bobble

1/2/23 arrived close to 10 AM. i thought buck was back to normal operating hours and opened at 10. the place was almost packed. i went to the ski school to get my ticket. there was already a long line. a father and son were ahead of me and decided to try the clock tower. several minutes later they came back to a much longer line. the clock tower ticket window wasn't open. early morning fog. difficult to see. it was worse than yesterday. it was as if my goggles fogged over. the snow felt firm compared to yesterday. maybe a little faster. crossroads was okay but was getting chopped up. i ventured over to olympic. i think the fog got worse and so i couldn't see. ended up skidding to get down. after an hour the visibility improved and went back. plenty of cord. the lift lines on the south chair were too long. the line for main chair was tolerable. i was going to ride down olympic but a wave a families started crossing over from the south chair. i diverted and went down crossroads. towards the bottom i just gave up and headed for the parking lot.

1/1/23 New Years Eve arrived early to get first chair. ended up sharing it with a regular (charlie). got first tracks on crossroads. it was terrible fog. i could barely see 35W from the top of the run. i could not see my tracks from the chair. around 10 AM it was still foggy but the visibility was improving. at around 11 AM it was mostly cloudy but with occasional sun. snow was great. i was leaving deep fat ruts. on one trip up the main chair i saw that i made deep wide trench on toe-side. on the way down i went back and tried to fill in my divot. i didn't want anyone to get hurt. around 11:15 AM, i started riding olympic because the sun was visible. the hill was almost untouched... i carved Nazca lines that were visible to all Delta Airline flights flying above Buck Hill. rode for three hours. if the sun hadn't poked through i probably would've left early.

12/31/22 weather report said icy fog with chance of snow around 11am. looked out the window and saw frost on the trees. i debated whether to ride or not. got to the hill and sun was poking through the clouds. half hour later it was partly cloudy with sun. it remained sunny when i left at 11am when it got crowded. ski teams rutted up milkrun and took half of crossroads. snow was softer than yesterday. left some deep wide ruts. halfway down crossroads i was hitting a patch of ice.

12/30/22 i was apprehensive about conditions due to yesterday's warm weather. today was in the 20's. snow was great for carving. very crowded but manageable. when i left, it took me 10 minutes to get out of the parking lot. buck didn't have anyone directing traffic into the parking lot. cars driving into the lot were blocking traffic to get out. i saw later that buck posted on instagram that there lots were full and to park at the mall.

the highlights flat light but the snow was decent -- better than yesterday. at one point the sun peaked through just enough to make me thrusty. very crowded. there was a lifty that managed the lift which freed up dave to focus on other important stately matters. i really liked sky hooker and scissor bill. very fun indeed. dave was mostly downhill from me. he couldn't see the chairlift were turning heads. we met a young woman carving on softboots with a donek. we had noticed her from the chairlift because she was the only softbooter carving. we talked with her for a bit. mentioned ryan knapton and alpinesnowboarder.com. i enjoyed riding today. i think i could've rode longer but when dave called it i decided not to push my luck. the low lights arrived early so dave could bring his tools to dial in my board edges. i made the mistake of not getting my ticket right away. there was a large family and friends group that decided "hey ' go skiing". the father had a big wad of season passes and was using them to buy additional buddy passes and rentals for extended family members. i'd guess maybe 20+ people. it was taking way way way too long. after about 5 minutes i started my stopwatch to record how long it took. there was only one employee behind the counter. i don't know what the hell was going on. is Spirits ticking system messed up? i was third in line and there was a long line behind me. every couple minutes i would show the stopwatch on my phone to people behind me. reason? because when i'm pissed and sweating underneath my jacket i do asshole things to keep myself entertained. at around 30 minutes, the line hadn't moved. that family was seriously clusterfncking the system. occasionally i would hear the father say "did you apply buddy pass? okay what about ...". people were groaning in the line. a guy in front of me grew frustrated and told the employee he'd give her $100 cash if she would just give him a lift ticket so he could snowboard. the father sensed the frustration and offered to buy the guy's lift ticket. the snowboarder told the father in so many words that he doesn't want his charity. not sure what happened but the employee got him a lift ticket. just after the snowboarder left, big wave dave shows up and was incredulous. he took pity on me and offered up a buddy pass to ease my pain and suffering. a big thank you to dave. around 40 minutes another employee showed up. it took him a couple minutes to boot up the Windows 95 computer. the 2nd employee was able quickly issue a new season pass to person in front of me. finally after 43 minutes on stopwatch i finally get mine (more like 50 minutes). when i left, that father was still trying to purchase rentals and buddy passes. when i finally got to the chairlift, there was already long lines. we kept going into the singles lane. to make matters worse, the bar wasn't open. dave thought it was due to employee shortage. currently i am drinking my restorative beer in the hotel room with ms bobble.

here were my highlights riding a chairlift with a woman with cross-country skate skis. she told us she skied downhill on four pipe. in the lift line, a father on skis with two very young kids started telling us that our alpine snowboard boots were uncomfortable. i knew the guy was trouble as soon as i saw his poorly drawn mustache. at the top of the run, the father abandoned his kids. i ended up passing him on skiers right as far as the tree line. the guy had no situational awareness. he kept making slow wide turns and then he turned right towards me. i yelled "APRIL FOOLS MUTHAF***ER!!!!". the look on his mustache was priceless. he panicked, got locked into a carve in opposite direction and wiped out 20 kiddos running a snake. of course, that latter part didn't happen (in this timeline), but he came close to bumping me on a frickn' green run. he almost wiped himself out. watching dave masterfully guide the sheep in the lift line. there wasn't an employee to manage the queue. dave started pointing and telling people whose turn it was next. funnily enough, people listened and didn't seem to mind when we cut ahead of everyone. weird how that worked so well.

12/26/22 arrived early. buck ski team set up a course on milkrun near the towers. they roped off half of crossroads. i waited until 8:45AM when they started taking down the gates to ride the chair. so the only good part was crossroads next to the towers albeit was already carved up by ski team. very cold but the snow was soft and very carveable. the coaches were still sending kids down the middle of crossroads so i went over to warners. fresh cord. after an hour my friggn' toes were in pain. around that time the snow seemed to soften up. went back to crossroads for a bit. sorry randy, wish i could've lasted longer. at home i had ice inside my front liner. yay. heading up to duluth this afternoon.

buck doesn't like people trespassing otherwise i would walk up. yeah, we got several inches of light fluffy snow. easy to shovel and very easy for the wind to blow away. i wouldn't be surprised if they ran groomers to tamp down the snow. ms. bobble and i might head up to duluth next week. weather forecast next thursday might be 37F.

FML! buck hill is closed Dec 22 - 24th because of cold weather and i just took PTO.

12/19/22 rode at lunch. flat light. excellent snow. south runs are still closed for blowing snow. if all the runs were open i would ride this evening. met a guy on softboot setup (name is kaha?). he came up to me and started up about carving and ryan knapton. i think he did a clinic with knapton. i later saw the guy laying out an impressive toe-side. it lasted a several seconds. on my last ride i rode chairlift and talked with him. he had some plastic over his gloves and forearms so that he could lay out on the snow. told him to check out this forum.

12/18/22 arrived early sunday morning. outdoor temp was -2F with a windchill of -17F. buck had snow guns blowing on south runs. it created a cloud that floated over Crystal Lake. olympic, warners and railyard were closed. despite closed runs it wasn't too crowded. snow was very firm. very good carving. karl and i had to take a break to warm up our feet. it did warm up a little. left after 11 am. feet were too cold.

exactly this guy's thoughts. movie is a wee bit o'dark.

12/16/22 at noon. about 3 inches of snow on top of cord that, in itself, was icy... but only if you have the discriminating eye and look for those things. wasn't great on alpine board. would be better on softies. something is going on with the main chairlift. i saw to guys staring at schematics with the panels open. doesn't inspire confidence.

12/15/22 i think we got 6 inches of wet snow. went out at lunch on skis. went to railyard (meadows) and i got bounced around from the tracked out snow. almost fell down. went back in evening on snowboard. the snow was packed down and rutted. not much fun. i really wish buck would use sleds rather than 4-wheelers. they tear up the place.

12/12/22 rode in evening. crossroads was half closed for practice. milkrun had a course. it wasn't very crowded which was a surprise. i didn't have troubles with skiers warming up on the run. snow was decent. just like yesterday/ a little choppy towards the bottom. i met a ski jammer instructor who used to ride alpine boards. we rode the chair for several trips. at one point he noticed my lift ticket had fallen off my helmet. my hood must have pulled it off the wicket. i rode for an hour without any hassle. the new lifties don't care. buck has posted on facebook that they will not be open tomorrow (tuesday) due to rain.

12/11/12 great snow. ever where else was fine except it was hard to ride on olympic. one of the lifties saw my jacket and said that i must've been out the other day and to use Dawn dishwashing detergent to get rid of the oil stains. the ex-ski coach stopped me to tell me he tried using lighter fluid on his stained jacket and it worked. learned this trick from bobd. haven't tried it yet. i went so far as to buy lighter fluid at Mills Fleet Farm but when i walked to the checkout i realized i left my wallet back in my stained jacket.

12/10/22 flat light today. warm. about 33F. when i drove it was slightly snowing then turned to mist/rain. greese from the pulleys dripped all over me. rode the chair with the guy who used to be a ski coach in aspen. his first words to me were, "you got it all over your jacket". snow was good for carving but it was difficult to see. left early at 10:45 am.

12/4/22 warmer temps. sunny. snow was great. not sure why but warners is not open even though they have the snow.

12/3/22 windchill was -10F. wind blowing from the west was not pleasant. snow was firm and fast. D-teams were out on crossroads. only lasted an hour. too stiff from cold.

welp, looks like i'm out for a couple days. after i posted i accidentally dropped the edge of a storm window onto my foot. it banged the big toe at the cuticle. the window didn't break. it was just the weight of the window with metal frame. i don't think i've ever seen so much blood. the front entry looked like a crime scene.

11/25/22 arrived early. initially the place was not crowded. it picked up close to 10AM. almost all of the runs were open except warners. the south chair was running. snow was not great at the start. some areas it was like riding over ice gravel. it warmed up and things got better.

11/22/22 opening day. got there around 6:45pm. long lift lines. only main chair and teachers pet were running. it looks like they have enough snow to open all runs but they haven't groomed olympic or the south runs yet. place was packed. the beach was littered with skis, poles, and boards. lot of kids were bombing runs. the snow was okay. i mostly skidded turns. too nervous with everyone all on crossroads. i think i got 5-6 runs. left at 8pm.

who's the manufacturer of the drone? my first quadcopter was a simple quadcopter with a 1.3 mpx camera. first time i tried it i immediately lost control. i was in backyard trying it out. once it got above the roof the wind blew it away. i couldn't control it. at 0:19 you can sort of see me at the bottom of the clip. i ran to the front of the house and it had drifted across the street into neighbor's yard where i dropped it. they're fun but i worry about losing one.

how are you getting those pictures? is that a webcam?

vaguely familiar