Cousin of Beagle Posted January 3, 2010 Report Share Posted January 3, 2010 I really like the idea of doing a midnight run of long race boards during Grouse's 24/7 hours at the Olympics- I'm sure we could scrounge up enough boards and riders to get a lot of rippers out. No lift lines. Yah, I'd be into midnight runs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruwi Posted January 4, 2010 Report Share Posted January 4, 2010 Sure I will join, it will be a blast.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted January 5, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2010 This was quite an eventful day… Conditions absolutely sucked. Mountain looks pretty sad, we need more snow, desperately. Midway close to frozen, poor uneven grooming, 1/5 of the run stripped of the snow, used to patch the rest. Upper part had plenty of rocks. Turning into mix of slush and ice in the afternoon. Collins full of big brown patches, ice and slush. Rainbow looked pretty brown too – I didn’t go. Maybe Sky Cahir was ok – it snowed in the upper part of the mountain… For the first 1.5 hrs I played with Vampire. Killer tune I put on, night before paid of, it held on everything. I just had to go for it. Later I had to teach quite a bit. In the late afternoon I switched to ElDiablo… Towards the end of my morning play time, from the chair, I spotted a young kid, maybe 6 or 7 years old, on snowboard, coming down semi-frozen Midway, with his dad following on skis. Kid was riding “alpinesque” technique and carving toe side pretty good! Later, I couth up with them on top. I waited for them to go first, as I wanted to watch the kid. To my surprise, dad approached me and asked “Are you Boris?”. It turned out that they heard at Grouse (Ruwi?) about me. All the kid wants to do is to carve and of course they can not find any super small alpine gear… I gave my contact details and dad was enthusiastic about contacting me about lessons and help with the gear. I’d love to take the little one under my wing! Next surprise came late in the day. Young Mark came out to play on his new alpine setup. It was his first day ever on hard boots and he was absolutely killing it! Just going for it, even through the small moguls, between the rocks, over the ice! By next season he’ll be caving the circles around us :D I had one pretty bad lesson. Two 12 year old kids, pretty disinterested in learning, but very interested into throwing snowballs onto each other and chitchatting, not paying attention to my “lecturing”. Most of their gear was ill fitting and loose. To make the things worse, they asked to be in the same level, while one could actually ride/turn and the other could only side slip heel edge. The later one didn’t show much interest or effort to learn that elusive toe side turn… Eventually, I managed to teach the better one the basics of unweighing and asked him to go for level 4 next time. The other one I demoted to level 2 :( … After 7 weeks of me teaching exclusively on hard boots, our deputy-director turned nasty and gave me hell about it (she kinda forgot the preliminary discussions we had at the end of the last season). What made a bit of difference this time is that the Supervisor is a bit supportive of my case. He saw me teaching and riding (freeride board, sofbootish angles but with h/boots) and he’s happy. Later I had another, friendlier talk to the director lady… We shell see, I might pull it off this year, with a bit of luck. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice, I might take Luka for a bit of skiing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted January 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2010 After many days of rain, this was the first dry day at the hill (thanks goodness for that, teaching in the rain is no fun). However, the rains will be back tomorrow... Hill is in shocking condition. Rocks everywhere, steeper and lower laying runs close to barren, Midway and Rainbow PURPOSELY scrapped of all snow! The scraped snow was used to patch Easy Rider and Collins and also piled up in huge munds covered with tarps. I guess last resort stashes for the Olympics... Humpty Dumpty was kinda decent, with small moguls, but carvable with a bit of gutts and committment. Exit via Lower Horizon sucked (rocks). Upper Horizon ok. Sky chair closed. Eagle and Raven chairs closed. Collins ridable but crowded, few rocks here and there. Cat Track ok except for the exit to Collins. Easy Rider still ok with the snow stollen from Midway... I didnt want to bring the Kessler BX or other metal boards, knowing it would be trashy. F2 ElDiablo was the toy for the day and it worked beautifully. It is kinda decadent to have a year old F2 a rock board. Surprisingly, I didn't scratch it at all, except for few very small nicks on the edges. I changed the binding setup to slightly narrower stance (closer to what I use for freecarving and added Burton Elevators and moved the stance slightly forward. Wow, I was shocked with the newly aquired power to my turns, especially with the very crisp heel sides. I guess I have her diled in now. Yoshi kid, from last weekend, showed up for an alpine lesson! Isn't it wonderfull to have a 7 year old carver? I geared him up with some baby Raichles I was saving for Luka when he gets bigger and baby Snowpros (curtesy of Scooby) and mounted them to his 105 freeride board. It worked great. Kid wasn't intimidated at all with the gear and seemed to love every second of the lesson, trying to apply my instructions to the best of his abillity. Right through the lesson we were getting big thumbs up from the fellow instructors. Looking forward to teach him more! Next lesson with 3 unfit uncoordinated 10 year olds was just horrible. We didn't even get to the comfortable side slipping without going high-side :( It seems that the hill will be closed at least for the next 2 days, with heavy rains coming. I took all of my gear home, just in case the closure is permanent until after Olimpics... It took me 3 trips to the car to get everything out: 4 boards, my skis and poles and Luka's skis... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarvingScooby Posted January 11, 2010 Report Share Posted January 11, 2010 crucible, Cousin of Beagle, Ruwi, seungminiGS, Tenorman, enough with Grouse? wakeupjohn enough with Seymour? Geo, is Sea to Sky still possible to Whistler? Till when? I'm sure mr_roboteye, Pierre will join. Who's next? Dave*, xy9ine, Speedtrials, Mark, Let's plan on Sunday, date? Cheers Roy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xy9ine Posted January 11, 2010 Report Share Posted January 11, 2010 this season is looking a bit of a wash for me so far. have yet to pull my board out of the bag. bit of a shame, as i was really getting a taste for the new hardware & real carving. amazingly fun when conditions are good, but days like that seem to be few & far between (locally anyways, esp. given my sporadic opportunity to get up). on the bright side, mountainbike season is full on still. no hiatus due to trail snowcover this year so it seems. had a great ride on fromme today. just booked a weekend @ apex for the end of the month, so will get a few turns in before season end. cheers guys! perry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarvingScooby Posted January 11, 2010 Report Share Posted January 11, 2010 just booked a weekend @ apex for the end of the month, so will get a few turns in before season end. cheers guys! perry Maybe we sud join u, got a bigger place ;). I've heard good things up in interior and the wine too... Have fun bud. Cheers Roy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crucible Posted January 11, 2010 Report Share Posted January 11, 2010 Grouse is in very similar conditions to Cypress- small patches of rocks and bare earth on the Cut, and loose rocks and pebbles embedded into all the remaining cat tracks and slopes. The Peak, Expo and the Cut have been "groomed" the most into being in skiable condition, at the expense of other runs. Having said that, the Cut is still 65% serviceable in terms of being carveable snow, I just wouldn't do it at night unless you really want to destroy your rock board. I went up to Whistler for a "First Tracks" day last Thursday, and it was FANTASTIC. It's amazing to see the difference in having that extra 250m of vertical- the snow from mid-station to the top of the Peak was plentiful, consistent, light and it only got granular from mid-station down to the base of the mountain. The freezing line this season has been too high for the North Shore, but that has just translated into epic dumps of snow for Whistler. It's the exact reverse of snow conditions locally from last year.... I was able to rip the Peak, Harmony and Symphony Bowls, as well as Peak to Creek from 0730 until 1445- and then ski all the way out without having to download. Magic. My advice is to head up there or Mt Baker pronto- it may be the best riding you'll get out of this season. The Sea to Sky highway will be open without travel restrictions for the balance of January, so don't delay.... As for the local North Shore mountains- meh. We need a cold snap with some heavy precip. in the worst way. I wouldn't be at all surprised if all three North Shore mountains don't "temporarily" suspend operations after the rains we'll get this week wash away the remaining snowpack.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tele-bum Posted January 11, 2010 Report Share Posted January 11, 2010 hey Rory, here's a thought. If the rain keeps up i think that could be it for this season. Local mountains anyways. It's way too warm around this time when it should be snowing. freezing level is way up in the 2k meters area. And It is supposed to be raining for the whole week with a slight chance of snow somewhere between 1200m to 1400m(sky chair or higher area) on Wednesday. And appox 90mm of rain in the next few days... btw i think I only saw you once this season. Where's the rest of the crew? oh yeah and they totally destroy/ savage( they scrape and pile the snow up so it won't melt away so easily) all the snow from midway. I think they will all go on to that border cross thing in the Olympic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cousin of Beagle Posted January 11, 2010 Report Share Posted January 11, 2010 Grouse was trying. On Wednesday and Thursday they were making snow. Yes, the North Shore is closed today. However, the forecast is for SouthEast 30 knots of wind, and ambient temperature of 11°. Water temperature is 7°. Good for windsurfing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruwi Posted January 12, 2010 Report Share Posted January 12, 2010 Grouse was trying. On Wednesday and Thursday they were making snow.Yes, the North Shore is closed today. Yes, Northshore closed. Jan 11 photo of Midway-Cypress: ruwi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xy9ine Posted January 13, 2010 Report Share Posted January 13, 2010 guess that's it. cypress officially closed now till after the olympics. wow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarvingScooby Posted January 13, 2010 Report Share Posted January 13, 2010 guess that's it. cypress officially closed now till after the olympics. wow. Ola Boys & Gal, Plan for Whistler this Sunday Jan 17'10...:rolleyes: Cheers Roy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarvingScooby Posted January 13, 2010 Report Share Posted January 13, 2010 Warm weather forces early public closure of Olympic site to preserve snow http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=capress-oly_mountain_closure-133858826&prov=capress&type=lgns THE CANADIAN PRESS 1 hour, 17 minutes ago WEST VANCOUVER, B.C. - Vancouver Olympic organizers say the mountain that will host snowboarding and freestyle skiing at next month's Winter Games will close immediately to the public to protect the condition of courses. Heavy rain and warm temperatures forced the closure of Cypress Mountain, on Vancouver's North Shore, on Monday. With temperatures of 8C Wednesday in Vancouver and 4C up on the mountain, officials announced the mountain would not reopen. The closure comes two and a half weeks earlier than planned after several days of rain and warm weather with the potential to ruin the carefully prepared race courses. "Closing Cypress Mountain early is the responsible thing to do, given the recent weather, in order to make sure we're ready to host the world's best athletes in one month's time," Tim Gayda, VANOC's vice president of sport, said in a statement issued Wednesday. "We appreciate Cypress Mountain management's support and we'd like to thank all Cypress Mountain users for their understanding and look forward to helping welcome them back in March." Olympic organizers said the early closure would allow them to begin last minute construction that wasn't slated to begin until Feb. 1. Warming tents, fencing, signs and banners will be set up and snowmaking will continue as soon as the temperature drops. The Olympic flame will be lit at the opening ceremonies in Vancouver on Feb. 12. Soft snow conditions and warm temperatures were partly responsible for cancellation of a men's and women's World Cup parallel giant slalom snowboard event last winter. The competition was supposed to be an Olympic test event. Poor visibility due to fog also hampered a World Cup aerials event in 2008. But Gayda said after the mountain first closed that both artificial and natural snow has been stockpiled. Even if the weather remained as mild as it has been, the events could go ahead, he said. Since November, VANOC has been using state-of-the-art equipment to turn 95.3 million litres of water into snow, which has been stockpiled at the Olympic venue and surrounding mountains. Natural snow has also been pushed into massive piles and left for later use. Areas of the mountain which will be used for Olympic competition have already been covered with over two metres of artificial snow. Cheers Roy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarvingScooby Posted January 13, 2010 Report Share Posted January 13, 2010 Sure I will join, it will be a blast.. Wud u update the Grouse Condition tonite? Share a pix wud be great! Thx Roy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruwi Posted January 13, 2010 Report Share Posted January 13, 2010 Wud u update the Grouse Condition tonite? Share a pix wud be great!Thx Roy I will be teaching tonight Wednesday for the Adult SB Clinic. Last Saturday's condition was already bad with mud/rocks exposed everywhere so I did not even bother going Sunday. With rain the last 2 days, I could just imagine the condition now. On the positive side, they closed as well and re-opened today preserving some of those precious snow just like VANOC said in Cypress Closure to public, preserve the snow. It will be dark but I will try to bring a camera. Those rocks are a thing of beauty:( ruwi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cousin of Beagle Posted January 13, 2010 Report Share Posted January 13, 2010 Ruwi. Try not to skid any turns. Only nice clean carves. Try to preserve the snow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruwi Posted January 14, 2010 Report Share Posted January 14, 2010 Ruwi.Try not to skid any turns. Only nice clean carves. Try to preserve the snow! Yaiks, it was raining all the time when I was conducting the lesson. Only 3 out of 6 students showed up. I don't blame them. I manage to keep them at the Bunny hill to save the snow. Roy, Didn't bother taking out the camera out of my ziplock bag and wet jacket. Rain and fog so no picture, sorry. I didn't see much of those little rocks floating on the white snow. But I did saw a lot of boulders, boulders of rock:( ruwi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cousin of Beagle Posted January 15, 2010 Report Share Posted January 15, 2010 It might snow at the end of the week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarvingScooby Posted January 16, 2010 Report Share Posted January 16, 2010 It might snow at the end of the week. BlueB report: saw tip of Grouse got some coverage from last nite, don't think will be enough recover for this weekend. Confirm for Balckcomb: BlueB CarvingScooby Tenorman Who else? Boys, 15 cm this coming Sunday total will be 90cm new snow:biggthump Cheers Roy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruwi Posted January 17, 2010 Report Share Posted January 17, 2010 BlueB report: saw tip of Grouse got some coverage from last nite, don't think will be enough recover for this weekend.Confirm for Balckcomb: BlueB CarvingScooby Tenorman Who else? Boys, 15 cm this coming Sunday total will be 90cm new snow:biggthump Cheers Roy Devastation from last week's rain:( Rain again this week, I will sleep in:sleep: ruwi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted January 19, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2010 Scooby, Tenorman and BlueB went for a bit of roadtrip to kill the mid-winter-meltdown-blues... Whistler got crazy dumps over the last week, with final 15cm on the morning of our arrival. With the soft base under, the things have bumped up quite a bit very quickly. Crowd was quite big too... Some fog was rolling in and out at the times. We wanted to "unleash the beasts" and we all brought our 185 race boards, 2 Kesslers and Proton by Doug. I had a bit more common sense then my 2 buddies and I brought the Tanker 192 too ;) However, my biggest mistake was forgetting about old saying "there are no friends on a powder day" and I rode the Kessler in the morning, to solidarise with Roy and Doug. I guess a mistake on my part... While the Kesslers can plow through the crap and float somewhat, they certainly were not the best tool for the contitions. In the afternoon I had a blast surfing the soft moguls on my "freight vessel"! During the morning, we got separated couple of times and I managed to pic the worst possible runs (steep, bumpy, trees, untracked gulleys) for the Kessler. In one low visibillity steeper patch I went of a 6' drop of into flatish landing. Managed to absorbe quite a bit, but still got a big impact chin to front knee, ouch! The worst part is that I had to "swim" out of that gulley, as it was practically uphill in every direction... As the matter of fact, I've got very beaten up on this trip, mostly by other people, but that's another tread: http://www.bomberonline.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=281025#post281025 ... On the way out, we stopped at Prior's factory to say hi. Doug and Roy walked out with 2 new boards at killer deal. Doug got FLC 183 with super high camber, while Roy opted for WCRM 177 with all carbon top - beauty! Big props to Doug for riding a mountain bike trip day before, arriving to Vanvcouver at 4am and still joining us for the snowboard trip without having any sleep! You are a machine, buddy! Pic of the 185s "unleashed": Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crucible Posted January 19, 2010 Report Share Posted January 19, 2010 Doug is a machine. After a schedule like what you just described, I'd be napping in my favorite chair with the family size bottle of Ibuprofen for the next 2 days... He reminds me of a slogan that used to be used by the US Army,"We get more done by 7:00 in the morning than some people do ALL DAY." Nice to see you guys "unleashing the hounds". I'm sorry that I missed it. On a positive note, my new Coiler 186PR just came back from Vancouver Ski and Snowboard Services with a speedy base grind and its edges SHARP. The Catek OS1's with super thick long plates have been mounted, and it's ready and waxed.... I was brave (or stubborn) enough last night to go up on Grouse, and stayed for 2.5 hours. Ruwi's pics are too kind-THE HILL IS A CHOSSY PILE OF FAIL. It really feels like if you sank a deep carve into the pitiful remainder of the Spring snowpack, you could plow a furrow into the soil underneath and drop in some seeds... We need some cold temps and precip. on the North Shore in the worst way- who would have thought that I'd be having to offer up prayers and sacrifices to Ullr during an Olympic year? Geo PS. I'm glad I wasn't with you when you dropped by Chris Prior's shop- it coulda been REALLY HAZARDOUS TO MY FINANCIAL AND DOMESTIC HEALTH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted January 19, 2010 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2010 Ayyy man, you are so right about Prior's... It took me a lot of self control not to buy a board. Doug went with an idea of buying one and "greedy" Scooby just couldn't resist. Hey, what does the full race tune cost at Vancouver Ski? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xy9ine Posted January 19, 2010 Report Share Posted January 19, 2010 Roy opted for WCRM 177 with all carbon top noooo! i USED to think i was special... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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