Final Stashes & First Tunnels Try On SPlatte 19May23

Breck announced it's closing this WE so I headed to Summit and over to Breck a couple times for some spring skiing in the alpine. I got to lap Whale's Tail last time (just a pic of the run above me) but today Imperial was closed and I could not get there. I skied the Peak 7 bowls and Pk 6 today ~ it was fine but Breck made the right decision to close. On one run I was on a narrow ribbon of snow for 1/4 mile. I skied in shorts today ~ I love the spring skiing in Colorado.

After several runs on the cool stuff that was still open, I loaded into the car and headed to COS "the back way" so I'd pass Tomahawk on the Middle Fk of the S Platte and the 11 Mile Canyon section of the S Platte. There was snow & sleet over Hoosier Pass and South Park was pretty rainy so I passed right by Tomahawk ~ the rain subsided closer to Lake George so I turned up to give 11 Mile a try. I haven't yet this season fished "the tunnels section" of the river and with arrival late at 2pm, I stopped there. I caught gobs of fish in a brief outing but as expected there were more browns and all the fish were 14'-17" vs the larger ones closer to the damn. Flows had dropped a smidge but still >100cfs and the weather was overcast, and then turned to rain. As I arrived a great BWO spinner fall was occurring but I don't often fish those and went deep nymphing with a mayfly rig. The Perdigon lead fly caught 60% of the fish! It was a blast with the RFT3 and I made a full pass in ~2hrs with ~20 fish. I am sporting new Simms G3 waders, which supposedly are more rugged; they are a nicer fit than the Patagonia (which do not leak but are now backups) but they need to prove mettle.

Skiing With Steve & Jim 19Jan22-21Jan22

I snuck up to Summit for some runs with Bro Brown and Yoho. Steve & I started on a cold and dry, but sunny, day at Keystone. We ran a 17.5K day starting in the back on Outback and working forward - that's kindof our typical play. While I chose the wrong skis, since there was no new snow I needed more stability at speed rather than 118 underfoot float, we had a great time capped with some Last Chance pizza and beers.

Jim arrived Wednesday night and we enjoyed some closeout NestT tunes before resting for an onslaught at Breck with some hopeful snow conditions. We did get some needed snow and headed to Breck all three in the Crusher Too. We started on Pk 7 to access Pk 6 and made a number of runs there before getting Steve on Freedom for the 1st time. It wasn't powder conditions, and I did choose the 105s given yesterday, but we found some stashes in the trees. We cooked up a plan to self-award a badge for skiing every peak @ Breck on this day and so crossed quickly using the T-Bar, then down Pk 8 to E, then down Pk 10 to Interconnect, then down Pk 9 to our bus pickup. We got them all and I laud our efficiency in hitting every peak in the least number of lifts - we crossed Breck's very wide trail set quickly. We stopped at Broken Compass for some ColoRADBro and lamented there are no food trucks there ~ we capped the outing with some ORB beers and Bird Cafe thai food. The night continued at the Nest with spa time (yeah, it blew up), Dave's pizza and voyeurism on good backcountry outings via Mediocre Amateurs.

We rallied to again hit Keystone on Fri. There was more snow and more people this time - but conditions are still pretty thin IMO. We ran the normal back-to-front scheme sketching out on occasions when ice patches weren't evident or when big hard moguls were the only path down. Our best softer runs were on Big Horn. Another fine day capped with a stop at Steep Brewing (not the one at the hill 'cause it was mobbed, but the one on Rt 6). We headed back to for a spa soak at Steve's where my Saturday plan's changed when Steve slid out on his spa steps and gouged his back. Jim and I had a NestT session that eve after enjoying good bowls of pho.

I installed a space heater in the drained spa and made a service appointment with Heavenly... grrr.