ExcelsiorTheFathead Posted March 23, 2011 Report Share Posted March 23, 2011 Bluebird. Hero. First chair up Chief and Double Diamond for first tracks down Orion. It was indeed groomed, but not well. Went up Jupiter and strangely enough still had first tracks down Skid Road, which was in great condition. Despite this, I went down to Skyline to see the conditions there cuz the sun was out and there would be no question about visibility. So Skyline was hard grippy chalk with no crustiness. I started doing laps down Skyline/Marmot Meadows/Hog Wild for the entire day. Conditions held up well until 2 when the sun started to soften things a bit. Tomorrow should have good groom, but maybe clouds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExcelsiorTheFathead Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 Light snowfall all day, but just maybe an inch of new over the groom. Skid Road was groomer's choice and a good ride from open. Showcase was good. After lunch I hit Skyline when the sun was higher and found that the light was good enough to make things navigable. I'm lovin' the hill on Marmot Meadows. I think I can get at least 5 turns before I go by the lift tower. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike g. Posted March 25, 2011 Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 Art, was that on the big board you only got five turns in. I might be up there friday night, after 3. Watching the weather. later Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExcelsiorTheFathead Posted March 25, 2011 Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 If I was on the 185, I could only make 2 turns in that space, then I would crash into the tower. I've been really enjoying my Donek MFC 163 SES '10 Women's 19cm Demo board. All it needs is a flowery topsheet to complete the effect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sultan Guy Posted March 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2011 Great day for a weekend. Lots of sun on the drive up and for my first few runs but by 10 AM it started snowing off and on with poor visibility on top of Skyline. Snow stayed surprisingly good for carving all day. A bit damp so it stayed packed. Did lots of runs with my skier friend on his carving skis. We had fun "shadowing" each other. Left at 2 PM. No line at Skyline or Tye Mill all day. Occasional short line at Hogsback. Grooming on Tye was perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExcelsiorTheFathead Posted March 29, 2011 Report Share Posted March 29, 2011 Did a few runs with MikeG on his new Kessler (!) 162 (!). We had some fun trying to see if he could ride as slow as me. Conditions at open were slightly crusty down low with lots of clouds. Skid Road was the best run then, but when the clouds broke up, Skyline was the place to be with good visibility. After lunch things started to soften up. I had to quit around 3 cuz I was crashing too much from the soft conditions and fatigue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExcelsiorTheFathead Posted March 29, 2011 Report Share Posted March 29, 2011 On the morning of Tuesday 3/29, SultanGuy and I drove through some kind of anti-carve wormhole into a dimension of slop and muck. Evil Captain Kirk was a liftie holding a sign saying "No carving for you!" At 6AM Stevens was reporting only 1" of new, so we hoped for reasonable conditions, but the reality was 6" to 12" of heavy slop everywhere. It seems like the high temps are causing the snowpack to collapse as the new snow falls, thus understating the depth measurements. Wet snow was dumping most of the time, soaking everything not wrapped in Gore-tex. Now comes 2 straight days of rain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sultan Guy Posted April 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 Well below freezing at open and stayed cold and cloudy until about 1 PM. Great carving day! Snow a bit slow but perfect for trenching up with awesome edge hold. Even less people then last Sunday. Went with E. Fathead and my skier carving friend. Super conditions for this late in the season. The avalanche walls alongside Hwy 2 from this past week are huge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowboardbill Posted April 4, 2011 Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 Arrived at 9am to find 12' of new over the groomed it was light enough that you could feel the groomed underneth. It kept snowing all day and 7th was knee to thigh deep. not exactly a carving day but LOT'S of fun. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExcelsiorTheFathead Posted April 8, 2011 Report Share Posted April 8, 2011 Finally, a groomer day. Not bad. Just zero to a trace of new over the groom, with really cold temps for the season. Overall a little soft from all of the recent new, but it held up fairly well. The grooming crew didn't put much effort in last night and went narrow where ever they could. Showcase and Marmot Meadows were only about 3 tracks wide, making them nearly unusable. The top of Skyline was only 4 tracks wide, and this combined with the flat light made things challenging. I briefly saw another carver in orange/yellow boots, but I don't know who it was. Seems like the stars are aligning for a great day tomorrow. No new snow in the forecast, relatively cold temperatures, 2nd day of grooming, and hopefully good sunlight. As long as it doesn't mush out, Friday could be a great day. I hope that they groom wide tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sultan Guy Posted April 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2011 <IFRAME height=548 src="http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/77982251" frameBorder=0 width=465></IFRAME>Used my Garmin Forerunner watch that I normally use for running. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Dahl Posted April 9, 2011 Report Share Posted April 9, 2011 Anyone going up tomorrow? Torn between Baker or Stevens, a riding partner would throw the vote! I need someone to pick up the pieces, 'cause if I go to Stevens, the big Donek GS board gets the Donek plate and I'm not sure what will happen!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sultan Guy Posted April 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2011 I am in for sure. I can meet you at the Sultan Park and Ride at 7:30 and you can ride with me if you want. I may leave by 1 or 2. Otherwise see you up there! I will be in grey pants, brown coat usually on Skyline or Hogsback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sultan Guy Posted April 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2011 Crusty morning after all that sun the day before. Light was very flat the first two hours and also cold out which kept things crunchy. Grooming subpar but expected. Still a decent day of carving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sultan Guy Posted April 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 Fast changing conditions today on the mountain! From 8:50 until 10 it was HERO. Half an inch of new on perfect hard groom. It was snowing very hard and became quite wet. By 11:30 it was getting very chopped up, like piles of cement. Changed to rain at the base but still snowing lightly up top by midday. Left at 1 PM whipped. Ran into Jon Dahl who was struggling on his 182 15 meter board with plate. He switched to the big Tanker and liked it better. I stayed on the 172 Axxess all day. One week left! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Dahl Posted April 11, 2011 Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 Only struggled after about 10:20 AM and 7 runs! Thanks for the fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sultan Guy Posted April 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2011 A tale of two 180 degree opposite days was a fitting end to the season... Saturday 4/16 Very warm in the morning. Arrived to find about 1-2 inches of very wet snow on top of the groom. Picked up with giant wet flakes going splat on my jacket. All the runs were so soft and wet that I was making 4" deep trenches. Basically uncarvable. Oh yeah visibility was nil. Sunday 4/17 Temperature at 5 AM reported at 21F. What happens to slush at that temperature? Ice! Morning runs were bumpy frozen hard-pack ice. Basically uncarvable but for a different reason. Tried to lay over some turns and got bounced out several times. Took 3-4 hard falls before deciding to back off and just work with what the hill would give me. Weird weather day. Alternating sun breaks with heavy bouts of intense snow. Lots of flat light with bright blue moments. Big crowd for closing day. Biggest in over a month. Pond skimming was the usual great entertainment. Still cannot believe they are closing with so much snow cover. Kind of a shame! So...ends my second season of carving with 44 days total. It was a challenging season at Stevens this year. Lots of sub par carving days will only make you tougher! Ready to move onto kayaking and stand up paddling :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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