Twin Lakes outside of leadville has hit it's safe layer of ice for some traction, decent amount of snow built up on it as well.

Any observed updates from Dillon?

Drove by both ends of Dillon today. Center not frozen yet, recently locked up near marina/amphitheater. do not go out on that end of the lake yet. Farmers Corner/Lesson area on south end is nearly ready, but only 4" of snow on top of ice at this point.

Anton @ Kiteforce will obviously have the best updates. https://twitter.com/cokiteforce

Hope you get lots of snow turns in while I'm stuck in the sun.

Went by Dillon on Sunday. A disturbingly large portion was NOT frozen and there was 0 snow in a lot of places; just soggy looking ice. Needless to say, nobody was out, so I turned around and went home.

I forgot I took a picture

I forgot I took a picture

I drove by Dillon yesterday, center still doesn't look frozen. I didn't look too hard, though, as I was still on I-70 on my way to Breck. Anyone ever kite in the Rabbit Ears Pass area? Is it a decent spot? Anywhere else worth checking out?

Proletariat, EW, let me know if/when you go up, I'd like to join if I'm free.

Kiznosh,

I go to Rabbit Ears frequently - including yesterday - it was quite light - only about 11mph but I love kiting that spot - I prefer the very first meadow on the north side of Hwy 40 on the East summit-it doesn't get as many snowmobiles because it is a little smaller then the others nearby and there are no power lines. My advice though - avoid this spot (all meadows on the east summit) like the plague on weekends....the east summit is HUGE for snowmobiles and every single inch of space is taken by one of those things...

Not sure if your schedule is flexible enough or not but on weekdays rabbit ears can be a snowkiting fiesta. I get lots of kite time up there and I am always game to kite and would be more then happy to share some wind! Just shoot me a note if you ever find a spare weekday.

Jeff (FrontRangeJeff)

We're either hitting Rabbit Ears or the Sanitarium @ Dillon lake tomorrow. Maybe we'll some of you cats out.

I AM JEALOUS! It's still as glass here in san jose. y'all make some wicked turns for me!

youarehere say hi to chriscountry for me!

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=40.384168,-106.616076&ll=...

North and south of the road here is where I spent a few days on rabbit ears pass last year. Just pick the side you're comfortable with depending on the direction of the wind. There are some gentle slopes on the south side but the north is pretty close to flat.

Even on the weekends I never saw more than a handful of sleds. They cross the meadow occasionally to enter or exit the trails nearby. Keep an eye out though; some of them may be hostile and you don't want them messing up your gear.

Glad to know there's a decent spot other than Dillon. Not that there's anything wrong with Dillon...when it's frozen over.

Jeff, my schedule at work gives me plenty of weekdays off. Unless I've worked the night before, I'm definitely game to go up on a weekday. Yeti, thanks for the location map!

Anyone have any plans to kite tomorrow or the 18th?

All kinds of BLM land not far from rabbit ears too. I know Jeff has a lot more info on this but one way to see BLM land is to use this website:
http://www.geocommunicator.gov/blmMap/Map.jsp?MAP=GA

They have a mapper and if you turn on the 'rangeland' layer you'll see the BLM areas in stripey-green. I haven't checked out any of those BLM lands yet but some of them may be usable too. I think near 14 and 40 there's always gonna be lots of snow, so depending on wind direction there may be options.

Dillon is now frozen over and got nearly 10" of new snow today.

Wind was gusting to well over 50 and some brave soul went out and apparently got hurt...no info yet..... Don't ride when it's gusting 50+!

Wow - I hope whoever got injured is ok. 50 mph is very extreme.

Kiznosh - turns out I'll be on Rbt Ears today and probably tomorrow in the exact meadows Yeti pointed out. Probably the north field. I'll send a U2U with my number in case you are up that way.

I have been on several hundred mile expeditions with a gazeteer, gps and sat photos in hand scouting for the best spots on public land with good access, good terrain, good wind and snow. From Southern Wyoming to South Park/Leadville/Walden areas. Tough to find all pieces - so far it has been a lack of snow but that may change quick. So far I've had best luck at Rbt Ears. As I find stuff I'll post them to the forum.

Jeff

I'm thinking Dillon or Rabbit Ears sometime between the 23rd and 25th, if anyone else is interested.

Dillons' wind was coming in strong from the west on saturday, which apparently is dangerous. So we took Antons advice and moved up north to Green Mountain reservoir. Snow was deep and heavy surronding the lake, but minimal and crunchy on the lake itself. Wind started strong when we got there, but by the time our gear was fully inflated and lines out, the wind was minimal.

The forecast at Dillon looks like perfect conditions for Thursday through Saturday. Anybody interested in joining me?

Hey Kash,
If the forecast holds I'll be up there for sure on Friday....but if tomorrow pops I can actually make it a two in a row sort of thing. I have lots of room in case you might want to meet up at the park and ride at 93/I-70-otherwise it isn't that far a drive to just meet up at Kite Park...you know... In case you want to make sure I am not a loon or something first

I'll U2U as well but I think we have our numbers.

Hope we get to kite. Friday looks better then Tomorrow based on forecasts but tough to tell....

Jeff

Hey if anyone hitrs up Twin Lakes anytime soon and finds a Cabrinha control bar... toss me a PM, I left it behind yesterday and won't be able to get up there to look for it anytime soon. I was up at the 2nd parking lot.

Call off the hunt, a hero has emerged, and the reward of beers is to come.

Hows the coverage on Dillon after all this dumping? Is the terrain on the North side covered sufficiently?

as always, the best source for dillon updates is Anton's twitter https://twitter.com/cokiteforce