bigwavedave

3-4 inches of new snow yesterday, groomed in this morning, changes everything. Lots of "events" on the hill today, but we still managed to find space to carve some deep trenches all morning on everything from Cinder Snapper to Double Jaw. Gandy Dancer and Sky Hooker were in nice shape. Before leaving at 2 I finally resorted to paying a buck to take a run down the Scissor Bill Nastar course to have a run to myself. Not sure if they appreciated that I just free-carved and skipped going around the gates.

Layin' tracks over the past 2 days inda UP at Indianhead ...

Indianhead today... started out with sun and a nice groom... and finished with Beth & Al (another nice groom) getting hitched just as the snow began to fly...

Great day today! Started with flat light that gradually improved all morning and turned into patchy sunlight . Snow was a bit crunchy in spots, but still one of the better days on snow for us in the mid-west this year. Rode from 9-3:45 (we skipped the last run). We'll be out there in the morning again! Some action from this afternoon

I rode everything in the Donek tent a couple of years ago at SES and the Rev was my favorite because the carves were so smooth and precise compared to all the others. I asked Sean why and he said the Rev design was a departure from everything he made before, designed mainly from the input and feedback of the SSWSC riders and coaches. I'm very happy with my customized 175 "safari" rev with a near single sidecut (11-12m). It's easier to get it to complete turns compared to the vscr of the standard Rev. I would recommend that you use this opportunity get what you would consider the ideal board for where you ride most so that you get to ride it all the time.

We'll be riding at Indianhead and Blackjack Thursday and Friday!

Thanks for the heads up

Thinking of coming up to Spirit tomorrow. Looks like there was a little new snow since the warm-up. Looking good for Indianhead Thursday, they're reporting several inches new snow in the past few days. ...and another warm-up coming next week.

Your link doesn't work. Try using "more reply options" and then "choose files" to upload your photos. Spirit posted this fat bike video...

1st tracks today at Spirit Mt, Duluth.

Well, never made it to Indianhead prior to our trips out west, but Russ and I are planning to head over and ride Indianhead/Blackjack next Thursday and Friday, hoping to get some before spring conditions set up.

There's a lot more snow on the ground north of Hinckley. Spirit had a few inches in the past few days to freshen up the slopes. Kind of a fine granular (sugar snow) made a very fast and carvable carpet of corduroy over the ever-present ice base, which made it's presence known after a few hours. Sunshine until about noon-thirty, then overcast with flurries and more people. Left about 2:00. Rode with Russ all morning and a few runs with Ken in the afternoon. Took a couple of runs down Sky Hooker after my break─the snow seemed really nice, but I wished I had gone over there while the sun was still out─I was lost in the flat light!

Sounds great! I'm also thinking about a trip to Indianhead before full-on spring conditions set in...maybe next Thursday and possibly Friday too (could move over to Blackjack if Indianhead gets busy).

Thinking of coming up Thursday. Hopefully a little fresh snow is accumulating today to freshen up the slopes. Like last year, I came home from ATC with a infection, although not the fun kind. Caught in the cross fire of the Snowmass 1st tracks paparazzi...

Rode the Oxess Bomber special (orange logo) on day 2 when snow was still a bit on the soft side. I echo Cory's review and would add that it had a feathery light feel. Very well behaved and a great board, but I was happy to get back on my near single side cut Rev which may feel a bit more "beefy" , but has a bit more pop when you load it in a turn. Didn't get to ride the 163 Rev, but got to ride one last year and agree they are wickedly fun and would make a great one-board-go-anywhere quiver especially for areas east of the Rockies where you might encounter more ice, narrow trails and crowds. I'd say it feels very similar to the SG163. Tight turns that can give you whiplash and surprising stability at speed when you open up the turn by riding aft of center. First day, in the soft snow, was spent on my old glass 180 Incline (23.5 waist/11.5scr), hard boots in "relax" mode, just because it is more forgiving in soft conditions and yet can still lay out carves. I tried to talk Sean into making a new version and bringing it for demo at ATC, but...

Surface groom! I think after 2-3 yrs it's officially part of the lexicon for Minnesota conditions. Yes, it's an ice base layer just under the "surface groom", nice until it starts to get scraped off by the skidders....and there were lots of them out there today─bus loads. Apparently some schools are out this week. At least there was an inch or two of fresh snow mixed into the surface groom, and with bright sun, the carving was great for a few hours (thanks to metal ice board technology). Also, it was nice to see a number of the soft boot kids making some nice carving turns today. Not looking forward to the weather warm-up later this week. Hope winter has a resurgence.

More photos and a few movie clips. I skipped 1st tracks and went up lift 1 and did a couple of runs on Ruthies before catching some photos of the 1st wave of carvers arriving. Most of these are burst shots with a simple point & shoot camera, so nothing extraordinary here, but interesting if you click through like a stop action movie. At the end are a few shots from 1st tracks at Snowmass. https://picasaweb.google.com/100342843937005978183/AspenTrenchinConvention2016?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCLqr1I3JpMi2ngE&feat=directlink

Thinking of coming up to Spirit tomorrow, Tuesday. Russ, are you out in Montana? I meant to post this pic of a Buttermilk fat bike optimized for downhill rides. He went up on the chair and I saw him come down. Didn't look like he had much control. Most bikes around town had studded 1.75" tires.

Wow! Great article, and that cover photo is awesome!

ATC trip update: 1st day onda snow today─euphoria! Was able to ride up at quarter-to-opening, so made the first 2 tracks on one of my favorite Buttermilk runs─Ridgeway to Midway─soft (Aspen plush) consistent groom, sun!, and wide empty prefect pitch slope . Had to stop twice on each run to re-oxygenate (heavy breathing). Won a Donek board bag in the raffle...if I only had a new Donek board to put in it... No pics on the hill today─altitudinally challenged Lots of big piles of snow in town, kinda reminds me of daUP. Wish I could bring some back, as they're really having a hard time getting rid of it. On my way, after managing to navigate successfully around the interstate closing blizzard Kayla, I stopped at the Ski & snowboard history museum in Vail. Saw versions of the WWII Italian Army skis that were my introduction to skiing and examples of the evolution of skiing in our lifetime. But best of all (this is about snowboarding, right?) was the exhibit of the first patented snowboard, developed in Coquet, MN! Yes, the Bunker, a prototype (the narrower thicker one on the right) and the final wider version on the left. Looked like it was steam bent 3/4-1" thick oak, all rocker and square nose (what's old is new). Apparently this is one of only a few in existence. Lots of other early snowboards, many looked like water skis, and the earliest ones had neither camber nor rocker, just a flat piece of plywood with upturned nose.

Bob, you touched on why rocker is not the opposite of camber, and not simply as convex is to concave. As you stated, camber not only refers to the concave curvature, but it's dynamic function of resisting load, it's ability to flex and return and still perform, even when decambered. I've always seen rocker refer to a static (fixed) convex curve with no dynamic load bearing implied, ie: boat bottoms, surfboards, skate blades etc. You reference the origin of camber to support your opinion. No argument there. Why not do the same for rocker? The decamber (or rocker) used in the boards I've seen is dynamic─a subtle flattening of camber at the ends that changes into a noticeable upturn that looks like rocker when you stand on the board. In the patent link Phil posted, Kessler uses words like concave and convex, and camber and decamber, but not rocker to describe his innovation. My argument is simply that "rocker", as used in ski marketing, is a new use that stretches the current definition. Common use will cause it to become part of the definition. Obviously the cure for this thread will be more time on snow and fortunately I have an appointment with the doctor later this week.

My first hint of the overnight freezing rain/sleet event were the cars in the ditch when I got close to Duluth. Started out with the dreaded combo of flat light and a frozen crusty groom. Fortunately the sun came out within a half hour , but it did little to soften the snow . Rode everywhere and found the best carving snow on Double Jaw and Juggler Joe, so did laps there until about 2. No lift lines or traffic on the way down. It was a good day to have a titanal board.

Plan to come up tomorrow, Thursday. As usual, will be there for 1st tracks and ride til my legs give out.

Thought this chart might be helpful for folks shopping for used hardboots. A compilation of two charts from the threads listed below. Helped me to find the softest "hardboots" for use with my powder set-up. Turns out there's a big difference in stiffness between models. From old threads on relative boot stiffness, found here: http://forums.bomberonline.com/index.php?/topic/3115-how-to-decipher-raichle-numbers/ http://forums.bomberonline.com/index.php?/topic/1067-raichle-deeluxe-and-which-is-model-is-which/ Series Equivalent models Raichle 100 SB123 SB124 SB125 Raichle 200 SB223 SB224 SB225 Raichle 300 SB323 SB324 SB325 Raichle 400 & AF SB413 SB423 AF600 AF700 Deeluxe Lemans Susuka Indy Soft: 123 = 223 = 323 = 413 Medium: 124 = 224 = 324 = 423 = Lemans Stiff: 125 = 225 = 325 And for the AF series boots you get: Stiff: AF600 = Susuka Very stiff: AF700 = Indy

I might not make it up tomorrow after all. Maybe by noon with a little luck. Reports of about 2" and it looks like it's still snowing a little.