We just got a blank new canvas to paint our carves on after 8 inches of May powder. Fresh snow under a hot May sun meant unstoppable globbing which felt like hauling bricks on our feet on the way up, but it was all worth it for the dreamy descents!

The predominately unsettled, cloudy, and cool weather this last month has nicely preserved the snow up high in the mountains, and north facing slopes have had an exceptionally smooth and consistent surface lately. So despite the record-low snowpack this year, the spring skiing/snowboarding has been pretty darn good!

After the lowest winter of snowfall on record in Colorado (about 25% of average), the south facing slopes of the Sneffels Range have the least amount of snow I've ever seen in the springtime. But, the north facing slopes are still holding nice, smooth snow for the time being!

After the doom and gloom of the heatwaves and rapidly melting snowpack in March, April has thankfully been much wetter and cooler here in southwest Colorado with some refreshes of snow up high. From what I've seen there's actually more snow now at the end of April than there was at the beginning! Earlier this week a storm dumped a fresh foot of powder in the mountains and some friends and I took full advantage with two back to back days of triple-descent tours.

Yesterday I dusted off the cobwebs from my splitboard and went on my first ski tour of the year! Given the record-low snowfall in Colorado this season, I just haven't been motivated to go out into the backcountry before now; but with the early onset of spring and the quickly dwindling snowpack I figured I might as well go check it out before it's all gone. Jason and I were delighted to find excellent snow conditions up high above about 11,000 feet elevation; the challenge was getting up to it through several miles of mostly dirt trail down low.

After a very slow start to winter, December came in with a bang with an absolutely glorious bluebird morning as snowstorm clouds cleared off revealing the Sneffels Range smothered in fresh powder. Winter is here!

Last night was another remarkable night of auroras all the way down in southwest Colorado, similar to the solar storm last year in October 2024. While I wasn't in such an epic spot as last year's show, it was still incredible to witness the pillars of red northern lights this far down south.

You know how when the mountains are illuminated by dawn/sunrise light it's called "alpenglow"? Well I'll call this "auroraglow" as the mountains glowed magenta from the light of the red auroras overhead (at least from what the camera could see with a bright lens and long exposure).