bigwavedave

Snow? Ice? Still making snow? Did you get out today and how was it? Thinking about coming up tues or thurs.

Jan 5-6th FIS Nor-am Cup Races at Giants Ridge - PGS, PSL FIS calendar lists Giants Ridge NorAm as Jan 4-5. Assuming that's wrong, someone should let them know. http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/disciplines/snowboard/fiscalendar.html

I'ld like to come up tomorrow which looks like a nice day. How close are we to getting some more terrain open?

Not the big dump hoped for up north, but 2-3" overnight and another 2-3" during the morning, with little early morning traffic on the slopes, made for several camera-worthy syncronized baby pow carving runs with the carving patrol. Traffic thickened about mid-day and the 3 open runs were getting tracked up and bumpy. Metal AX still working best for the conditions. Departed Duluth at 12:30, arrived NE Mpls at 4:30PM. Near whiteout conditions south of Rush City brought traffic down to 30 mph behind a fleet of plows. Lots of cars in the ditch. New snow tires on the Civic--made it feel like 4wd--amazing! Two foot high snow banks and one foot deep in the driveway--had to fire up the snow blower to make it the last 50'. Looks like lake effect is still cranking some snow into Duluth tonight.

Plan to come up Saturday AM. Considering hanging out for the big wave Sunday, if the Maron Inn has a vacancy.

That's great! I'll have to check them out. I'm more interested in the BIG WAVE of snow coming. Looks like it's setting up for a strong lake effect. I like this updated snow forecast map...

If you're missing winter, check out the film trailer for Chasing Ice, opens at the Uptown in Mpls this weekend.

Snow forecast from Updraft site says 8"+ near lake Superior for Saturday-Sunday! Still early... I decided not to come up today since Spirit not open til noon. Likely I will come up Saturday early.

A few years ago i was trying master that beautiful sax part for Take Five , so got the sheet music. I was surprised to see the piece was written by Paul Desmond, the saxophonist. No disrespect for Dave Brubeck but Paul Desmond should get more recognition for having written (and played beautifully) the piece of music that made Dave Brubeck famous. I saw Brubeck twice at the Newport Jazz fest, with Paul Desmond in 1969, and with his sons in 1981. And, after watching that video I know I'll never be able to play Take Five like Paul Desmond.

Thinkin about coming up tomorrow, Thurs. if the forecast stays good. How is the snow making coming along?

Yea Russ, I should've paid more attention when you kept asking if I was tired yet cause I'm pretty sore today. Guess I shouldn't ride 5+ hours the first day out, I could hardly stand or walk after the 2.5hr drive home. Rode 3 out of 4 boards I brought, tweaking binding/stance on some new stuff. The 172 Metal AX seemed to work best for the conditions. 3 middle runs open, overcast, but not bad visibility, and temps above freezing. Good snow coverage, wet heavy, very carvable snow that got chunked up later in the day. Crowds didn't come out til about 2PM. As always, nice to ride with the Spirit carve patrol. Thumbs up for the new chair--faster, smoother, quieter. Side note: on the drive up I saw what looked like 3 dead wolves (3 different locations) on the side of the road. I didn't stop to verify that they were indeed wolves, but they were all in fairly remote areas, one south of Hinkley, two north. I've never seen wolf road-kill before, wonder if the recent wolf hunt had something to do with it.?

So...How is it? I want to come up tomorrow, Sunday.

http://www.usasa.org/regions/central-region/middleearth.html

That's more like a gun, who needs arrows. There's an explanation about it somewhere on the Bomber or Donek websites. Basically the tip and tail are decambered and only fully engaged with the snow when you're on edge. This makes it easier to transition from edge to edge since you're essentially riding the middle (narrow) part of the board during the transition. Also the relatively softer, decambered nose smooths the ride on irregular terrain. I thought I would miss the feel of a cambered board, but the smooth and controlled ride won me over.

on longer carve/race boards I like 6 deg heel, 3 deg toe, combination lift/cant on each.

I heard that mother nature is helping with the snow making at Spirit. I might come up Sunday morning, looks like the better day. Come on Russ, let's see a picture of your quiver.

If you count together GS and SL the USASA actually runs more alpine races today than any other single discipline. I think there was a move in the USASA to drop alpine a few years back, but racers spoke up and participated in the organization, and that's what it takes, someone has to make it happen. Get involved with your local USASA, offer to help organize the races, set up training courses at your local hill, become an instructor or coach, share your passion. Sean, as you well know, for several years athletes riding on those new European boards had a distinct equipment-enhanced advantage, until other board builders followed suit. As an engineer who understands the scientific method you can appreciate the value an aspiring racer gets in refining and testing their personal race technique by riding the same equipment as the competition, essentially leveling the playing field and thus eliminating any equipment-enhanced variables.

Thought I would revive this thread and post a link to Mimi Wiencke's web page. She is currently the top ranked US female alpine snowboard racer. She had the top results (2nd & 4th) for the US team at last week's NorAm races at Copper. This was in a field of women that included the current world champion, whom Mimi beat both days. She is currently on her way to Europe to compete and is asking for our support. http://mimiwiencke.com/?page_id=60

waxed & ready! After selling a couple of boards, I went shopping in the Donek demo bin.

1960-1975 alpine skiing in VT and NH--started on wood skis and leather boots. In early '70s remember reading about Jake Burton "surfing" snow in VT. 1976-1992 nordic skiing in MN--my old alpine skis relegated to ski-sailing on frozen lakes. Tried snowboarding with sorrels, just didn't do it for me. 1992 Saw some windsurf friends euro-carving, thought, "I wanna do that", so took a lesson that day and I was hooked! My 5 year old daughter also learned with me. Her first year was on a soft set-up and ever since in hard boots on carving boards. She now races in the world cup circuit. I've only been back on alpine skis once since starting carving.

Went up to cover up the boat and saw snow on the mountain top at Spirit! For the snowmobile cross, nothing on the hills yet.

It's likely that she trains on courses with male team-mates and has a good gauge of where she would place against them. Also, consider that FIS sanctions races in Iran, where only men can compete--no women's race at all! Edit: I just checked the FIS site and it looks like women can and do ski race in Iran, just no women's division in snowboard races.

Heard a rumor about a FIS alpine race this winter at Giant's Ridge, January 5-6, and here it is on the their calendar! http://www.giantsridge.com/calendar/?january2013 Might be a chance to see some top racing close to home. Hope Spirit will be able to start making snow soon.

These Cateks are still for sale--Super durable binding with the capability to set virtually any lift/cant combination--nice when first starting out as it's easy to experiment and find what feels right for you. http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/showthread.php?38059-Catek-WC-and-Blax-plate-bindings-for-sale

Hi Dan, Sorry, I already have a replacement for the 3800--picked up a Donek Nomad from Sean's demo sale. I wanted a turnier board for tight trees. However, I could be tempted to trade for a big tanker.