Buck Hill 2018/19

[bobble]

@bigwavedave I was at buck last night for a couple runs (too many racers and snow was soft).

geezus... they have a lot of snow on milkrun next to the towers. the pile starts at the first lift tower and narrows the top of the run.

they also had huge piles in the terrain park in front of the tower. they closed off the backside run to make snow.

wish they'd stop with the snow making and actually spend time grooming.

[Awesomo12000]

trying to get my first run in tonight, anyone going to be out?

[bigwavedave]

Glad I didn't make the drive down yesterday. Checked the webcam at noon and it was still foggy. Weird weather.

[bobble]

12/11/18 noon

the only decent runs were Olympic and the terrain park.

Crossroads was not groomed on right-side at all. Just large hard mounds of snow.

Warners has large snow mounds and atv tracks.

Milkrun had a lot of snow. I didn't bother. seems like they have four jumps now.

 

4 hours ago, Awesomo12000 said:

trying to get my first run in tonight, anyone going to be out?

I'm not sure if i'll go. I went last night and the ski teams took up almost every run including the terrain park. the snow was rough from refreezing. I left after a couple runs.

<rant>everywhere I go I see atv tracks. I saw the owner taking a leisurely drive straight down the middle of the terrain park and sinking the tires into the semi decent cord. </rant>

[DonPablo]

2 hours ago, bobble said:

<rant>everywhere I go I see atv tracks. I saw the owner taking a leisurely drive straight down the middle of the terrain park and sinking the tires into the semi decent cord. </rant>

The four wheeler tracks are all over hill, pretty blatant we dong give a F*$%

[Awesomo12000]

On 12/11/2018 at 1:16 PM, bobble said:

12/11/18 noon

<rant>everywhere I go I see atv tracks. I saw the owner taking a leisurely drive straight down the middle of the terrain park and sinking the tires into the semi decent cord. </rant>

 

On 12/11/2018 at 4:08 PM, DonPablo said:

The four wheeler tracks are all over hill, pretty blatant we dong give a F*$%

 

[bobble]

@Awesomo12000 awesome meme!!!

 

@bigwavedave found some really cool spots for you to stand during Race to the Cup

 

[bigwavedave]

Gone is the murkiness! The sun has returned

 Groomed by carvers...

 

 Snow is pretty nice, firm but getting softer. Grooming was still a bit uneven but not bad. 

 

[bobble]

12/14/18

good times.  Sunny. Spent most on Olympic.  

Looked like half pipe was filled in. I asked the lifty. He wasn't sure but they might not open the pipe. 

[bigwavedave]

Snow started out kinda crusty/firm, then softened up and was pretty nice for carving. Nicest conditions I've been on this season. Got about 5 runs in before and then 5 more after the races.

Back tomorrow morning hoping to get some runs in before the races get going. 

[bobble]

12/15/18

early morning was decent. primarily on Olympic until they started setting up gates. i was disappointed because it had best cord. there were stubbies on warners. crossroads was chewed up. still carve-able but got crowded from with families and ski jammers.

rode the chair with race to the cup contestant. she was a teen. her mother was supervising the race.   she yelled from the chair "mom! I dislocated my shoulder again!!!"

I asked "did you dislocate in the race? are you okay?"

she said it happened at the very start when she pulled on the bars at the start gate. she said sometimes her shoulder pops out. she kept riding and at some point her shoulder popped right back in because of the what she moves her arms.  she finished the race.

I asked if she was in a lot of pain when it happened. she said yes but she wasn't going to let her shoulder popping out stop her from racing. she's from Pennsylvania.

[Corey]

1 hour ago, bobble said:

I asked if she was in a lot of pain when it happened. she said yes but she wasn't going to let her shoulder popping out stop her from racing. she's from Pennsylvania.

Yeah, I'll stop riding if my sock bunches up in my boot.  Hardcore!  

[bigwavedave]

A day at the races Buck Hill

An action packed 45 second film-all the boards! the racing, the side-slip competition and one man's quest for the perfect carve...

 

[bobble]

10 minutes ago, bigwavedave said:

 

https://youtu.be/1Tik1MIvEB0

Very Nice ™  (golf clap)

[bigwavedave]

Day 3 with the races at Buck. 3 days of bright sun after weeks of murkiness. Even though temps reached close to 40F each day, conditions were best yet (at least for recreational carving). First tracks on Crossroad produced that extremely satisfying zipper-ripping sound of carving purrfect fresh corduroy. On the ride back up the chair I got to enjoy watching and hearing 75 or so racers ripping into that cord on their first warm-up runs. Later hooked up with @bobble and @DonPablo for a few runs before gate judging duty called.

Snowboard racing legend Mark Fawcett is back coaching the Canadian alpine team!

For those who don't know who the guy on the right is; he's one of those who came into snowboarding from a surf/windsurf background, became one of the most accomplished snowboard racers in the world, and had a hand in developing the legendary Sims split tail burner.

[bobble]

@bigwavedave I rode the chair with a contestant who shall be nameless. also on the chair was Buck Hill's beloved oldest woman on skis. to this day I don't know her name.

anyways, she was quite talkative and was talking to the other hard booter. the guy said to her the race conditions were terrible, "there were holes from yesterday". the groomer didn't dig deep enough. (to be fair it was above freezing... I was surprised that all the runs were groomed.)

I chimed in and told him that Buck had blowing snow non-stop since November and just stopped before the races.

He said "that's the worst thing they could do!". he'd been to previous races at Buck and said he liked the place but this years snow was terrible.

I don't understand why Buck is even considered for Race to the Cup? I would think Welch's Dan's Dive would be ideal.

 

 

[Mr. T]

Whoa, had no idea Fawcett was there yesterday, legend...

 

Speaking of legend, Purple jacket got a new purple jacket!

 

 

Edited December 17, 2018 by Mr. T

[bigwavedave]

3 hours ago, bobble said:

@bigwavedave I rode the chair with a contestant who shall be nameless. also on the chair was Buck Hill's beloved oldest woman on skis. to this day I don't know her name.

anyways, she was quite talkative and was talking to the other hard booter. the guy said to her the race conditions were terrible, "there were holes from yesterday". the groomer didn't dig deep enough. (to be fair it was above freezing... I was surprised that all the runs were groomed.)

I chimed in and told him that Buck had blowing snow non-stop since November and just stopped before the races.

He said "that's the worst thing they could do!". he'd been to previous races at Buck and said he liked the place but this years snow was terrible.

I don't understand why Buck is even considered for Race to the Cup? I would think Welch's Dan's Dive would be ideal.

 

 

I was surprised at how good the snow was, despite the warm temps. Can't control the weather. In past races Buck has gone from green grass 2 days before the race to full coverage! 

The first NorAm RTTC the GTeam hosted was held at Giant's Ridge in 2013. Nice event on a hill large enough to run both PSL and PGS, but...

Buck works better because it's an easy and inexpensive flight to Mpls from anywhere in North America and the hill is close to the airport with shuttle transportation between airport, hotels and the hill, so you don't even need to rent a car. Having only slalom allows them to really focus on one discipline and saves on luggage fees and the hassle of lugging additional boards around. Being on a small hill makes getting to the start gate easier. You can watch the races from inside the lodge when it's cold. There's a warm-up run with a similar pitch right next to the race course, and you can watch your competitors on the chair ride up.

I didn't hear the guy who won both Fri and Sun complaining. I even saw him take a celebratory run down the course yesterday after the gates were pulled!

 

[Scuff]

Hello Dave! Thanks for volunteering.

Yeah - Buck does not meet the FIS length/height requirements in order to run parallel GS event.

GiantsRidge was difficult (for everyone) to get to, and the primary lodging is quite expensive.

3 days of SL makes travel SO much easier for carting 1-2 boards vs 2-4 boards. The complaints I heard this weekend were about single run elimination with parallel courses that were consistently favoring one side and not skill and consistency. Unfortunately solutions would need either more space or volunteers or gear (set a lone course for qualifiers) and better conditions.

Yes! Was great seeing Mark Fawcett in MN.

[bigwavedave]

1 hour ago, Scuff said:

 The complaints I heard this weekend were about single run elimination with parallel courses that were consistently favoring one side and not skill and consistency. Unfortunately solutions would need either more space or volunteers or gear (set a lone course for qualifiers) and better conditions.

Yes! Was great seeing Mark Fawcett in MN.

I heard some complaining too. Not being emotionally involved in the results, the way I saw it is everyone got one run in each course in qualifiers. The fastest combined times get to pick the favored course for finals (there's almost always a favored course) so...yeah the slower times didn't get fair second (or third and final?) chance to beat the racers that were faster on those first 2 runs. 

I'm guessing they chose not to do the double run elimination because the courses were deteriorating in the 45° and because some folks had flights to catch after the race.

I had no complaints about the noncompetitive carving

[bobble]

9 hours ago, bigwavedave said:

The fastest combined times get to pick the favored course for finals (there's almost always a favored course) ...

red?

[bigwavedave]

Yes, the red course was faster on Sunday. 

It's never completely fair. Courses get rutted up throughout the day, so racers that go early have an advantage over the last racers . Weather plays havoc with fairness, ie; wind gusts, temp changes, sun, clouds... Somehow it all evens out with season point totals and the best riders rise to the top. I once heard this sage advice from a certain wise old coach when his racers complained, "just ride faster".  

[theboarderdude]

The courses held up remarkably well for temperatures hitting 40 degrees every day and having almost 70 racers. The snow might have been a tad soft, but the people complaining about it were the people who would complain if the snow was too perfect. 

As far as the one run finals go, yes two runs would've been better one Saturday and Sunday. But there was the Junior FIS race and youth RTTC afterwards so that was time prohibitive and Sunday was the 5th NorAm in 9 days (6th for the Juniors), and everybody was ready to be done. Nobody I personally talked to was opposed to one run on Sunday, and the top of the hill was almost silent compared to Friday and Saturday.

 

Overall the event was fantastic, it was run very well and qualifiers ran extremely quick. Plus it was fun watching 70 racers destroy the cord in about 4 minutes each morning 

[Scuff]

Event was well run, the start spacing was efficient, good set, the snow conditions did hold up well through the temps, and it was great fun seeing so many carver's in one place. Totally agree!!!

Glad you had fun theboarderdude! - don't recognize the name - Welcome to the thread and MN. Where do you usually ride? 

As much as I have enjoyed watching and racing PSL, I really wonder if exploring the single course format (again) for sake of consistency, measuring skill, providing support, and organizing factors like scheduling, weather. 

High-five my boarder bretheren!

Karl

 

Edited December 21, 2018 by Scuff
Self-regulating suspected and unintentional snark.

[bigwavedave]

11 hours ago, Scuff said:

 ... each event should stand as an independent test of athletic skills. ...And it was,  every racer got one run through each course and were ranked by their combined times.  Try looking at that single elimination run as a winner-take-all ,wild card chance to beat the guy who already beat you in the first two runs. 

Stating that 'all racing averages out' changes the view of goal and sample size (e.g. winning battle vs winning war) , assumes all will attend the series, and empowers those with the means to attend the series. This resonates with me with a dangerous logic that falls too close to the "Yeah, but..", and "Tough luck!" sentiments....and that statement was just for those that are attending multiple races and are accumulating points. That's who I heard complaining, one racer who travels to many races. Talk about tough luck?  Try traveling to some exotic far fetched resort for a world cup race and if you don't place in the top 16 in your 1st run, you're done, one run, go home. At least at this event you had 3 days of racing, 3 chances to do better and everyone got at least 2 runs each day. In fact several juniors and youth got to race two events on Saturday. Glass half full...It's supposed to be fun! No?

As much as I have enjoyed watching and racing PSL, I really wonder if exploring the single course format (again) for sake of consistency, measuring skill,...I'd like to see that too, like the Nagano games, but in many discussions about format, the racers have voted to continue racing side by side with the added excitement and endurance of making it through elimination finals. As you know, the 2 course format is also more efficient, timewise. Less waiting around for a 2nd run.