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Indianhead / Blackjack opening


Algunderfoot

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  • 2 weeks later...
On ‎2‎/‎27‎/‎2017 at 0:02 PM, bucky said:

Hey Al - I think you met my daughter (riding a Kessler) and my wife there on Saturday!

I did, we don't get too many Alpine riders up here so when we do I make a point to say hi, make them feel welcome, plus I selfishly was hoping to meet a gal my Wife could ride with... I think a woman's take would be helpful in getting her to the next level.

Great kid and family by the way! Good luck to her....looking to see her on a podium or two soon! Next time you need to tag along LOL!

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 9 months later...

Too much honestly, it's just getting groomed in and will hopefully firm up for carving....has only broken 0° for a few hours since Christmas....

On 1/3/2018 at 10:11 AM, bigwavedave said:

Looks like the U.P. has been getting a steady daily dose of lake effect snow during our cold snap, over 3 feet in the past couple of weeks!  ─So much snow that Al can't get the word out.

Thinking of getting over there sometime in January.

 

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  • 5 weeks later...

Hi Al, @Algunderfoot

Thought I'd move the conversation from the new board thread.

So we never did get over there in January (I think the weather warmed up then).

It's been looking good lately. Most likely planning a midweek trip, when it's less busy and also trying to pick a sunny day forecast, if the snow ever takes some time off.

You ever there during the week?

I'll post here when I'm on my way regardless.

Dave

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Webcam at Indianhead this morning...Surprised to see them making snow when the lake effect has been so generous all season. It's gonna be good!:biggthump

image.png.badcbfecdff36367a8d73dea5451f564.png

They must be addicted to daily lake effect and now their supply is shut off with Lake Superior being mostly frozen over.:eek:

Edited by bigwavedave
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Well, we ( @rwmaron and I) finally  made it up here! Cold temps (started out below zero and warmed up to ~10°F?), it's hard to tell, most Duluthian riders called it mild. Still, it may have kept the crowds thin─never had a lift line─never had to alter course for others on the hill. Rode from 9-3:30.

Delirious from how figgin' great the carving is here!!:eplus2:  Great groomed snow on all runs (think Aspen 3rd-4th day groom with 2-4" trenches). We left our mark on everything from Winnebago to Voyagers. :biggthumpWinnebago, :biggthumpFIS, :biggthumpLeelinaw and Sundance:biggthump had us hollering as we hung on for dear life. Delirious:ices_angeLotta snow up here!

No good pics today on the hill. Took a drive down to the lake, Superior. The clouds off on the horizon are frigid air gathering moisture over open water and will produce "lake effect snow" when they get over a colder land mass. This stuff is probably headed for the Keweenaw and the eastern shore. 

We had light snow flurries here for a while this morning.

lake.JPG.0391140d4887b8933c83cd8b68bd2cfc.JPG

 

 

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Today, Friday...

Deja Vu, Ditto  (minus @rwmaron , who came only for the Thursday session).

Same weather, a few more people on the hill, but not enough to make a lift line or to get in my way:eplus2:.

Like yesterday, the knoll at the bottom of Chippewa was still hard as ice and uneven─a real knee rattler. A small issue, because everything else was as good as yesterday, snow being just a bit firmer (more like "Minnesota firm" with 1-2" deep trenches).

Rode from 9-2:30 then shot over to Blackjack for a few runs before hitting the road. Blackjack seems to attract a higher caliber of skier, probably for the varied and challenging terrain. There were plenty of carved-ski tracks. It's a place where you'ld want a smaller radius carving stick (maybe under 11m scr). They also leave a generous portion of ungroomed terrain on the sides of many of the runs, where today there was about 6" of well tracked, but soft powder.

At Indianhead a highlight is coming over the lip into the steep section at the bottom of Winnebago and FIS with speed and trying to hang on to link a few carved turns to the bottom.:1luvu: Feels like what it looks like to catch one of those giant Hawaiian waves. :eek: 

 

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2 hours ago, Algunderfoot said:

Wasn't me....There's a bit of a jibber carving contingency developing here the last two years, a few are really getting after it!

Yea, it was one of ours from the day before. I recognized the signature.:ph34r:

32 minutes ago, rwmaron said:

Make that we’ll be back!! ?

Ha! Didn't want to speak for you, but it was the type of day you won't soon forget and want to repeat!:biggthump

Tracks from day one and day 2:biggthump

5a7f71f80ddd4_tracks(4).JPG.6d9bfe8cae99c8de676e85f539d64222.JPG5a7f72121afa8_tracks(5).JPG.a0b6cf181a3972b613af71c98138786b.JPG

 

Edited by bigwavedave
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  • 4 weeks later...

Monday, March 12

First a big shout out to @jolson for letting me borrow his Prior 183 WCRM for today.....there were several clumsy moments until I figured out that this stick just works far better with a good head of steam, but then oh my what a ride - stable, sure footed, quick edge to edge, and almost eerily quiet. Where has this board been all my life?

Didn’t hurt that the sun shone, the groom was sweet and the usual mid-week attendance left us plenty of room to ride the big boards all day long.

 

 

6BF3B3DD-8338-4302-86D0-A2B5FC713CA3.jpeg

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Had a great couple of days at Indianhead. First day was overcast with peeks of sun, but I got to ride some orange sunshine (Thirst WARP Superconductor) compliments of @Algunderfoot and Thirst snowboards @BLOODTYPEZX10R. A phenomenal board, unlike anything I've ridden before (more on that later).

Next day was bluebird with some picturesque cumulus clouds and a wind that got you in a tuck occasionally. Wishing I could have ridden the Superconductor another day, so  I stopped by BSO in Bessemer and borrowed the Thirst BX  to see if it had some of the same magic as the WARP design (more on that later). Snow was great for carving.

vlcsnap-3014-12-10-21h03m02s263.thumb.png.8eda7f8a5670a465f07d640e3a722abb.png5aa8475f7ed56_Russ031218.JPG.02e5a26bfc93975c87fc1df2930985d8.JPG

@rwmaron layin into a big carve on the upper steep of FIS right under the chair:cool:Turns that make heads turn:eplus2: 

Riding @jolson's 183 Prior wcrm. Good luck getting that back Jim. You'll have to pry it out his cold dead hands!:eek:

Edited by bigwavedave
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Buttermilk East?:nono:Well maybe not quite, oh but the snow was so good:biggthump6" of new snow refreshed the slopes prior to the arrival of our mini traveling SES.

Al welcomed us to the hill, got us some discounted guest passes:1luvu: and then guided us around to his favorite runs (which is pretty much all of them)─it's hard to pick a favorite─each one puts a bigger smile on your face. Seems like we were all giggling at the bottom of each run with how lucky we were to have such fun terrain, blue skies and very little traffic on the hill for the first two hours.:ph34r: To keep in the spirit of the SES there was some board swapping and demo-ing and I got to take a few turns on Al's 180 Thirst WARP8 before he had to run off. 

Here's some pics of Bob. Cory was apparently too fast for the photographer to capture.:smashfrea

5aac7f1808408_Bob(2).JPG.241c257320a9e46f6271491c5fbbef6c.JPG

Bob.JPG.adfab28859ef23fff054f75ba493240d.JPG

5aac7f22a313d_Bob(3).JPG.f8f8afeff1b867c068a71f02ff835f2f.JPG

Back to Spirit tomorrow. Dave, we missed you (but good job tricking Cory into coming down here:biggthump)....next time:ices_angeHave a good trip back to the middleofnowhere:freak3:

,

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thanks @Algunderfoot for the discounted pass. i can see why @bigwavedave likes this place. long runs... a lot of varying pitches and rollers. wide runs... provided no skiers. i would agree that Indianhead is the Buttermilk East -- that we need. thank dave for the motivation. buck hill is gonna suck.

i don't remember names of runs. the one where the chairlift is near parking lot... that mini-wall on skiers left towards the bottom was a phncking riot. :biggthump one run i was laughing mid toe-side carve. i'm sure people on the chair could hear me giggling. the run pictured above is moar goodly. lots of trenches coming around tower 3.

fun riding with @Corey, @bigwavedave and @Algunderfoot.

dilly dilly. good times!!!

 

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