The month of March is certainly making up for what has been an otherwise ‘meh’ snow season in Colorado.  I woke up Wednesday with intentions of going for a bike ride but with five or so inches of fresh snow at the house and Monarch reporting nine it seemed like skiing would be the better option.  

That was the correct choice.

You sometimes hear people complaining about ski areas inflating their snow numbers but if anything, Monarch was conservative with their report this time around.  It appeared that the snow had been driven in by high winds the night before.  Most parts of the mountain had at least a foot of fresh snow on the ground and there were these weird shark-fin-shaped drifts, some has tall as three feet all over the place, especially in the trees.  In places there were rows of them that looked like ocean waves frozen in place.  

Snow fin.

And it was heavy snow, as I discovered when I dropped into the trees next to an intermediate run as my warm-up for the day.  After about three or four turns I just stopped moving, coming to a complete, unplanned stop due to the deep snow.  It wasn’t a question of wanting to ski steep, it was more of a necessity because you needed the slope to keep you going through the deep, heavy snow.  Oh lawdy, let’s go! 

Of course, a big overnight dump attracts people like a light attracts moths.  I think the whole population of Chaffee county was at Monarch yesterday.  The lift lines were long, so after three great runs ending with enjoyment-killing lift line waits, I decided my time would be better spent hiking over to Mirkwood.

That was also the correct choice.

The conga line up Mirkwood ridge.  You’re still in a line but hey, it’s moving!

Despite the line going up, Mirkwood feels pretty empty once you drop into the bowl.

I headed over to my favorite run in the basin, Elation, and amazingly mine were some of the first tracks down it for the day.  Elation starts out gentle through a glade and then rolls over a steep face to take you down to the bottom of Mirkwood basin.

The glade

The roll-over

The snow in the glade was knee deep.  As I skied past the roll-over onto the steep face it got much deeper.  Up to the waist in spots, which made for a fast, floating descent punctuated with smile-inducing face shots with every turn.  The kind of run you see in ski videos, the kind of run you do in your dreams.

It was so good, I decided it warranted another lung-burning hike up the ridge and went back for a second run later in the day.  Worth it.

Back inbounds, the crowds started to thin out as the day wore on.  Skiing in deep snow tends to tire you out and I think a lot of folks decided to hang it up by about two o’clock, which opened up things nicely.

Hope that selfie turns out.

And no powder day would be complete without an aprés ski banquet!