bigwavedave

Never been there, but have often wondered. They get more snow there than just about anywhere. In the ancient mountain range, the Algoma hills. It's pretty rugged territory. I posted here asking the same a few years ago and got no reply. Please file a report if you go. I met a nice couple sailing on the big lake that own Bellevue Valley B&B near Searchmont. They also maintain some backcountry (teleski) terrain...and they have a wood fired sauna. https://bellevuevalleylodge.ca/ .

That's the way it's normally done. Qualifiers and finals all in one day.

Man, I was hoping someone got after it today! ...and hopefully we won't see that ice base for a while. Looking forward to tomorrow at Spirit ...and then Thursday night snow to provide some fresh tracks for Friday at G.R.

Ha! After seeing your post about crappy snow at your local hill, I was wondering if you might think about coming down here! We've been having an almost "normal" winter with very little thawing and a large dose of cold. We are now in a snowy pattern for the next week and just had a foot of new snow across northern Minnesota. We currently have a better base of snow than recent years. ...And you guys should really consider a mid week excursion over to Indianhead in the U.P. @Algunderfoot's local hill, about 2 hrs east of Duluth. In my opinion the best carving slopes in the midwest and it's in the "lake effect" snow belt, so usually the best snow, and Cory can get his fix of carving wide open steeps there. Heck, Al might even let you demo that Thirst Superconductor! I'm going up to Spirit tomorrow, and Giant's Ridge Friday with @rwmaron .

got it

This is a great compilation video showing some of the top finishers' super G runs and then Ester's, interspersed with cuts to the top finisher waiting at the bottom, seeming confident of her win with everyone already congratulating her, and then the reactions. https://www.nbcolympics.com/news/watch-stunned-commentators-call-ester-ledeckas-shocking-victory

I'm sure it will be, especially since JJA has the potential to get on the podium. Has anyone tried the streaming service Jack mentioned at the top of this thread? Nevermind You have to have a subscription to a cable or streaming service to use it. I would love to see all the PGS!

Looks like a foot or more of snow across most of the northland (a little less in Duluth) by the time this storm moves out tomorrow!! Spirit really needed new snow to cover their ice base. Giant's Ridge and Lutsen got close to a foot yesterday─would've been fun today!! Heading up to Spirit on Thursday and then to Giants Ridge Friday.

It's yours. Thanks, I wasn't looking forward to trying to package it for shipping anyway! When are you coming?

Padded Dakine travel board bag with wheels. $100 plus shipping. Shipping might be about the same as a board~$30 in the lower 48. My 179cm Coiler Safari fits with room to spare (~2.5"/6.5cm). Bought new $200, used once several years ago. 6" deep, so you could stack a couple of boards in there (or more with the bindings removed) and still have room to stuff your boots in there with some soft gear for padding. Measures 78"L x 12"W x 6"D Padding is dense foam about ½" thick . *board not included*

Interesting to see if ski or snowboard racers cross over to each others disciplines in search of improvement in the future. Ester may be an exception as she is obviously an exceptional athlete. But still, this should get the attention of some (open minded) ski racers and their coaches, and the rest will blame it on the wind. Alpine snowboarding always seemed more difficult (and more rewarding) to me than skiing, at least at your typical ski resort. Although, at this level skiing looks pretty demanding, but It seems logical that cross training would be beneficial in many ways. Watching the men's super G, there was a racer (I think one of the top Norwegians) who lost a pole half way down the course and he really struggled without that appendage, even falling over on that side in a turn. I was surprised to see how disabling it was even for a top level skier. Here is the other thread on Ester from December:

Rich called to tell me that conditions are fantastic at G.R. He'd been at both Spirit and G.R. the past couple of days. Says the grooming has been exceptional at G.R.. Have to get up there.

Ester wins super G at Olympics! Wow! ...and the commentators seem flabbergasted that she's a snowboard racer (whatever that is?)

Thanks B. Looks like that event draws a lot of people.

Ahhh, the dreaded "surface groom with an ice base" or just plain crusty hard groom most everywhere. Yet, we had a full complement of carvers on the chair today─4 riders riding mostly 4 pipe where the most carvable snow was found. Sun with a brisk wind. Really need some snow and it looks like it's on it's way.

Is that the NGSL gathering? Looks like that's the following week , 23rd-24th.

Making tentative plans for a trip to Sun Peaks March 12-16. Trying to go during an "off peak" period between holidays and events to avoid crowds. Conditions look great right now! I expect they should still be pretty nice in early/mid March.

I wanna try that!! Cool, I was just thinking about seeing if I could borrow a demo if I pass through Idaho on my way to Sun Peaks in March. Now, maybe I don't have to go that far outta my way.

UPZboots.com sells Snowpro bindings which are similar in design to F2's where you're still fiddling with various wedges and blocks and different length screws to dial in your lift/cant. They appear to be more substantial than F2's, and like F2's, easy to adjust for centering your boots over the board edges. I had a few pairs long ago and I'm sure there was some flex and rocking going on, but couldn't say if it's the same amount of flex as you get with F2's. I used tropical hardwood scraps to make custom blocks and bought a bag of long SS screws so I could cut them to the appropriate length for the blocks. I used a belt sander in a vise and held the wood block to it until I got the angle I wanted.

Take a look at the Donek Incline. A basic classic glass board built to be ridden with hard or soft boots. It is evidently the board that inspired Ryan Knapton's wide softboot carver. I think there are a lot out there, some custom and some stock, many folks seem to hang on to them because they are such good all around utilitarian boards. An old one just sold for under $100 on the forum.

Bob, you have a one-track mind Some our work this morning at Spirit Mt...

Rode with Russ from opening and Ken showed up for a few runs. Another chilly (face masks and hand warmers) day with a bit of wind. We could use some new snow, the ice base has appeared under a surface groom! A little rough on the knees later in the day as things got scraped down, but it was nice early. Some of the first tracks...

Some interesting tracks seen from the chair the past 2 days at Indianhead, U.P., Michigan...

Yea, it was one of ours from the day before. I recognized the signature. Ha! Didn't want to speak for you, but it was the type of day you won't soon forget and want to repeat! Tracks from day one and day 2

Used to mantain a typical race tune of 1°/3°, mainly because I was riding used boards from racers that were already set that way, but found that the edges seem to dull faster, wear faster, and was unnecessary unless riding ice a lot and/or racing. Now I'm happy with a ½°/2° bevel on my new boards. It works well enough on ice and the edges don't seem to need as frequent attention. Typical Minnesota conditions are firm, groomed hardpack sometimes with underlying ice if we've had a midseason thaw. On hard snow and ice a good tune makes a noticeable difference in how a board handles. If you've ever ridden a used race board (Kessler, SG etc), part of the magic you feel is in the race tune. On soft snow those smooth rounded edges might result in a smoother ride. I believe I provided some amusementfor all the western mountain riders at the Bomber house in the "smokin' wax" garage when I came over one night to touch up my edges.