NORDHAUS: 2008 is all downhill from here

By Hannah Nordhaus, Special to the Rocky

Published January 1, 2008 at 12:45 a.m.

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On the skiing front, 2007 was something of a bust for me.

First of all, the snow was lousy - the storms turned off right after New Year's and never started up again. We enjoyed some fantastic backcountry days in the stormy interregnum between late October and early January. But after that, good powder days were few and far between.

In addition, I was pregnant, and after a couple of front flips on powder days, I decided that the variability of untracked snow wasn't ideal for someone with a baby in her belly.

So I swore off deep powder for the new year - a sacrifice made easier by the fact that there wasn't much of it to ski.

I did continue to ski inbounds until I was a little over seven months pregnant, but my doctor had also told me to refrain from traveling above 12,000 feet, so I skipped ski adventures in the high alpine.

Which makes my 2008 New Year's resolution a no-brainer. Get a baby sitter, get out there, get powder and get above the tree line.

2008 resolutions

In 2008, I resolve to ski all the things I couldn't last year. To make sure I keep my promises, I will publish these resolutions in the newspaper.

* I will ski Montezuma Bowl at Arapahoe Basin: This 400-acre bowl has long been a destination for backcountry skiers; now it will be lift-served and patrolled. It's slated to open over the holidays, adding 36 new runs that range from cruisers - long in short supply at A-Basin - to double-black diamond runs, which are plentiful, but you can never have too many!

* I will ski Independence Bowl at Keystone: Last year, Keystone expanded its fledgling cat skiing operation to include Independence Bowl, a 278-acre, 1,100- foot, 35-degree, north-facing basin that promises plenty of steep, cold powder. While prices have gone up this year, it's still the best cat-skiing deal in Colorado: $199 covers four to five hours of skiing, plus a catered gourmet lunch in a yurt at the bottom of the bowl. I was invited to the opening of the terrain last year, but was too pregnant to attend. I hope to partake this year.

* I will ski the new Eagle Wind triple at Winter Park: This new lift allows skiers to do laps on the backside of Parsenn Bowl, terrain that once required a cumbersome, three- or four-lift round trip to ski more than once.

Annual thrills

That's it for the new, now for the tried-and- true powder adventures every serious Colorado skier should hit every winter:

* I will hike Highlands Bowl at Aspen Highlands: If you can handle a 35-minute hike in the howling wind, it's the best, steepest, most sustained inbounds line in the state - that I've skied, anyhow. Steep, straight and sweeeet!

* I will climb Kachina Peak at Taos Ski Valley: It takes three-quarters of an hour to hike to the top of Kachina Peak, but this big, north-facing bowl, with awe-inspiring views on the way up and glee-provoking turns on the way down, offers everything from mellow powder pitches to white-knuckle-narrow-and-steep. Last year was the first time in two decades that I didn't make a run on Kachina Peak. I'm not going to let that happen again.

* I will chase powder in British Columbia: Last year, I was - quite tragically, given my lumbering circumstances - invited on a heli-ski and a heli-assisted ski-touring trip in British Columbia. I did everything I could to convince myself that a six-month-pregnant lady could ski deep and unpredictable powder and clamber in and out of a helicopter without hurting the baby, slowing the group or wearing an adult diaper.

But ultimately, I decided I just couldn't pull it off. This year, however, I resolve to pull off all of these ski adventures, and more.

I'd better start saving my baby-sitting money.

Outdoors writer Hannah Nordhaus has lived in Colorado for 12 years.

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