lonbordin

Snow was excellent. Crowds were all time. One of the hours we got 5 runs. A run commonly takes less than a minute. Apparently a major injury occurred this afternoon on those features... less than a day... I'm not surprised at all. Rode with my son. Worked on the last 1% on the S5's. I enjoyed my time and look forward to tomorrow. No photos today... who wants to look at long lifelines at Paoli?!?!

If you want something bent I'm just a little to your south.

Tonight was awesome. Squeaky snow... so rare here... and snowing. One lift, two runs... sigh. (They did run the magic carpet briefly) On the S5 boots all night. Put the F2s on the Donek went 47/40 looking for a little more surfy feel. I think the tweaking is done. I might stop bringing the UPZ at all. W00t! I could've used another layer as the evening drew to a close. Who cares? Out ripping with my son. It was great, really great. Oh, they were still out pushing features... these are the biggest features I've ever seen at Paoli... someone is going to get seriously hurt. Photos- https://photos.app.goo.gl/tqP2YxL4NgvmeVTt9

I don't know... mine came from @slapos. I've been dialing them in this season. I'm hoping to update that thread shortly.

One of the OPS leads told me they made champagne snow last night. Too bad only TWO runs and one lift were open tonight. I f@#king hate Vail corporate. So we have two senior OPS guys working the lift. The OPS guy who's on charge is running the groomer on our third run so only two runs. It's like insult to injury. 10 Patrollers earning their wings so I have to time my blue runs when they are not on the run then do the green when they are on the blue. It's past a little frustrating at this point. PP still isn't opening their tubing. PP's balance sheet is going to be no Bueno this season. Snow was good, worked on technique and zen koans. Photos- https://photos.app.goo.gl/PJjUqD4EArHnTp3F9

The Koren S5 boots are the widest out of box I've put on my feet. Their size range is very limited. I think they call their largest shell MP28

Petition to change @bigwavedave's Member identification from Gold member to Cold member. Wish I was there... dressed like a spaceman.

Give your arms something to do. You can bring that right arm forward and try to touch you left knee on heelsides or snag a ski pole hold it in both hands (don't wrap your thumb around) and keep it level, out in front of you, as you ride. Keep at it

I've broke several TD3 SW bails both front and back. Always just past the start of the threads or at the start of the threads. Both step-in and standard. I went to all standard a few years back, have to get those stretches in! I always carry spare lugs and bails both front and rear. I've broken them at fairly warm Temps, around freezing, very cold. I'm not little but I'm not as lively as CM. I have yet to break a Catek or a F2 bail. I probably have equal number of turns on F2s as I do TD3s.

Even better this afternoon. Had stuff to do this morning and didn't make it to the hill until 1500. Snow was in decent shape. I had a blast. Started the session on softies then moved on to HBs. Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/1CKxbYERtLFrKeGV7

Back today. They blew more snow last night. Some of the runs were great! Apparently they limit walkup sales so even though the parking lot looks crazy it's really not bad on the snow. Great day... so tired, so old. Zzzzzzzzzzz Photos https://photos.app.goo.gl/ExzPphN5ZYJ5gBED6

Back this evening. Mindbender was the best. It was marginally better than yesterday. They made snow and plan to make more tonight. Very surprised at all the frozen water everywhere with such low Temps. It was actually cold this evening. The Faststik worked well, first test.

Back this evening. Between the time I left home and got to the hill they had shut down the quad lift so only half the hill was open, sigh. FIRM They had blown some snow but some how even at these low Temps they managed to blow some ice. Luckily there was one smoothish run that was carveable so I lapped that. First night under the lights felt kind of normal. They were charging the system to start blowing at close. Should be the best snowmaking conditions they've had all season. Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/5Y7PCM4WbsWPNHDPA

So I want to stiffen my Malamutes forward lean. I've seen tongue mods on the forums before and I think I've got that under control. My main query is do you put the stiffening under the original tongue (internal) or over the original tongue (external)? Why did you chosen one or the other? Ease of use? Comfort? Worked with the boot geometry? Thanks! If it matters I'll be using them with Flow NX2-GT with Fusion Straps.

What's the specs on the BX? Thanks!

Was back at PP today. Got the boots straightened out and a little of my mojo back... They had blown some snow. It was probably a top five busy day in all the years I've been coming here. The ticket line went around the west side of the building. Luckily the reduced staff greatly slowed their exodus to the snow. The quad lift side still needs more grooming passes but it was better than yesterday. Photos (note the line for the magic carpet. You can walk uphill MUCH faster than the carpet.): https://photos.app.goo.gl/4MY7L9V6R6fs3zhd9

Vail Co. Sucks, there I said it. The amount that's being asked of the local OPS crew is simply absurd. I sure appreciate their efforts and I think upper Vail Co. management should resign. Disgraceful, all in the name of shareholder profit. Whew... I feel better. Got to ride with the one and only Deisel Mike and his son and my son. That was great! The surface conditions were less than optimal and I was working on the new boots. I definitely need to do some further tweaking on my setup as it was also less than optimal. My riding was not good, out of wack. Still it was a lot of fun to tailgate Mike. Already did some tweaking... might try a short am session tomorrow to test. Oh, they opened the quad lift... that side needs a lot more time with the groomer!!

Good questions. Up to yesterday they weren't going to be open at all. From what I've heard and seen it's staff, as in they don't have any. But that's expected... there are lots of places hiring in the Paoli region that start at way more than 11.25

Leaving today and passed a group of college age guys one says, "Hey it's that straightboarder, the one that was doing all those carves!" That little voice in my head wanted to say how high are you? But I controlled that instinct and just smiled and waved. Went back in for the restroom prior to the drive home and a lady comes up and says, "Your the best snowboarder I've ever seen." Oh, that little voice being all worked up from the last encounter almost got out as it wanted to say you must not have seen many snowboarders! But thankfully I remaind in control and said thank you. I think this all stems from there being only one carver on the one really carvable run that is under the only open lift.

Day two. Focus was on dialing in the new boots. Some grass coming through in the center of Mindbender. Woo, thin. Speaking of thin I hope they are able to hire some people! Nice afternoon and made some real progress with the setup. Oh and they made a last minute change to be open MLK day from 10-3pm.

Opening day and you know I was there at open. 3 runs open, 1 lift , and the magic carpet. More than half of the hill was blocked off and plenty of grass showing on Oak. Said the base was 18"... I struck dirt twice. My carves maybe deep on occasion but not that deep. Two of the heads of OPS were playing the roles of lifties. It was great to be on the snow again. Wow I've really missed it. Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/USakLNM4pLJRidHj9

So Alpine Valley and Paoli Peaks share the distinction of Epic resorts that haven't opened yet, Joy. I wondered what are the hours of the rest of the Epic resorts in the MidWest and NorthEast. So I scraped the sites of the resorts and made a table. (Speaking of that is there a way to insert tables in our forum?? Sorry about the formatting!) So Alpine Valley, OH & Snow Creek, MO & Paoli Peaks, IN all share something in common. Closed days. Which is odd since the season is so short one would think you'd want your resort to be open daily at minimum. It's crazy to think that Paoli Peaks would've been up there with Roudtop and Liberty hours just two seasons ago. Perfect North Slopes in Lawrenceburg, IN is privately owned and they are open 12 hours per day Sun-Thurs and 14.5 hours per day on Friday & Saturday. I'm a bit put out that I paid for a full price pass with the understanding they would be open daily like they have for the past ~20 years. Resort Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Weekly Night Region Alpine Valley 0 0 0 0 5.5 7 7 19.5 Y MidWest Snow Creek 0 0 0 0 6 7 7 20 Y MidWest Paoli Peaks 0 0 0 7 7 7 7 28 Y MidWest Hidden Valley 4 4 4 4 4 8 8 36 Y MidWest Mad River 6 6 6 6 6 7 7 44 Y MidWest Wildcat 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5 45.5 N NorthEast BM&BW 6 6 6 6 6 8 8 46 Y MidWest Hunter 7 7 7 7 7 7.5 7.5 50 N NorthEast Attitash 7 7 7 7 7 7.5 7.5 50 N NorthEast MT Snow 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 51 N NorthEast Okemo 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 51 N NorthEast MT Sunapee 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 51 N NorthEast Crotched 0 0 8 12 12 12 8 52 Y NorthEast Stowe 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 56 N NorthEast Wilmot 7 7 7 7 7 11 11 57 Y MidWest Afton Alps 7 7 7 7 8 11.5 10.5 58 Y MidWest MT Brighton 8 8 8 8 8 12 10 62 Y MidWest Whitetail 8 8 8 12 12 12 12 72 Y NorthEast JF&BB 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 77 Y MidWest Roundtop 9 9 12 12 12 13 13 80 Y NorthEast Liberty 11 11 11 12 12 14 12 83 Y NorthEast Edit: Sorry for the doom-n-gloom.... I'm going to try to focus on the positive...

So, the board members saw the future.... Hours posted: Thursday, January 13, 1pm - 8 pm Friday, January 14, 1 pm - 8 pm Saturday, January 15, 11 am - 6 pm Sunday, January 16, 11 am - 6 pm To put those 28 open hours in perspective, which apparently will be the operating hours this season, Paoli before last season was open 90 hours per week. Apparently, they won't even be open for President's Day a huge Monday for them typically?! Additional things that are unavailable this season: - Park features - Pro Shop - Ski lessons - Snow monsters (kids ski daycare) - The bar (not that it was ever consistently open before) - Web cams I'll be taking a long hard look Thursday to see if Vail has made any investments as it likely will tell the future. As of last season you wouldn't know Paoli was a Vail/Epic property from an on-site visit.

The latest from their FB page, below. I reached out for some inside info... there's hope they will open the 14th. I thought the Vail buy might be good for PP. I do not think so anymore based on the info I received. I'm actually more bummed than I've been... I guess I'm going to have to start making the drives over to Perfect North... oof. The team is gearing up for the next 48 hours of cold temps UPDATES (to provide transparency ) Opening Date - TBA Tubing Date - TBA Many have asked, we will NOT be open the weekend of Jan 7 We hear you loud and clear - we wanted to provide a status. Keep thinking cold for us, we can't wait to welcome you back!

Funny... went to Giants ridge website to look at all these fantastic opportunities. Unresponsive... must be all the peeps flocking to these high paying jobs. https://www.giantsridge.com/careers/