bigwavedave

Wed Lots of progress with good snowmaking weather. Snowmaking skipped over BlueRuin and moved to Gandy (maybe for an upcoming race?) and into the woods on lower XC trails. Still blowing on upper 4pipe and in the tubing park. Looks like they are done with Skyhooker and Scissorbill (both have been groomed). Gandy already has a thick base and is partially groomed, so it may be open for this weekend. Just a dusting to an inch of natural snow here so far today. Sure looks like the U.P is getting buried in lake effect. @Algunderfoot you still there? I plan to go up to Spirit Friday morning. With these cold temps I expect the manmade stuff will be nicer than the typical icy/chunky early season stuff.

Snowmaking progress.... Looks like Scissorbill and most of Skyhooker have had an initial grooming. Guns are blowing on 4pipe, tubing hill and Powder monkey. A good chance we'll have the 4 middle runs open by Friday. Looks like they're done blowing in the rope tow park, so hopefully the hardware will be removed from the bottom of Bindlstiff. Looks like they have removed the chairs and from the old double D chair. Wire cable and towers still there.

Sunday Still just 1 run open and no rope tow park to absorb the unpredictable tricksters. With overcast flat light conditions I wasn't motivated to get out, even for just one run. The Express chair looked full on the webcam and there was jibber hardware on lower Bindlestiff. I heard that they had problems with the Express chair yesterday morning and that it was very busy. I'm gonna wait until they reopen on Friday with more runs. They started grooming out Scissorbill and Skyhooker today. Snowmaking has started on 4pipe and is going full bore in the rope tow park and on the tubing hill. btw, Giants Ridge has installed new permanent snowmaking towers and increased water supply on several slopes.

Spirit opens tomorrow, Saturday. Likely just one run--BindleStiff top to bottom with the Express lift. Snowmaking has already moved to ScissorBill and SkyHooker. And it looks like the rope tow park will be open to distract the youngsters. I might go up early Sunday to make some turns if they get ScissorBill open. We've had perfect snow making weather, so the snow should be good. Looks like the U.P is getting hammered with lake effect. 15" in Bessemer as of this morning. SnowRiver is scheduled to open next Friday, Dec 6th.

Picked up my pass this afternoon. There's 1 inch of wet natural snow on the hill from last night and they just now fired up the snow machines for the first time this season. Looks like it will be good snowmaking weather for the next few weeks. I was thinking this was later than normal, but it's not really. They just might be able to pull off a Thanksgiving weekend opening after all. Probably just top to bottom Bindlestiff and maybe the rope tow park. Word is that Spirit will be open 7 days a week this season.

Hi Lurch, Board width at the center of the rear insert pack is 20.8cm. 19.5" or 49.5cm from center to center of insert packs. two 12 packs of inserts. 59cm from the forward most inserts to the rear most. 39cm between inner most inserts.

Thirst 8RW 184.5cm WARP LFF (left foot forward) $700 plus cost of shipping Made for me at 185lbs, but Thirsts are known to have a fairly wide rider wt range. 20cm waist 12.5m average scr This board (unbelievably) looks like-new. There is one tiny surface scratch on the top sheet. Edges are perfect (2 degrees side bevel / .5 base), base is perfect, never ground. One of my favorite Thirsts, but I replaced it with a skinnier, younger Tesi8 even though this 8rw still rides like it was new. (Bindings are not included) Don't let the length intimidate you, read the 8rw reviews...

...and a billy club on the base?

I think Mark's got this. It'll be comparable to a K168, but with all the juicy Thirst ingredients (ex-el sidecut, quasi-isotropic asymmetrical "WARP" core) with added metal & rubber. It'll have similar specs—157-ish ee for a smooth ride, 10m-ish average sidecut that likes to make complete turns for controlling speed. The overall length is less important to me than ee and turning radius. The idea for Tonya is a smallish, nimble board optimized for a comfortable ride on ice. There might even be an optional plate system. And, who knows, you might be be able to order it with a side of pasties, a wedge of Vermont cheddar (ubiquitous when I lived in Vermont) and maybe a lobstah roll (the Maine pasty?) for the Maineiacs. How I miss a good lobster roll!!

Video of my first ride on my 9sw earlier this spring. Somebody requested a video? 195cm, 18cm waist and a bigly scr. Starts with 30 seconds of ogling the board before getting to 1st tracks carving on 2" of perfectly smooth cord over hard ice on a wide green run... This board has been surprisingly fun in a variety of conditions. It has remarkably good edge hold on ice, even if that's not the first thing I would think to use it for. I was actually surprised when I took a shorter board with Gecko style plates out after this video and got bounced around quite a bit. The ice was rougher under there than it appears in the video. I found I really like riding it late in the day when everything is chopped up, as it just smooths everything out like it's not even there. As good or better than an iso-plate on a shorter board. I found myself looking forward to making a few runs on wide, uncrowded green hills at the end of the day. It requires plenty of room and I'm still learning how to ride it as I keep misjudging how tight I can turn. I'm still not very comfortable getting off the beginner hill with it, but that's okay, because it goes so fast that it's still a thrilling ride. Feels like I'm flying a jet airplane while everyone else is flying single prop.

I'm already on board with the Tonya. We should talk... Mark's mind seems to be constantly spinning with new concepts and his boards seem to be getting better. I had the same sensation riding the tesi8 as I had the first time I rode a Thirst. It immediately grabbed my attention feeling different than anything else in my quiver (which is mainly Thirsts now). Confidence to do things I might otherwise hesitate to do, as if I could will it to turn quicker, tighter. Could be partly the skinny thing, the metal is certainly a piece of it, but there seems to be some other new magic. I didn't want to give it back...and I didn't.

So, I visited Mark in north Idaho and rode with him at Schweitzer. Rode the tesi8 and fell in love with it after the first few turns. He let me take it home and I got to ride it a bunch in some nice conditions. I like it a lot. Yes, it's a little less lively with the well behaved dampness you'd expect from a metal board. It's audibly quieter as well. I love how it turns! Almost feels like there's something else new in this board, not just the metal. Maybe a slight change to the sidecut and the flex pattern? Turns feel smoother than my 8rw. Seems to slice through lumpy snow better, is more nimble and feels like it turns a bit tighter. I'm not sure, but I think much of that is due to it being significantly skinnier (at 18.5cm) than my 8rw (at 20cm). I'm liking skinny boards again (and long ones too). I wish now that I had demoed some of his other new boards, but maybe it's good that I didn't, because I'm already thinking of revamping my quiver starting with the tesi8.

these last 2 weeks had some of the best conditions this winter...

Triggered a flashback for me...

Mild temporary "headache" is worth the price of having comfy feet all day long. MS boots have a very narrow instep that makes it hard to slip feet with a high instep in easily, no matter the type of liner. I think it helps lock down the heel. I found the "Zipfit method" made it easier and painless getting my feet in and out of the shells. Warming the boots in a heated bag (or in front of your car heater) helps and is recommended as it facilitates molding the cork while having the added bonus of helping maintain warm feet for the rest of the day. Maybe not a problem in Miami?