khoward

Groom was good, visibility not so good. Oh, did I mention that it was raining? Still better than going to work :)

Planning 1st chair tomorrow

The 'new' ride. Found this in the rafters :)

Gettin' it together for Spirit tomorrow...Bindle Stiff aka 'the white ribbon of death'

Mountain Dew (not the diet decaf stuff) goes on the base and the sunscreen goes on the top deck for UV protection. Watching an amazing rail jam.

Good carving at Copper this year. Three bluebird days with epic amount of sunscreen and having a powder day today. The snow's the best we've ever had for Nationals. Jane chatted with Mimi coaching at GS today. Medal count is a gold in half pipe and silvers at GS and slopestyle. Slalom tomorrow

It's analogous to being served a 'pint' of beer in a standard 14 oz beer glass

Fact check using USGS topographic maps about elevations at Spirit. Elevation at top of Gandy Lift 1205 feet Elevation at bottom of Gandy Lift 780 feet Elevation at top of Four Pipe Lift 1280 feet Elevation at bottom of Four Pipe Lift 720 feet Total Vertical on Gandy 425 Feet Total Vertical on Four Pipe 560 Feet There technically is 700 feet of vertical at Spirit if you count the wooded knoll on the other side of W. Skyline Parkway (1330 foot elevation) to the bottom of Knowlton Creek at Grand Ave (630 foot elevation)

Rode Spirit from noon till 2PM. Joined by Ski Patroller Don for a few runs. Could have skipped the last several runs. Surfed through slush the entire final run from the top of Gandy down Sky Hooker to Grand avenue. Plan to be out for first chair Saturday. Might bring a soft boot setup for surfing

I was out for a couple of hours. Good snow conditions and light, but 30 MPH winds up the hill were limiting. Stopped cold on Cinder Snapper by one big gust. Plan to be out tomorrow at noon

Excellent day at Spirit. Had very low expectations. Got out at 10AM for a couple of hours. Very carvable and only rare brown spots. Great job by the hill of grooming considering the rain this week. Lots of activity with the Fat Bike Race on Jugular Joe and setting up the water skiing in front of the main chalet. Plan to be out tomorrow AM

It was a fun day, even with the slushy ride. Here's a shot from the top of Bindle Stiff from early 1997. C lift is in the backround and Jane in front - no trees between Bindle Stiff and Sky Hooker Yes, we wore rain gear. No such thing as 686,..., etc

Did Spirit today - excellent carving on the Gandy side till about noon, then was too soft and beaten up. Planning first chair again tomorrow (Saturday). Should be okay early, but forecast calls for bright sun and 51F by 1100.

Did a couple of hours at Spirit today. First chair was at noon and already too warm. Rode on the Gandy side with Ski Patroller Don. After 2PM, the sun started peeking through and got really soft and slow, so called it a day. First chair Friday will be 10AM and may be able to get in a couple of hours before it deteriorates. Forecasts look pretty tough through mid week. Probably will be out Saturday AM

Got on the hill at GR at 10AM, frozen corduroy on Sarajvo with flat light and air temp 34. Otherwise, the hill's in very good shape. No bare areas and not dirty, but no corn snow. The groom softened up by noon and was actually quite good for carving, especially the more exposed Lower Squaw Valley. High temp was about 37 and never saw any sun, but a lot beter than the rain and fog in Duluth. I suspect it will be quite crusty for first chair tomorrow, but forecast is for about 40 by noon with better light. I'll probably try Spirit tomorrow, but it may be grim.

Spirit's been closed Monday and today and was supposed to open Wednesday noon. Latest post on the Spirit website has the hill closed Wednesday and opening on noon Thursday. I'm tentatively planning a road trip to Giants Ridge tomorrow.

Try the Board Porn again. Rode it out for four hours today. Beautiful blue sky day and great groom. Felt dialed in after 4 runs - real easy to ride. A lot of traffic on the Four Pipe side so mostly rode Gandy and Cinder Snapper. Giants Ridge tomorrow

A bit of Board Porn - the new Coiler Nirvana file:///Users/securefolder/Downloads/Coiler.jpg

The groom wasn't that bad considering the rain and sleet. Rode on the Gandy side after it got busy on Four Pipe. Had Cinder Snapper all to myself for about 10 runs. Kinda nice rollers there this year. Blue Ruin was a bit chopped up by earlier ski team practice. Probably will be bulletproof cord Sunday after the temperature drops overnight.

Got a few runs in Monday and today. Flat light and some mist, but still good to be out carving.

Reliable rumor that Spirit will be closed today to allow full bore snowmaking. Open Saturday with more runs

I'm healthy this year and will be setting up the boards this week :)

Got out there around noon today. At that time, there were a few icy spots, but overall quite good. Softened up a lot by 2PM and must have frozen. Getting ready for Copper.

Did a few surfy runs in softies today. The hill's looking pretty tired, but conditions weren't that bad. Tomorrow should be a lot colder and we're planning to be there.

Out for a dozen runs today. Reasonably good crust, brisk chair lift ride. Another hardbooter showed up on an asym board. Didn't recognize him or get a chance to talk with him. Planning to be out late morning tomorrow