PICS FROM THE Y

View of where we entered the chute.

Best turns of the day.

View of the top of the chute, before we entered.

This is where we were poking our heads through trying to figure out where to get in.

Leo in the Y. I am standing in the shadow of the big rock. These are the 1st turns.

Leo ridin the rocket powered snow sharks near the bottom of the chute.

The Y

This is a lousy picture, quality, not content, of Paul getting into the Y chute in East Vail. I took it with my cell phone. Still haven't bought a camera. Paul has a really great camera, and took some really great shots. We were too tired yesterday to get them from the camera to the computer. We will get some better pics from the Y up soon.

The Y is on the north side of the highway, east side of the Bighorn Creek valley. You can see the chute from most anywhere in the Vail village, however, not too many people know what you are talking about when you mention it. We have been talking about doing the Y for quite some time. Yesterday it all came together. It was the best worst run I have ever skied.

Early in April I bought some K2 Coomba's and put some Marker Duke touring bindings on them. The heal frees up for hiking and locks back down for skiing. All the benefit of being a meadow skipping butterfly chaser without actually having to chase any butterflies. Since I got these skis, the April showers gave me plenty of pow to test them in. Pretty much the only way I have been able to accurately describe the way the Coomba's ski is that they make you feel like you are riding a pair of rocket powered snow sharks. Anyhow, on Thursday I got out of work early. I had not yet tried hiking with the RPSS's. Paul was off and suggested we go up the west side of Bighorn Creek and take a good look at the Y. We hiked for about an hour and got a good look at the chute. There was a good amount of avy debris in there from recent snow. We scouted as best we could how to get into the chute, figured the run might suck, and decided we were going up there on Friday.

Friday's hike started at 7:30. We were gaining elevation pretty quick, through powder filled glades of pines and aspens. Before we knew it (two and a half hours later), we were at 11250, on an overlook just above the lookers left of the Y, looking down a different powder filled north facing chute just begging us to ski it. We may go get that later this spring; we just need to look at it from below to make sure it doesn't cliff out. When I say powder filled, I mean it. Paul put his probe pole in and there was 10 an a half feet of snow up there.

We were pretty sure we were above the skiers right chute of the Y. We knew we did not want to get into that chute. That side is much tighter and looked as though there was a nasty rock section near the bottom of it. As I mentioned, we were pretty sure where we were. Not 100%. The pine trees surrounding the Y seem to guard the location of it's entrance. Right about this time is when the adrenaline started moving though my system and the excitement of the day was about to peak. We worked our way down and left, occasionally poking our heads through the pine's, looking over the edge, and trying to find our entrance. After about 10 or so minutes of looking, we found our spot. These were probably the best, and definitely the most exciting turns of the run. There was about 4 -5 inches of slabby powder up here. The picture is of Paul entering the chute from the skiers left of the skiers left chute of the Y. The chute is huge. 1500 - 1700 vertical. Plenty wide. Unfortunately full of avalanche debris from a few days before. The skiing was not the best ever, not even that close. But the run was right up there.

Stay tuned for some better pics.

INCREDIBADONKULOUS!!!

Pretty much the only word that can sum up this season. It just will not stop snowing, and you know the posse down with that.

Vail is well over 400 inches. Signs on the mountain are completely buried. To make a call from many of the on trail emergency phones, you have to lay on the ground. Kinda makes sense as that is probably where you are if using those phones. The season has truly been incredibadonkulous.

Yesterday was possibly one of the funnest days of the season. The snow report at 7 AM was only 5 inches. You could still feel the crust on the first couple of runs. Not bad for April 10th. The sky was, however, puking the white stuff. Winter was still in full effect! By 10 AM the crust was gone, buried by 5 more inches. We, (Tim, Paul, and myself) knew that the last run of the day was going to be the best. As the loc dogs at Alta would say, free refills all day long.

Seldom trees were bottomless. Powerline was super rad. WFO was deep and getting deeper. Prima Cornice, nuf ced. We had to ski three wide to get out to the treed lines. It was the only way to get any depth perception, and proved to be absurdly entertaining.

On one lift ride, Tim realized that his face hurt from laughing too much. The only mind altering substance Tim was on were his Seth's. The width of the ski is directly proportional to the width of the smile. There was so much hootin' and hollarin' we didn't need an air horn, but we are definitely going to start next season with them. Seems to have had some effect.

One of the best images of the day, permanently emblazoned into my brain, was watching Tim and Paul racing, aka straightlining side by side, down PC. I was unable to stop laughing straightlining down behind them. I think it was on the next lift ride, looking at those absurdly foolish straight lines that Tim's face started to ache. Too much fun!

Now about that last run. The one we knew at the beginning of the day was going to be the best, if even possible to declare a best.

Forever!

Just before they closed the gates, we got as close to a sucker hole as the storm was going to allow. No actual sun, but enough light to kinda see out in the middle of the bowl. We got out to the top of Forever and just knew something rad was about to happen. Super smooth, super deep, wind groomed, bottomless, fast, light and fluffy POW! It was unreal. Incredibadonkulous! Just like the season. If that run actually did go on Forever, we would still be skiing it! No more lift rides, just one perfect groove that lasts Forever. But the run ended at the bottom. Our last day off together for the season, which is also going to end. Oh well. It has been awesome! High fives on the lift and smiles all the way home.

It just stopped snowing as I am writing this. The storm has given us close to 3 feet in 2 days.

Incredibadonkulous!