Allee

I really thought I was the only one who HATED flat light. If it's sunny, or at least has enough light to throw some shadow, I always have a really good day. But if it's flat, my confidence just goes out the window. I hate that feeling of humming along and suddenly, you're going up or down where you can't see a damn thing. I gave myself concussion last year, I set an edge to carve around what I thought was the turn on a trail and it was about a 2 ft drop, I went off on a heelside and landed fair on my nut. Things like that really p*** you off. D-Sub, I'm hearing you on the motion sick thing. I was whited out so badly once, all the people we were with had to sit down to see which way we started to slide, so we could tell which way was down! And I had the same feeling. But then cars, planes and even horses make me sick as well ...

Is anybody going to put a stake in the ground, and say where we're all going to stay? Alpinegirl, I'll be happy to share a room with you ... especially as you're my wheels :) but where is everyone going to be? At Stratton or in town? Steph, did Stratton get lots of snow with that storm over the Xmas period? (Sorry, I've been in Vegas ... alternative reality ... and my US geography is crap ...)

... I used ski boots until the last few days of last season. I had great heelsides and weak toesides. After I got my Raichles, I can lay out a carve on the toeside, but my heelside is garbage - to the point where I might have to go back to school to get it fixed. Same board, same rider ... go figure ...

I get into Albany airport at 4.50pm on Jan 5th and fly out again at 5.25pm on the 9th - does that fit OK with you, Alpinegirl? Steph, here is my list of requirements for the weekend : Blue skies and sunshine No wind -3C or warmer Great snow Awesome company Lots of apres bad girl behaviour ... and that I don't fall on my head more than once! Can't wait to meet all you guys and ride some board together!

are there some of these at the shop still, did you check? There's a 125 lb girl looking for a new board on another thread, at $99 this might be worth her trying out. At $99, I wouldn't mind trying it out either!!

I need a ride from the airport ... Alpinegirl, I know you're driving through Albany, is anyone else going that way? Is there a bus or anything that anyone knows of, that can take me to Stratton or in that directions? I'm going to book a flight tomorrow but don't want to be stuck in NY!!

on whether I can talk my boss into swapping Jan 3 & 4 (when our office is closed) for Jan 5 & 6. Being an accountant sucks at the end of the tax year ... Flight from Calgary with connex in TO or Chicago was $502 on United and a bit more on Air Canada - but I might go for the Aeroplan miles. I still need a lift from Albany and somewhere to stay, but I'm sure that will all work out!

I'm on the other side of the country (Calgary) but if I have the right airport (Albany NY) it's not too expensive to fly there - can someone confirm for me? If I can get a lift from there (car or bus, doesn't matter) I might have to look into this ... Alpinegirl, if I came, you wouldn't be the worst chick on the mountain, because that would be me!!!

Might be a plan ... when were you thinking?

you have a big fat wipeout? I was amused by skier friends on the weekend, referring to it as "having a garage sale" and "chewing mountain" (I love that one!)

Thanx for the warning, I shall take 5 ft 11 210 lb skier boyfriend with me!:)

I'm thinking of crossing the border for a long weekend in February. Has anyone been here, or heard anything about it? Is it carve friendly? Cheers!

Hey Chester - hopefully this one reaches you. If not drop me a line at sullivan_allison@hotmail.com. Cheers!

Hey Chester, sent you an email on Friday but no reply yet. Reply to the thread if you didn't get it. Cheers, Allison.

I've never skied, but I bought a pair of blades last year for those days where there's a zillion people on the hill and you just want to switch your brain off and do dumb stuff. I often spend an afternoon on them when I've either worn myself out on the board in the am, or taken a decent spill and rattled myself a bit. Yes, they do work great with snowboard hard boots - just click em on and go. I've always found they carve pretty well with a bit of speed on, but stick to the groomed for sure, they're not really designed for much else. Oh, and definitely keep the weight forward - I got mine back on the Sunshine ski out last year, and got launched off the trail for my trouble!!

They're having a stomping season in NZ this year, I had a report from a friend two weeks ago who was up to his ears in powder. But having said that, I've been at Cardrona in the first week of September where you have to swim across the river running down the frontside to get to the base for lunch. The North Island fields have low elevations so they tend to melt and freeze really badly, as can Coronet Peak in the South Island. The NZ resorts are small, true, and often hard to get to. If you want to do a lot of boarding you wil probably need a car, as nearly all of them have access-roads-from-hell that take about an hour to drive up. There are dozens of club fields around, again really small and with primitive lifts, but with really friendly people and apparently an awful lot of fun if you're an advanced rider (I'm not). With a car in the South Island you can cover a lot of ground and board on a lot of terrain. Cars in NZ are really cheap, too. Best time to go there if you don't plan on spending all season is July and August. I'd give the North Island a miss, it's SO crowded and the conditions are usually hit and miss. I'd base myself in the South Island, in Christchurch (Mt Hutt and the club fields in Canterbury, and north to Rainbow, Mt Lyford and Porter Heights), or if you want to go to the deeper south, in Cromwell (Queenstown is where it's at but it's BLOODY expensive, and Cromwell is closer to Wanaka and the fields at TC and Cardrona). Closer to Qtown you have the Remarkables and Coronet, both worth a visit in a good season. Carvers choice - Cardrona or the Remarks. And Baka is lying to you, there is no good snow in Aus, that's why they're all over in NZ! :) :)

I'm with Neil - if you can swing it, a Canadian list would be great. If I come across anyone this winter, I'll spread the word.

We've had snow at Sunshine already, just out of Calgary, and we're getting cold at night now too - 2 and 3 deg being common for the last couple of weeks. They're picking an early and long winter here, sounds okay to me! I have the boards off the racks and sitting on the floor already ... I think you guys in the east might be waiting a bit longer, friends in Ontario tell me it's still shorts weather there ...

Hope it didn't spoil the summer too much for you ...

and now you know whay they're all in New Zealand, which, according to some of my friends, has great snow for June.

Where the hell do you find a hill there??? :) :) :)

Here' s what you get at Ruapehu ... On a good day, the entire population of the North Island on a ski hill. An hour to park the car, half an hour to get your pass, and another 45 minutes in every lift line. And the hill is like an LA freeway in rush hour. Seriously. And on a bad day, which from what I remember is half the season, Turoa is like concrete. Whakapapa's a little better but tends to get less snow. Then to make things really exciting, Ruapehu is an active volcano and it likes to vent a lot. Back in 96/97? it blew it's top two years in a row. Ash is really good for bases and edges, and those refrigerator sized rocks raining down from the sky were apparently quite something! The South Island is much better especially if you can go midweek. Yes, the fields are tiny and underdeveloped, although they don't sound much worse than some of the fields you guys have ! (more vertical anyways).:) The approach roads are a lesson in driving, long and tedious, but the views are amazing and the snow is generally OK. In a good season it's really good, in a so-so one it can be a bit marginal. Best carving resorts - Cardrona (Captains Basin) and Treble Cone (good steeps and varied terrain). Mt Shutt is a good name for Mt Hutt, and it's always crowded with weekday school groups and stuff, as is Coronet Peak. The Remarkables, if they're having a good season, are as good as anywhere. If you want some cheap thrills some of the club fields can be fun, Porter Heights, Rainbow, Ohau. If you're going to travel do so in July and August (don't count on good spring skiing as the seasons are getting shorter and shorter) and base yourself in Otago - Queenstown is really expensive, Cromwell's not and the transit time to Cardrona/TC is about the same. I miss my annual ten days in Queenstown ... :)

I've done the Mt Hutt road a few times and I can vouch for Baka. We took a guy up there who wasn't good with heights and he spent the entire hour with his eyes closed and swallowing really hard. You forgot to mention the tooth-loosening ruts that develop from all the chains on the switchbacks. Do not take a nice car up there. You will have no suspension at the end of it. That's the only problem with the NZ ski resorts, is the drive up there. Most of them it's like an hour up a steep, windy, rutty gravel road to get to the base. And then you get the a**holes in rented campervans (RV's) that can't drive and STOP in the middle of the road when it's icy ... I'm really spoiled here in Calgary, only a few hours from 14 good ski resorts all with good access roads. AND we still have snow - I'm going to Sunshine this weekend. :cool:

I busted mine a few years ago. I dislocated it first, they took X rays from 2 angles and told me it was all OK, they'd just put it back in. 4 weeks later it's not healing, so I complain loudly to the doctor, they take X rays from 3 angles this time and hey, look at that, it's broken ... except by now it's healing, but all funny. I now have a big freaky lump in the middle of it. I hope you have better luck and are not scarred for life! Speaking of splints, when my boss was in the Navy he broke the two middle fingers on his right hand. So they got this metal splint and splinted it all up, which was fine - except he forgot all about it, until he went to the crapper and wiped his ass ... and was forcibly reminded ... (ouch!)

The terrain at Louise is just awesome. The only bitch I have about it is that it sometimes gets off to a slow start in the winter (as in Dec is pretty marginal for snow cover, especially on the back) and in the spring it can get as icy as hell. But in the depths of a good winter, it's amazing. Sunshine has the best snow I've ever seen on a skifield, last year I was still having a ripping time on Goat's Eye on May 8th, but the runs are really short in comparison to Louise, and the field's often really crowded as it's that much closer to Calgary. I would think that if you're going to do a heap of days, you'll get bored with Sunshine pretty quick. If you're planning on working in Banff then I know a lot of the places there hand out free passes to their staff. That might be the go to get you into Sunshine, if you can swing it. I'd want to find out more about the season pass for Louise (an RCR resort) because I think that it might season pass you to all their other resorts as well - Fernie, Nakiska (which has THE most amazing groomers for carving) and Kimberley, all of which are within a few hours of Banff and will give you quite a few more options. I'd think with 14 (??) fields within a 4 hour drive, you'd be doing yourseld a disservice by not seeing the countryside! As far as transport goes, there's buses frantically charging round to all these hills in wintertime (even the Greyhound service is pretty good), and I'm sure you'll hook up with people with wheels once you're in Banff. I'm out most weekends, so if you need a lift, drop me an email!