I have been counting down the days until the DH season opener all winter, and it almost didn't happen.  Angel Fire was poised to open Friday May 16th, but the 14 inches of snow they received on Tuesday almost closed it down.  With a solid trail crew, and a good turn out of gravity patrons, the park opened on time with only a few upper trails closed.

I thought getting first tracks was something left in the previous season.  The first few trail rides down consisted of plowing through 3 or 4 inches of snow, which then turned to a snow/mud mix, then to a grease fest.  The upside to riding these conditions only make you faster on the dry days.  The upper trails were fairly muddy the rest of the day but the lower trails quickly dried, with temps in the 70s and a good breeze.

The Betty and a few other "adventure vehicles" set the alarm bright and early, claiming a prime spot under the chair lift.  The parking lot is less than roomy, and once again I had to thread the needle with 40 feet of "wheel estate".  I definitely made the guy in the Sportsmobile (center) a little nervous with my morning tactics.

Round two brought blue bird skies and drier trails.  The big crowds were out today along with a number of race teams and sponsors.  Even with weekend rider totals hitting 1100 people, it still had that small biking community.  Feeling like everyone knew everyone in some sort of degree.  I even ran into a few riders from the Summit County and Vail area, riding and camping with them for the weekend.

I was able to catch up with Hogan Koesis, the Bike Park Manager, and asked him a few questions about the upcoming summer at Angel Fire.  On the top of the discussion board was the camping situation. In the past campers/RV'ers were aloud to camp in the lower lots of the resort.  Due to changes outside of the bike parks control, camping was banned from resort property.  This definitely took people by surprise, including myself, suddenly scrambling for a site for the weekend( I literally pulled up and asked where to camp as they were loading the "no camping" signs).  With the work of the park employees and management, they convinced the resort to allow camping in the Black Lot, the lowest of the resort.  People were pumped.  There is nothing better than being able to set up camp with dozens of fellow riders, sharing war stories from the day, make-shift repair shops, and some libations.  One of the park employees even pulled his RV in and camped with us!  I just read today on the park website that camping in officially open at this lot for a $10 per vehicle fee.  for more info check out "The Dirt" on their website.

Check out the edit that the Angel Fire put together! Pretty sick!

For the park report side of things, Hogan currently employees a 10 person trail building team, and a 5 person bike patrol.  Though it is not uncommon to see the patrols picking up a shovel on their off days, he says.  Plans are to keep expanding the trail system beyond their already huge 60 mile system.  The biggest trail in the works for the summer is called "Hungry Hippo".  Hogan described the trail design as the "A-Line" of Angel Fire.  If your not familiar with A-Line, it is one of Whistlers' world famous jump lines.  If the huge jump line on Candy Land is any indication of what Hungry Hippo will provide,  I'll be back to send it on this one.

In addition to all the action of opening weekend, Angel Fire also hosted the Betti All Ride womens mountain bike clinic.  Offering skills training for all levels of riders and all types of terrain.  Over 30 women attended mainly focusing on the gravity side of things.  They are offering clinics all across CO, NM, and AZ, check it out ladies!

The Angel Fire park crew has done an awesome job building and maintaining the trail system.  Not forgetting their roots, the trails were gnarly, with plenty of hand pump to go around.  If your looking for a flow trail or a jump line your options seemed endless.  Some of my favorite blue flow trails were Boulder Dash, with a good jump line, and Chutes and Ladders that offered just that, some bridges, chutes, and a sick wall ride.
If you are looking for a trip to "Gnarnia", my favorite link up of trails started with World Cup, which is one rock garden after another, take an early cut out to Lower Supreme DH. Lower supreme offers a killer jump line and some big berms, "rail-able at about mach 10 .  At the next intersection take Drops and Lolipops, a flowy blue trail, but you can carry some serious speed!  This will land you at the famous Candy Land trail.  This trail rocks!  With some huge step ups and hips on the drop in, it then leads you into a set of berms and down to a series of HUGE tables.  They are built perfectly with lips that send it.  Once you get the speed figured out, it'll be all you want to do all day.  After "airing it out" in Candy Land, cruise back down to "base camp" and crack open a cold one or pull up at Sunset Grill for some margs.

Ok, so I'm writing this from a sweet coffee shop in Durango, CO.  I was planning on stopping for a day or two then heading on to Moab, UT.  Well 4 days later, I'm still here.  Amazing town, amazing riding, and even better people.  Planning on sticking around for the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic, then heading to Moab next week....such a rigorous schedule.

The next post will be about Durango and my first true adventures of "Urban Camping" in The Betty.

Just as I thought winter was coming to an end, rumors of a big spring storm started to circulate.  Only a day earlier we were rafting with a friend who guides down at the Royal Gorge, enjoying some 90 degree weather.  Swim trunks and sandals unpacked, and the smell of sunscreen had now replaced that of IcyHot.

I decided I couldn't miss this storm.   Originally, I planned to head to Moab to kick off the bike season, but put that on hold.  With snow predictions measured in feet, it was an obvious choice. 
Arapahoe Basin is the only resort of the 35 in Colorado still open(and will potentially be open through July with the snow totals).  Located about 20 minutes from Breckenridge, we rounded up the crew and headed up to A-Basin to camp and get first tracks on this killer storm.

We woke up Sunday morning to no snow.  A-Basin reported a few inches but nothing to write home about.  Somewhat discouraged, we headed up the road from camp to claim a spot on "The Beach".   It is essentially a beach party, except, its snow, not sand.  With kegs, shot-skis, grills, and yard games, it has that awesome small mountain vibe.

By the time I convinced the parking lot patrol to let me park a 30 foot RV and trailer on the beach it started to nuke.
Some of us still nursing sunburn(me particularly) from earlier in the week, we donned our winter gear, headed through the beach, and to the lift.

The snow stacked up quick, with some reports reaching 2 inches an hour.  With only a handful of people on the mountain, lifts lines were non existent, and the powder turns were endless.
The weather came in fast and hard.  The conditions were more like mid January.  High winds, low visibility, and bottomless skiing.  I think the quote of the weekend was "I can't believe its May!"  And that wasn't just within our group, it floated through the parking lot, on the chair lifts.  We even had someone pull up next to us at The Betty, roll down his window, and say, "Can you believe its May?!" then drive off to our cheers of this observation.

Along with the storm came a cold front.  The first night was not too bad sleeping in The Betty.  The second night, the bottom fell out, hitting single digit temps.  We really weren't expecting temps that low, I mean, hey, its May!  Either way we survived and headed out to round 2.  Monday brought clear skies and warmer temps.  It also brought the crowds.  The local snow forecasts had been saying all week that Monday was the day for powder.  It looked liked half of the front range had played hooky from work and headed to the mountains.  The storm prediction was a little off though, dropping a foot on Sunday(some parts of CO did report 36"), then clearing for Monday.  Yet another benefit to storm chasing in an RV.

Once the realization that they missed the powder day, the crowds died off and the lift lines disappeared.  We spent the day getting an instant goggle tan in Montazuma Bowl and hanging at the RV.
Wishing I could ski these conditions forever, the fact the Angel Fire Bike Park opening was only 3 days away convinced me that it was time to pack up and get on with summer.

Ok, quick solar panel report.  The catch is you need sun!! For the first couple days we did run the generator for some heat and drying gear.  I am having a few weird issues with the new set up.  I am still trouble shooting it and will get back to you on that.

The next post will be from New Mexico were I'm hoping there is more sun!

Fresh snow falling, a warm fire, snow fort in full effect, and a great group of people.  The last couple weeks I have been hosting a little get together at the campsite.  It has been growing a bit every week with mostly fellow ski and snowboard instructors from Breck.  Might have to turn this into a weekly tradition.....