4/24/2011 – With snow down along the Front Range the day before (Coco’s Triathalon), I knew I had to get up to enjoy some of the fresh snow in the mountains that next day.  I rounded up Alex Umbhau and Jason Blair for a day of exploration and shredding out around Berthoud Pass.  We hadn’t enjoyed the convenience of the car shuttle much this year and it sounded like the right idea.  The forecast called for more snow, but turned out be bright and clear and fiercely hot all day, which led to some interesting snow conditions.  Basically put – we had a wonderfully mobile top 6″ – 1′ of snow on top of a solid base of packed powder.  We set off a couple sizeable slides after accurate snowpit analysis and ski cutting, and enjoyed some great turns as well.  Also, I got after a cliff we had been eying since last year (Casey’s Cliff) and learned the difficulties of billy-goating.  Here are a few shots!

This last one is a shot of my billy-goating. Jason took the photos and I pieced them together.