Even though winter has come and gone, here’s a nice video from A Bullseye View. They did a helicopter video shoot with Torin Yater-Wallace (youngest Winter X Games medalist ever) doing some crazy tricks on the same halfpipe where he won the Ski SuperPipe bronze this year. Check it out…

Now that we’re officially getting into the summer sports (hiking, biking, trail running), I’ve published a few of my favorite tools for tracking my activities over at Buzz.

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The world’s first smart ski poles that allows you to see and answer calls, get short text messages and access important terrain information all without taking your gloves off.

Watch the video, this looks very impressive and looks like a great innovation into the snow sports industry. Pledge $120 now on Kickstarter to help make this a reality and get your own pair of poles once they become available.

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I always wanted a professional look and feel that kept some “personality” and “character”. Snow sports are both “grunge” (think terrain park, baggy pants, Icelantic skis) and “clean” (think an expensive resort, Spyder clothing). I’ve always felt like “Colorado Snow” fell somewhere in-between.

So, a couple months ago I reached out to designer Aaron Mahnke over at Wet Frog Studios and asked for him to help clean up the Colorado Snow logo. But first, some back story for posterity…

History

I decided to create the site back in 2006 and for it, I whipped together a quick logo to go with a gray and blue snow-colored website. I spent very little time thinking about it: use the red “C” from the Colorado state flag, and throw a snowflake in. Boom, done.

Two seasons later in 2008 I decided to upgrade the back-end of the site and found a new look that was a bit more blue. I decided to refresh the logo font and styles to be a bit more “modern”. In actuality, I ended up creating a “dated” hunk that didn’t stand the test of time.

In early 2009, I realized it was time to clean things up a bit. So, I simplified the logo (same font, with some “character”).

This was also a big period for social networks and needing avatars so I created the “square version” which, I feel, was the best looking thing most people would see in the Twitter feed for the next few years.

New Hotness

After a few days of back-and-forth with Aaron, he nailed it. He took my pre-existing mess, cleaned it up, did it right, and resulted in what you’ve come to see now. The new look of cosnow:

With the full-width banner on the blue background for the website:

And still, one of my favorite pieces of iconography on the web, the square “Colorado C” and “snowflake”:

If you haven’t poked around the site lately, stop by and take a peek: it works perfectly on mobile, tablet, and desktop browsers. Of course, you’ll find the beautiful new logo at the top.

“And it may be no big deal to you, But it’s a very big deal to me” -Lyle Lovett

The Colorado season is officially ending this weekend. Al at Arapahoe Basin announced they will close this Sunday, May 6.

Driving in Town

In my limited experience, this exceeded my expectations as a high-powered Japanese car. It was a lot of fun to drive around, quick to accelerate, and handled smoothly. In fact, I rarely felt cracks or imperfections in the road and even went over speed bumps with little trouble. Though, the car is low to the ground and would presumably get pretty close to a parking block or a curb.

I saw around 25 MPG around town and it was very easy to drive, park, and turn as you’d hope a 4-door sedan would be.

Driving in the Mountains

But the fun part is driving in the mountains. This car has some pickup and we made it up and down I-70 with no complaint from the Lancer. In fact, on Saturday night we saw nearly 8-inches of blinding white snow fall on the roads. We were in Breckenridge and had to drive back to Silverthorne in the dark. The 4WD LOCK mode handled well (according to Mitsubishi: this setting directs up to 70% of the engine’s available power to the electronic control coupling that controls the rear wheels) and made me feel very confident (maybe over-confident) in my ability to handle the unplowed snowy road. I felt no slippage anywhere from the banked turn near Lake Dillon to stopping at lights through Frisco.

Worth mentioning, the fog lights worked fairly well at illuminating the road out in front while snow was coming at us from head-on. As with any car, comparing “full beam” lights versus fog-lights means the difference between flying through a “Star Wars” movie (all you see is a black background and white stars flying by) and simply driving in low visibility conditions.

Technology

Unfortunately I did not get to try the full navigation package with all the bells and whistles. The sound system was nothing to write home about.

Worth noting, we did drive with the optional “exterior package” which has a rear wing spoiler. This was a bit troublesome because it blocks a good 10% of your rear-view mirror and is actually a pain to clean snow off of and around.

As mentioned, fog lighting is ideal for weather conditions and good to see and it did come with heated seats. One thing missing that I’d like to see is the Bluetooth remote-entry key (while it did have Bluetooth for ‘hands free’ calls). Though, according to the manufacturer, you can get an optional “remote start” kit to warm the car up on cold snowy days.

Style

The interior was nothing special. The seats felt great (especially with the warmers on) and the dashboard was average (I could turn on the radio and see how fast I was going). But, the manual climate control was a bit of a bummer. I found myself spending more time tweaking hot/cold than I’d care to.

The exterior looks slick and the added “exterior package” with the wing certainly gets some added attention. In my experience it ended up being a superfluous flare and not to my taste (something else to get dirty and snowy).

Storage

Overall we fit a snowboard and my pair of skis with a seat folded down. Boots, jackets, helmets and a backpack all fit with no issue in the trunk. I’d say you could comfortably fit three people with gear, four would be a tight fit.

Pricing

It turns out (I would’ve have guessed by looking at the exterior) this runs around $20,000. I’d say that’s more than I would want to pay for a car that doesn’t quite meet some of my picky needs.

Overall

For an all-around Colorado (mountain car), I’d say it would be manageable and plenty of fun to drive while remaining safe and capable on the roads. While the technology, interior and features left something to be desired, the speed and ‘drivability’ didn’t quite make up for it for me.

RT @PBR_Colorado: Find one of these #pabst blue ribbons on the hill today @LovelandSkiArea & redeem for a prize at the Rothskeller Bar. …

It looks like everybody got a few inches of new snow from yesterday’s storm but nothing else on the way for the weekend. Oh well…

Is anyone headed up this weekend? @breckenridgemtn @LovelandSkiArea @Arapahoe_Basin and @WinterPark are open, right? Anyone else?

RT @REI: Freebie Alert: Entrance Fees Will Be Waived April 21-29 for National Park Week bit.ly/IjwWtG #REIBlog

This Sunday was the end of the regular season for most of the remaining resorts in Colorado. Breckenridge’s last day, except for it’s final two weekends, was yesterday and we were gifted 8-inches of fresh new snow. We haven’t seen this much snow at once in months.

The new snow was great and we found fresh stuff all day. Especially since plenty of “closed” terrain was now actually decently covered and accessible off the main trails. So, we did some exploring and never had a dull moment. Plus, it kept snowing all day.

For some added excitement we decided to head up the T-Bar. It was very windy (of course) and all the snow turned the top of the mountain into a winter wonderland. If you’ve been down the snow fields, you know its very wind blown and icy, but after that crest we hit 8, 10, and 12-inch drifts. I forgot how to ski powder this season so this was hard work, I tell ya.

Overall, a great day compared to the rest of the season. No lines, 8 inches of powder. What could be better?

In case you wanted to know what you’re missing out here: here’s some powder off the T-Bar at Breckenridge

The closing day snow storm delivered 6-8 inches most everywhere! Is anyone heading out there today? http://www.onthesnow.com/colorado/skireport.html

We saw a light dusting of snow on our way up from Georgetown to Silverthorne but no snow stuck. Clouds are rolling back in though…

RT @9NEWSWeather: WINTER STORM WARNING from noon today until 6 a.m. Monday for mountain areas west of Vail Pass 6 -12″ expected in the n …