bobble

01/20/22, DAY 32 rode at noon. temp was -1F. blue bird skies. when i arrived there were only 4 people on the main chair. on my 6th run, i was the only one left. snow was firm. milkrun had some bumps down the center. couldn't see them but edge bounced off them.

they now have scanners. you wave your card and they hand you a ticket. its a lame compromise. they still touch the ticket. they also have a ticket window in the clock tower. i never knew it existed. they're slow to change. they haven't repainted the lift in a couple decades.

i wear a mask and will occasionally allow strangers to ride the chair. i try to be on the upwind side. unfortunately, my goggles always fog up so i pull my goggles off for the ride up. less than ideal. wish i could just walk to the lift and start riding without going into the ticket office llike afton. you should've seen the buck's ticket office. when i was leaving it was crammed. i didn't see many people wearing masks. lots of kids. they have completely abandoned covid protocols.

01/17/22 (MLK), DAY 31 got to buck just before 10AM only to see the parking lot was already half full and ski teams were already practicing critical race theory on crossroads, olympic, warners. only available runs were milkrun and railyard. kind of a pisser that they took up all of crossroads. i was there for over an hour. snow was good but visibility was poor. it got crowded quick. i went to do a board change and saw two lines to the ticket office were way out into the parking lot. one extended almost to the stairs to the main lift. remember social distancing? that's so 2021. only took two runs after board change. the lift line was getting way too long. at the top of the run, there were too many families standing around. they should've been on railyard learning how to ski. some kids were bombing the run. too dangerous for carving. PEETHER SKI RESORT i so want this to be real. https://www.yelp.com/biz/peether-ski-resort-hopkins

01/16/22, DAY 30 sunday morning. temp in the 20's. flat light but the snow was absolutely perfect. grippy. i was having a good time. sonic youth was in my head. the girthy male speedsuit competition was on milkrun so i rode mostly crossroads. also rode olympic and warners. the sky momentarily cleared around 11:00AM. epic times! milkrun opened up later. took some runs under the chair. at 12 noon, clouds rolled in. the lift line grew long and was stopping more frequently. i left. the lifty shortages are starting to spread. as of 12 noon, the south chair was not operating. heard the new lifty say they didn't have enough people. long lift lines on main chair. normally i would've left early if lines were long but karl was there. we met a guy that is relatively new to hardbooting.

01/15/22, DAY 29 JUST AS THE STRANGE GYPSY LADY FORETOLD! early saturday morning. it was near zero but sunny. milkrun was roped off for the ski race. crossroads has a mogul field that is kind of messed up. it veers away from the lift towers towards the bottom. i was able to sneak onto crossroads at 8:45AM before all the skiers started to take warmup runs. snow was firm, almost squeaky. when it got crowded with racers i took a run down olympic not aware until i got to the bottom it was closed off. i had to go the south chair. took runs down railyard and warners. once the races started i went back to crossroads. the run was chewed up. rough to hold an edge. the good thing was that crossroads wasn't nearly as crowded. not sure why.

what's the reason for closing at 3pm? not enough staff? save money on lights?

01/12/22, DAY 28 at noon the temp was about 38F. sunny skies. parking lot was 3/4 full. majority of people were skiers. there were gates on crossroads. lift line was longer than usual. snow was soft. it was packing between boot and binding. i was getting sweaty from riding. these are very carvy times.

01/11/22, DAY 27 tuesday morning. took PTO day for a mental health break. trent and bobd showed up. something about donkey balls and afton alps. sunny sky. temp got to be around 30F. snow was great! softer than yesterday. not crowded at all. rode f2s on coiler extreme carve. bending over to boot in/out of standard bales gives me a headache from blood rushing to my head. plus, my back. i'm too old... get tired fast. rode from 10am until 12pm.

01/09/22, DAY 25 early sunday morning. blue sky. temp was 0F. when i arrived i was surprised that the parking lot was half full. walked past the chalet and it was full of kids suiting up for a big air competition. i wish i knew where buck posts these events. very stiff cord. speed wasn't fast. rode coiler extreme carve with F2s. first half hour wasn't busy. gates were setup on milkrun. ski racers started showing up. 01/10/22, DAY 26 mid afternoon. temp was single digits. maybe 6 people skiing. rode Donek with TD3s that i set up to closely match F2 setup. felt marginally better than last time i rode it but still felt off. i noticed that when side slipping the board was acting squirrely again. went home to go back to work. in evening i readjusted the bindings again. i put bias in bindings towards heel-side edge to see what difference they would have. i noticed that the edges of the base are burned again. the metal edges feel a little high which might explain why board felt strange while side slipping. i literally had my board tuned about a several days ago. i did a quick wax on the edges and went out. snow was great. #ChefKiss with binding bias, heel-side turns were quicker, but toe-side felt a little off. just one more adjustment to go.

01/08/22, DAY 24 early saturday morning. flat light. temp around 20F. snow was excellent... no ice! rode coiler with F2 bindings. i've been riding it last couple outings. i really liked the feel of the bindings. gates spontaneously appeared on milkrun. then busloads of ski jammers showed up. went back to car to get my donek with td3s. td3s felt awful. just going down to the chairlift i almost caught my toe-side edge. took two runs. something was way off. couldn't carve. tried side slipping on heel-side edge and my rear foot was twisting inside the boot to compensate. felt like i was learning to ride an alpine board all over again. went home to compare setups. will try again.

vail bought afton alps in minnesota. this year they've reduced their operating hours. used to be open 10AM weekdays and now it's 1PM. i don't ride there often but many people are upset. the problem is when they open at noon the ski teams show up at 3pm and take over the place. it's not fair to season pass holders. from what i hear not all of the chairlifts at afton are running and the lines are ridiculous. i don't know what is driving this. could be global warming. could be covid. could be vail/afton can't get people to work because they're too cheap. good luck at PP.

01/05/22, DAY 23 went at lunch. >> went into ticket office >> get lift ticket >> go to use hand sanitizer >> rub-a-dub-dub >> put on helmet and goggles >> walk outside towards ski rack >> old skier stops in front of me >> bends over >> has a coughing fit >> COOOOOUHHGGGHG CCCCOOOOUGGGHHHH <hack-hack-hack> CCCCOOOOUGGGHHHH >> finally spits >> walks away what did skier mean by this? temp was 15F was sub-zero windchill. snow guns were turned on railyard and olympic. there are guns positioned on crossroads. the snow was terrible. icy from running guns and pockets of air. there were also gates on crossroads. took one run and left.

i haven't seem a bikeboard at buck. last weekend we went to Cleary Regional Park to try snowshoeing. they are hurting for snow. grass was poking through the ski trail. there were no cross-country ski tracks in snow. we could've walked the trail in our boots. saw a family using kick sleds on the trail. there was just enough of a hill to glide. it looked like it could be fu and a good workout. i think they're available to rent.

i tried going out monday evening at 7pm. there was a long line entering the parking lot. i guessing parents picking up their kids but then i saw people driving around the parking lot looking for space. crazy. i'll try again tomorrow.

01/03/22, DAY 22 went at lunch. temp was 20F. place was crowded at with kids. snow was hero! i haven't heard anything yet but i won't be surprised.

01/02/22, DAY 21 buck opened at 12pm due to arctic temps. i think it was 5F. not sure the windchill. buck groomed late morning, so the cord was really good. got first chair ... at 12 noon (a personal first). rode a coiler extreme carve with F2 bindings (standard bales). i haven't rode that board since two years ago. i forget the sidecut but i think its 14-16? there's too much going on to attempt riding that board, e.g., ski races, moguls, etc. it took me a couple runs to learn to ride the board. the bindings have so much play in them compared to my TD3s. fell down a couple times trying to lay out heelside. my glove and pants were heating up from sliding across the cord. i rode straight for 1-1/2 hours. my toes were in pain from the cold. i was also getting dehydrated. i wish i could've lasted longer.

01/01/22, New Year Day, DAY 20 temp was -10F, with -30F windchill. i was let on the chair at 8:50AM. first chair of the new year and first tracks. snow was very firm. i chattered a lot. i was getting beat up. shredded my gloves. at least i was entertaining the lifty, "you really making turns!" only a handful of people skiing/snowboarding on milkrun/crossroads. going down the run kept me warm, riding the chair back up was brutal. after a solid hour, the lifty said to me, "you know that you can take a break... its -30F windchill!!!". went in to the chalet to warm up. went back out again and quit after a couple runs.

12/31/21, New Year Eve, DAY 19 early morning. fog from the south. snow was fine. when i arrived, a groomer was making passes on milkrun. when it finished everyone was skiing down it. i almost had crossroads to myself. on crossroads, there's ice underneath the snow. only chattered a few times on it. it as decent considering the flat light. rode from 9AM until 10:30AM. sun broke through clouds. went back out around 1:30PM and skied for another hour. they have more new lifties. once again mistakes were made. a teen dropped a ski after boarding the chair. the two lifties didn't notice it until their supervisor went up the chairlift and notice a ski lying on the ground. the skier was forced to go down the hill with one ski. later, i saw a skier downloading on the main chair. i was 3/4's way up the run when i passed him. it was a teen who was at least 6ft tall. the teen had to have lifted his skis over trip bar. the lifty was too busy looking his phone. i rode down the run and beat the teen to the bottom. as i was loading i said "hey, do you know about the skier that's downloading on the chair?" "WHAT?!?" "there's a skier coming down the chairlift" "SKIER OR SNOWBOARDER???" apparently, they were not aware.

12/30/21, DAY 18 early morning. snow was really good. almost hero. there was a dusting of new snow over cord. might've been slow ski camp going on 1/2 of crossroads, olympic and warners. milkrun was rutted. about an hour the crossroads was starting to break up and i was hitting ice underneath. it started to get crowded. i thought about switching to skis but my toes were too cold. left at 10:30AM when clouds moved in.

12/29/21, DAY 17 got out around 11AM. blue bird skies. high was in single digits. sub-zero windchill. not many people were there. it didn't take long for my toes to get painfully cold. only lasted just over an hour. crossroads: firm snow. was definitely better than yesterday but had a few issues with chatter. half of crossroads was roped off for ski teams. after ski teams left to warm up in the chalet, i limbo'd under the orange ribbon a couple times. warners: was good. no ruts. nice and even for a change. railyard: nice mellow carving.

12/28/21, DAY 16 got out around 11AM. it was snowing with large flakes. by the time i arrived there was about an inch or more of snow. on crossroads there was ice underneath the new snow that broke up into small chunks. fell a few times trying to hold an edge. milkrun and warners had courses taken down but were rutted. went over to railyard. it was too crowded. bottom was messed up from gates on warners. on way out i took redtail. there are rollers on right side of run. it was icy near the rope tow shack.

12/27/21, DAY 15 snowed last night and then rained. while shoveling the driveway, the snow was glazed over with ice. my expectations were very low. ski teams already carved up milkrun and set courses on crossroads, olympic, warners. the cord was glazed. sunlight reflected off of it. first tried crossroads. i was taking up the width of the run and having problems keeping speed in check. went over to railyard and it was fast. i could hold an edge. i was standing upright and taking narrow turns. not much fun. went back to crossroads. after a half-hour conditions improved. i was still taking big turns but holding an edge. better than skidding. caught glimpses of people watching me from the chair. helped my motivation. left around 11AM.

has afton opened all the runs yet?

12/26/21, DAY 14 early sunday morning. ski teams already carved up milkrun and set courses on crossroads, olympic, and warners. on crossroads, the cord broke up into marbles. couldn't hold a solid edge. went over to railyard and it was fast. i could at least maintain an edge... most of the time. i left after half hour thinking i'd come back when it was warmer. that didn't happen.