bobble

2/15/21 had day off for residents day. got there at 10am when they opened. outside temp was -6F. bluebird sky. Milkrun already had a course set up. stayed mostly on Crossroads. snow was firm. pencil thin lines. tried going over to Olympic and it was really difficult snow. not sure why.. second trip i chattered on heel-side and fell. it hurt. felt every bit of the cord on my hip and arm. Olympic was suddenly not my favorite run. tried Warners and it was ok. left around 11:15amr. toes were in pain from cold and the ski racers started warming up on Crossroads.

i have same problem with goggles icing up. for me, it happens at the top of the lens and then grows larger. what i noticed in the chalet is that every time this happens the ventilation foam at the top of the goggles is slightly damp. first i will run the goggle lens under the hand drier just to melt the ice. then i'll wipe down the frame and absorb the moisture trapped in the foam. that might last about couple more runs before i have to do it again. in meantime i ride the chair without goggles, and then put them back on to head down. there are days where i have no problems at all. not sure if its due to ambient conditions or improper mask fit.

i just checked the buck web cams. the Milkrun webcam is disabled. when i viewed Teachers Pet camera i can see Milkrun the chairlift is running and a guy on an ATV drove up the run. i don't see a race course yet but my guess is they are continuing with races today. what a shame. sunny day out too. as much as i am tempted to go i think i'll sit this one out. its -18F in burnsville.

2/13/21 -6F, but feels like a pleasant -23F. there was ski race and training on milkrun, crossroads and olympic. i stayed on crossroads right up until they started setting up a course. i tried staying between the moguls and the course but the number of kids warming up on the run became an issue. the snow was just okay on crossroads. i tried going over the railyard but just couldn't get into it. and then i come to find out that buck is closed tomorrow (Sunday) because of the POLAR VORTEX!

buck has changed its operating hours from 2-7pm. as tempted as I might be to adjust my lunch break to 2pm and sneak out, its just not worth it. hope you're keeping warm in the tiny house.

wow! i could almost see myself buying a lift ticket. this must be a really good season?

2/7/21 damn cold. -10F with -30F windchill. i was really surprised that buck would open. duty calls. got onto the chair at 8:55 AM. on way up i saw tracks i laid yesterday around the lift towers that the groomer didn't scrub. did first tracks. first half hour i almost had milkrun to myself. i lasted until 10:30 AM. my toes were painfully cold. snow was squeaky at the top. slow going at the start. very firm cord. my goggles kept icing over. had to make a 2 trips to the chalet to clean the ice off. afterwards i rode the chair w/o goggles and then put them on at the top. seemed to work. at one point i forgot to take my goggles off and realized my they stopped fogging. https://www.instagram.com/p/CK_6ZczADjO/

2/6/21 cold. about -2F this morning. windchill was -20F. when i got there the parking lot had very few cars. hardly any people there except ski teams. i saw maybe 2-3 regulars. rode primarily on milkrun but did a few runs on crossroads. snow was good. i rode for more than an hour and left. it wasn't much fun riding the chair with the cold wind from north. my toes were in pain from the cold. at home i pulled the liner out of my boots. the heel of the liner was covered with snow. had to pour out the rest of the snow still inside the boot shell. dust infiltration amazes me every time.

2/5/21 sunny. cold. around 8F. snow was very firm. at the very top of milkrun the wind scoured the snow away. once you get past the ice, the run has areas where cord is very thin and somewhat thick snow from recent snowfall. I was going from barely maintain an edge to slowing down and digging the tail. not many people were out which was good. wonder what will happen tomorrow. supposed to be much colder.

2/3/21 went out at lunch. it was super crowded. not sure why so many kids were out skiing. the lift line was long. i got maybe 5 runs in before i had to return to work. snow was goodly. ran into a guy that was walking with a nitro alpineboard? i talked briefly with him. think he said his name was Aaron. he was trying it out. hadn't been on an alpineboard. i steered him to the forum. i would've stayed longer to help him out but my SpaceX hit the earth and was in the shop getting a speaker or something.

1/30/21 early morning. i was exhausted from yesterday at Afton Alps. snow is/was hero! no ice! standing at the top, a skier says to me "nice hardboots, brother!". best complement ever.

1/29/21 stayed till close to 4pm. world of difference between lifties at buck and afton. gouged my base on a rock over in the highlands. worst MES ever.

i'm not into racing. back around 2005 i tried but it just wasn't my scene. maybe if there were more hardbooters. around that same time there was carving race around these colored cushions (buoys?) that were staked into the run. they had three colored columns; red, blue and yellow. it looked like three courses but the idea was you got more points carving to the outer columns then just straight down the run. that was fun but for some reason buck abandoned it. now the ski school use the buoys just to form lines for instruction. picture of the buoy shown under LITTLE BUCKS (AGES 4-6) https://buckhill.com/ski-snowboard-school/childrens-lessons/ @DonPablo races and is fun to watch. i would like to see how he fares against the g-team (hint-hint).

1/27/21 flat light. snow was good. there was a course setup on crossroads that took the entire width. the blue fence was at the bottom of milkrun but no gates were set. rode under the towers but then 20 minutes later they started to set up gates. the same skiers that were practicing on crossroads came over to milkrun like locusts to ski near the towers. I left after 6 runs.

So Afton doesn't go after people without lift tickets? How did you get out of that one? Sorry to hear about your equipment woes.

1/26/21 rode at lunch. snow was HERO! skiers were destroying my lap counter around the tower. they have it in for me! guy stopped me on my last run, 'hey do you race? you're really turning!". I said no. i'm terrible at it. he asked if I knew about g-team. we talked briefly. he said he used to race on alpine gear but it was years ago.

I have yet to walk up the run this season. I guess its because of the masks. I'm having issues at the top rim of goggles fogging that might be due to combination of K95 masks and perspiration trapped in my long hair. i haven't cut my hair since last spring so i'm looking rather Neanderthal. I thought with all the new snow on Sunday that it would be ideal to play with our new snowshoes. I probably piss people off digging in deep trenches on a "powder" day. they should be all happy now. when I arrived Sunday afternoon I thought about walking up the run but they had gates on Olympic and stubbies on Warners. i probably couldn't jumped onto the rope tow but my gloves just can't grip. walking straight up crossroads against ski traffic would've been tough. I definitely would've overheated. so I went home to work on my little covid pump track. even then I was sweating.

nice video. re: long lines... there was a long line at the ticket office. i almost told some people to go home.

1/24/21 we got about 4 inches of sow on our driveway. as much as i would have liked to have ridden powder i decided to take ms. bobble over to Whitetail Woods Regional Park to go snowshoeing. something different. wanted to get fresh tracks at Whitetail but someone already beat us to it. https://www.instagram.com/p/CKb6de4A3e1/ around 1pm i felt compelled to check out buck hill. got there around 1:30pm. the lines were looooooong. the south chair was the worst. the line was going up the hill and partially blocking the way back to main chair. i never have the patience to put up with long lines. plus it was difficult to carve bumps. left after two runs. https://www.instagram.com/p/CKcQCaTg8wU/ saw this video on youtube. i was thinking about you @bigwavedave... mount your tiny house on some pontoons. the best part of the video starts at 8:48. guy uses a car remote for steering?!?

1/22/21 buck blew snow near the moguls. soft snow on milirun near the lift. i was using the trenches to count number of runs. i was going to leave after the 7th when i made a dirty wide trench. i had to go up again to enjoy the view. https://www.instagram.com/p/CKW43ByA3h1/ a very good day.

1/20/21 when i arrived at 11:30, the parking lot was unusually full. i had to park near ski school. there was gates on crossroads. milkrun seemed open despite the had race fence set up at the bottom. under the chair looked perfect. take one run under the chair. golden. great snow. next thing i know everyone is skiing under the chair. i hear a guy in the lift line, "the cord is really good near the towers". i tried one run on olympic. the cord was almost bullet proof. went back to milkrun.

I have yet to visited that place. is it that good? I haven't been through Miesville since fall when I went gold panning at the Miesville Ravine.

myself... maybe next year or when this covid thing hopefully settles down and i've been vaccinated. i've been sticking close to home. i'm just not comfortable with travel or staying in hotels/motels. that is sweet bar!

1/18/21 early morning MLK day. flat light. difficult to see the terrain. buck hill was blowing snow on olympic and railyard. ski teams set up gates on warners, crossroads and millkrun. i stayed mostly on milkrun close to the lift towers. snow was decent all things considered. it wasn't terribly busy. if i could only see... i got a few runs on crossroads before they set up the course. it was just ok. ventured over to railyard and took a couple runs. it was really good. i couldn't feel any ice. i left after more than an hour. i think i would have stayed longer if sun was out. as i was leaving i saw a long line for tickets extending out into the parking lot. these people will be sorely disappointed when they find out most of the runs are taken over by ski team.

does Paoli ever have snow that reaches to the tree lines in the image? or is this the best it gets?