khoward

6 Year old to dad. "Dad, what is that? Dad "Bud, I have no idea".

Planning on an evening session after the lights come on. Also planning to ride Dave's Rossi Alpine with softies

Life is good. It's sometimes good as a reminder to not take important things (like this) for granted. I'm still out of town, but will be back Thursday. I did two runs on Friday. 1-2" of corn snow on top of frozen ruts. We had an epic day at Indianhead last Thursday.

Jane and I had a great weekend riding at Giants Ridge. She competed in the Alt Midwest Series Slopestyle on Saturday and Boardercross today and was pleased with her performance. It's been a few years since I rode there and that was with softies. I didn't see anyone else on an alpine board either day. There was some impressive soft boot carving from the USASA crowd. This was a nice opportunity to explore new (and steeper and more challenging) terrain on hard boots. Took a while to figure out which runs were worthwhile. Saturday's groom was a bit icy, but softened up with the temps today. It was kinda crowded on some of the runs with both USASA and cross country ski races scheduled. It wasn't quite as busy today. We're quite pleased with the attendance at Spirit this weekend and hope the financials reflect this. Thursday will work for the trip to Indianhead.

Heading up to Giants Ridge Saturday and Sunday. Rode at Spirit for 6 hours today through mostly flat light, crisp groom and strong winds in the afternoon. Temperatures have moderated since last weekend. I rode up with a middle-aged skiing couple who were quite curious about the alpine gear. I explained the equipment and technique including mentally laying out your next carves. Caught up with them again a few chair rides later. She described a 'ski epiphany' of looking more than a few feet ahead and was now enjoying skiing and improved her form.

Thinking about first chair tomorrow. I was at the State of the City Address at the Grand Ave Chalet this evening and it looked like Russ coming down the hill. This afternoon had okay groom, but very flat light and a large school group mostly in the snowplow position. Fortunately, they hadn't progressed to straight-lining the hill before leaving. Tomorrow should be good.

Count me in :) We'll see if Jane can escape, too.

Laying down some nice tracks. Planning an afternoon session today.

Another perfect day in paradise with great friends. Ken

Excellent sunny day, no crowds and firm groom. Planning to be out around noon when it warms up to single digits below zero.

Got out for 3 hours this afternoon. Good groom and not much traffic, but flat light was tricky. I'm planning for tomorrow, but probably not first chair. Gonna wait till it warms up to single digits below zero. We've certainly adapted to cold weather riding. I can't remember the last time I rode with any exposed flesh. The low for Sunday is forecast at -26F. That's pretty silly for March

I agree with you about the Curling; however, in our area many more people cared about the Curling results than all the other events combined. The scores were even reported on the local news.

A good Sunday for the Spirit Mountain carving posse. Dave's back riding in form. Prime snow conditions and light, but with a northeast wind blowing up the hill making for slow spots. One of the Afton carvers was staying up at the Spirit Mountain Villas and railing on a long, narrow vintage Rossignol on Saturday. Saw him again briefly on Sunday on my last ride up, catching air off the 4Pipe knoll on an asym board. I set up the Prior 4WD for riding powder in softies and might try to get out this evening.

Great to have you back. I'm planning first chair Saturday and Sunday. Also planning a quick session after work today. I expect the best groom of the year.

Dave, sorry to hear of your misfortune. Our son, Bryan, had a badly comminuted fibula fracture several years ago, and Dr. Gary Fetzer, orthopedics and sports medicine at Tria in the cities put him back together. The next year, he was able to complete an Iron Man. He has our recommendation. I wonder if that 'metallic ping' could have been failure of the metal layer in your board under stress? Hope this heals quickly. Ken

Does this open up another slot on the olympic team?

Pleasant night at Spirit for a change. Good hard pack, light winds and temps above zero. Getting the Donek Rev157 dialed in better with moving the bindings forward by a full insert (thanks Dave, enjoy SES). Got slammed at high speed from behind by a rider coming off the knoll on 4Pipe. I was way outside of the landing zone. Anyways, I was wearing my POC Spine VPD Tee, helmet and Hip VPD 2.0 shorts - rode away from that with a mildly bruised left shoulder and a black eye. Didn't damage the board, either :) Probably would have had at least a broken collar bone without the armor. A lesson learned from last years encounter with Kryptonite. Hope to get out tomorrow night if not too stiff.

Friday afternoon/evening would be a better bet. I'm planning a Friday evening session after work.

Did a few runs this evening. About an inch of powder on the crust...till the winds kicked up. Thursday and Friday evenings also look pretty tough. The weekend looks better. Spirit Mountain Board meeting tomorrow evening so may have permission to write more about the lift problem after that.

Sunday was challenging...mostly after leaving Spirit. The first challenge was trying to release the clip on my leash encased in ice. Grand Ave. was glare ice. I did a backside 180 with the Subaru by the Lester River Bridge, but didn't hit anything or put it in the ditch. Others weren't so lucky. On the bright side, the Spirit Express Lift is running By 10PM on Friday January 10th, we received the motor back from the repair shop. By 11:00PM, the motor was lifted into the terminal. Weight 4500-5000 lbs. By 2:00AM, The motor was installed The problem was a 'manufacturer's defect' Congratulations to our great staff at Spirit Mountain :)

Planning 1st chair...rumor of 4Pipe lift running, but we'll see.

Highly unlikely to be in operation tomorrow, but they're working hard to fix it.

Good morning out with Dave and Jolson. Planning first chair tomorrow Added a little new board porn:)

It appears I have to work all weekend...might be out Tuesday afternoon.

Beautiful sunny day for first runs of the season. The first couple of turns were a bit sketchy, but after that the memory kicked in. I can't remember conditions this good this early in the season:)