday was the last day of the ski season for us despite the mountain staying open two additional weeks and closing on April 18th. The snowfall total fell 100″ short of the 50 year average, but we still made the most of a short season, highlighted by two awesome trips out west. I already miss sliding on the snow.

42/111 trails open at Sugarbush. 185 inches of snow for the 2009-2010 season (only 7″ after March 1st).

Back to good Spring skiing on Saturday with warm temps in the 40′s and bright sunshine. Runs down Ripcord were just as fun as it gets. Unlike lower on the mountain where the snow was a bit rotten and sticky from a string of warm weather leading up to the weekend, the upper mountain had perfect corn snow. Castlerock Run and Middle Earth were great despite pretty major bare spots opening up. There wasn’t too much grass/mud skiing, but it did happen. The mountain was pretty crowded for  late March, with lots of folks out enjoying good skiing and sunshine. Things were slower to soften on Sunday with clouds and lower temps in the morning, but the sun did finally come out in the afternoon. 111/111 trails open at Sugarbush. 180 inches of snow so far this season. Next report from Park City, Utah!

Sunshine! Saturday and Sunday were two spectacular spring days with bluebird skies and temps in the upper thirties and low forties. Saturday brought the Castlerock Extreme Challenge competition to Liftline. Middle Earth and Castlerock Run both skied extremely well with fantastic cover and soft snow. There were a couple spots in the shade with nice dry chalky snow, but corn snow was the norm. Sunrise and Morningstar had great bumps that skied perfectly, and my legs burned from lap after lap on Sunday. 111/111 trails open at Sugarbush. 178 inches of snow so far this season.

Fifty-six inches of snow fell at Sugarbush from Wednesday through Saturday morning. FIFTY-SIX INCHES! It was pretty unreal. The bottom-line was that the snow was very deep everywhere on the mountain. The quality and consistency of the snow varied widely, though. It was very wet near the base, with a high liquid equivalent to the snowfall. During the course of the two storms that combined to hammer the higher terrain, there were periods of ice and rain, but the end product was great up high on the mountain with the deep base and about eight inches of fluff sitting on top where it was sheltered from the wind. Other places, where 60 mph+ gusts hit, were totally stripped of snow leaving bare ice, and other spots, like the top of Paradise and Spillsville had enormous drifts. On Saturday, we enjoyed Murphy’s Glade and Lower Birdland while the snow was still coming down in the morning. As the upper mountain opened up, we got in line to hit up Paradise, Spillsville, and some high-elevation woods which were all awesome. It was a busy day and the line got huge at Heaven’s Gate so we moved down to Castlerock where the line was also huge. It was worth it, and Murph and I enjoyed one of our best runs ever down Liftline followed by an incredible run through Rumble woods. We finished the day after another run through the high elevation woods off Heaven’s Gate. Was sore on Sunday! Had great runs down Castlerock Run and Paradise Woods and then spent the rest of the day at North Lynx. Awesome weekend!

Great snow, great town, incredible terrain, and bright southwestern sunshine pretty much sum up the trip. We pulled into the historic mining town of Telluride, Colorado which sits at the end of a box canyon in the Sneffels Range of the Northern San Juan Mountains and were immediately blown away by the surroundings. The town is surrounded by jagged, skyrocketing peaks, and the ski trails run steeply down the side of the canyon with two lifts and a gondola running right down to the valley floor on the edge of town. Talk about the good life! Wake up, grab a breakfast burrito, throw the ski boots on and head out the door with the skis for the three minute walk to the lift.

The ski terrain at Telluride is very expansive, yet at the same time, accessible. When we arrived, it felt like we’d never find a way to ski all the terrain, but by the time we left, we had, in fact, skied the majority of it. With 2000 acres of skiable terrain and over 4000′ of vertical, that is saying a lot. I was surprised by how varied it was, with the whole gamut of gentle intermediate trails to extreme off-piste chutes, bowls, and steeps and everything in between. I was impressed with the extent and quality by which they groomed some trails and left plenty of others alone. Revelation Bowl opened last season, and it alone was an expansive playground. The highest lift tops out at 12,570′ above sea-level which is also pretty sweet.

Telluride got a huge dump totaling 37″ the week before we arrived. We had lots of sunshine while we were there and most of the fresh powder had been tracked out on the trails and in the obvious woods lines, but we did get some snow on Wednesday night that made for great conditions on Thursday and Friday. Up until that point, conditions were not bad by any stretch, but we were mostly skiing packed powder with the occasional hidden powder stash here and there. I’m not sure exactly WHO it was that tracked up all that powder since it felt like the place was empty the entire time– we didn’t wait in a lift line even once.

One thing that definitely sets Telluride’s skiing apart is its hike-to terrain options. With the ability to climb another 750′ vertical above the top lift to the summit of Palmyra Peak (all in-bounds) and the endless options of chutes and steep faces off the peak and Prospect Ridge into Black Iron bowl, you really see the true expanse of the area. I used a combo of skinning and bootpacking to access the various options. My first hike took me down Mountain Quail with sweet carved turns into the steep wall of Black Iron bowl and then a traverse into Jello Bowl below the towering Palmyra where I found fresh tracks in deep powder before making my way over to Nice Chute. That chute was very narrow and very steep! whoa! Gold Hill Chute #9 was also a pretty spectacular run with a hike along a road atop Prospect Ridge to a short scramble up a jagged rock face. It was an exquisite run, unlike anything I’ve skied before. The chute dropped me steeply into Palmyra Basin which allowed for a long run through untracked deep powder. I had many other great runs over the course of the week, but these were definitely a notch above, especially as I was able to float the deep stuff.

With its location in the southwestern corner of Colorado, Telluride has one of the most pleasant climates for skiing with dry desert air and bright sunshine. This is a particularly sweet deal when it comes to aprés ski, and Telluride is particularly well suited to this with lots of options for hanging out outside in the sun when you’re doing sliding on the hill. There were great options for catching some rays with a frosty beverage. Our favorites were the Garrano Ranch at 10,000′ sitting above Mountain Village, and the outdoor bar at the Hop Garden where we had interesting conversation with the friendly localfolk.

Everyone we met was super-friendly, from the patroller who stopped his snowmobile to chat with me while I was starting out on my hike on Prospect Ridge to the bartender at the Hop Garden, to the lifties blasting their tunes. I loved the vibe. We were skiing on a 48″ base with 154″ of snow at Telluride season to-date. Next report from Sugarbush.