bobble

12/14/23 tried riding in evening. during day the weather app said high in 50's. in evening when i went out it was hovering above 35F. warm temps really messed things up. snow was hard pack. difficult to set an edge. bumps. let after four runs. saw the nidecker tent. buck replaced the nastar chute. it's still under construction. they have some interesting red/blue lighting that on the facade. up close i couldn't tell if it was neon or LED. it's has to be LED. no way would neon hold up. r eally kind of cool. it's got a SSX Tricky vibe. maybe they'll have red/blue LED illuminated gates? i posted a picture of it on instagram... bobble904

12/10/23 sunday morning. flat light. olympic was icy in the middle. all i could do was skid. warners had dips that i couldn't see. railyard was okay. crossroads was a little better. left after 45 minutes. might go back in evening.

12/9/23 saturday morning. gray sky. some drizzle. snow was not great. too soft to hold a decent carve. the backside to railyard had brown snow. ski teams were out. so were the ski patrol. left after half an hour. conditions didn't excite me.

nice video

you have a drone?

indeed. and the weird thing is that i don't miss the maintenance shack. so wide open. i like it. more room to play. i'm wondering if they'll put in fences to form queues. it was crazy last night. how long until some Banksy wannabe tags the new "event center"?

12/3/23 rode in evening. snow was good. no ice. mostly road olympic. the south chair stopped running. not sure why. it looked like they kicked everyone off the lift. the line to the new lift was super long. i almost left. after about 10 minutes they reopened the south chair. lot of kids. for some reason people are just loitering at the chair. just standing there.

12/2/23 sunny. conditions were better than yesterday. not quite in fighting shape. not as many people there when the opened but by 10AM long lift lines. they aren't running the south chair yet. met anex-lifty (mike). he used to be a lifty last year but has retired. he said that the new chairlift is lower to allow kids to board. unfortunately, it makes it a little more challenging for tall people who have to squat down further.

12/1/23 Opening day arrived at buck at 10AM. already a line to get tickets. office didn't open until 10:30 or so. quickly got to the new chairlift only to find out people already were in line. chair started around 11:05am. new lifties getting trained. before they opened to the public, the owner gave a speech about the new chair and the improvements to the run. the people who made first chair ended up falling down when the chair swooped them up. i got 3rd chair. would've gotten 2nd but this effin kid budded in front of me. his mother rode with me. they removed a lot of earth to lower the area around the chair so it was almost level with the south chair. easy to get back to the lookout chair from south runs. the top has some cargo containers that look like tiny houses. they're making it into some kind of event center. all runs were open but only two chairs running. snow was not that great for carving. lots of ice marbles. i couldn't set an edge. got crowded quick. left after 5 runs.

i'm kind of surprised too. they have a new lift. maybe things aren't in place quite yet?

i checked out buck yesterday (thanksgiving) morning. thought for sure they'd be making snow. nothing. i imagine they'll be blowing today. the weather has been warmer this time of season. i remember there were times when buck would open early in november.

nice. i live a couple blocks from crystal lake beach. it's about 2-mile drive to buck. https://www.google.com/maps/@44.7245193,-93.2683819,15.5z?entry=ttu you previously posted your moving for race training? race training at buck?

virtual greetings and salutations... whereabouts in burnsville are you moving?

ms. bobble and i went to Buck 54 bar and grill today. we were the only people there. surprised the place was even open. on saturday the lifty said that during the employee party the new plans were revealed and might still be up on display at the bar. that was primary reason for going. unfortunately, no plans were on display. i asked the waitress when the demolition of the main lift will begin. she said that "there might be one more popup next saturday". i find that one hard to believe. on the way out we found a snowboard laying up against the wall near the bar. found two more snowboards and a pair of skis sitting in racks. maybe that's how i can dispose of my old gear.

true story bro! i was worried that if i rode an alpine board that i would tear my shoulder. i had no idea what the conditions would be. i'm not great at skiing but it was the best skiing i have ever done. one of the regulars saw me and said i was looking good. two hardbooters showed up. i asked one of them (rufus) about carving. his words were "it's rough". it was right around noon when the runs were bumpy and rutted. if it were me on an alpine board i would've left sooner.

April 1st we got several inches of snow. it was heavy to shovel. the streets in my neighborhood weren't plowed. i wouldn't have made it without all-wheel drive. arrived early at buck. stood outside the chalet and talked to regular skier (chuck). the lifty walked up to us and we started asking questions about the chairlift. tomorrow (a sunday) they begin work on removing the chairlifts. they first have to remove snow off the runs in order to use heavy equipment. they're going to make the run a little higher and regrade the bottom. there's going to be a new race ramp. heard something about a deck. got last first chair of the season. i was on skis. the runs were groomed. snow was somewhat slow but i was carving on skis with no problem. i lasted until 1pm when the runs were getting rough and i was having problems with controlling my skis.

the social media guy posted recently on instagram that the chairs will be for sale and to stay tuned. it would be interesting to buy one but i don't know how i would mount it.

3/26/23 rode skis. sloppy conditions. when i arrived, i stood by ski rack waiting for lift to start running. one of the regulars started talking to me. i recognized him by jacket/helmet, he didn't recognize me. randy walked by and noticed i had skis and said something about being too soft to carve on a board. the skier then said "oh, you're that guy that carves on snowboard... you're really good!". got down to the lift. the lift sees my skis, "oh trying to be tricky... you're not fooling me!" later, i was riding up the chair with a regular (chuck) and a woman on skis. she looked familiar but couldn't remember. chuck introduced me to the skier (julia?) who said to me "i didn't know you skied too!". i laughed and told her that i don't ski very well. at the top, the woman headed over to her friend standing at top. it was at that moment that i recognized her once i saw the woman and her friend (blond snowboarder) together. i always see them at first chair. while still at the top i asked chuck how he knew the woman. i originally thought she was a ski patroller. he said he just met her today on chair. he said that they were previously riding the chair together and saw me skiing down milkrun. she said to chuck, "he can ski too?". she then told him that she and her friend nicknamed me "yellow jacket". one more day, april 1st. then the lift is coming down. wonder if they will sell the chairs.

3/25/23 took a couple runs on my coiler then switched to skis. didn't last long because only one chair was running. the south chair wasn't running.

it might be last weekend for me. it depends. they have pond skip today. they're open tomorrow. they close for the week and reopen for april 1st and then it's done. rumor is they're taking down the main chair and installing a new one.

sauna? the spirit mtn chalet or big wave dave's house of thirst [boards]?

3/20/23 super soft conditions. surfy. slow. big wide turns.

3/19/23 arrived at 10:30AM and there was already a line out the door. still managed to get first chair. sunny day. grooming was decent. saw a guy on skis injure himself in the moguls. i was on the chair and saw his skis go up and he went down on his back. he was badly injured. he was with his daughter too. it took several people to render assistance getting him down the hill. in the midst of this was the two buck hill ski models that were waiting to do a photo shoot of them going down the moguls. the injured skier was not even off the run when the photographer started to set up several yards below where the accident happened. geez... i hope they weren't inconvenienced. JFC!!! HOW MANY PICTURES OF PEOPLE SKIING MOGULS DO YOU NEED??? highlight was when i was wiping down my board to leave, this snowboarder in his 30's came up, "man, those were some sweet turns... how long have you been riding"?". we talked for a bit. at the end i asked if he had seen any ryan knapton videos. he said no. i told him to google his name and that he'll thank me later. second highlight when @BobD spiked a guy's snowboard with his pole when he tried to bud. the guy was an adult too.

3/18/23 cold temps. light dusting of snow on top of cord. conditions were slightly better than yesterday. still fast. very thin lines. chattered couple time mostly on crossroads. milkrun was better. rode for 1-1/2 hours.

3/17/23 excellent conditions for highly audible skidding. brutal conditions for carving. sub-zero windchill. the rain from yesterday didn't help. riding up the chair lift with wind blowing downward was rough. crossroads was very fast. difficult to hold an edge. same with milkrun. on way down i thought "wtf am i doing?" and just pointed the board towards the parking lot. left after two runs.