Blizzard conditions at Snowmass
Half days are fine with me. The first half of the day skiing has been strong. We have been all over the sparsely populated mountain all morning. From Elk to Big Burn, from Grinder to Campground.
But the clouds have been coming. We’ve been watching the wind blow them ever so slowly, creeping across the Rocky Mountain range for hours, bringing dark shadows and dim light over the runs.
Temperature is dropping as well.
At lunch, we hole up for some nourishment, bbq chicken hits the spot. We watched out the window as the snow began to fall, slowly at first then harder and thicker as the storm rolled in on top of us.
The place was not crowded before, but now it was almost deserted as everyone seemed to bail at the same time. We discussed and decided to wait it out a little longer and try again.
Funny we did not realize how fast it came down from our warm perch at Base Village. We watched, and knew it was snowing hard, but our perspective was all off. But once we went downstairs to exit did we realize how crazy it had gotten.
Our first surprise was the double doors looked to be about waist deep already. When they opened, snow quickly drifted inside. When we ran out we were amazed at shoulder high drifts, blinding thick snowfall, and deep piles all around.
There would be no more skiing today.
Snowmass, Colorado
March 30, 2010
