Dear Buck Hill Diary...

[Corduroy Artisan]

Man, I wish I could be there. It sounds like it will be an amazing time. It's the kind of thing I used to dream about. Does it feel like carving is catching on a little??

[powell1.8]

Well I'm jealous. Will you bring me a snowball from Aspen?

[bobble]

Man, I wish I could be there. It sounds like it will be an amazing time. It's the kind of thing I used to dream about. Does it feel like carving is catching on a little??

hard to say if its catching on but there are alot of hardbooters. there's something like 120+ people. seemed like alot were from europe. most of that group were wearing full body armor; shoulder guards, spine plates, etc. must be crazy back home for those guys.

hey... how do you know tom? i was asking tom how you two know each other but he didn't know what i was talking about. did you board with him?

[bobble]

Well I'm jealous. Will you bring me a snowball from Aspen?

don't be too jealous. the weather for today is suppose to be high 30's... something like 39F. snow mixed with rain. it really seemed warm yesterday.

[bobble]

early morning on buttermilk sucked. it was snowing. at one point my goggles turned opaque white. i stopped and took off my goggles thinking they were fogged. nope. it was foggy outside.

there was a couple inches of snow on top of the cord. really slow snow. eventually the sun started to poke through and i could see shadows. thats when it got really fun.

rode with two other hardbooters, alex and gary for a run. i did a clinic with the pureboarding guys. i wanted to focus on my heelsides so they had a clinic for heelsides. its very different from what i'm used to.

i didn't get a chance to demo anything. some people just don't know how to queue up.

it was pretty cool seeing all the hardbooters coming down the hill from the chair. you could easily count a dozen on the way up the hill. there's some amazing talent here in aspen.

the hardbooters are taken to our rope tow guards. one of the pureboarding guys figured i was from buck hill because of our signature gloves.

oh, and trent says he saw elle mcphearson on tiehack chairlift.

[Corduroy Artisan]

Tom used to help me coach. Before the G-Team it was the Team Gilboa Snowboard Team. I ran it for about three years before Jessica took over. Dave Rothman was my predacessor.

Dave Rothman is godlike on any sporting apparatus!! Jim ain't too bad either.

[Scuff]

Tom used to help me coach. I ran it for about three years before Jessica took over. Dave Rothman was my predacessor.

..Then there was Kent, & Troy, & Karl.

Quite the "G-Team Family Tree" we got going here.

Thanks for the info - I've wondered about the roots.

[bobble]

Hey, Better Than Being At Work...

went to snowmass. the conditions just plain "sucked ass" according to trent. not a good day to ride on plates. it was snowing heavily and very cloudy. the cloud ceiling seemed to be right near the top half of snowmass. at one point the lift chair ahead of us almost disappeared into thick fog and snow. countless times where we couldn't see. there were brief moments of sunshine but not at the top of the mountain. the the snow was 4-6 inches deep and turned into push piles. it would be great on softboots, skis, or a wide board. hardboots? not so much. some runs were semi carveable but i did alot of skidding and getting bounced.

i tried a demo board but conditions were so scary that i couldn't ride it very well.

SES Hardbooter Injury Watch

someone from pureboard broke a collar bone. not sure what happened. its understandable considering todays conditions. a hardbooter collided with another hardbooter on heelside and eff'd up his ankle.

[powell1.8]

The snow at Buck today was by far the best I have been on all season. The sun was out and everything. Good times.:D

[bobble]

Another Day Living The Dream

went back to snowmass. conditions were wunderbar! there was sun in the morning with slight overcast. it started snowing but it was late in the afternoon. trent and i warmed up on this black run called Slot. we were told it was groomed. we found it was too narrow and had a weird fall line. traveled back to the top of Big Burn. went down this wide groomed run called Whispering Jesse. pretty cool run but it gets steep towards the bottom. there were a few other hardbooters ripping up the run. i found it challenging. no so for trent. later we went to a run called Sneaky. spent most of the time there. it started to lightly snow. eventually got bored and moved on to Coney Glade. parts were still groomed. put in some runs and then called it a day after the chair lift closed.

Its Expected And Appreciated

i love watching videos of euros. sure, why not?

Can You Dig It?

an older woman on skis stopped where we were resting. she complimented us on our boarding and said it was fun to watch us. i wish i had the camcorder turned on for that one. next time.

Octopussy

karl, if you're reading this, nate called you a naughty name for not showing up for SES. i won't repeat it here but i think you can figure it out.

:rolleyes:

[bobble]

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

today is my departure from aspen. i'm feeling a little depressed about leaving. prozac anyone? i am however looking forward to sleeping at lower altitude. every night i had a headache. i'll be back at buck hill sunday morning.

some highlights from my trip to SES...

2/14/07, wednesday was softboot day for me at aspen highlands. there was new snow and it was somewhat deep -- at least i thought so. it was fun riding in the powder at first but later regretted making bringing out my softboots. lots of hardbooters were carving through the snow. there were some runs that were fairly decent. i was really disappointed in myself for not riding in my hardboots.

2/15/07, thursday was a fabulous day on the slopes. first went to aspen mountain or ajax. really steep and wide runs. there was one run i really enjoyed, i think it was spur gulch. it's shaped like a half pipe. it was a blast doing toe-side turns on the walls. later trent and i went at buttermilk. i demo'd a donek 175 freecarve II and 179 freecarve I. i think i had more fun on the freecarve II. it painfully sucked going back to my burton board. compared to a donek, its like riding those red plastic toboggans.

2/15/07, friday. demo'd a donek access and the freecave I. the wind was extremely gusty to the point they shut down the lifts going to the top of snowmass. trent and myself made it to the top only to quickly get down the mountain to lower areas where it wasn't so windy. the snow was deep in some areas but very carveable. in the evening we went to the shwanquet. it was a lot of fun and really good food. i had skipped lunch -- pasta never tasted so good! i'm glad moira and i attended.

i hope we go to SES '08.

[Scuff]

nate called you a naughty name for not showing up for SES

*Grumpy face*

See ya Sunday.

[bobble]

it took us 13 hours to get from the hotel to home!

Too Close For Missles, I'm Switching To Guns.

on our second leg we were about an hour into the flight and cruising around 30,000 ft or more. the plane flaps rose up and the plane started to decelerate dramatically. i felt some slight negative g's. it was as if we were about to land. the pilot made an announcement for flight attendents to take their seats. the plane started to bank steeply. my first thought was that they were trying to avoid a collision with another plane. another passenger later said the same thing. there was a very loud roar from the flaps. then i started thinking about the movie Top Gun. about 90 seconds later the pilot makes an announcement that the plane has lost cabin pressure and that they were descending to a lower altitude. he says that if the oxygen masks should drop then follow the flight attendents instructions. it was surreal. those air nozzles stopped blowing air and it felt warm in the cabin. i saw people looking around at each other. i tried to remember the name of the golfer that died in a plane crash from cabin depressurisation. i kept looking up at the overhead compartment wondering if the oxygen masks would drop. i did not want to see those things drop.

Sky Captain and The World Of Tomorrow

the plane kept making a series of banked turns and descending. we could tell we were heading west. several minutes later the flaps later went down and the loud roar subsided. i think that was the worst part hearing that loud roar. it made it a tense moment for everyone. the pilot made another announcement. he apologized for the dramatic air maneuver. he said the flight had been discontinued and that the plane was going to land in lovely Cheyenne Wyoming. we couldn't continue because there wasn't enough oxygen to make it to Mpls at high altitudes and not enough fuel to make it at lower altitude. we were at 10,000 ft. ironically our altitude was below the peaks of Aspen and Snowmass! it was a very bumpy ride.

Ain't This Place A Geographical Oddity...Two Weeks From Everywhere

the plane lands in Cheyenne. everyone was on their cell phones calling people telling them about that we lost cabin pressure. unfortunately for us passengers the Cheyenne airport was closed for the day at 4:45 pm. the pilots won't let us off the plane because the TSA agents are gone. not only that but all the car rental agencies are closed. so even if we could get off the plane there was no ground transportation available. the plan was to either send another plane or bus everyone back to denver. we sat there on the tarmac for about 3.5 hours. the pilots were making the rounds to reassure passengers. some people had panic'd during the flight so the pilots were explaning what happened. the pilots started giving tours of the flight deck. the flight attendents started giving out free beer.

De Plane Boss, De Plane!

another plane arrived. the pilot made another announcement "When we get the gangway up to the plane I want everyone to run in a panic to the other plane!". everyone laughed. we boarded the new plane but it took more than an hour to transfer our luggage. United does not routinely fly into Cheyenne so their were no computers for them to figure out how to distribute the luggage on the plane. when you check in your luggage, it gets weighed by a computer where it determines where its placed on the plane to balance the load. the pilots used cell phones to call the United service center to help them figure out where to place the luggage. it was a manual operation. each piece of luggage had to be placed in certain compartments so that the plane was balanced for take off and landing. we finally got in the air after 4.5 hours on the tarmac. we got into Mpls at 11:55pm.

Its A Beautiful Day At Tires Plus

after getting our luggage we found that our car had a flat tire. i was really exhausted and ticked off. didn't take long to change. finally got home at 1am.

[Mr. T]

Good to hear you guys finally made it home safely. I thought I had it rough when I got scolded by the United check in lady for not checking in my bags one hour prior to my scheduled departure. This was after the flight was postponed by over an hour and I had a good half hour wait just to get to the desk. It was great, she just kept telling me over and over that it would be my fault if my baggage did not make it on the plane. By the time I got through security my flight was delayed yet another half hour. Gotta love flying the freindly skies!

[bobble]

there were reports of windshields cracking on some airplanes. i don't know if that's what happened to our flight but i wouldn't be surprised.

from the star and tribune.

At Denver International Airport, officials were still "baffled" Saturday by cracks that formed during the storm in the windshields of 12 airliners, airport spokesman Steve Snyder said.

Investigators had found no evidence of wind-blown debris that could have caused the cracks, which delayed some flights, Snyder said.

No emergencies were declared and no injuries were reported.

Windshields on two Frontier airliners were cracked while they were airborne near Denver, and two others were cracked while the planes were on the ground, said Joe Hodas, spokesman for Denver-based Frontier Airlines.

Airplane windshields are heavily reinforced, designed to handle travel at hundreds of miles per hour and even survive collisions with birds, Hodas said.

"It's truly bizarre," he said.

SkyWest Airlines reported cracked windshields on eight planes that were taking off or landing Friday, spokeswoman Marissa Snow said. One plane's windshield cracked while it was airborne.

[bobble]

there was a male passenger in front of us that was seated between two women. he was a very talkative guy. he talked as if he flew planes. he talked about how he lost consciousness on a fighter and didn't know it. i also overheard him saying he was in Desert Storm. he talked and talked and talked. anyhow, he apparently he had a few beers. when we boarded the new plane he immediately went to the lavoratory. he came back to reclaim his seat between the two women and started talking again.

a moment later a woman walked up from the rear of the plane. she tapped the guy on the shoulder from behind. he turned to face her.

"Excuse me but are you the person that was in the lavoratory before me?" she asked.

"Uhhh, I think so..." he replied.

my initial reaction was the guy left a wallet or something back in lavoratory.

she leaned in closer to his face. she said something that i couldn't initially hear but then but then i heard her say "... raise the toilet seat!"

she walked back to rear of the plane.

[trent]

wow bob and moira! quite the ordeal. i thought i had it rough just not getting my snowboards until today. bet they loved paying a courier to haul that big bag all the way out to hudson.

"run in a panic to the other plane!". at least the pilots had a sense of humor.

-trent

[Scuff]

Ugh.. what an ordeal!

Wish I coulda been there (For the snowboarding part..)

Cracked airplane windshield? Scary...Wonder what Macguyver would do?

Eh - I'm sure there are a lot worse ways to go

Glad you're back safe and sound.. if a bit shaken.

~Karl

[rwmaron]

Isn't that one of Minnesota's own in the burnt orange jacket in Donek's SES photo thread?

Damn, that Donek logo sure goes good with that jacket.....

[trent]

yeah, bob was enjoying the doneks at the session. now he just has to figure out which one (or two) to buy!

-trent

[bobble]

Isn't that one of Minnesota's own in the burnt orange jacket in Donek's SES photo thread?

another profile in courage as i grit my teeth and yell the S-word.

if you look closely at the signature gloves you can tell i'm from minnesota. dead give away. i was riding a donek 179 freecarve I. on that day i only had one run on that board. the stance width wasn't right.

yeah, bob was enjoying the doneks at the session. now he just has to figure out which one (or two) to buy!

i did like demo'ing donek boards.

you are right... i really need to figure out which board. felt really strange coming back to buck. the snow was fast, the lighting sucked. my board really feels dull compared to the demo boards.

coming back to work was harsh. i could barely function. it was almost like i was sick or something. i had problems staying awake. at times i had problems moving the mouse.

[powell1.8]

Buck is turning brown. I fear that if this storm system supplies rain instead of snow, Buck is screwed. I was out today, in the morning. Snow conditions were less than optimal. Snow was fast, mostly do to the fact that it was frozen cord. I mean it was hard. No ice really, but it was hard and crusty.

I spent my time working on edge presure. Really good conditions to do so. If the pesure wasn't there, I was sliding on my side. That was the only good to come from the day. Did I mention the snow was hard, and crusty.

I have my fingers crossed for snow, followed by some colder temps.

[BobD]

I went for an hour this afternoon. Considering how warm it was yesterday, the snow wasn't as icey as might be expected. I think the low humidity stopped it getting too slushy. A few good groomings and it would be back to good again, even w/o the expected snow.

BobD

[Corduroy Artisan]

I am going to try to ride the $10 ticket tomorrow. 10-1...should I bother, anyone else going?

[powell1.8]

I sure hope a few grooming will help, but some real snow would be great. I think I will make it out in the morning tomorrow. I think it may be allright tomorrow after today weather.