BlueB Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 Wake up call to Cypress carving brotherhood! The mountain is on stand-by for opening. Cover is not thick but it's wery cold and forcast is looking good... We had the first staff training last Sunday. As usual, in this tread I'll be doing my day to day ride reports and short equipment reviews when I get to ride something interesting. I'm sure others will chime in to... Boris Watch the snow reports at: www.cypressmountain.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave* Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 Ola Boris, I will be at cypress this year also, A few new pieces of gear added to the "quiver" Drove up there a few days back for a look see and not a whole lot of snow present. Will be riding mainly Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues my new days off, plus a few extras here and there, keep eyeballs open for the orange brain bucket. Dave* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted November 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 Hey Dave! I'm delighted to have your company again this year! What are the new babies? Few newcommers here, too :D I'll mostly ride Fri, Sat, and teach/ride Sun, like before... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave* Posted November 27, 2007 Report Share Posted November 27, 2007 So I slept in this AM and did not make it up to whistler as plannned. Instead took a run up to Cypress to get my pass sorted out before opening day. ( Glad that I did, those morons screwed it up for a second year in a row, thank the gods I kept reciept from my original purchase, sorted now) The monsoon in Vancouver was translating to snow on the Cypress road from first viewpoint switchback on. about 8-10cms at parking lot level and coming down heavy, see attached pic, sorry about quality it wasnt great light and in the middle of a snowstorm. Temp felt like about minus 1-2 celcius at lot level. Hit the empty parking lot to test the new pickups snow tires, the yokohama geolandar I/Ts almost work too good, had to really work to break loose to practice a few drift turns in 2wd, then a couple donuts, one or two Ebrake swap enders, then a couple 4 wheel "lockups" to stress test the ABS system. It think I am ready for winter now that I got that out of my system. Pickup is sure a different beast than the old VW GTi was in the snow. Might try for early wake up tomorrow and hit whistler, will give update on that if I go. Dave* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crucible Posted November 27, 2007 Report Share Posted November 27, 2007 Thanks for the pix bro- way to whet the appetite for opening day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted November 30, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2007 Easy Rider will run tomorrow. I was going to go but will have to work. Probably few more runs will open on Saturday... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted December 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2007 Great to be on the snow again! Only Easy Rider was open today, but not too crowded. Thin cover, but nice packed powder. Roy and I carved some nice lines "unter zie lift" on Oxygen FR and Hooger Booger, respectively (our rock boards). Snow came down almost entire day and it would carry through the night and the day tomorrow. So, it sounds like more runs opening and a pow day. Stay tuned... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted December 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2007 Still only the Easyrider open... Beautifull powderoy in the morning, snowing all day and chopped up fresh in the afternoon. Dynastar 3800 169 with 3 starp Burton bindings and Burton Drivers at high angles carved surprisingly well. If there wasn't for crushing foot pain from tight straps, one could have thought I was on some sloppier hard boots... It seems that I'll have to ride this setup quite often this year, due to political issues with school management :( But that's another tread... Few mountain hosts employees inquired about h/boot lessons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave* Posted December 9, 2007 Report Share Posted December 9, 2007 Dec 08 2007 Woke up 0545hrs , eyeballed the Cypress report , seen only easy rider chair to go, said %^&* it I'm going to whistler. Hit the creekside parkade at 0810, was off the top of red chair by 0840 hrs Temp felt like about minus 8 celcius, bluebird skies, nice crispy cord, The 179 4x4 performed per usual, was dragging elbows in about 6 turns down the green chair off the first lap, (although some rust in my form) By the time I thought to take a picture the batteries in my camera were frozen up so sorry no pics. Peak chair opened today also, watch out for rocks off piste, the coverage is a bit thin, harmony open , but the Chair to nowhere behind harmony did not. I discovered that the "summer of Dave* " came back to bite me, 5 months of slacking left me running out of gas early, only lasted to 1330 hrs before the legs cried uncle and I had to stop before I hurt myself. Stopped by the prior shop on the way home, yapped with the Deaner , was very close to coming home with a 23 waist 177 cm titanal deck, had to exit quick before the mastercard melted down. There was also a cool looking kessler style nose with 21ish waist that caught my eye . All in all a successful first day of riding for the year. Will be flogging the easy rider at cypress tomorrow morning,, Dave* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted December 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2007 Good for you, spending the day at Whistler... Today at Easy Rider we had plenty of rocks - only about 2/3 of run's width were open. I expect it even worse tomorrow. I won't show up (had enough of rock riding today), however you'll find Roy on his Mountain Host duty... I tried an Oxygen KR72 carbon that I picked for peanuts and was pleasntly surprised - gargantuan edge hold, tons of rebound (airborn edge changes on green run), very fast even unwaxed... After 2 runs I started feeling sorry for the board - she survived her 10 year life without any bigger damage and now used as a rock board. I switched to Hooger and it felt plain stupid and unstable after riding the racing oldy. Boris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surf Rat Posted December 10, 2007 Report Share Posted December 10, 2007 right on guys, looks like dec 21 is my first day of the season...untill then ridin bikes in the cold is more fun for me than ridin crust on the bunny hill...crossin my fingers for some snow on the local mtns this week:biggthump:lurk: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted December 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2007 Plenty of new wet snow, about 30% of resort is open now. Very poor visibility and somewhat lumpy snow. Roy, Dave and me on plates, Arthur still on softies but thinking of giving h/boots another try... Plenty of new guys on the hill inquiring about alpine and wanting to try. One is a new ski instructor, I'll talk to him more tomorrow. I had quite a bad day. It started by Roy and Art being early to pick me up. I rushed too much and left my helmet with good gogs on it behind. So, I was stuck with took and stupid small gogs/sunshades taht fogged and got snow stuck under all day long. As it was my first day of real riding, I felt quite rusty. I brought 2 boards to the hill. Oxygen 172 was quite usless in lumpy soft snow and crowded conditions. Short fat Stuf 164 bx, that I bought for teaching on plates, behaved ok in the conditions. However, I rode it with angles as flat as the bindings would allow, about 30/15 or 25/15. I must say that I sucked big time - that's actually flatter then I normaly run the softies... Later in the day I hopped onto Oxygen again, just for another taste of steep angles and, surprise surpisie, now I didn't like that either!?! Felt like I coud use at least 5deg less on both feet and less heel lift on rear. Could it be that body makes adjustments so quickly, that I was already half tuned into flat angles I rode earlier? Ah well, the truth is somwhere in between, as usual... Dave and I wanted to go early, but we lost Roy and Art in the process. As I couldnt get hold of them, I had to go back and find them. To finish the day in great style, I got taken out by a straight lining skier, from behind, on a green run! I did what I always do - rode my carves in pretty constant rythm, not even full C shaped (flat run) and bang! he hits me while on my heel side, flipping me over my toe edge, face right into the snow. Gogs made a small cut/bruise into top part of my nose. While I was whipping the snow of my face, he proceedes to tell me that I cut right across (he didnt even fall). Taming my anger, I just mumbled that I was ok and waved at him to carry on... Teaching tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave* Posted December 16, 2007 Report Share Posted December 16, 2007 I think I had a much better day than Boris, left early, laughed at the morons stuck with the all seasons as leaving the hill, had a nap, went to multidepartmantal Xmas party, rumours of free bar true, got digits, just rolled home now, early am start tenuous at best, hangover looming hard, free tequila and heinekins what the hell!!! Head will be hurtin in AM. Dave* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted December 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2007 At snow school... No lessons to teach, but staff orientation and courses all day long, plus 2hrs of snow showeling in the late afternoon. Brought Stuf with plates and 3800 with softies to the hill, but ended up riding 3800 only. I flattened the angles to something like 25/10 or 30/15. Still could rail the board. However it's real workout on steeper stuff. Quite a few times I forgot that I'm not on alpine and tried riding in my old ways - well it never ended up to well, especially on heel sides... Snow was to die for -30cm of fresh wet overnight, nicelly groomed - carvers dream. I really craved for my big WCR and plates... Met Dave very briefly on top of Panorama. He didn't look too hangovered :D Boris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave* Posted December 18, 2007 Report Share Posted December 18, 2007 The Monday Report. Minus 2 celcius, mix of sun and cloud, approx 10-15cms new windpack powder off piste. Crowds= non existant, sunrise n eagle running, oh yeah the bunny chair too. Off piste was stellar, getting enough coverage for some limited boony bashing. On piste was soft pack "powderoy" , looks like cord, smells like cord, lets you leave horrendous trenches at full crank however not quite 100% trustworthy to hold without breaking or allowing the nose to bury in , left some nice heelside to body imprint to toeside fakie pancake landings aka the patented flying starfish. Was very nice(and safe) for 85% aggression carving though. Got my buddy "The Chinch" aka Los Chinchinero or MeteroMan up on the HBs for the first time, he took to it better than I did the first time, Started on SB 125s on an option c165 goofy foot with about 45 and 40 angles and a 19ish stance ( mid sized dude). His take on first timing the HBs from a capable soft booter. -initial apprehension about the angles but no crashing( used to +15f,-10 rear) -he prefered the walk mode for a bit of extra flex -some difficulty bringing board around on steeps and off piste, likely from rear foot "jibber sweep" from soft booting. To his credit he came down the steep ****e on the second lap with out whining -He was getting some decent carves in by 1100hrs and "feeling it" -foot pain from non thermo loaner boots had day end by 12ish -meteroboy who is all about looking good for the ladies was hooked when watching the chair lift people watching me laying it down. -probably should have started him on a wider round tail with lower angles then work the angles up There was a few other Hbers out today, 50-60yr old fellow pimping some classic Burton freecarve, and an asian guy on some old SB121s/Catek/freeride set up, didnt get to talk to either though. Not having much luck with the camera, two sets of batteries froze up on me. Dave* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surf Rat Posted December 18, 2007 Report Share Posted December 18, 2007 dam i cant wate to go ride.....just call me the trench digger in the flow bindings. thusrday night shuld be good ..plenty of precipitation this week. I cant wate to ride the new lift and runs:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave* Posted December 19, 2007 Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 The Tuesday report ( from this am ) Was up first thing to minus 2 c, low overcast, and very flat light, with approx 5-8cm accum from O/N , snowing lightly at about 1 cm per 3 hrs, mild to mod wind while on lift at approx 15-30 kmh by the seat of the pantsometer. 71 atv weapon of choice. The powderoy from yesterday firmed up into hero cord, the groomers buffed up some new patches of butter smooth goodness, only prob was seeing where the hell going, wasnt bad after a lap or two , trenches put some contrast down, The off piste was also very good with the couple cms of windpack powder on top of soft pack, the base in the trees just keeps getting better each day, my favorite secret stash was untouched , some uncovered blowdown still showing, another 30-40cms should have it all covered. Lets hope the temps stay below zero up there, and the Cypress management pulls their collective thumbs from aft orofices and opens that new chair, that looks to open some very tasty terrain. Riding solo today, got to work on pacing myself, legs burned out by 1230, lots of pristine cord and powder untouched, the hill was very deserted today. HB count = 1 ( me ) Just finished assembling my new virgin 08 177 wcr with suspension kit and TD2s for saturday morninig useage No updates for a couple days, have to make a living weds/thurs/fri Dave* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_roboteye Posted December 19, 2007 Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 Just finished assembling my new virgin 08 177 wcr with suspension kit and TD2s for saturday morning useage. Dave* how wide is that bad boy in the waist? 22cm, 23cm+ Just joshin' ya. I got my hands on 2 Rossi WC's. A 184 and a 190. later, Dave R. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave* Posted December 20, 2007 Report Share Posted December 20, 2007 Mr Roboteye, the 177 wcr is "just" a stocker 19.5 waist non titanal with the spoon tail, got her in Oct this year as a tight traffic icy condition carver, the 11ish meter cut should be perfect for cypress weekends and hell with the roundish tail even a bit of minimal powder boonie bashing.. Dave* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave* Posted December 23, 2007 Report Share Posted December 23, 2007 The Saturday Report. an interesting day, primary lifts shut till 1100ish due to high winds, was able to get to parking lot by 1130 hrs ( apparently the term SPODE can apply to car drivers, if you have all seasons stay the &^% off the road, end rant), props to the yokohama geolandar I/Ts they make me smile each time I drive up the C-bowl road. Temp about zero celcius, heavy fog with a realistic 10-20 foot visibility out in the open, however approx 20-30cms of fresh windpack powder ( okay Cypress cement, its good once you get used to it and packs into nice base) Very few people on hill, zero lift lines which was amazing for a xmas holiday saturday, even fewer people in the trees, a few other guys lines spotted in moons, many left for tomorrow, took a few pokes just off top panorama then aim left to top of half pipe I was the only one to tap that, even more stash left for tomorrow although its tiiight in there, tomorrow the 162 Option North Shore is going up. Didnt spot any of the ussual suspects, although I know Boris n the boys are not very arboreal and dont like to hang in these areas. Quit at 1445 hrs due to soaking wet and getting chilled. HB count =1 ( me ) Monoski count =1 Dave* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted December 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2007 It doesn't sound as such a spectacular day as I was expecting... Man, I've been off since Thursday, but suffering from quite bad flu. Last night I could hear heavy rain through my sleep and was draeming tons of pow at Cypress. However, I didn't feel quite right to make the trip... I'll have to try to make it tomorrow to teach my shift... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KTibor Posted December 23, 2007 Report Share Posted December 23, 2007 Hi guys, Good to see that you are still riding. If You happen to come to Big White make sure to contact me. I'm finally getting better this year on the board. Tibor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave* Posted December 23, 2007 Report Share Posted December 23, 2007 The Sunday report from Dave* Minus 2 c, approx 15cm new, snowing at 1-2cms per hour, winds 20-40 k while on chair. Visibility much better today. Not much sense in talking about anything else Raven Chair opened first time today with a good weeks worth of fresh snow piled on the cut runs. I managed to be in the first wave of people to nail it , saaaaaweeeeeeeet almost bottomless and the first 3 laps I got did not cross anothers tracks. Lots of rollers , watch out for the drainage ditches, although they make for good booters ( lots of rubber boned kids doing back flips, most not landed however) The chair is a slow speed , non detach quad, need to time it but guesstimate about ten minutes chair time, the cut laps are a steepish blue/light black consistency, if they decide to groom to cord should be very entertaining indeed. Legs ran out of gas early, a bit of lunch, then 4 laps of sunrise chair down thru moons, even more sweet pooter to be had. HBs spotted =1 (me) Monoskiers spotted=1 BlueBs spotted=1 (in soft boots n twinkie suit) Tibor, good to hear you are also still at it, I have no plans for Bigwhite at this time, possible Silverstar daytrips in early January. Dave* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surf Rat Posted December 24, 2007 Report Share Posted December 24, 2007 awsome dave!!! glad someone got to ride all that fresh. I riped up the mtn last thursday night, the snow was great and i"m glad we have all that base covering up the holes and stumps. moons and slash were great by moon light. I wonder if the raven ridge chair is going to run at night? enjoy cypress fellow carvers and pow pow hunters.. I will be in Colorado untill the new year. Cheers, Bryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted December 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2007 Dave, thanks for making up a special category for BlueB's ;) I guess it stands for disgrunted hardbooters... I had a bit different approach then Dave. Instructing staff wasn't allowed on new terrein in the morning, so I had to ride Lions Express (Bowen/Rainbow) first. Not too many people braved the steeps, even fellow instructors took over to woods, so I enjoyed lots of fresh lines. However, there was as lot of lumpy chopped yesterday's stuff under thinner fresh cover. I found one hidden pile of rocks under snow on Bowen. Later on they let us ride Raven but it was all heavilly tracked up by then. Widest run under the chair is of ok width and perfect pitch for carving - black/blue with rollers. I wonder if they'll be grooming it in future... Hooked up with Dave for one run. In the late afternoon snow got wetter and turned into light rain at the end. That compacted the snow a lot. Flatter runs became almost rock solid with all the traffic coming down. I had to ride flatter angles softies with 3-straps on 3800 again and it worked well. Getting used to it. Interesting part is that I lived through some situations where I would have crashed with h/boots, and crashed where I would have powered through with plates... Yet, whole day I wished for Tanker to eat up the uneven terrain - 3800 is less dump. Another s/boot observation - my feet hurted a LOT more on flat compact, then on the choppy steeps. Lying in the bed for past 3 days reflected a lot - my lungs were burnt way too often. Not riding today, although there should be perfect carving condition up there. We'll hear from Dave later, I guess... Tibor, great to hear from you. Post some riding stories/photos from Big Whiteout... Boris Merry Christmas to everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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