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Spirit Mountain 2017/2018


rwmaron

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Beautiful day! Sun, blue sky, a bit cold (started out about -15F and warmed up to about zero), but no wind, 1" of fresh snow softened up the groom nicely.  Only about 4 other people on the hill for the first couple of hours and never got crowded. Rode with Russ all day. A nice plume of lake effect snow visible all day out over the lake working its way toward the U.P. (gotta plan a trip to Indianhead!)

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Monday, January 8

Got in a few fast turns over the noon hour today - bright sun, firm groom, and a blustery wind out of the west made for quick rides. The only downside was the 25F air temperature that brought out more folks than I expected. I'm thinking that there is just a bit of pent up demand from the last couple of weeks of cold weather.....kinda makes me wish it would get cold again......Rode with patroller Don and also chatted with Ken's wife Jane who is now officially retired and plans to be a weekday fixture on the slopes!

Russ

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11 hours ago, MNSurfer said:

When are they going to get the webcam(s) working???

I asked the other day and they said they're "working on it"? How difficult can it be?

If the cam was on you would have seen a couple of carvers on their own private hill for the first 2½ hrs today. Same as yesterday, blue sky, started out at 15 below and got up to zero (hand warmers, many layers and no exposed skin makes it well worth it). Firmer cord today. 

Their were a hundred or so racers over on Gandy and Cinder Snapper, and they tore up Blue Ruin and SkyHooker as well with practice runs, but the big air park had some of the nicest groom today. Otherwise, we rode by ourselves (@rwmaron and me) over on the Express chair side until about 12:30 when some other people showed up─so we left:cool: You kinda get spoiled when you literally have the hill all to yourself. It will be an adjustment when it warms up and we have to share the hill:confused:

We had a lot of fun on JugglerJoe which has a river of rollers on it this year (like waves) and each run is a surprize as you find a different line.

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Edited by bigwavedave
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I don't know. It could be a matter of basic port forwarding. Or it could be something physical, depending on where the cameras are located (heaters, wipers, wifi, etc.). When I looked a while ago, it was trying to pull a Class C address for the camera. Yeah, that's not going to work.

 

I've had some great, empty days at Spirit. With my prior company, we had several larger clients in Duluth, so I was up there quite often. I'd always pad-in an extra day or so. Nothing like a Tuesday morning, the crisp northland air, and not a soul around. It's been a couple years, unfortunately.

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4 hours ago, MNSurfer said:

I don't know. It could be a matter of basic port forwarding. Or it could be something physical, depending on where the cameras are located (heaters, wipers, wifi, etc.). When I looked a while ago, it was trying to pull a Class C address for the camera. Yeah, that's not going to work.

I've had some great, empty days at Spirit. With my prior company, we had several larger clients in Duluth, so I was up there quite often. I'd always pad-in an extra day or so. Nothing like a Tuesday morning, the crisp northland air, and not a soul around. It's been a couple years, unfortunately.

They had it sort-of working earlier this season. It would direct you to a YouTube site with a brief clip looking down from the express lift─basically watching folks getting ready to get off the chair:confused: I suggested a view up the hill from the the chalet at the bottom of  4pipe.

Make sure you check their new hours next time you go, they don't open until noon on Mon & Tues, 10am Wed-Fri.

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Tuesday, January 16

7F at the noon opening, but only a light westerly breeze; generally firm groom with a few softer spots from yesterday's new snow. I figured the bright sun would bring out more folks but my luck held and that wasn't the case. Best run of the day was Blue Ruin - impeccable firm groom for the full width and no competing traffic. Honorable mention goes to Juggler Joe - a bit softer but carving different lines around the knolls never gets old.

Russ

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Rode with Russ all morning. Snow was very nice on all the runs. Skies started out overcast with flat-ish light and then mostly cleared after noon. It never got crowded, so rode till 3pm. Temps remained below freezing , yet were above zero all day for the first time in a while (no face masks or hand warmers required!).

On Gandy Dancer...

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Looks like Sunday's potentially big snowstorm is zeroing in on Duluth:biggthump

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Tuesday, January 23

Glad to hear that the cities crew had fun in their 10-12 inches of new snow from the storm - we had less than an inch here in Duluth - but the sun was out today, the groom was firm, and the crowd was thin. For most of the afternoon sun dogs were visible too.

I'm starting to get used to this pre-retirement reduced work schedule.

Russ

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 Rode from 10 to 2:30,  part of the time with Rich and Marba.   There were a couple of hundred high school racers over on the Gandy side today, not on the  Spirit calendar.  Stayed over on the express side where the snow was very nice and firm and great for carving. Light was relatively flat, 30046CF3-D14C-4870-87DB-0C06E63488D3.thumb.jpeg.9d02ccd0612918037fe18bd7aa40b4c5.jpegbut not bad. 

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Forecast for this morning was for patchy fog and clouds - but to our benefit they got it wrong - beautiful sunny morning and soft groom made for an idyllic couple of hours even with more fellow riders than normal due to a school holiday of some kind. Big Wave Dave and patroller Don on my old Incline:

 

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