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Spirit Mountain 2018-19


bigwavedave

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Got first tracks before the lift started and then some more. Rode for a few hours. With the sun and no wind, the cold wasn't too bad. No crowds, no lift line, all day! Ken was there. Soft and hard spots in the groom. 5th day in a row for me:1luvu: I think I'm gonna adapt to this retirement life just fine:biggthumpGotta work tomorrow though.

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1 hour ago, bigwavedave said:

Got first tracks before the lift started and then some more. Rode for a few hours. With the sun and no wind, the cold wasn't too bad. No crowds, no lift line, all day! Ken was there. Soft and hard spots in the groom. 5th day in a row for me:1luvu: I think I'm gonna adapt to this retirement life just fine:biggthumpGotta work tomorrow though.

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I made first tracks at 8:50am. Did I beat you?

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@bobble said, "I made first tracks at 8:50am. Did I beat you?"

Spirit didn't open til noon due to the cold weather. I made tracks at 11:30, so,  yes, but I filmed my 1st tracks. The 5' PVC selfie stick turned out to be a bit heavier and harder to ride with than my telescoping pole, and being white didn't make it any less visible.

There were some soft spots in the groom...

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Best snow yet this season from Gandy to Juggler Joe and everything in between. Hero groom. Rode til I could barely walk (5hrs, but I could still ride). Russ, Ken, patroller Don. George Hoveland was out. He's in his 90's, competed in the Oslo Olympics in 1950 something (the one where stein won 3 gold). Spirit Mt ski area was Mr Hoveland's idea back in the 1970's .

Ripping up the cord, 1st tracks with the 185 Thirst..

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Amazing how a night's sleep can rejuvenate the body. Woke up this morning feeling ready to do it again. Snow set up firmer today after the warm temps, but still pretty good carving. Gandy & Blue Ruin closed for races Sat & Sun. Rode with Ken for 1½ hours til lines started forming on the express lift and clouds turned the light flat. 

Might go out Sunday morning.

Snow is in the forecast for Sunday night!

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Thursday, 1/10

Thin layer of groom over a bombproof and occasionally icy base made for high speed carving under overcast conditions - the upside was that only a few snow sports enthusiasts bothered to come out.

I always find it pleasantly surprising how quick I can get a board to come around when it’s really needed...as in the edge of the trail is coming up fast. 🤪

Russ

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Went out for an hour of night riding after looking at the webcam and seeing plenty of empty chairs coming up. After all the overcast and flat light lately, I thought some contrast from the light and shadows might be fun. The riding wasn't too bad, actually pretty good. There was about 2" of sugary snow over hard, ice-encrusted snow with all the late day ruts and piles. I did several "last runs", had a couple of near misses (seems 8 out of 10 night riders go straight down the hill) and people appear from nowhere out of the shadows. Felt like I was in a video game where deadly threats can come from anywhere and you are continually looking for the next one. But, I kept getting sucked into one more run because the carving was good and the crowds were thinning. I finally quit when I had a clean run where I didn't have to make evasive maneuvers.

All the snow in the woods had an ice glaze. We really need some snow! I wonder how Lutsen is. I think they've had some snow since the rain and melt.

Indianhead was pretty good (about a foot of snow in the past week) and they were still making snow to touch up some areas.

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out today at 10am opening. Rode with Russ @rwmaron til about 3pm. Intermittent flattish light, but mostly sunny--we like that:1luvu:. Carving was pretty decent. Spirit has become very skilled at producing a decent carvable "surface groom" (read icy base layer 1-3" under the groom). Later in the afternoon when the surface groom wore through we found plush untracked groom snow over in the bigair park! ...and of course the near 0°F temps kept the crowds near zero--no lines and clear runs. BindleStiff had the nicest snow!

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Spirit has reduced hours due to cold weather for Fri-Sat-Sun 11-5. Watch out for fat tire bike races on the hill on Saturday. Will be out tomorrow at 11am--cold, but sunny! 

Thinking about Indianhead on Sunday after a little lake-effect snow replenishes the slopes.

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On the hill at 11 opening in sub zero temps and filtered sun. Very firm groom (over icy crust, of course) made for great carving. Similar to the day before. Ken was out getting some much needed carve therapy. We had fun ripping it up for a couple of hours. Jane was there too. Rode til about 3. Test ride of the Squash proved it to be a fun carver, even on our very firm snow. Not quite as good a carver as the Incline, but pretty close, and If it's as good in the pow as it is at carving, I'll be very happy. My knees liked riding shallower angles for a change.

Rode the Super and the SF too.

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Ken will be out for first chair tomorrow, so I guess I will too. 

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Another cold day, much like yesterday, but with more people and RedBull infused events on the hill. Incredibly clear blue sky made up for the cold (below zero F), and likely kept the crowds down. Nicest snow was over in the BigAir Park again, yet the slopes were carvable everywhere else. Ken tried out my old 159 Generic. I think he liked it!:biggthump

Tried tucking some hand warmer packets over the toes of my boot liners (and under the shell) and it seemed to work pretty well. 

Thinking about Indianhead tomorrow. Looks like it's snowing there. I'm longing for some softer turns.

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Sub zero temperature but bright sun and a firm, manicured surface made for 2 hours of exquisite pleasure this morning....then suddenly the clouds rolled in, the light went flat and everyone else showed up....

Forecast is for 4-6” of snow tonight - I’ll be back out Thursday morning!

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I'm coming up tonight. Hoping to rip up some subzero 2nd day groom tomorrow! What do you think the chances are that Spirit will decide to close for the next 2 days due to the weather?

The lake effect is on inda UP and should continue snowing for the next couple of days with NW winds. If Spirit calls it I will likely head over to BigSnow and ride the baby pow.

Anyone get out in the fresh snow yesterday?

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2 hours ago, rwmaron said:

You nailed it....Spirit will be closed Thursday and Friday due to the cold.

Whimps!!! :mad: Well, crap. Guess it's over to Blackjack/Indianhead . Looks like they've had a couple of inches today and it's supposed to keep snowing with several more inches through Friday! I'd prefer to ride on empty groomed slopes with sunshine, even with subzero temps, but it could be worse--Indianhead could close too:eek:

Interested in making a trip over to da UP?

I bet it was nice at Spirit today. Did you get out? 

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Went out to make some late afternoon turns today. Was surprised that the snow was very hard with areas scraped down to the ice base! Apparently 4" of snow last week wasn't enough to make the ice base disappear. Two runs and went home. Didn't want to spoil the memory of yesterday's hero groom at GR.

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Monday, January 28

2” of light, dry new on top of the firm groomed base and bright sun made for what a fellow patroller (with perhaps a bit of hyperbole) called ‘the best conditions in 10 years at Spirit’ at the noon opening. If that wasn’t enough most of the weekday regulars apparently stayed home in anticipation of the artic blast forecast for tonight.🤪

Patroller Don and I did our best to leave sweet lines before the light went flat around 3pm!

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13 minutes ago, bigwavedave said:

Found a run at Sun Peaks called 5 mile. It's essentially 4pipe, but 5 miles long! A nice relaxing cruiser, although I still had to stop and rest my legs on the way down.

Sweet! 😎

I was out this morning and virtually had Fourpipe (and the rest of the Express side) to myself; the single digit temps were manageable but the light fog/flat light kept things challenging. We’ve had about 4” of light fluffy lake effect snow this evening so the rest of the week should provide excellent surface conditions.

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