Spirit Mtn - Dec 2007

[rwmaron]

I've only been waiting for 245 days for this!

Duluth, MN - Opening Day - TOMORROW!

Friday, November 30th

Hours

9am - 5pm Weekends Only until Friday, December 14th

Base Snow Depth

18" - 24"

Snow Conditions

Awesome / Machine Groomed / Man-Made

New Snowfall Past 7 Days

1.5"

Groomed Last Night

Lifts Open

1 - 2; Spirit Express with Summit Chair as needed

Beginner Area & Handle Tows Running

Lakeside Beginner Area with Kaser Ski Carpet

Runs Open

3 top to bottom (Sissor Bill, Bindle Stiff, Sky Hooker) with several smaller connecting runs (Downhill Musher, Powder Monkey, Log Roller). Next to open will be Gandy Dancer, Four Pipe, and the SoBe Terrain Park!

Big Air Terrain Park & Half-Pipes

Not Yet Open - We are making snow and hope to have the run open by next weekend, without terrain features... they're coming soon!

and the local forecast:

Saturday: Periods of snow, mainly after noon. High near 24. South wind 10 to 20 mph becoming east. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches possible.

Saturday Night: Periods of snow. Low around 22. East wind around 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 6 to 10 inches possible.

Sunday: Snow likely, mainly before noon. Cloudy, with a high near 24. North wind between 10 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%

[rwmaron]

"Even if you are experienced, you will probably tip over on the first run of the season. "

Only three runs open and lots of folks, but as they say in the church bulletins, 'a good time was had by all'

[Scuff]

Date: Sun, March 2nd, 2008

Temp: 30's

Visibility: a bit foggy, overcast.

Conditions: Carveable hardpack/softpack,

Hardbooters: 5 (Me, Karl, Jim, Nick, and an unknown Aysm rider)

Made my first-ever trip to Spirit!

(Living in MN for six years now - don't know why it's taken me this long.)

Fun stuff - the longer trails and rollers gave a good workout.

Arrived at 10:30am to catch some runs on Gandy and Hooker

while the sun was still peaking through the clouds.

Having spotted some unfamiliar carve-marks from the lift, I decided

to wander over to Four Pipe and investigate the source.

Met up with Russ and his wife on the Spirit Express lift, where

the rest of the carvers were also hanging out.

Snow was fast and gripping pretty well. There was very little traffic

on the wide-open parts of runs, so I had somewhat of a personal struggle to

heed the numerous "slow" signs.

Met Jim, then Rode up the lift with Nick who said he broke the bindings

last year on his Burton Safari so decided to upgrade to a Prior.

Switched to my SL board about 2:30 and rode till 3:45pm when the

mist covering my goggles froze and my quads started to burn/fail.

Russ: Thanks again for the pass, the tour, and company on the chair.

Best of luck on your patroller test and hope to see you again this year or next!

[jolson]

Spirit Mtn probably to shut down after the last weekend in March so anyone heading up to take advantage of one of the longer runs in the State that fits well for carvers (or want-to-be pretenders like me) should make the trip. Great to see the number of carvers truly increasing in our neck of the woods and meeting "Scuff" and watching him on his F2 was a pleasure. Post here if you are coming up over the next three weekends. Russ is quite the obi-wan of carving (one with the board) in the area and he or I are usually out each weekend.