John Gilmour

No word yet . I typically don’t use the IKON part if my pass until spring Ge Mammoth and because of apocalypse sniow I won’t be able to go to Mammoth this season at all. These are uncertain and unprecedented times throughout the world. Most Ikon Pass destinations have made the difficult, yet necessary, decision to suspend operations as early as March 15, 2020 in the best interest of their employees, local communities, and guests. (For a complete list of closures, check https://www.ikonpass.com/en/covid-19.) This is uncharted territory, and announcements are happening quickly, so we have no doubt you may be feeling some frustration. We are moving hour by hour and doing our best to minimize confusion. Please know we are all working diligently to serve you, our valued guests. We are experiencing heavy call, email and social media volume and appreciate your patience and understanding as we work hard to respond to all inquiries. At this time, we are evaluating our policies and next steps, and will communicate more information with you soon. Ikon Pass sincerely apologizes for the inconvenience and disappointment these changes may have caused you and your family. We very much appreciate your patience, understanding, and continued love of the mountains. Thank you for your support. Your Friends at Ikon Pass +++++ Friends ????Friends at IKON PASS? I’m not sure I need a pass that doesn’t work that costs more than a snowboard.

I can guarantee if this happened during The most profitable weeks like Christmas and Presidents' Day. Alterra would not of closed it's resorts , it's mostly because there's no more profit left in running the Lifes after March 10. I seriously think they're just looking for an excuse. The other issue, is most of the initial infections were from long-haul flights from halfway around the globe. I think the initial solution was to send these people home because they probably wouldn't service their medical bills, and they wouldn't be covered by medical insurance here. Hospital stays can easily be $10,000 a night. The Australians are pretty determined as a people. I can say this if I flew halfway around the world to go skiing in what was my summer time to someplace with vastly superior snow, if they close those resorts that I had access to. I would probably just hop on a short flight to the next closest open resort. That's probably what they are fearing that the Australians , And anyone else who is infected, would just go to the next closest resort. They probably thought the only way to get them to go home and end their vacation, and mind you it's a pretty long summer vacation for them, is to just close most of the resorts. Certainly crowded resorts, have crowded locker rooms and crowded cafeterias. So even lowly Wachusett Mountain, just an hour and a half outside of Boston… Has announced it is also closed. The less crowded resorts might stay open. https://www.brianhead.com/covid19/ local Brian head in Utah is still open. Yay! See below. We’re Still Open! FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sunday, March 15, 2020 Brian Head Resort Currently to Remain Open to the Public As of today, March 15, 2020, Brian Head Resort will remain open to the public. We are monitoring the situation very closely, and following the most current guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal, state, and local health authorities. There are currently no known active cases of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Iron County, Utah, where Brian Head Resort is located; however, given the ever evolving and rapidly changing COVID-19 environment, there can be no assurance that the situation will not change, and we could be required to suspend or close operations for the season with little or no advance notice. If we are required to suspend or close operations, all pre-purchased lift tickets, equipment rentals, Winter Sports School lessons and other advance reservations will be 100% refunded. So the fact that there are no known cases at Mammoth and it closed anyway doesn't make much sense. all of the sierras are closed. https://www.kcra.com/article/ski-resorts-sierra-closed-for-week-due-to-covid-19-concerns/31571848 btw the original " apocalypse snow movie" with Regis Rolland as the snowboarder being chased by a gang of modest skiers in Les Arcs France was tremendous fun. Also it looks like the Berkshires are closed as well.

I did tweet Trump a few days ago. I said they should look at the data history for location in the apps using the phone of the infected people who tested positive that way they could trace exactly where they were and for how long at each location while they were asymptomatic and contagious. I said they should look at the data history for location in the apps using the phone of the infected people who tested positive that way they could trace exactly where they were and for how long at each location while they were asymptomatic and contagious. Then text alerts could be sent out to other peoples phones that had locus that intersected with the carriers and even rate their exposure risk so that these people could self quarantine BEFORE THEY BECAME CONTAGIOUS AND THIS COULD DRAMATICALLY SLOW VIRAL PROPAGATION in a single infection cycle. Wow.. cool right. So many apps like tinder, and even driveshare constantly track people. I am not an epidemiologist, but I do have a degree in biology from Boston University which has one of the best schools of Public Health in the country. People aboard aircraft are 100 times more likely to contract a respiratory illness. And this illness is 10 times more likely to be contracted. That means you were at almost 1000 times the risk of contracting this while on a plane. The real issue is all commercial planes should be grounded , because they are nothing more than flying virus incubators and typically carry more than 100 people. These people, due to our aircraft set up of "hub and spoke", often go on to a second aircraft in the same day. And some like Southwest have little time to be cleaned as they must hit multiple destination routes in series. And typically planes carry more than 100 people. These people do to our aircraft set up of hub and spoke, often go onto a second aircraft in the same day. Doubling their exposure risk. As for Trump Stopping only select international flights, well it's really too late for that . There are plenty of people that travel more than 60% of their working time for business. And all it takes is one of those people to get infected on one other hub and spoke flight and every day that they go to work flying they are infecting others. And besides all it takes is one asymptomatic contagious person on Any flight (more likely long haul flights ...but I'm not ruling out a coast to coast flight ) ANYWHERE to incubate the virus and spread it. It's more likely the frequent air travelers are our worst vectors ( save for the New Rochelle lawyer on the Stamford local line and his synagogue). yes that's ANY FLIGHT ANYWHERE. ... but probably less risk on shorter duration flights as the air doesn't recirculate for nearly as many times. Aircraft typically is only pressurize to 5000 to 6000 feet, and when it 35,000 feet that's when most of the air recirculation starts. Short flights Have the doors open, fresh air enters a cabin, and they're going only for a very brief time at high-altitude re-circulating the air. Air at 35,000 feet can be -40C so they kinda have to recirculate it to keep it warm enough. and of course holding all other indoor gatherings is a very good idea, also large outdoor concerts where people are clustered close together. However, if you limited chairlift access to just people that you know when your party, and people sit far apart from each other on the largest chair lifts and reduce that occupancy to just two people. Being outside snowboarding and skiing is probably one of the safest places you could be. The more hours you spend in an area where you cannot get infection the safer you are. And being outside on an open ski slope where people normally self regulate to being many feet from each other, where people usually do not ski if they are sick with a fever, that's probably one of the safest activities you could do to avoid Covid-19. Golf would be also a similar safe activity. But alterra got our pass money already and took and took the opportunity to close the lifts and save money. They didn't want to shut down the hotels, and restaurants and après ski parties that make them money and still run the lifts THAT WE PAID FOR ADVANCE. And it's not the Governor ... I would expect they may have suggested this to himlooking at their balance sheets from the past 14 days , why....because Mono county has zero cases ...and still they closed. Granted.... it's also possible that Mono county has no test kits.... Covid-19 incubated and spread on long haul flights ...which are typical flights for the Aussies and the few Asian skiers, but as someone who rode Nisecko Japan, I can tell you many Air China Fares looked attractive but I avoided them because I knew historically from friends more people get sick on those flights than United and American flights . Any crowded flight of more than 1 hour is kinda asking for it right now. Yes splitboards are great . I was in the middle of starting to talk with Al Gross, the last surviving members of the Flexon Comp development team, about making a superior AT boot for splitting that would also ski well and be significantly lighter and higher performance than any of the boot and binding options we have today. Had a long talk with Erik Beckman about this project too. Sigh.. Err. probably have to shelve that until next year. I can only think what a blast my snowmobiler friends will have on Aspen and the back side of. Aspen the next 10 days before melt. Jack , this post did a weird merge... I left it as it is so you might look into it, sorry readers for the repeat.

Totally screwed over by Alterra corp. IKON. NO WARNING ... THE CLOSED ALL 15 resorts today Due to Covid-19. My Tesla model X 90d has bioweapon defense mode and I always have enough camping gear for 4. And plenty of fuel for cooking. I have loaded it that way for the past 4 winters. So when aspen closed last night..I started heading to Mammoth in Mono county. Stopped in at the Grand Junction Supercharger to awake to this news https://www.mammothmountain.com/covid BUT......As of yesterday there were ZERO Covid-19 cases in Mono country . I like th hotsprings their, and at about this ime of season I start heading to Mammoth as Aspen goes to corn snow (not as much fun for carving). SEE BELOW MARCH 14 10:30AM As of March 14th, there are currently no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Mono or Inyo County. We continue to encourage any guests in resort to abide by social distancing guidelines. The Mono County Health Department is closely monitoring the risk of COVID-19 for the general public in the Eastern Sierra, which remains low at present. Then THIS MORNING they closed it all. Very sad as I had an Emergency Room doctor (he expected to get Covid-19 as an ER doctor so had no issues with coming to Aspen he would rather get it over its early) I taught to him carve with INSANELY GOOD RESULTS ( don't want him to get a big head over it so I just said he got an "A" .... super deep trenches by him , as deep as I make!! On the VERY FIRST day of learning ) and he was going to be in Aspen for two weeks. I was all set to coach this guy into a total pro. Luckily he said LAST NIGHT that he (and one other aspiring carver) would follow me to Mammoth, but now that's screwed. I figured Mammoth is good , has tiny private hot springs, and even though I have no symptoms I would just not interact with anyone and camp alone until this blows over. That's a much more fun way to deal with this. EVEN If I were an asymtomatic carrier- I wouldn't be interacting with anyone anyhow except my turtles. The weather at Mammoth in late amarch is warm enough not to use the Gondola . so plan B ... fail. Ah , in retrospect: It was a cloudy overcast season in Aspen and surprisingly for Aspen , mediocre grooming and snow management as compared to the past or the ultra premium quality I get at Beaver Creek. Dave the top groomer went to snowmass, but they rarely double groom anymore, Certainly not worth the $2600 pass in retrospect. Not at all "on brand" for Aspen . I also worked snowmobiles at X games to earn an additional pass, and now that's worthless too. IKON brought tons of Australians to Aspen (causing weekend crowding) which started the Covid-19 spread. For some reason Aspen media, the hotels, and the resort kept all of the Aspen residents completely in the dark as to the situation. I have Videos documenting a bunch of this. There was a mass exodus from Aspen of wealth before the testing results were announced, and they were delayed. Exodus really fits . Very disappointing. The grand old gal "Silver Queen Gondola" bas was surrounded by hotel quarantines within 80'feet at the Little Nell on the left, North of Nell on the right, and an entire floor of the Aspen Square hotel (floor 2 under elevator lockout ) . And this info was withheld (I had hoped a bit more from the Crown family) as well as letting us know where the infected people spent their time so Aspen residents had no idea what their calculated exposure risk was and whether or not they should IMMEDIATELY self quarantine to protect their loved ones and elderly family and associates. I was particularly "lucky" , because my turtles were kicked out of the snow lodge 3 weeks before and also could not go to Ajax Tavern, or inside the little Nell with them so my exposure was minimized as I justo was atbth picnic tables by the Gondola far enough away while the virus went on a rampage by the DJs. This was an exceptional year for après ski because the snow lodg was compet in with the Ajax tavern on both sides of the Gondola so Ajax not only has a regular DJ outside but also ran one inside downstairs . So three MAJOR concurrent parties every Friday Saturday Sunday from noon to about 9:30-10pm. But I feel that a lot of aspen residents could have made better plans had they known. The people in the Exodus knew that aspen Valley hospital has only 10 ventilators and would quickly be overwhelmed by the next viral infection wave. So they flew out in their private planes and on commercial aircraft (infecting more people probably in search of ar as of lower infection with hospital facilities with extra ventilators - while keeping everyone else in the dark. I think that's pretty horrible. Because these people will seed the virus in so many places where it isn't right now.

My High. the guy who runs their Ski school program is an alpine snowboarder and examniner named Clay- though he has hinted that he will change to Big Bear/Snow Sumit. There is one carving run I like there - show here . I am carving on soft boots on a 168 Rossignol Jusge powder board. Though I live in SoCal if iconditons are packed powder in Colorado I recommend getting on a plane and flying to Denver or Aspen less costly and faster than driving to Mammoth. After April generally it starts to turn to corn in Aspen and that’s when I default to Mammoth and June. the AspeN season premier Pass includes base Ikon and 25% off the excellent slope food (if bought before 12 or after 2pm ) also includes June and Mammoth and after April there are no blackout periods for June and Mammoth and the Aspen Premier Pass has no blackouts for Aspen . More sun, less wind, better snow and après ski that devastates Mammoth. Mt. High is a quick hit and run early season leg conditioning ( leave SoCal by 4:45 am) if you get off snow by 11:35 and jump in your car you can return to LA , Laguna or Sandiegi before traffic and the snow goes to mush by 12:15 anyhow . My. High doesn’t have the endless winding mountain road that Snow summit and big bear has , its less winding by about 1/2, . Après ski at Mountain High ....lock your board and leave nothing visible in your car. So sketchy gangsters there - but lots of college students and hot California girls.

It’s a 2017-2018 156cm Jones Hovercraft which replaces my 2016-2017 model. The one I am on has a spoon nose. I never would consider going this short... the last pow board I rode was 168cm. But it has enough float for my 173-180 lbs. it works reasonably well in tight trees. And you can carve on it . Nose needs a ton of detune or it will catch. The bindings are some 2015- 2016 union force FC 1st gen - but with 3rd gen highbacks which as more compliant to the calf and taller. Boots 32 binary boa.... really like those boots flex- a bit stiff at first but perfect once broken in unlike so many boots which turn to mush after 2 weeks. you could run plates in this board and it would flex like a freecarver . But like Neil says , that’s overkill. The hovercraft has some chatter and soft boots help with that more than hard boots but in icy conditions Hardboots might help. Then you might ask yourself carving on a pow board is silly enough , but on ice? Get on your hardboots in an alpine deck and smoke everyone . The board doesn’t have much o-Tex on the ground and is easily out run by any 160 snowboard on flatter terrain - going up in size you get less edge hold , going down you get less turn imitation so the 156cm is the sweetheart of the Line- the Ultracraft doesn’t flex the way I want a board with carbon to flex.

I used to hunt for carving photos in ski resort catalogue photos - seemed more mellow to see a snowboarder on the ground . 2/20/2020 I’m a local ? Just a Manhattan/SoCal transplant Just living in a van down by the Gondola.- nice to be claimed as one. https://www.aspentimes.com/news/local/aspen-skiing-co-says-ikon-pass-use-is-up-local-pass-use-down-so-far-this-season-2/

Going faster will help. Also I should make a video of fitting bindings and how to properly “buckle in” for The best combo of performance and comfort.

I have a set of Old Rome David Bowie bindings. I was t very happy with the ratchet quality, the retention, or the hard edges of the aluminum foot plate – nor did I care for the HIgh backs ‘s, the only thing that attracted me to them was the smooth somewhat over slim heel cup band. I haven’t ridden every soft boot binding , But I do remember the first week I wrote the union force DLX it was more chatter resistant than all the other unions I have ever ridden . The union force at the time , offered much more chatter absorbing ability than the Catek soft binding . My current Union FC forged carbons cica 2017 have about 35% more chatter than the 2009 Union Force DLX and about 25% more than the standard Union Force. The Union carbons offer lightning fast response (When cranked down and boots clipped in properly) about 15-20% less quick than hard boots and of course walking about wearing boots and carrying your board is relatively easy because the bindings weigh so little . But after the turn is initiated ... in harder snow conditions or at very high speeds you might miss the much much much chestier Union Force binding . I sorta miss my old DLX which were left in a Locker on my old Rossi judge powder board in June Mt. A few things ... I haven’t ridden the NOW bindings and no recent FLOW bindings Slopestar loves nor the F2 eliminator binding . I was a buyer for a shop , and I most of my predictions on how a binding MIGHT RIDE have proven to be pretty close to what I expected. I only bought the Bowie Rome bindings for the Graphics and because they were on sale- I never use them. The now binding is interesting in concept as it offers some sort of isolating suspension and turn commitment (like the old Funky hard binding ) but at a huge cost in weight . Still there are times I sorta wish I was off the fancy Union FC and back on my heavier FORCE DLX. So maybe the Now bindings are like that ??? Anyone ridden them both at speeds over 40 on hard snow?

7 seasons , that’s really probably the issue . The plastic has toughness lifespan and U V LIGHT doesn’t help. The plastic gets brittle with age

Probably there is something you could modify in your riding style if you are having so many unintentional base plate failures . It’s one thing to break gear - but it’s another thing to have that force transfer to your frame. I mean I break stuff to test gear through intentional hard abuse before manufacturers release a product - (like I hammered the Catek protypes at Brighton UTAH they were strong enough, I was the initial tester unbeknownst to me at the time) and later bent that Catek base plate - but that was really trying to stuff the nose....And I “potato chipped “An aluminum base plate disc after a crash where I hammered it through the 6 layers of carbon on a favorite Madd 170 Prototype board . Or I busted 3 Madd Snowboards in a single run trying to delam then to prove that we needed a different tyoe of rubber nose core instead of closed cell foam. But that’s no way to ride all the time as you body bears at least 25% of that stress force . but of course some stuff is just flimsy - like Emory bails , snow pro bails , and junky bindings . I would Like to see a nylon cord reinforced injected plastic base plate since though would likely never crack. When it comes to base plates better to be tough and a little more for you than To be tough and shatter .

When it comes to selecting a soft bindingThe things that matter to me most: 1. Traditional toe straps as opposed to toe cap. 2. Fantastic wide distribution ankle strap with really good pressure distribution, removing pressure from the hinge point area of the ankle. 3. Hibaks that both cup the shaft of my leg, and track the motion of my leg forward and back during the turn without slipping off the highbak. In my humble opinion, the boots now offer enough Forward lean support that three straps are a hindrance to ankle flex as opposed to helpful. 4. SLEEK heelside clearance . it’s extremely important for any design that nothing really should protrude much beyond the end of the heel and he’ll backstay of the boot And that the forward lean adjustment is also slim.. As close as you can get the Highbak assembly and heel cup band to the heel the better. Anything that sticks off of that assembly, any extra ridge, any protrusion for high back adjustment lean, is a negative. And anything that is in that area will cause you to “binding out” when you really increase your heelside angle . Bindings that are in the way in this regard will prevent you from doing any quality euro carving on your heelside and result in ABRUPT AND NEARLY UNRECOVERABLE HEEL EDGE SLIP. ie deadly Repeat ...super ****ing dangerous . Unfortunately this excludes a great number of bindings- like every single Burton binding. Even the step-on binding with Ions... sadly. 5. I also avoid microdisks, because they concentrate too much force into too small a place- AND they don’t allow for “Gilmour Bias”. 6. Generally I do not recommend snowboard bindings that are too stiff, You should be able to exert some minor flex domination over your binding. But the binding should not dominate you. And of course a bonding shouldn’t be so floppy either RELATIVE TO YOUR BOOT STIFFNESS. Err..so the soft bindings that I like for high edge angle heelside are the Union Force , and the Union Forged Carbon . The union binding forged carbon, well they’re nice in terms of response on the right board with the right boots that are stiff enough, but the binding itself doesn’t flex very much, so a tremendous amount of force gets transmitted to the disc, which is not carbon fiber - which is actually a blessing because you wouldn’t want that to shatter. Over the course of a few seasons – I have broken the plastic disc, which is more prone to breaking in very cold weather. However the disk did not shatter and eject me, Instead it cracked and made a clicking noise, with two of the screws still intact. The disks are relatively inexpensive at five dollars apiece. Certainly cheap enough to change out each season. I have cracked the highbaks on the early forged carbon’s, but the new ones seem to be better made. A little shoe goo on the metal fitting pieces or nylon washers , would go along way to making these last forever because the “ sacrificial “ nylon witll deform and wear faster than the carbon fiber. The 32 binary Boa for me at least is an excellent mate for the Union forged carbons . I have a 9.5 foot , have Custom molded super feet cork insoles , ride 45/27 on a 156 cm Jones Hovercraft . I ride the inner mounting holes with near maximum “Gilmour bias”. Front footplate all the way back rear footplate in middle setting , more forward lean in rear highback than front to allow for traditional carving and EC style heelsides so I can change the SCR at will at speed. I also use medium Booster straps which completely eliminated shin bang. Jones 156 Hovercraft. That set up works great for tight trees in powder- open powder field carving and hard groom . Works shitty in piles of corn snow and bumpy end of day conditions. Still manageable, but not really fun. Catchy… But then there’s lunch and Early après , hot tubs - for 3pm onward anyway.

I had been riding .. carving on old swallow tail redux designs like the Rossignol 159 Judge and 168 Judge . And while that 168 gave me some edge ( about as much as a 160cm deck to play with) I disliked its versatility in tight pow situations and the 159 did not have enough edge. I enjoy the hammer head shape and spoon of the 156 Jones Hovercraft because I can lift my rear foot in a heelside carve to reset the nose. i can’t EC as fast heelside as with my 169 ( about 8-10 mph slower) but the tight tree powder versatility and enhanced toeside from the magnetraction more than makes that a worthwhile trade off. Keeps my speeds to around 45-55 mph laid over which is definitely safer. I tried the 152,154,156,162, 166 hovercraft and 156 ultra craft and preferred the 156cm greatly . The design doesn’t stretch well. 156 gave tighter turns ( when pushed) and more edge hold ( when pushed) than any other size. I think this board shape suits most snowboards best . The Jones HC needs better materials and better dampening and a fine tuning of SCR. I’d like to design one of these shapes to better suit what I like to do .The Ultracraft IMHO is not the correct application of CF and just adds stiffness for skidded turns and reduces carvability. when I need to reset a tie edge with a conventional board I get More or less point contact of the nose with the snow, what I like about the hammerhead shapes as I get more of a line contact feel ( larger area to reset with and once it’s reset I can lift the tail to dig in the nose to ploughing it into a tight nose SCR to either slow down or pop back up from EC ) for resetting the nose. and MiG... how do I twist your arm to finally get a pavement carving brudda onto snow in Aspen with me?

Ikon base gives you 5 days . Aspen passapolousa is dec 13,14,15 so if you want to make a week out of it you can combine your 5 free days with Passapolousa days either in front of or after . Thinking about Jackson later in the season as they need a bunch of snow to be fully operational and a bit of steamboat too

The move would be... if you had Ikon. Is not to show up the Dec13 and stay until the 18th... but to show up on the 5th 6th or 7th (cheap airfare no crowds, cheap lodging , have a day of rest 4 days into it and leave on the 15 th so only the 14th is high season . so your 8 days of riding at Asian Costs you $177. In tickets . $208 RT airfare and $79 a night hotel

Aspen conditions are AMAZING right now! They got several feet of natural. Hey East Coasters! All of these flights allow you to ride with your IKON or EPIC pass the day you arrive. Then after that- it will be about a 1.5- 2.5 hour drive to ASPEN. I got these prices on Goggle flights. You can get these prices even lower by booking late at night or early in the morning. Cars on Cheaptickets.com are insanely cheap. I have reserved the $6 a day car and gotten bumped for free to a full size SUV before. Denver International Airport DEN United Economy Boeing 737 UA 2214 Average legroom (30 in) Wi-Fi In-seat power outlet Stream media to your device 6:10 AM – 8:53 AM JetBlue 4h 43m BOS–DEN Nonstop $335 round trip 11:45 AM – 2:21 PM United 4h 36m BOS–DEN Nonstop $335 round trip Prices are currently typical for your trip.Details Other departing flights Prices are not available for: Southwest. Flights with unavailable prices are at the end of the list. 9:45 AM – 12:28 PM United 4h 43m BOS–DEN Nonstop $335 round trip 3:20 PM – 6:02 PM United 4h 42m BOS–DEN Nonstop $335 round trip 6:20 PM – 9:05 PM JetBlue 4h 45m BOS–DEN Nonstop $335 round trip 1:00 PM – 5:47 PM American 6h 47m BOS–DEN 1 stop 34m CLT $342

Thought carving Aspen was unaffordable? Now carve Aspen for less than SES pricing! https://www.aspensnowmass.com/while-you-are-here/events/passapalooza This should become a Mini SES

@Jack MPretty much. EPIC and IKON need their own forums. There is no reason for carvers to carve alone anymore. Also Power Alliance and Mountain Collective. Particularly since those are limited days passes... silly to miss riding with someone because they came for their only 2 days of use a day or two before you. Some sort of Calendar Sign up thing would be the best so people could post up if they were thinking about riding on a. particular day or group of days. Also IKON/ASPEN riders get some free passes (I think 2, plus they get discount days.) .... I am wondering if EPIC does? It might be nice to swap an ASPEN pass day to someone with a Beaver Creek pass. We could even do a sign up by resort. I think some EPIC and IKON riders would be more willing to visit each other at their respective resorts. Also it is silly to not leverage the 5 or 7 free days of IKON at Aspen to do SES mini type events. Riding Aspen alone... I did that for years.. no reason to do that anymore with the internet and IKON.

Well, even though this is a SoCal thread. I do have to say that at times, after traveling to and from Mammoth sometimes I ask myself after 20-40mph winds, fog and short runs.... huh? Why did I go through all of that trouble? I should have gone to Colorado. Why did I put 750 miles on my car? even at 30 mpg thats about $100 of gas. which is the same as a round trip ticket to Denver and depreciating your car at .a paltry .25 per mile for maintenance ($187) and value lost... you can see its a losing proposition quickly. That's $287 and two days of no riding lost to Mammoth. or 1 day if you are driving back after your last day at Mammoth leaving at 4 pm, dinner in Lone pine, and home by 11pm or midnight with gas fill up and pee breaks. (I never make it before 1:30 am) . I do like the back of Mammoth, as it seems adventuresome, but after the 5-6 hour drive (longer for me with charging) it always seems to take a full day there and back, sometimes longer......(as I have fallen asleep at chargers) and well the drive ears a bit. A quick jaunt to Snow Summit after a store seems tiny in comparison...like even shorter runs (though I have fun at the wall and the far side) but the drive is so much more manageable. Sometimes after a day at Snow Summit I think, hey it's not Mammoth but it is so much less hassle and time lost to driving. Mammoth food is well, ..- expensive and not very good. EXCEPT you MUST to get the Hot and Spicy Shrimp at the Merry Go Round Chinese restaurant in Lone Pine on the way up....I always time my trip for this. So in season.. I just pulled up a non stop flight at 6:45 am to Denver from John Wayne. $49 one way. You land at 10:20 (but often by 10:00) Using cheaptickets.com, you can get a rental car for about $11 a day. Unlimited mileage. Using your Ikon Pass you can hit Winter Park same day. you drive only 90 minutes. The miles you would put on your own car and maintenance are on your rental car. So even traveling solo $60 gets you to a mountain. In 2 hours less travel time than Mammoth- the gas alone to Mammoth is about that! The tickets are much cheaper in Colorado. The snow is way better, the 5 best days of the season in Mammoth are like an average sunny day in Colorado. So it's hard for me to justify Mammoth until Colorado is melted out. June is fun for Sure....but lets say you compare Buttermilk to June, well there is no comparison at all- and thats Aspens least appealing mountain. Ok so that's Aspen right? Airfare at the cheapest is $138 one way. You land IN Aspen. AS in No rental car required, and no parking hassles- free bus system everywhere. The free bus runs every 20 min. from Directly in front of the airport. its 5 minutes to Buttermilk where you ride for the last half of your first day. American Airlines flight via Phoenix also leaves at 6:45am You land in Aspen at 11:36. (usually 11:25) Hustle and you can catch the bus. Be at Buttermilk at 11:40. (I suit up on the plane ride- and put my boots on while waiting for the bus). Last time I flew in for my godsons Nationals boarder cross race... I put my bindings in my jacket sleeves- wore my snowboard boots on the plane, put my shoes in my personal item. And tried various boards at the demo tent with my boots and bindings ..... couldn't have been easier. But if that $49 airfare is tempting (like Aspen airfares ...you waited too long and they went up) , you could still take that and take the bus from Denver to the scenic train a couple of hours to Glenwood springs, and the RFTA bus about $6 to Aspen 75 min ride. OK so you did that... its still a dy of travel like it would be to mammoth ...but you are on some of the worlds best Carving snow. not...the so called glorious "wind buff" of Mammoth. So there are all the tricks. And I figured out how to crack a certain airlines pricing algorithm allowing me to get cheap fares (2nd lowest fare tier offered) within a few hours of travel. I won't post that here. Cheap place to stay in Aspen is the Mountain Chalet- also best location, and unlimited fresh squeezed OJ from one of the orange juicing machines, heated pool jacuzzi etc. newly remodeled rooms breakfast included. much cheaper than Mammoth. Oh Aspen has about 350 days a year with Sun for at least 4 hours, so expect a few bluebird powder days. Beaver Creek is also great but EPIC deadline passed. Its only affordable with a. Full EPIC. and you fly to Denver and drive the cheap rental. No cheap lodging anywhere- so You take an afternoon flight and stay in Frisco or Silverthorne. Just plan a trip this season before you end up kicking yourself for not doing it sooner. There's a reason the World Carving Session gave up carving at other resorts. Those flights were for Jan 8th or 9th.

Totally agree, Last year I was going about 55mph, Hit a big heel side to scrub some speed and some 20 year old with shit skills hits me from behind and he literally had 3 seconds to react and just move left . He flew about 30 feet and landed on his nuts- unable to breathe for a bit. My knee got tweaked for a week or two and my Back Troy Lee D3 had to be retired. So Mammoth straighteners are another reason I prefer Colorado because the skill level there of the average person midweek is much higher on average than SoCal. (except for holidays),

June is scheduled to open December 21, I will probably only hit June later this season. Unless I end up not working in Aspen. I like June because its not as insanely windy as Mammoth on breezy days and tends to have a bit more sun while being warmer. Also the bottom of June late season is great for powder. For me A windy flat light day on a steep pitch with choppy snow ...well I would rather be in a. place with less wind with great snow conditions that aren't wind stripped. Mammoth "Wind Buff" is a "thing" but not really my thing. I'll take the cord and pow at June and just mess around on the shallower pitches until I feel I have to go back to Mammoth. Mammoth and June for me is where I head to AFTER the Colorado Melt out. Stump Alley Tailgate BBQ's . Have you ridden Aspen? Or Beaver Creek? or even Copper Mountain vs Mammoth?

While in Aspen I wouldn't want to miss out carving with anyone using up their IKON Base 5 days or Ikon Full 7 days at Aspen deal. Mountain Collective gets 2 free days and 50% off additional days at Aspen. So we should try and put groups together .

Ok so you get 5 Aspen days. and. bunch of Copper let's definitely get out there and ride again - rip some turns for our riding Bro' Paul Miller.

This was shot last year. boots are from Nov 1991 (28 years old) Nordic TR-9, Bindings are Old F2 titanium Jan 2000 (19 year old) , Board is a Sept 1993 Madd 170 (26 years old) , rider is from July 1963 (55 years old at the time of the photo). Sure it would have ridden nicer with Cateks, but heck you adapt to a lesser binding when you can't find toe clips to switch over your step ins. I think some older gear is quasi- dangerous. Like a Burton Stat ridden by anyone over 160lbs with modern boots and bindings. I remember going over the handlebars of a Burton Stat many times when swapping for demos. Photographer Ginger Demke. Not bad as we only shot 5 passes to get these shots. The shot below is on the same slope, a 10 mph less . 32 Binary Boa boots 2018, 2018 Jones 156cm hovercraft , Union FC carbon bindings 2015, and the same 55 year old - without his Helmet being an idiot. Now I ride with my Troy Lee D3. BTW a Troy Lee D4 (might have a better lower sightline, and more ventilation in the front) is coming out soon...... DEFINITELY RIDE WITH CURRENT HELMETS that can meet D.O.T. specs. Vintage helmets (older than 5 years) are a BAD IDEA. New Troy Lee D3 carbon helmet... gives me a bit more confidence (see deeper trench more committed turn) . BTW Soft boot boards are NO substitute for carving set ups with hard boots on hard snow. You hit the limit of the gear a lot quicker with squishy gear. And...when you hit that limit... either the gear fails, or joints/tendons/liagments fail. So regardless of the YEAR of the gear, more important is how soon you can find yourself at that limit in lesser gear and unpleasantly surprised with only a split second to readjust.

Who got which passes? It might be good to try and get people to ride together. Jack can we make a list? I am Base Ikon with Aspen season pass. no Epic this year.