bigwavedave

2024 It's been awhile since I've been to Wild. I've got a couple of free passes to use, so I 'm planning to head down there tomorrow and get into some of the new snow from this storm. I heard they put in a new chair lift.

Wed oneloveday The sun made an appearance with temps near freezing and climbed to 40° A dusting of snow overnight and Spirit brought out the guns to make new snow--resurfacing 4pipe Monday night and BindleStiff last night and tonight...? Surprisingly nice quality carvable groom on 75% of the hill. ~2" deep over the ice base with occasional patches of shear ice, icy groom and chunky snow. You had to be alert. I rode 4 different boards, all with plates of varying types. Partly to compare the ride between different board/plate combos. Tested a new 3 toad-gecko-style made with 4mm carbon plate on the Superconductor and it was the best ride yet (at least today). There's a berm under the old chair that has consistently softer snow for some sweet turns... As much as I dislike dodging those chair pylons in the run, the groom is always better there...under the chair. Rode for 2 hrs.

Monday Snow guns are set top to bottom on 4pipe. Nighttime temps should be cold enough. Nice to see Mt ops putting in the extra effort this season. There's definitely a new mindset to hill management.

Sunday Near normal, below freezing winter temps have returned. Spirit Mt was packed all weekend from two FIS ski race events (XC & alpine). I waited until this afternoon, going up after the crowds dispersed. I suspected that conditions might be hard frozen after all the warm weather and hoped that a couple of grooming cycles might soften things. I only made one run. The hill was scraped down to washboard ice (from frozen imprints of cat tracks). Just a bit of sugary ice shavings on top. Not much fun for carving, even with a plate. Snowriver/JCS is making new snow and may get a bit of lake effect in the next few days. Might be worth a trip over to the U.P.

Thurs Overnight temps close to 40°. Intermittent rain showers through the night and morning. The sun came out about noon with temps nearing 50°, so up to the hill I went. Only the regular 4 hardcore ski-carvers, a few patrollers and 2 small ski school groups on the hill. Surprisingly good carving, lots of untouched groom that was smooth like buttercream frosting, 4-6" deep over a softened ice base. Some easily avoided wet patches and thin spots here and there. Rode for a couple of hours till the clouds moved back in and the ruts and piles started to get firm. Started out on the TSm² (deep slush slayer) then the 8rw which is a precision slush slarver, best when there is a firm base within 6 inches or so. It's a stiffer stick with a longer ee and equally proficient at smoothing out slushy mashed taters.

Wed I did another drive-by today returning from the P.O. Sent a board to Montana. I thought about riding today, but didn't. Overcast and light rain. Uggghhh! The hill is still covered with white stuff (mainly ice base with a slushy top). There may be a return of wintery weather by Friday. Some new snow would be nice.

I'm already tired of "spring" conditions in Feb. Overcast & flat light with temps into the 50's, water is pooling at the bottom of the hill. Hardly anyone there today, including me.

***SOLD***Thirst CC $450 plus shipping (est : $35 conUS / $75 Canada) 165 cm , 23 cm waist , ~10.5 scr matched sidecut (can be ridden left or right foot forward) Originally made as a demo for BSO board shop in Michigan. I recently bought it from rwmarron and have decided to sell it after only riding it a few times. It's a great ride, carves like a Thirst. At first I thought I was in love with it, but I have to face the reality that I simply prefer riding longer boards these days. The board is in excellent condition 9.5/10

Sunday 29° sunny and warmed up to 40° Drove to the top for 1st tracks and caught the 1st chair up when no one was looking Rode with Ken most of the morning. 1-2" of sugary groom over the ice base. Fairly nice carving conditions that got progressively softer with every run as the temps warmed. The ice base was a bit bumpy. Rode 3 different boards, all with plates. (Geckos, modified Geckos, and F-plate). The longer the effective edge, the smoother the ride. Rode for 3 hours, never got too busy. Mid-day groom on Gandy after the USSA ski races! Took a few turns through the bigair park for some untracked groom weaving a line through and around the features. There is a line of BX rollers down the far left side now. All in all, a fine day of typical spring conditions...in February!

Not planning on today. Overcast and likely icy. Thinking about a day trip to Snowriver Sunday. Supposed to be sunny and 40°.

wrong bottom

More importantly, did you see your shadow?

If you put a hard wax over a soft wax, it will wear off faster. A coarse base structure will be the most noticeable improvement for warm & wet snow. Like when it gets sticky. I used to be a wax nerd; Former XC ski racer, raced SL & GS in USASA nationals for several years, etc. I gave up regular wax a few years ago. I've been using this Faststik polymer stuff for several years now. In certain conditions it is slipperier and faster than any wax I ever used. (I never used flouro though, so). It has a wide range -10°F to +32° F. I've used it from -20°F and +45° F. It's easily as good as any regular wax at the extreme ends of its range and better than most in the middle of its temp range. It's fast and easy, fits in your pocket, and there's a warm version for when it gets warm & sticky. Simple to apply in a couple of minutes, so I typically touch up everyday after riding, especially when riding abrasive manmade snow. I use a roto brush for best results.

Had that happen 1st year with mine (they were a used pair and may have been messed with). Thread lock on all screws now.

ALL GONE Bomber Trench Digger binding parts, used

Thurs April in Feb More of the same. Started out near freezing and up into the 40's with blue skies. A variable crunchy to soft groom gradually transitioned to fairly consistent 3-6" deep slush with an ice base. Another stellar slush carving day that almost felt like plush packed powder by the end. Rode with Russ for a few, then with Ken til cloud cover and flat light moved in. Legs were done by then anyway. 2+ hours. The XC was slaying it today. photo credit @rwmaron

Have you ever tried a skwal? @Algunderfoot swears by his swallowtail skwal when the hill gets all rutted up. Seems to slice through all the rough stuff. I heard a rumor that winter may return in about 10 days.

Wed Overnight low temp ~32°. Waited til 11am for the sun to come out and temps to get into the mid 30's. Conditions were similar to yesterday, but with a bit thinner slush layer (3-4") over the ice. A little crusty at first, but quickly softened up. Made several runs with the XC and got bounced around quite a bit by ruts and the ice base, then switched to the Thirst 202TS and found carving bliss. A Cadillac ride with sports car cornering. Big, super smooth, high speed turns all the way across 4Pipe. A fine day of slush slarving. The snow started to get a little sticky when temps got into the mid 40's. Rode for almost 2 hours. Ken was there. Planning on tomorrow! Yes, it's April in January!

Tuesday Some light rain overnight with temps above freezing. Bright overcast, so you could sorta see. More cars in the parking lot than a typical weekday morning, but not too busy on the hill. Easy to get a clear run. A decent groom with a light crust that softened nicely as the temps rose into the mid 30's during the day. The ice base was 4-6" under the slush and if you carved hard, you'd find it. The snow was fast and a bit uneven between soft and hard requiring flexy legs and some skidded turns and no full throttle carving. Rode for 3 hours, as it kept getting better with each run and then I found some untracked groom that was as smooth as butter. Went over to the BigAir park looking for more untouched groom and found it closed with groomers rearranging things. Looked like they were making a boarderX course. Gandy has some brown spots that look like churned up dirt & gravel. P.S. Heard reports that Lutsen and GR were very nice over the weekend. P.P.S. Rode only one board! Thirst XC with my homemade 3 toed Gecko-ish plates. It was bumpy enough to appreciate having some suspension.

Hard to believe the last time I was out riding, just 1 week ago (seems like ages), it looked like this at JCS...

Nice work Bob!

Ha! I waited for the sun to come out this afternoon so I could see all the frozen ruts. It didn't help much. I also only lasted about an hour, rode 3 different boards. Testing a new little plate on the 165 Thirst CC, but ended up on the Thirst 202cm TankerSpanker, which was the smoothest ride by far. One of the best slush slaying boards ever, but the slush was starting to set up as the temps cooled, so... Looks like we will have some good slush slarving weather later this week....with sum sun. 25

I haven't, but a lot of folks at Spirit seem to have an Indy pass in addition to their season pass. Probably a good way to go. Includes some good carving hills worth visiting within a few hours drive of the cities like Lutsen, Snowriver, Powderhorn and Spirit. There's night skiing at most hills. I used to night ride at Afton Alps when I was 1st learning to carve 30 yrs ago. There's more acreage there to find some carving room, but it's bit of a drive from Mpls, so Buck makes sense. Easier to go out for a quick fix without a large investment in time on the road to get there.

Spirit Mt has a very affordable season pass, on sale in the spring for about $350. I started buying a yearly pass even before I moved to Duluth, making day trips from NE Mpls once or twice a week. It was worth it for me, longer runs (700' vert), fewer people and contrary to MNsurfer I find the terrain great for carving. I ride there almost everyday. We've got a few carvers here at Spirit and can get a few $10 "buddy" passes. Boarder patroller@rwmaron often has a pocketful of comp passes. Giant's Ridge does have some great carving terrain, but is another hour and a half drive. Worth checking out, but it's not a day trip. We go there from Duluth a couple of times each season. For a similar drive from the cities (~4½hrs) Snowriver in the upper peninsula of Michigan offers the best terrain and lake effect snow that rivals western mts. It also has some nice carvable steep terrain not found at other hills in the midwest. Wild Mt (~1½hr drive) has some nice carving terrain (I used to teach snowboarding there). Look for ½ price tickets offers on certain weekdays. Well worth a day trip. I would often find myself alone with a few ski patrollers on the hill for the first 2 hours on a weekday. They have a special method for their man-made snow that is very close to natural snow. It's busy on weekends, as are all the hills near the cities.

After experiencing the best conditions so far this winter with 9" of lake effect at Snowriver inda UP, I arrived back in Duluth to days of fog, freezing drizzle, freezing mist, fog....it's hard to get motivated. I suspect I'm not the only one. Looks like we're in for still warmer spring-like temps into early Feb. I hope we see some sun. I do enjoy slarving slush, even though it's kinda early for that. We're working on the warmest winter recorded in 150 yrs of record keeping in MN. Hoping for a return of winter in Feb.