bigwavedave

Almost there! After riding Revelstoke Saturday morning, crossed the mighty Columbia by ferry in 15-25kt wind on my way southShould arrive tomorrow in the snowstorm

I got here last night. I'm staying in James' magnificent loft at The Compund with a view of the mountain! James rode this morning and said that the cord was superb. It's been snowing lightly on & off all day. A mix of sun & cloud is forecast for Fri & Sat. I knee'ded a rest today so hit the Revy aquatic center: hot tub, pool, sauna, steam. I plan to ride tomorrow and Saturday, then drive to Libby Sunday. Had a very tasty sandwich & IPA at the Village Idiot bar & grill in town. Their pizza looks really good with handmade crust.

I heard about this one from about 15 yrs ago: http://www.alpinecarving.com/sunpeaks/ I saw 2 hardbooters riding down the hill together from each of the Sun chairs, but never caught up with them. One had florescent yellow boots (like UPZ from a few years ago) and the other was on what looked to be an F2 SL.

The empty 5 mile 4 pipe, drenched in -20°F morning sun refracting through ice crystals made for a dream-like wake-up/warm-up run to get the blood flowing and the joints moving. Can't believe that Minnesota weather (and firm groom) found me here. Just can't get away from it!

Never made it over to Morrisey. I did take a long catwalk over to the base, but was so brutally cold, that I returned to the sunny side using the new Orient chair (which surprisingly is not an express lift--a missed opportunity). Next time, hopefully when it's warmer and there's more snow.

Found a run at Sun Peaks called 5 mile. It's essentially 4pipe, but 5 miles long! A nice relaxing cruiser, although I still had to stop and rest my legs on the way down.

Yes, CASI on his red jacket.

I've got the blues bad, but that's why I came here. It's actually what got me carving 25 yrs ago--so much fun, even on the gentle terrain where I live in the mid-west (which would bore one to death on skis). The little bit of new snow from a couple of days ago (it hasn't snowed much here in the past month) was scoured off near the top by high winds following the snow. Spillway was a frozen barely penetrable cord and in flat light. @Neil Gendzwill, I wimped out! I skidded turns and side slipped down to the bailout. And Boris, I'm sure I won't be able to rip 'em all, so gonna have to skip that Head wall. The snow was softer and great carving was had lower on the mt from the Sundance and Sunburst express chairs. Very few people on the runs. I wonder why? It started out at -20°F this morning and got all the way up to -5°F. Even the buses weren't running this morning. I could barely coax my car to start, what with engine oil being the consistency of peanut butter. At least most of the lifts were running and they didn't close the hill! I still haven't set an edge on Mt Morrisey (maybe tomorrow). My legs tell me to stop long before I'm ready to stop exploring. This extreme cold saps your energy and strength. This is a great place for carving and I'd love to be here when they have some fresh snow. The temps and the firm groom are too similar to Minnesota! Off to Revelstoke tomorrow after riding! The view at the top of Spillway (it's steeper than it looks), I can see for miles and miles and miles, all the way to the continental divide!...Is that Mt Robson?

Parked my 185 Thirst outside Todd Mt coffee at the base of Sun Peaks as I went in for a quick breakfast. Afterwards, sitting on a nearby bench outside, adjusting my boots, one of the baristas came out and called over to me "are you Dave?(I'm thinking who could be looking for me?)...Big Wave Dave?" (How do they know that? Maybe I really am bigger than I think I am).I look up and see both baristas standing next to my board asking, "Is this your board?...It's sooo cool!" Then I remember, in anticipation of several 8rw's with the exact same topsheet being at MCC, I had written BigWaveDave on some masking tape on the nose of my board. On the other hand, I have been pleasantly surprised by how many people here know that it's a carving board. Met a snowboard instructor (Greg) from Whistler teaching a level 2 class and riding a Prior MFR (he's a windsurfer and used to ride Alpine) and he's in the process of getting a custom softboot carver from Bruce. I later passed his class on the hill where he was teaching them to carve (softboots), he waved and I'm pretty sure I heard him say "watch that guy, that's how it's done".

Can't speak to the trees personally, but I'm riding my Nitro Squash with hardboots and it's a really fun carver on groomers and it was super fun in about a foot of powder. Read what bumpyride has to say about it. He's been riding one for a couple of seasons...bumps, tight trees, waist deep pow...

Yes, I remember you recommending that one Neil, so I hope to check it out. Word was that it was brutally cold riding the Burfield and Crystal chairs (-30°C with 25-35km winds). Similar forecast for the next couple of days , but if the groomed snow is softer than today, maybe I'll venture up there. I just had some sushi for dinner (Japanese Wheaties:) Are you going to the RACES or MCC?

Started out at 15-20 F° below this morning and only "warmed" up to 5-10 below, depending on where you were on the mountain. Bright sun helped. 15-20 mph winds at the top, so I didn't go there. The 3-4" of snow from the past few days was the first snow in almost a month, so there was a firm and crusty groom under a couple of inches of abrasive arctic fluff. Rode the Superconductor from 8:30-2 with several breaks. They actually sent me in to warm up my whitish nose! This extreme cold really takes it out of you! Continued arctic cold for the next few days. I'm hoping the snow is softer tomorrow once this new stuff gets groomed in. Steep greens and blues are the colors I choose, and there are lots to choose from here!

Finally made it up here. Only took a couple of years. Staying at The Burfield hostel. Very nice place right across the street from the Burfield lift and only $40/night ($32 USD). I left Minnesota 4 days ago in -20°F and the temp here at Sun Peaks is -20°C. With the moisture in the air it feels about the same, so I feel right at home! It has been snowing all day (3-4") and may continue through the night, so a (baby) pow day tomorrow! I'll be here through Wednesday, then off to Revelstoke to ride with James and his gang. I have some Aussie snowboarder pod-mates (each "pod" in the hostel has 3 bedrooms) who started out in Vancouver at Cypress and moved on to Whistler and Sun Peaks, then off to Panorama and plan to follow the snow around BC for a month. They say the conditions are great and you often have the whole run to yourself here. My kind of place. The base village at the resort is that typical "Disney-like" recreation of a European mountain village crammed with shops and bistros and restaurants and a snow covered main street so you can ski or board right up to the door of your favorite place. On my way through northern Idaho I stopped at the Thirst factory and met the wizard himself (and his lovely wife and daughter) and had a peek behind the curtain to see where the magic happens. Driving north through BC's mountains and lakes and rivers...

@LeeW Might have been Ken from Spirit Mt? Also rides a Nirvana with woody topsheet.

Hey @wjholm Did you make it to to Bohemia? Looks like a good week to be up there. It's warm (5°F) and lake effect is kicking in.

I should be rolling into town the afternoon/eve of Wed, Feb 6th. Planning to ride Thurs & Friday, maybe Saturday too. I might need a rest day or 2 before Turner. Seems I tweaked my knee falling off my bike on some ice a month ago. Fractured my elbow, but that's pretty good now... but my knee has started complaining when I ride lately.

Mario's story reminds of 2 days ago carving up some hero groom at Giant's Ridge. 2 skiers got off the chair behind us and were complimenting Russ on his excellent carving under the chair earlier. I was clipping in and nudging my board to go as the skiers came up beside me. They told me to go ahead so they could follow and watch. I looked up a couple of times on the way down, worried that they might try to pass, but they were respectful and didn't try to. At the bottom they were very complimentary and in impressed by how low I could go, and I don't even lay down in my turns.

Appreciate you guys doing the hard work of surveying conditions and filing reports. From looking at the photos, it has become apparent that in addition to taping my name on my helmet, I'd better tape my name on my board. That view looking down from the chair looks kinda familiar. From yesterday:

Went out to make some late afternoon turns today. Was surprised that the snow was very hard with areas scraped down to the ice base! Apparently 4" of snow last week wasn't enough to make the ice base disappear. Two runs and went home. Didn't want to spoil the memory of yesterday's hero groom at GR.

They have mitts for cold weather too. I've got 4 yrs on the mitts and 3 on the gloves. Discovered quickly that treating them with SnoSeal (beeswax) and using a heat gun to force it into the leather not only waterproofs them, but protects them from abrasion with a slick waxy surface. It also darkens the leather. I treat them at the beginning of each season. They are often on sale for $12 later in the season. They are super warm too. Of course, I ride a lot on man-made snow, only get out about 30-40 days/yr, and only put my hand on the snow in about 1/3rd of my turns, so nothing like the abuse Jack puts on his gloves. All previous fabric gloves I've had (codura, etc) would start to fray half way through their first season. I'm wearing my then new mitts in two of my "bend it" photos from 4 yrs ago here:

YooperScooper (Squash) tracks at Blackjack Thursday~10" pow.

2018-19 Russ and I took a retiree holiday to GR today.What the heck, it was sunny, only 10-15° below zero (that's -25°Canadian Corey:), light wind and 3rd day groom after 7" of dry arctic powder. Surprise! We had the place to ourselves for the first couple of hours. Purfect grooming as typical. We destroyed Sarajevo (the run under the high speed chair) and later moved on to make the first tracks on our other favorite run (Squaw Valley to Helsinki Race ). To Dave's question, we found ourselves beating the chair we rode up by 2-3 chairs. In other words, if we rode up on #35, we boarded #32 at the bottom for the next ride up. On each ride up we would look for some empty canvas of un-tracked corduroy and go after it on the next run. Pretty soon we found ourselves chuckling on the ride up as we admired the results of our morning's work, virtually the only tracks on the hill, and they were everywhere! Rode for 4½ hours. We both realized afterwards, for one, we really don't know when to stop, and riding in really cold temps saps your energy. Tired now...sauna time... It was so cold that phone batteries stopped working before we could properly document our artwork, but here are the tools of the day. Rode the 185 Thirst all day!

Practice day for Turner Seemed like a foot of snow but but actually about 8-10" and still snowing when I left. Dry arctic fluff carried by north winds off Lake Superior! Rode from 9-2. Whiteout at times and wind kept filling in the tracks. Since Blackjack isn't open M-T-W the fresh snow accumulates for Thurs opening. They just groom a couple of passes down the center of the runs the night before, so it was deep on the sides Loving the Nitro Squash...it's there, under the snow somewhere

Okay, I'm out!

Supraspinatus? Which one of your boards do I win if I'm right?