bigwavedave

@barryj you might like a 163 SG, very similar ride to the rev. I had one and regretted selling it. One of my favorite SL boards and definitely a board you have to drive. With Kesslers and Revs you have a lot of custom builds out there, so you never know for sure what you're getting in a used board.

@Carvin' MarvinPretty sure people will ask about the specs. Is it big, really big, skinny, fat? People want to know. Is it only legal in Colorado?

Wed Wow! Best day ever? Super soft groom, especially 4pipe, but everything was surfy, powder-groomed-carvy goodness, no crowds and sunny. 3 plows broken down or stuck at home in the marina, so I had to snowshoe out to where the 3rd plow got stuck and then walk up to the bottom of the hill....and wouldn't you know it, there's @rwmaron already making the 1st tracks... A little later we had 3 carvers trenching the heck out of the hill. Me and @khoward... Rode till 2:00 with a lunch break to warm up. Oh yeah, started out 5 below and up to 10 above. Wasn't bad with sun and no wind. Should be good tomorrow.

Of course it was! I suspected as much.

Same think happened to me when I refused to wear pants to board the lift....SAD!

Sorry, I threw those pics out to free up space. You can see the flex pattern pretty well in the cover image of the video I posted.

twos-day Well, we got a lot of snow (18") and it's still coming down. Wind is lighter today. Couldn't get my car out, so walked up to the hill. Express lift not running, but was told the Summit lift is going. Walk up to the Summit lift, not running, so over to Gandy, which is going. I'm already tired before making my first turns! I don't think they groomed overnight as there is still exposed crusty groom between 1-2 ft deep windrows, especially near the top of the hill. More consistent snow lower on the hill. SkyHooker was good. I got lucky and caught the 1st chair on the Summit lift when it opened and made 1st tracks down ScissorBill, and 2nd and 3rd. Took a while for people to catch on. It started getting busy, school must be out. Made my last run down 4pipe through 12-18" of untracked. Rode for 2 hours. (in honor of 2's day) Saw someone riding a Prior Powstick with softboots. The only other split tail on the hill. 1:15 pm, just checked the webcam and the express chair is now running. Some 1st day groom tomorrow?

3:15 And the express chair shut down due to wind. When I left at noon, the wind was flipping the seats up on the trip back down.

Loving Mark's PC carvers. They handle a wide variety of conditions. I think the swallowtail helps smooth out the chop. Since it carves so well, I was able to carve from the frozen groom into 6-9" of powder without a thought. It's a magic little board. Everyone seemed to be struggling and complaining about the conditions today. They think I'm weird cause I was having a blast. If you hit the road right now, you could be here by 1st chair tomorrow!

President's day blizzard A perfect storm takes perfect aim at Duluth! NE winds gusting 30kts off the lake are supercharging the storm with lake effect snow. Woke up to 4" new snow and near whiteout conditions. Forecast is for 12-18" through tomorrow. Got to the top of the hill ½ hr early and made 2 runs with the baby swallowtail before the 1st chair. Conditions were frozen groom from yesterday interspersed with 6-9" deep windrows of powder across the hill. The wind was coming up the hill. The most consistent powder was found on narrower runs and near the trees at the edge of trails. Rode for 2½ hrs. Despite the new snow, it wasn't near as crowded as yesterday, which I heard was crazy busy. Should be fantastic tomorrow!

Saturday Took yesterday off to give my knees a rest. I rode too long on that concrete groom Thursday (4½ hrs). Plus we had a bit of a blizzard yesterday. Only a few inches of actual snowfall, but 40+ kt gusts were causing whiteout conditions. This morning was sunny and cold, -2°F. Snow was a bit softer and very nice for carving! Race courses on Gandy & BlueRuin and a XC race at the bottom of 4pipe. Summit chair was running, so lift lines weren't bad. We got a good 1½ hrs in before the slopes got too busy with holiday weekend crowds. Word is, one of the groomers is down. Ken & Jane were there. SC track on Gandy.

Wow! Spectacular alpine scenery! Not as high as it looks either at 8,400 ft., for those of us who are oxygen challenged at altitude. So, there's cat skiing there? Found this old post by Rob Stevens surfing there:

day58 Thermometer read -10° this morning, so you know it's going to be another awesome carving day with a clear blue sky and no body on the slopes, except for a few carvers. Typical surface groom on hardpack. ½" deep trenches at best. It was hard and thankfully consistent, but my knees feel like I've been standing on concrete all day. Russ was on it. So was Ken. What's the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over & over and.... ....Whew, got the same satisfying result every time. Not insane.

Wednesday Took my time getting to the hill this morning. My legs were feeling tired (4½ hrs yesterday), plus it was flat light again, but then the sun came out and my legs said let's make some turns. With a heat wave in the mid 20's today, everyone was making tracks in the sun softened snow. Trenches were 1-2" deep. Found some untracked groom for sweet smooth turns. Nice, compared to the tracked out stuff. 1st tracks would've been nice today. Good snow everywhere on the hill. They're building a boarder X course on CinderSnaper. Competition this weekend? Checked out the park. It was carvable between the features, but they did not build any berms for carvers. I left the mark of the Superconductor on Gandy...

Nice work Bob, beautiful tracks. I can feel it. I often wonder the same thing. That crazy carver dude? Always gets to work before everyone else. What's up with that? Better hope they don't figure it out.

185lbs Mountain Slope shell size C (m28) Get the width that allows you to ride with the angles you prefer without overhang. Bruce will customize the flex for your weight.

20cm waist, 10.5 scr and extra rubber for an extra damp ride for hard or icy groom. Might have a softer flex for better ice performance. Bruce's code on the sidewall is 6.7+9.

Snow was as good as it's been all winter. Flat light made it hard to see. Staying close to the tree line was the trick. Even Gandy and SkyHooker were in really nice shape. Went over there in the afternoon and found nearly untouched groom, but by then the light was so flat I had to throw on the brakes a few times when the hill just fell away into nothingness in front of me. Fun riding with you guys!

Rode one just like that at the 1st MCC. It handled the super soft, bottomless groom better than any board I had with me. Told Mark I wanted one a little wider and longer, and now I have a TankerSpanker on the way.

@lonbordin Hey Dave, a review with some specs here...

Monday Gonna see how Spirit is tomorrow.

Monday Back again after a day of rest. 12° below when I left Duluth and 5° below at the top of Indianhead for 1st tracks. Had 4 runs before anyone else showed up. I told the lifties that I rented the whole place for myself. They laughed and asked if they could go skiing too. Sometimes they let me load myself on the chair early when it's running and they're busy flipping the seats. It's a laid back and friendly place. The groom was firm and a bit uneven at first, but the sun seemed to soften the snow after a while. Temps only got up to +10°. FIS was again my favorite today. The steep at the bottom was sooo good. Rode the 8rw, Coiler Rev, and the Super, which really slayed it! The tight entrance to FIS is right under the chair. A good opportunity to show off and get some good pics of your work on the ride up...

The ride is very reminiscent of the feel of a single radius sidecut. Tip the board more to turn more. I used to mount my bindings 1-2 cm forward of the reference stance on Kesslers and subsequent "race" boards, even the custom ones I had made with near radial sidecuts, e.g., 11-12m, & 13-14m. (unfortunately, I had stopped racing before the Kessler revolution). This enabled me to ride with a more balanced stance and not have to throw my weight forward into every turn, but simply feed the board into the turn. It made it easier for me to ride all day long. I'm liking the more balanced ride of this next generation of carving boards. Feels like they're designed for recreational carvers who might prefer to complete their turns rather than exit early to head for the next gate.

Only a few inches of snow overnight, so most everything was groomed out today. There was still plenty of powder stashes for the Saturday crowd to play in. I was into the groom, which was pretty soft with some inconsistencies to keep you on your toes. Trenches were several inches deep. Rode the 8rw all day. The soft groom enabled me to crank much tighter turns on the 8rw today and successfully carve the narrow entrance to FIS. The steep at the bottom was really fun. 1st tracks in the mountainous swell at the bottom of Chippewa...