My winter was a tale of two disparate places. We continued our schedule of 2 weeks at the AOS (on the ski hill) and 4 weeks in Gothic. Though things got turned upside down for a bit. Tom, an old friend from college, had been hired to add some flexibility to our schedule, so Frank was sent to work in the Azores for 6 weeks. During that time, Wess was fired, so we dropped down to just 2 techs. Michael and Paul came in to help, which meant that I stayed longer at the AOS than would be normal until Frank came back. During this time I was also given a promotion to site lead.
Anyways, during my time at CBMR, I would ride the lift up to work and ski home at the end of the day. Our place was more or less ski in, ski out. It was about a 5 minute walk to the nearest lift and 10 minute walk to the main big lift. Then we could ski more or less to within 100 yards of our place. The job allowed for some good flexibility, so I often got to ski several runs during the day, and if I got up early and did work from home, I could spend the first hour to hour and a half skiing if it was a powder day. And we got lots of powder days this year! It was a great year for snow! I wish I had kept track of how many powder days I skied, but it was the 2nd biggest snow year in the past 20 years. CBMR is a very steep resort with lots of extreme terrain, and it filled in really nicely, so that I could ski basically anything on it. Lots of fun! The way the schedule worked when I was at the AOS was that I would work 4 days at the AOS, cover one day in Gothic (which meant skiing in and out to Gothic) and then have my 2 days off.
Then there was life in Gothic. Oh beautiful winter Gothic! When the road closed in November, the only way to reach Gothic was via a 4 mile ski. There was a once a week (conditions allowing) snowmobile resupply, but I refused to use it. So at Gothic, I'd basically ski in on my equivalent of Monday morning, stay the week and then ski out Friday afternoon. On my ski in, I'd take in fresh clothes and all my food (milk, vegetables, fruit, lunch and dinner fixings) for the week, and when I'd ski out, I'd take my laundry. I'd carry all this on a pulk sled. On the days when I was just skiing in for the day, I'd often get up early to do a backcountry run for the ski in from the top of Snodgrass (down like 2nd bowl) and also do a lap on the way out on 3rd or 4th bowl of Abby's Lane. Of course we couldn't travel the Road to Gothic if the avalanche danger was high or extreme, which occurred on occasion. I loved skiing the road b/c I hardly ever saw anyone and when I did it was often one of my neighbors, so we'd sit and chat.
So living in Gothic over the winter was the biggest crew they've ever had b/c of all the winter science going on. There was of course the famous billy barr (check this video out if you want to know about him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L72G8TLtTCk ) who has lived in Gothic for some 40 some odd years and been collecting snow data all that time. Then there were the winter caretakers. Sophia and Jack (or Jack the Snow Dragon as I called him, b/c believe it or not is last name is Snow!). They are dating and lived together in Gates Cabin. Sophia is an ecologist just recently graduated from UC Berkley. Jack is a chemist who recently got his master's at Denver University. The 3rd care taker was Mairead who lived in Galena cabin. I can't remember where she went to undergrad but she was recently excepted to a hydrology master's degree at Univ. of N. Arizona. All 3 of them are very young (Mairead and Sophia being about 22 or 23). Frank and I lived in Calder cabin. All 3 of these cabins are up the slope on the east side of Gothic (upper east side). Then the head winter facilities guy (Benn) lived down in the main townsite. He's also young (late 20's I think) and is a graduate of the Colorado School of Mines. Collectively we were all known as the winter-overs. Because Tom had a dog, he didn't stay out in Gothic as dogs aren't allowed, so he skied in and out of Gothic daily when it was his turn to be there.
Because of the difficulty of getting to Gothic, hardly anyone visited, so it was just us few out here. I loved it! So quiet and peaceful with the big mtns and the snow and the foxes and pine martens. I loved when Frank was at the AOS (meaning he stayed in Gunnison) and it would just be me at the cabin for 2 weeks. So amazing. I just loved it. It was a dream come true for me.
Daily life in Gothic revolved around being on skis. You couldn't go anywhere without skis (or at least snowshoes, though they are less effective in the deep snow). I sort of describe it as if we (each cabin, building, lab) were islands on an ocean. If you were to step out of any of these without your skis, you'd instantly sink past your waist. So like being on islands in an ocean, you'd have to put on your skis (take a boat) to move from one place to the other, even when going a short distance. For example, when Mairead hosted the super bowl party, even though Galena cabin is only 150 m from my cabin, the only way to get there would be to put on skis. This also adds a certain isolation. As Jack said when his family was going to come visit: "I told them not to bring shoes"
I of course cross-country skied every day to our main site, or to take out the trash, but I also back country skied every day I was in Gothic, sometimes twice a day (before work and after work). On days when the snow was really good, I'd get up before dark to put in some laps before work. And after work I basically always skied until dark and often found my way home by the light of my headlamp (and my Christmas lights that I kept up all winter on my cabin). We had runs for days with higher avy danger that aren't in avalanche terrain (like Abby Lane and Aspen Alley), then we had my go-to runs 2nd, 3rd, and 4th bowl) and then some other unnamed runs off of the Snodgrass-Gothic ridge and one called the Kraken's arm off of the side of Gothic. These all required a bit of a skin to and from the slope. Behind the cabin were runs like the sluice (Avery glades), Zachary's, Wolf's Lair, Elk Basin, Virginia Basin, and others that I could ski right back onto my porch from! And b/c of all the runs around CB and the ski to get out here, these runs all stayed untracked between storms all winter. I just loved it! Overall we got over 30 feet of snow.
Here are my winter totals
# of days downhill skiing = 81
# of days backcountry skiing = 85
# of days cross country skiing (cross country skiing often overlapped with the other types of skiing, and I didn't include it as a day of xc skiing if I was just using xc skis to move around Gothic on my daily work activities tehre) = 49
11/16
First day of backcountry skiing. Up above Emerald lake with Tom
11/17
Mountain biking in Gunnison with bro with just a touch of snow here and there in Gunnison.
11/20
A really good day of backcountry skiing with Tom up on Purple mtn
11/23
Opening day at Mt Crested Butte. Of course skiing in costumes. Then also some really, really fun ice skating on the giant Blue Mesa reservoir with Tom and Frank. Wearing life jackets of course in case we came upon thin ice!
11/24
Skied at the resort, ice skated at peanut lake, and then ice skated at Long Lake
11/25
Solo ice skating on Blue Mesa Reservoir
11/24-11/26 or thereabouts. Cat sitting!
11/29
Road to Gothic closes!
11/30
Powder day and first of many first chairs
12/2
Fancy Irwin holiday party at the center for the arts complete with a life 80's cover band. Elisha wins the cookie competition
12/14-12/15
We journey to the Crystal River (the Aspen side of things) to stay at Avalanche Hot springs where we stay the night in a covered wagon. Elisha wears her prairie dress. The hot springs are really cool and the wagon is cute. We also do some some xc skiing by Redstone
12/16-12/18
I take an avalanche course that also allows for some fun backcountry skiing during the course
12/19
We cut down our Christmas tree for the condo up in Washington Gulch
12/21
I cut down my Christmas tree for the cabin up above Gothic. She's a beaut! And I decorate my cabin for Christmas with lots of lights!
12/24 - 12/28
Mom and dad visit for Christmas. We go out to slogars and do other fun things. We enjoy the hot tub at the guest house where they are staying as well as some of the breakfast treats. Mom skis out for a night at the cabin in Gothic.
12/31
Torchlight parade down the ski hill and fireworks
1/6
Elisha gets a free snowcat ski day with her company on a great powder day
1/17- 1/19
A 2 night ski hut trip to Ken's Cabin on Boreas Pass. We skied in from the town of Como. Because we had to work we ended up skiing a lot of it in the dark in a snowstorm. During our time there it was super windy, which made it nice to be in the hut. We were all alone up there as the cabin is only for one small group. So that was really cool! We did some backcountry skiing, but it wasn't the best with the low angle, the wind, and how much snow there was in the wind-sheltered areas.We did some Montucky skiing on the road (car pulling skier) when we got back to the car
2/4
Alley Loop nordic ski race. I did the 5K. It was so much fun! It goes through the streets of town and people are cheering you on and offering you bacon and beer and other things. And of course everyone is in costume. We ran into a friend, Eric from Antarctica, who was skiing the race (his cousin lives in CB)
2/8
Skied at Cranor Hill, Gunnison's little ski hill with just one poma lift.
2/9
Took Elisha on a backcountry ski tour of Coneys
2/12
Superbowl party at Mairead's in Gothic. Ski-to party
2/16
Some car-served backcountry skiing with bro where one of us shuttled the rest using the car while the rest skied
2/19
Free really fancy dinner at Taylor River Lodge that Elisha won from winning the cookie competition at Eleven's holiday party
2/22-2/24
2 night ski trip to Eiseman Hut outside of Vail in the Gore Range. Skied into the hut in a big snowstorm, and made it just before dark. About 14 other people staying in these really nice hut. Some Germans and a lot of Durango. The skiing at the hut was fabulous, and I did LOTS of laps there as did Elisha
3/2
Ran into Bill Jirsa (from Antarctica) on the mountain
3/8
Finished my Liberty jigsaw puzze of Gothic Mountain and RMBL that is the EXACT view from my cabin
3/9
Skied at Keystone and then met Chris Sherman and Michael Coenen at the ski in ski out condo that Michael's mom had rented. Went out to Thai dinner with Sherman
3/10
Skied at Breckenridge with Sherman and MC. Mexican dinner with the Coenens.
3/18
Yotes basketball wins the National Championship!
3/23
On our way to Havasupai, we spent the night just outside of Cortez. It was rather snowy.
3/24
Drove to Seligman, AZ via the 4 corners monument and also visited monument valley. Had dinner at our favorite Indian restaurant in Flagstaff before continuing on to stay in a cute little cabin thing at an RV park in Seligman AZ.
3/25
Seligman is famous for being one of the main stops on Route 66. We had breakfast in Seligman at the "roadkill cafe". Drove to the canyon rim of the Havasupai Reservation to begin our journey to Havasu falls. We hiked down until we reached Supai. Such an interesting little town. Almost felt like we were in a different country. Then 2 miles below that we got our first look at Havasu falls. Unfortunately, b/c of all the recent snow, there had been flash flooding and the water was a chocolate brown instead of the normal emerald blue/green. We walked the entire length of the long campground before pitching our tent on the cliff overlooking Mooney falls. So breathtaking! In our tent, we could hear the water thundering below us, and from our tent we could see the falls
3/26
Spent the day exploring the upper falls of the area (Havaus, Mooney, Navajo, 50-foot). Also got some Indian fry bread from a little stand and grabbed lunch at the cafe in Supai Village. We explored Supai village a bit and also took a hike up a side canyon. The hike to the base of Mooney falls is really cool b/c it goes through lime-stone tunnels and then requires going down steeply on somewhat sketchy ladders. We had a fire right on the rim of the cliff by the waterfall (fires are normally not allowed but b/c of all the rain and the desire to get rid of all the flood debris that had come down, they were being allowed)
3/27
Hiked down to beaver falls which is several miles below Mooney falls and required several somewhat deep river crossings. Then hiked into the Grand Canyon NP.
3/28
As the rains had ceased and the flood waters lowered, we noticed a marked change in the water color--to a more greyish green. Still a far cry from what it can be, but cool nonetheless. Hiked out of the canyon and drove to Flagstaff where we stayed the night
3/29
Made it back to CB, still in time for me to do a skate ski and then join Elisha at a party her company was hosting with a live (and good!) bluegrass band
3/31
Went to a disco party, but we couldn't get tickets for the adult disco so went to the "family" one and it was just kids and was kind of awkward
4/2
Closing day in CBMR. We skied in costumes and hiked up to the peak. CBMR closes on a set date that has nothing to do with the amount of snow as Vail Resorts determines they don't make money after this date. Sad to see it close as there is still so much snow!
4/4
Drove to Leadville to stay at a hostel there (Inn the Clouds Hostel). A really cool hostel.
4/5
Drove to Beaver Creek to ski a nice (but cold!) powder day. Then back to Leadville
4/6
Went to Vail to ski. Grilled bratwurst at the free grill's that Vail provides in Blue Sky Basin (like the only good deal at all of Vail resorts)
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