SierraDescents.com

Black Iron Bowl

Black Iron Bowl

Checking in here from Telluride, Colorado. This was a last-minute trip, but opportunity came knocking, so I thought I'd shirk my Sierra responsibilities and head east to the Rockies. Funny thing: it just never crossed my mind that I'd see anything other than spring skiing over here.

Because I was flying, I stripped out all my winter gear to get down to one bag. Ha! says Old Man Winter.

This morning I was riding up the Village Express in little more than a sweatshirt and a windbreaker with the weather doing a very respectable impersonation of January: temps in the single digits, winds and blowing snow—your basic blizzard scenario. I didn't even get one run in before I realized I was ridiculously under-dressed. Headed straight for the nearest ski shop and no doubt did some good work for the local economy by going on a clothes-buying frenzy.

Cold! Forecast looks like snow all week. I suppose there's some sort of be-prepared lesson here for mountain travelers, but come on! It's April! Where's my slush and sunshine? :)

On the other hand, the upside of April showers is...fresh tracks on the hike-to terrain. Did the walk up the ridge to the top of Black Iron Bowl's Mountain Quail Chute. This is just such a fun, classic line, and getting it with untracked powder was oh-so-nice.

What a beautiful day this was! There's hardly anybody on the mountain right now, so there was no rush to get untracked snow even on the lift-served stuff. New storm supposed to be blowing in tonight, so likely more fresh snow on the way.

— March 31, 2009

Andy Lewicky is the author and creator of SierraDescents

ken white April 1, 2009 at 7:07 am

great article.

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