bigwavedave

Wed No new snow overnight Lake effect kicked in this morning, light at first and then some heavier bursts started coming through. Nearly perfect Minnesota firm today with no noticeable groomer features. 1" deep trenches and no bottoming out on the ice base. No plate required or desired. A mix of sun and dim-sun, then verging on whiteout conditions when the wind and lake effect intensified. Lake effect is really cool because it rolls in so low you often have filtered sun and snow at the same time. I guess similar to being in the upper cloud layer in the mountains. Anyway, the real storm is supposed to arrive later tonight. Should be fun tomorrow. P.S. Both U.P. and north shore (Lutsen) reported ½-1 foot of snow from yesterday's clipper . P.P.S. I'm not loading any powder boards into the car tonight so as not to jinx it. P.P.P.S really looking forward to Friday, 1st day groom plus sun AND below zero start to keep the crowds down. Carvers paradise, the day after a pow day.

Tues Only 1½" total new snow, blown around overnight by big wind. The hill was a wee bit softer today with some wind drifted soft spots and slightly better grooming. Still getting bounced around by hard seams and later our own ruts. Ken & Russ were on it. Ominous dark clouds (the good kind) are moving in from the SW!

Funny, made me think of the time I stopped at the Ski & Snowboard history museum in Vail on my way to SES. Many of the early "snowboards" looked like repurposed waterskis, including the skeg. They even had the 1st patented "snowboard" called the "Bunker" from the 1930's ― an idea before its time. ...and Ron, you will appreciate this, both invented in Minnesota

Didn't go up today, looked crowded, overcast with flat light and not enough new snow yet to fix the hill. Sauna and chiro appt today. Riding on all that hard stuff is hard on the old body. Looking forward to some softer snow. Barely an inch so far at 4pm. I plan to go up tomorrow.

What, no board porn? No specs?

Update: After tapping it back in I've been keeping an eye on it and it started working out again today. Called walker and he said to try making notches in the hole with a punch. I did that and gobbed some sticky vibratite in there. That should slow it down if it doesn't stop it. Then I ordered a new heel pad assembly, so the old one will become a spare. These were bindings that I picked up used (and maybe abused). I suspect this is not a common problem with td3sw since I couldn't find another thread about it.

Sun A mix of sun & cloud and mild temps. Lots of people in line for the first chair up. Ken and I managed to get into a gap in the masses and had a few good runs. There was about 1½-2" of groomed granular over the ice base. Nice, as long as you didn't carve too hard, otherwise there was a rude awakening when you suddenly ran aground on the rough ice base. Finally, new snow in the forecast over the next several days!!!

I might come out tomorrow to see this plush groom you speak of. Had a brake caliper seize up on my car yesterday. Got it fixed today! Forced me to get out on the fat bike to ride back & forth to the shop.

Went up to the hill early afternoon. The conditions looked promising, but it turned out to be hard as a rock under a scruff of loose granular. That loose granular may have been a carvable surface groom earlier, but it was scraped down to the ice and there are still a lot of grooming "features". Fingers crossed for a couple of chances of snow next week.

Best carving snow so far this year! 3-4" deep trenches! Amazing how fast the hill can recover after all that rain... ...only in the rope tow park and on the big jumps. Rock hard and bumpy groom everywhere else. Yup, just trolling ya. Learned all about it recently. Rode for one joint rattling hour. The only relief was in that little park. The big air park got roped off just before I got over there.

We had over an inch of rain yesterday (a record for Feb) and a skiff of snow early this morning. I didn't ride today, but stopped by the hill and found it was not frozen solid. It looked like carvable frozen granular and I was tempted to go get my boots, except that the grooming appeared quite variable―adjacent groomer passes were slanting at different angles, ridges and holes at the seams, dips and hollows in the middle of a pass where you'd expect it to be flat. Must have been a challenge grooming in the rain. Not many people on the hill. Talked to a couple of softbooters who said it wasn't bad. No report from @rwmaron yesterday? I was waiting for that report from the boarder patroller saying how great it was, and with no crowds. I was surprised they didn't close with all the rain. I plan to go up tomorrow and hope for the best.

Yup! See the doc of your choice. and btw, I'm not the only chiropractor here, I just took the bait. We're everywhere.

The next time someone tells you that seeing a doctor of chiropractic is risky or dangerous, consider this: Take a look at the following averages for medical malpractice costs for doctors in the state of Florida (or the state of your choice). Internal medicine: $25,000-45,000/year Surgical: $50,000-180,000/year OBGYN: $110,000 – 200,000/year Chiropractors: $500 – 3,000/year. (doctor of medicine in Canada $15,000 and up) Malpractice insurance carriers do not use myth or bias to determine premiums. They don't say, "Hey lets charge those rich medical doctors way more so we can give those nice chiropractors a discount". They use raw data based on the likelihood a patient would suffer injury and/or there would be litigation against the doctor. The fact that chiropractors pay a fraction of a fraction of what all medical doctors pay for malpractice is a clear indicator as to its safety. That's an obfuscation. All chiropractors have a doctorate in chiropractic (not medicine) from accredited institutions that meet standards of curriculum set by the federal department of education for all institutions that issue doctorate degrees, including medical schools. Pre-chiropractic education is exactly the same as pre-med, often in the same schools. All over North America chiropractors are licensed as primary care physicians because they are trained in differential diagnosis, so you don't need a referral to see one. All chiropractors pass a national board exam as well as a state licensing exam in order to practice. I am a retired chiropractor (practiced for 40 yrs) and thought I'd seen the last of this type of arrogant, narrow minded, uninformed opinion. I worked with medical doctors, referred patients to them, received referrals from them, treated nurses and all kinds of other health professionals. I ride with a retired medical doctor and a nurse who both see chiropractors. Sometimes they're a carvers best friend. So, @ShortcutToMoncton, I feel sorry for you for having such a closed mind and antiquated view that you are not likely to ever experience how helpful chiropractic is. But, please stop spreading lies and misinformation and giving medical advice on the internet. P.S. Sorry Barry, I couldn't let this go. Follow the advice of your chiropractor and medical dr and don't be afraid to see both of them.

Just take your own advice and go ride.

Sunday Another great carving day! Like yesterday, but the snow got softer and a little slow in the sun when temps reached 40°. Jim and Ken were on it. Rode for 3hrs. The crowds really thinned out around noon. Got there early, made 1st tracks and hiked back up to get a pic. Day 44 Spirit

The first nice and nearly normal carving snow in some time today. It made a nice spray pattern while gently petting the cord. relaxed carving at its finest. I made the first tracks, but people have caught on. It's becoming a challenge to get a pic of unmolested 1st tracks on the chair ride up, especially on weekends.

Hi Bob, thanks for posting pics of all the visitors who I have ridden with in the past....and the snow...and tracks. Sometimes, on a warm day riding the chair at Spirit Mt, if I close my eyes, I'm in Milkland. I accidentally posted my track pic from today here and now moved it there.

Sat Great carving day! Slightly better grooming, but it was soft enough to slice right through any grooming features. There's a crunchy, firm layer 2-3" under the cord. Made the first tracks and saw @jolson come down right after me. Ken was there. It didn't get as busy as one might expect for a beautiful warm & sunny Saturday. It got up to 40°, feeling like mid March. Ken cut out before noon. I kept getting sucked into one more run and finding the run less traveled with nobody on it and an empty (no wait) singles line for the chair. Rode til 2. Rode one board all day, the XC with modified Geckos I'll be out there tomorrow. P.S. Talked to Larry the XC trail groomer (he's a skier too). The proper term for the ridges between groomer passes is "seams" and there shouldn't be ANY. Spirit just took delivery of a new Piston Bully and they have more drivers than machines.

You did share a misinformed opinion which was not in any way helpful to the O.P. That's the problem.

We could use a guy like this at Spirit... ...or like some hills that only hire skiers to groom the slopes and then make them do 1st tracks to evaluate their product. Spirit obviously doesn't do this, but I suspect they do it for the terrain parks.

Home school Friday. Started out at 5° and sunny. Ken was there. The grooming sucked. Ken called it bullet proof. "Trenches" were ¼ deep at best. I could still see tracks from yesterday under the cursory* grooming effort. Curbs between groomer passes and occasional potholes. Even skiers were complaining. At least the snow softened in the sun when temps rose into the 20's. *You know they can make nice plush corduroy, when your feet sink in 3-4 inches while walking across the meticulous grooming at the bottom of the rope-row park on your way to the slope. Hope it gets warm enough to soften the snow tomorrow so we can carve through the grooming features.

So, you know nothing about Chiropractic yet felt the need to share your uninformed, biased opinion anyway? Now if you had said his first mistake was to put an F-plate on a Coiler Angrry, I might tend to agree, but I've never ridden an Angrry, with or without an F plate.

Thurs 3rd day in a row with great carving conditions. Typical Minnesota firm (1" deep trenches), Intermittent sun, temps just above freezing and a strong north wind. Rode with Russ and Ken today. Not crowded, lots of clear runs, except when 6-7 deer came charging across SkyHooker 75' in front of me. All runs were good except for the persistent ridges between groomer passes on Gandy. Rode for 3½ hrs. Started on the Geckoed XC and later the F plated Rev.

ice!

Another beautiful day! Started out about 20° and got up to 40°+ by the time I quit at 2:30. Carving got better as the snow softened in the sun and it never got sticky. Rode with Ken for the first hour or so then ran into Jane practicing in the BX course. Found lots of fresh mid-day cord in the BigAir park. Gandy still has uneven grooming features that mess with carving across the fall line. There were a few bus loads of kids on the hill today. Fortunately, just when it starts to feel crowded, everyone takes a lunch break and the hill is wide open for another hour. The combination of snow, sun and plush corduroy had me feeling that Aspen vibe again today.