BlueB Posted February 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 Sunny skies and no crowds at all ? Sweet. Very frozen cord in the morning, then after 10:30 slush in the sunny spots and still frozen in shades. Rode Generics and Hornet today. Didn't like the Generics much this morning? Don't know if it is getting "tired" or I messed up my edges tune last night? Hornet performed like a champ in mixed conditions of the late morning. Early in the morning, on that frozen corn, I did one very laid and locked carve, letting my hand slide on snow. I must have placed too much pressure on it, as the suvenier is a small burn blister on my palm! Funy part is that the glove survived. I have to remember to wear the wrist guards... Teaching tomorrow... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted February 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2007 Last Sunday, 11th, rain, argh, teaching in that again. Sill good carving conditions - rain really compacted the snow. Yesterday, 16th, frozen corn in the morning, softening up later on. Great carving. Met this outstanding soft boot carver, Kevin, but there's a whole new tread about it... Today, 17th, great carving conitions! It didnt go below 0 last night, so no freezing. Very good groming, great amounts of grip. Later it bumped up a bit. I practiced carving through the soft bumps as they were not there and launching of them for edge transition. Great fun! 4x4 handled whatever I threw at it. Boris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crucible Posted February 18, 2007 Report Share Posted February 18, 2007 Hey there Boris, How are ya digging that 174 Prior 4WD? I'm thinking of getting one myself for freecarving to complement my Winterstick 162 Cirque, but am torn whether to get a 169 4WD or a 174 4WD. Any input would be appreciated. see ya tomorrow, George Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted February 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2007 George, Easy answer - try both tomorrow! Prior is having free demo day. I ride 174. I could easily have it as my only board. It does everything pretty good. Doesn't shine in pow or ice, and is a bit too long and stiff for trees, for my liking. So, I use it mostly as carver for imperfect or softer conditions. Sometimes I think I would be better of with 169 (softer flex), for bumps and trees, but then this beast carves so nicely... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted February 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2007 We were getting new snow whole week! Only 2" fresh was reported this morning, so I took Tanker to the hill. Right cohice! Older snow compacted already into great soft pack and new one made it for marginal carving conditions, but not poder gun contitions at all. So, Tanker ate it all with vengance :D carved where carvable, sufed where deaper. I left the hill as the snow started to come down heavilly. It's supposed to stay like that through the night. 4807 or 3800 are going out tomorrow... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Smith Posted February 25, 2007 Report Share Posted February 25, 2007 Hey Guys, I'm guessing you have all the "inside" dope on Cypress Mtn. I'm with the Association of Ontario Snowboarders. My son rides with the Ontario SBX team. We have 2 NorAms there late March (postponed from Feb.) These races are the required "break in" races in prep. for 2010. I've seen summer footage of the (earth work) construction on the course. Have they built a course yet? Are you impressed? Last years Grouse mtn. races where cancelled, lack of snow. Is Cypress more dependable? The NorAm coures this year (Tremblant, Copper & Big White) have been marginal at best... I hope Jeff Ihaksis is at his best for this project. I look foreword to your imput. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave* Posted February 28, 2007 Report Share Posted February 28, 2007 Well I have to admit that I have had the mid season doldrums going on and have been a bit lazy the past three weeks (only on hill 7 out of the previous 21 days) as I just havent really been "feeling it" Today got the mojo back, one of my top three days on Cypress for the season. Bluebird skies, minus 5 celcius at 0820hrs warming to plus a couple by 1300 hrs, Very few people on the hill until about 11ish, talked with a few on chair they went to work, quit and came riding, one guy even conned his boss to coming up. About a foot of leftover fresh for me in the "bundoos" as Boris calls them, aka some of my tree stashes, the sky chair was damn near untouched, didnt open until 1130ish though and there was a minor feeding frenzy of bottom feeders side slipping fresh powder THE HUMANITY!!!!!! And to top it all off some very nice sections of grippy hero corduroy , didnt have to contend with any spodes either until about 1230hrs on the groomies. Got my helmet camera mount dialled in for the old pentax w10, some good tree line footage and a few carving laps done on the digicam. Quit around 1315 with thrashed legs, the spidie senses worked for the radar trap on the way home, traffic was light ( I only swore three times, a new record low, not sure where the handitards were but they werent in front of me), got home to find my CASI registration # finally showed up, hello pro deals. All in all a great day, had to slip out and buy a lottery ticket just in case. As to Robs question RE Bx track there is no snow being moved for that near as I can tell yet, I can see a few potential lines around the upper park area that might work, knowing the general hinkiness of Cypress they will leave it to last minute to put something together. edit: should probably mention I dont think they will cancel due to lack of snow this year unless we have a really bad case of warm weather and rain over march, there is a lot of snow right now. Dave* see attached view from sunrise chair overlooking ?bowen? island and I think Howe sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimo Posted February 28, 2007 Report Share Posted February 28, 2007 Mmmmm. Pretty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave* Posted February 28, 2007 Report Share Posted February 28, 2007 Feb 28 report, per usual the cypress snow report is pushing creative license to the utmost. In actuality about 2cms on top of some decent hard pack. Off piste froze up a little after yesterday aft warm spell. Overcast but good visibility. Should have taken the 185 factory prime up, the hill was deserted. Temp minus 5c at 0815hrs , warming to minus 3 c at 1115hrs when I came off the hill. Should be good carving conditons for the weekend crew if current conditons continue. Wont be back up till monday, gotta make the bucks. Dave* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted March 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 Dave, dude, we need to ride together again. It's been couple of weeks now, if I don't count Whistler... Last Sunday was spectacular, but mountain opened late - they couldnt clear the parkings and chai off-loading areas in time. Did you ride - someone told me a very agressive guy on plates was spotted? I'll be riding on Friday morning and teaching/riding on Sunday. Rob, No signs of a serious bx course being built... Do not worry about snow, we are set well into April with the base we've got right now. All the coastal mountains are fluky, it can dump today and rain tomorrow... Boris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave* Posted March 1, 2007 Report Share Posted March 1, 2007 Ola Boris, if the aggressive plate rider was spotted sunday it was not me, I slept in way late over the weekend. I have been up early (0815ish) the past few mornings though. Is there another Cypress hardbooter lurking out there? I thought it was just us two. Yup need to get synched up for some riding sessions, no weekends off till mid march though, I am getting bored riding by myself all the time, havent found any jibbers that can keep up even in the trees. BTW starting early april I am shifting my work to Wed/Thur/Fri with only one night shift per month. Getting to old for the nights that I have been doing. Bumped into Ron the Israeli guy from the Casi course today who thought HB gear should be banned from the mountain, he didnt recognize me in my "normal" helmet initially, he took a look at the feet and clued in pretty quick. Thats all, start work set tomorrow. Riding monday. dave* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted March 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 Totally awsome snow this morning - like butter. Few days of dumping and good grooming made for hero snow. Well at least untill it started snowing again, mid-morning... My new toy, WCR 181 (non-metal) is a real deal. Probably the best carv stick I tried so far. Thanks Jim! I does it all: EC, race style, long turns, medium, medium/short), speed, airs on edge changes, great edge hold, stable, incredibly quick edge transitions indespite the 19.5 waist... It felt stif on hand flex, but doesn't feel stif when riding at all. Very nice nose profile, too. Just f$#**n amazing board. Well, all of this with keeping in mind that it all happened on hero snow. I still have to ride it on some yummy frozen cord that we get so often at Cypress... I saw Adrian's Donek against the racks by cafeteria, but culdn't find the man... I'm going for few more hours in the morning. Boris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted March 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 Rainnnnn :( Quite compact snow, though. Carvable. WCR performed great, nose is definitelly good enoug for all-mountain applications. But... I did my 1st ful cartwheel. I overloaded and then stuffed the nose on the toe side and it launched me big time, to the great amusement of people on chair lift. It kind of took me by surprise - I always overloaded on heel sides in the past... As I know the feeling very well, I alwys manged to sit on the snow or drag the backside a bit to recover. However, the toe side was something new to me, and it showed... 2 hrs of water sports and I called it a day. More rain on forcast for tomorrow: Teaching in the rain, just teaching in the rain, what a glorious feeling, I'll be wet again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radial Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 Hi Guys, I guess I am the other rider out there. I spent Friday,Saturday and Sunday at Cypress while visiting my daugher who is in school at SFU. I have the Donek that was in the rack. I really enjoyed the mountain and hope to get back in a couple of weeks. I am from Seattle. I spent most of my time on the long intermediate chair since visibility was poor on Saturday. These were my 59-61 days this winter and I am feeling pretty good about things. I did have the worst crash of the year yesterday afternoon when I went over the nose trying to avoid a couple of off duty instructors who came down from above me. I was just about to run them into the trees so I bailed and spent a couple of seconds looking down at the snow before a truly spectacular crash. For anyone who does not know, Cypress is about 20 minutes form downtown Vancouver and will be the site of some of the 2010 Winter Olympic events. The views from the top are awesome, lift ticks are afordable and the whole thing is a lot closer than Whistler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted March 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2007 Hey Radial! That solved Donek mistery. Drop me, or Dave, a message next time you are headed for Cypress. Sunday was actually very good, it didn't rain until late afternoon. Wet snow compacted itself - very carvable. Didn't teach too many lessons either - I had time to rip few runs. Pierre was there with his Swoard, too. He's getting pretty good... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave* Posted March 7, 2007 Report Share Posted March 7, 2007 The Tuesday report.... 1) I didnt ride yesterday it was raining per the website. i must be getting old that would never have stopped me in the past. 2) Today plus 4 celcius this am at around 0900 parking lot warming to what felt like plus 8-10 by 1200 . Snow started off on the corduroy about 4 cms of butter smooth schmoo transitioning into a nice firm grippy base, unlimited grip, very nice to carve, off piste was already at least 10-15cms of semi firm schmoo. Skies were a mix of sun and cloud. crowds were non existant, did not ride the chair with any one period. Was able to leave some horrendous trenchies until the snow got to soft and wouldnt hold a full laid out carve without exploding out at just past apex or burying the nose, it was about 6 inch deep schmoo layer at 1200hrs when this was happening, the 4x4 can only sink in so far when on edge to find the grip. Of note my trenches were the only ones visible from one side of valley to the other, no other skier or jibber was digging em deep, was able to leave a few nice sets of figure 8s on lower bowen that were plainly standing out as visible from top half of eagle chair. Midway chair not running had to boonie bash off the top of sunrise to hit that little stash of cord, small quarter pipe forming up near top of midway chair, good for a nice little pop of air just before railing the grooomies. Newly repaired gloves worked way better than expected on both knuckles and palms, imminent issues with right knee and elbow, dragging to many body parts. Did not luck out with traffic on way home, Need to do some hot waxing tonight with the secret warm weather stash. Hopefully no rain tomorrow. Dave* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crucible Posted March 7, 2007 Report Share Posted March 7, 2007 Dave*, I looked out my window this AM and saw the North Shore and thought, "Who among my carving brethern is lucky enough to have the morning off?" I'm glad it was you- being a salaryman definitely has its downsides for me on days like today. :( Thanks for the snow update. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted March 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2007 Foggy and feeling of the comming rain, in the morning, made for empty the hill... Yet, the snow was really nice and grippy - nice grooming job, 18" of shmooze we've got over past 48 hrs compacted into very carvy surface. For even bigger fun, there were some giant death cookies, sized like coconuts *&$@**. I managed to hit my hand against one in laid-over turn. Yet the fun wasn't long, it started raining at about 10:30... I had silliest 3some collision today - a teenage girl cut me of while commited to my toe side. Instead of busting her into pieces I managed to pick her up in my arms, but then my controll was gone and we crashed into another guy. We all ended up sitting in the snow and laughing... Not going to the hill tomorrow - time to re-arrange the docks at the sailing club. :( Boris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave* Posted March 11, 2007 Report Share Posted March 11, 2007 Ola Boris, 1) I guarantee you had a better day than me at work today, a bad day on the hill is better than a good day at work, I had a crappy day, we were minus four staffers today. 2) Was she cute? Dave* ( not riding till at least weds afternoon, will be up next weekend for sure) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted March 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2007 Was she cute? You horny old devil :D Actually I do not know... I was just happy that no one got hurt. But now I really know how to pick the chicks on the hill ;) Boris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave* Posted March 15, 2007 Report Share Posted March 15, 2007 The thursday report Minus 3c at 0850hrs parking lot, zero at 1200hrs Very few people on hill. High overcast skies, one or two brief sunny periods. Some very nice firm cord, supergrippy if edged in, no worries about snow "letting go" today. I think the groomer guy that did eagle chair side was into BCs finest product last night, more than a few softball size death cookies, very firm, I tagged one with my left ass cheek on a carve , that hurt. None on the other side though. Riding the "big evil" today, (190 coiler), ton O'fun just got caught a few times running out of turning room. Will be back up till sunday if not raining, Dave* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted March 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2007 Ha Dave, you beat me to my last night's report. Here it goes: Roy asked me for a night ride (my first one this year). As I didn't see him ride from the WES, I was keen to go. And whao! what a progress, on his 7th or 8th day on snow (any kind of snow sports) and hard boots, the man is riding the greens with tons of confidence, and he can get down a blue. Every now and agin he rails the turns. Looking very promissing. We also bumped intop Kevin, the expert soft boot carver and his buddy Troy. Towards the end of the evening we met another chap on an Alp, then his friend on softies who claimed to be ex racer from Whistler and the third guy on skis who knows Dave*. The hard pack was really good, just as Dave described. Maybe few icy patches, but nothing serious. I rode the Prior WCR 181 again and I love the beast more and more - strange combination of dampness and livliness ?!? The only complaint is that it is not a board that I would be able (physically) to ride all day long. But that's my lazy a$$, nothing wrong with the board - it's just what it's ment to be - a top race stick. My other ride for the night was little Easy Jungle 165 SKWAL. Now that was different ride and tons of fun too. I'll write a separate tread about it... All in all, great night out. Will be teaching Kids Camp on Saturday and Snowboard School on Sunday... Boris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted March 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 Rain... Medium to heavy at the times. Surprisingly, the snow was super carvable in the morning and decent for the rest of the day. I call it rain compacted. One of our ski instructors, Ilia, approached me about carving, with lot of enthusiasm. It turned out that he learned years ago in Austria, from a race coach or someting like that, and later he instructed at Tahoe, before comming to Vancouver. Propmtly, I stack him on my 4WD and I jumped on his Metrons and off we went. My jaw dropped instantly - I gues we were lucky that it was raining, otherwise the slope would have cought the fire - Ilia just teard the hill appart! Such a pleasure to watch someone ride with so much energy and ethusiasm, very strong race style, mixing in few ECs for fun. Tomorrow he'll buy my old Nidecker Sl and a pair of ancient bindings, just to get him started on hard boots again. On the side note, I'm totally sold on Atomic Metron skis. His pair is only 157 and I looked on them suspiciously - I never rode skis shorter than 163. It turned out that this is plenty, Metrons are incredibly stable, edge hold is gargantuan, I wasn't able to find their top speed. Actually, the faster I went the better they carved... Way better carvers then my Heads. The only down side is that they are really heavy, peobably a single ski weighes as a pair of "normal" skis. Boris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted March 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 Rain and fog in the morning with "rain compacted" snow, sunny breaks with slush about lunchtime... Big carving party - usual suspects: Dave, Pierre, Boris + our new recruit Ilia on my old Nidecker. Great fun. I tried another pair of Ilia's skis, little Atomic 9:11 150 (they feel like snowblades). They are carve specific machines, and hold great edge and can be laid over. However, they are narrower then Metrons and boot-out becomes a problem on extreme angles. They have ASYMETRIC sidecuts - inside edge has more radius and arc is offset forward, to compensate for wide stance and inner foot forward position... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted March 26, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2007 After pouring rain and closed hill yesterday, today was almost perfect: Sunny patches, hard pack in the morning, no crowds until 11-12 am. However, mountain decided to open only green runs ?!? for the morning, and the Fork (with boarder cross course under construction on it) opened only at about 11:30. By that time snow started turning into slush at the sunny parts. Roy is starting to rail on hard boots, unfortunately he had a light collision and reinjured his stiff back again. Still was able to walk of the hill. Dave* was there on his 4x4, fun to ride with as usual. Elia (sorry, not Ilia as I miss-spelt before) showed up only as we were leving the hill. I tested my new boots, Dalbello CarveX, the are the very same shells as Head Stratos, but with DIN blocks (good for skiing to). I think they'll work great for me after a bit of bootfitting. Very nice flex and lot of adjustability. Also I rode a very fun little board, Xena - only 159cm long with 142 cm contact edge and 14m (yes 14, not a typo! it's like Shred's design almost) radius on it! 20cm waist and mellow flex make for very very interesting ride. On top of that, the female torso graphic with sticker swim suite on it got Dave's imagination really going :) Boris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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