Author: quinnjalan

My replacement boots worked out great on our Colorado trip. See Bretton Woods for more info on what happened. Today while dropping off GMan lease equipment Vinnie show me one of my old boots which he is using as an example of how well Flow Talons are build!

 

For all your boarding and ski needs visit Vinnie at Zimmermanns in Nashua NH and tell him the Irish guy sent you. 

 

  
The above sums up the entire trip very nicely. We had a blast, cruised some great powder, meet some wonderful people and  logged a bunch of miles on our boards…we’ll be back…for sure.

Here’s a few shots of us in action. First up is GMan catching some air heading toward #9.

  
The next one is me. I’ll admit the landing did go as well as I wanted, but what a wonderful ride.

  

We are very happy we visited Loveland. It’s a straight forward mountain that offers a lot.

Now a few words on our accomdations. We stayed at the Best Western Ptarmigan Lodge in Dillon (CO). It’s a cluster of buildings overlooking the reservoir. Overall it’s a little dated but clear and efficient. Price wise I went for the middle of the road and I’m happy with what we got. Breakfast is include and you have a few choices. There’s also some fruit which is handy for mid morning boarding snacks. There is also a hot tub and a great resturant/pub right in the parking lot. Check out the Arapahoe Cafe if you are in town.

I’m going to stop blogging about sleep. Let’s leave it at I can’t wait to get into my own bed. Today will be our last boarding day at Loveland….for this trip. However, neither of us are moving terribly fast this am. 

According to back home the east coast has more fresh snow than we have here. Pow pow day at Wachusett!

  
Here’s our forecast. It will Spring boarding today and it looks like we are getting out of Dodge before it turns into a giant slush fest…rain tomorrow.

  

The pass was closed due to Avalanche work, not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. In any event we got within a 1/2 mile of the tunnel and we hung out for 20 of so minutes. Once the road was reopened we were at Loveland 5 minutes later. We managed to get into the Basin lot and boothed up, headed for tickets and then # 2 to #4…as usual. 

Condition were good by east coast standards, but it was a bit chunky by mountain standards. We didn’t let that stop us from getting in a few good runs. The weather went from hot to cold very quickly and it was back to blowing ice cubes at the top in no time. Even with the parking lot full it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. 

Here’s a pano shot of the upper half of #4.

  
This is the other side of the mountain. 

  
GMan sporting his new Loveland hat and bandana.

  
Rad boy!

  

After a few more runs we headed back to the hotel to clean up and start packing.

Check out the plate.

  
On 70 heading to Frisco for dinner we stopped at a scenic area. While we were hanging around enjoying the view a total stranger walked up and offer to take a photo. I’ve already said it, everyone we had an interaction with were very friendly.

  
Parkour boy.

  

I actually got a full nights sleep last night. Up, breakfast and headed to Copper Mountain. 

  
Compared to Loveland this place is 100% commercial. Lots of hotels, condos, shops and resturants…..and people. Think Disney crowds on snow. We opted for the top of line parking lot….all $25 worth, however it’s right off Center Village and right next to a lift. It was so worth it….

  
This is Center Village. I borrowed this image on line.

  
One of the good things about a big commercial mountain is most likely it will have a Starbucks!

We meet up with some friends from back east and hit the slopes. This place is east coast style all groomed trails…..at least the ones we were on. I felt quite at home listing to my board slide across a 1/4″ of dust while biting into the ice below. Like Loveland there’s lots of trails, but there is also lots of people. The lines are fairly long but they move well and are managed well, unlike the east coast free for all lines. The kids went into the park and the adults stayed on regular trails.

We did many runs but it’s not a very interesting mountain. Most trail are wide and not too steep, all are groomed and by noon the surface was all skied off. 

The kids seemed to enjoy the park and at some point we went in for lunch. This is an expensive mountain to eat at. $33 for a 1/2 sandwich, bowl of potato salad, cheese burger, 2 bags of chips an a soda. That’s sounds like a lot of food but it’s not, however, it was all very good. In fact the potato salad was great, so I guess we got what we paid for.

After lunch we followed the kids to the park and made a few vidoes. Go here for one of GMan hitting a few jumps. Here’s another video on a box jump.

GMan with our east coast friends

  

GMan and your truly

  
What could be better than a little ice cream after a hard day on the slopes.

  
Fire star

  
I’m not sure I’ll be back but I’m happy I came and checked it out.