I love winter. I love snow. Colorado is such a great place because we got plenty of snow this year.

Polar loves snow too, she always got a huge smile on her face I take her snowshoeing. But the problem is sometimes, especially when we just got dumped tons of powder, I want to go snowboarding. I always felt bad when I pack up all my snowboarding gear, and she looks at me with those sad puppy eyes, knowing that I won't be taking her.

I wanted to find a place to go snowboarding with Polar, but a good trail is hard to find. See for snowboarding, a trail that goes up and down a lot will not work. The perfect trail would have a long gradual incline I can hike up with snowshoes and then snowboard down. Late last winter though, I found a place that might work, so I decided to give it a try.

Instantly, it was the most fun I've ever had with Polar. I mean, "slowshoeing" uphill with a snowboard strapped to my pack was not fun, but coming back down on a snowboard was great. Polar was having a blast running with me, I think she was in shock that daddy can finally move as fast as she is! Most of the time she has to put up with me huffing and puffing basically just keeping her back when we are hiking or snowshoeing, but on a snowboard I left her in the dust.













After that first trip, I was hooked. I enjoy going out there with Polar, getting away from all the crowds at the resorts, finding untouched powder. I started late this season in March, and I was only able to go out with her a few times before my wife gave birth to our son in April. But I've already decided not to get a ski pass next season, and just take Polar out exploring as much as I can.

That sounds awesome. This is something I would love to do with my boys.

Oh, and we got a late season storm on May 11 that dumped tons of snow around Denver and up in the mountains. So with the wife's permission, I went to Loveland Ski Area with a friend and Polar. The ski area has already closed for the season. Initially we weren't sure if they'd allow us to be there, but it is in a national forest, and we figure the worst thing that can happen is that they'd tell us to leave, so we gave it a try. We saw a few people there with the same idea, and even though there are still people working there, they never came talk to us. So for the most part, we had the entire ski area to ourselves. It was sweeeeeeeeet!!

And a few video clips shot using our cell phones. This is Polar following me. The snow was so deep that my friend had a lot of trouble keeping his cambered snowboard afloat, he ended up doing a nose dive and flipped over.   

Polar following my friend down to the top of Chairlift 4 at Loveland.

Polar following me on a snowboard again, the furball is getting tired from all that running and chasing us!

It took us about two hours to hike up, and only about 20 minutes to snowboard down, with stops to shot video and wait for Polar to catch up... still, it is so much fun, I would do it again in a heartbeat.

This is from an earlier trip I did myself. Polar using her skills to help daddy out on some flats.

i Love riding loveland! was up there closing day, conditions sucked ass, but what a sweet idea to head up there with polar, i may have to keep that in mind next yr

eander83 wrote:

That sounds awesome.  This is something I would love to do with my boys.

It's so much fun! It's the best feeling in the world going down the mountain with your dog smiling and chasing you the whole way.

jbealer wrote:

i Love riding loveland! was up there closing day, conditions sucked ass, but what a sweet idea to head up there with polar, i may have to keep that in mind next yr

I spent my first season in CO snowboarding Loveland. It's such a nice little resort, not crowded compare to the other ones, so you can always find good powder after a storm.

I haven't been in CO for long, but I figure this last storm we had was pretty rare. How often do we get this much snow AFTER the ski areas are closed?

Loveland do allow uphill access in season, from what I read on their web site, you can get an uphill access card from their lift office. You have to do it before the lift is open or after the lift is close though, I think. Which means you have to either get up waaaaay early in the morning, or take the really crappy snow after everyone has gone home.

this is not to rare for us, we had 2 dry yrs, in 2012 i did bald mountain May 5th, just off of loveland and it had very little snow. i refuse to plant any flowers or veggies till the 3rd or 4the week of May for the "just in case" snow storm. A-basin is still open and that is my 2nd fav "local" mountain where you don't see a ton of crowds