Big Sky 15-16

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Tuesday 2/23, Day 44:  Horizon to horizon cloudless and sunny.  No new today.  Monday had 1" or more depending on the place.  This morning was single digit cold, rising to the high 20s by the time I got out at 1 PM.  Both El Dorado and Ponderosa were out of the grooming schedule so I stayed on the front side.  5 runs down Ambush trying to rut up the area underneath the lift.  Good snow except for a little bit of high-traffic skitch in places.  After that I did 3 easy cruises down Mr. K, then out at 3.  Oh yeah, as I was arriving I saw a guy with a Rossi monoski on the way out. 

Edited February 23, 2016 by ExcelsiorTheFathead

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Wednesday 2/24, Day 45:  No new, sunny and cirrusy.  On snow at noon to ride El Dorado where temps are in the low 30s and the carving is good.  After rutting up SoCo I took my exit run on Tippys and was able to get another continuously carved run from boob to toes.  Out at 1:30.  The resort sure felt empty today.  Nice.

[bumpyride]

http://www.photoreflect.com/store/photocard.aspx?pc=A4F75A5F958026C9C6FE9F5CC369EB71

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Nice Bumpy pic.  This is Mr. K?

 

Thursday 2/25, Day 46: Sunny and warmish again.  On snow at 11 and head for El Dorado where it is perfectly groomy.  After several runs I go down Ambush and then do a couple on Mr. K.  Two photographers were there but they missed me entirely.  While waiting for the Montucky parking lot shuttle I ran into the monoskier from a couple of days back.  It's a girl!  She's a college student up in Bozeman and comes to Big Sky twice per week with her GRANDFATHER'S Rossi monoski.  I told her that if she went to Monopalooza she would be treated like a queen.  That either encouraged her or scared her off.  I don't know.

 

Heelsides on El Dorado:

[bumpyride]

likewise Art.  Nice shots.  I was trying out a Burton Coil 165 which is way big for me on the slopes to see how it would perform on a powder day.  Sucks big time in the bumps, but held surprisingly well on the groomers.  The shot was on Mr. K, as I was heading back into the barn to change boards.  I try to avoid the photographers, just so I don't waste their time or get embarrassed, but there was one yellow jacket at the top of the hill skiers left, so I went skiers right and got photoed.

 

Went up to the tram yesterday, and it was pretty ugly.  Top entry was bad enough so I stepped out to lift my board over rocks for about a half a block to Liberty Bowl entrance.  Ski patrol said it was firm, firm like a billiard table and chunked up to boot, and they said it was better to boot down to the entrance.  If I had been on the Coil 165 I'm pretty sure I would have been going down in a sled when I stopped sliding.  As it turns out I was on my Ultra Prime 156 and it was definitely the right tool.  Jump turns were de rigueur, and a hard set edge was a necessity.  Had frozen chunks following me down the hill.  Lots of people sitting on the slope trying to figure out how to get down.  No more trips to the peak until snow.  Will be out tomorrow for awhile on a carving board.  Probably stay on Andesite for the morning.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Friday 2/26, Day 47:  On snow around 12, sunny and too warm.  I did some runs on El Dorado where there were an incredible three hardbooters at once:  Me, Billings guy, and a visiting Hawaiian.  This was the warmest day of the stretch with on hill temps getting into the 40s.  Hopefully tomorrow it will snow (and not rain).

[bumpyride]

Friday 2/26, Day 47:  On snow around 12, sunny and too warm.  I did some runs on El Dorado where there were an incredible three hardbooters at once:  Me, Billings guy, and a visiting Hawaiian.  This was the warmest day of the stretch with on hill temps getting into the 40s.  Hopefully tomorrow it will snow (and not rain).

Went up today with the Debster.  Decided that I wasn't going to do anything but groomers.  That lasted exactly 1 run.  Did the Bowl, skiers right bumps with the 162 Ultra Prime.  Excellent time.  Fast and furious, and conditions were great.  Next was Andesite and ran down the bumps down Elk Horn.  Firm at the top, but squish at the bottom.  Guess I got in another photo session of Mr. K..  Hey art, how do you isolate the photos from the chaff?

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

There might be better ways, but since the photo co's web site doesn't allow for saving an image to a file, I take a screenshot by pressing Alt+PrtSc (under Windows).  I paste the screenshot into Windows Paint, then use the crop tool to grab just the photo area and save it. 

[bumpyride]

Being 66 and not what you would call a candidate for an IT professional, so far this is the best I've been able to do.  Thanks for the tips Art, still have a ways to go for just cropping what I need.

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Nice!!

[bumpyride]

Nice!!

Hey Bryan.  Took that 165 Coil out that I picked up from you the other day.  It had a really good edge set on the groomers and carved quite well, but with the extra length with my 140lbs, it was a bit much for bumps.  We haven't had snow for a while so I wasn't able to check it out in the pow. Rode 4 boards in the last couple of days.  Nothing newer than 2000, but I love em.  Finally found my coil 156 back-up board on ebay after looking for the better part of 2 years.  Was riding an Ultra Prime 162 for the above shot, and surprisingly it worked well in the bumps.

 

How's things going?  You ever going to make it out this way?

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Things are going pretty good! Thanks!   My weight has leveled off at about 215lbs.  Need to get even more disciplined to move lower.  Pretty happy with the loss of almost 35lbs though.   Had a few really grippy carving days and a number of good fresh snow days.  Seems our weather has settled back into the "Fresh then rain" pattern of the past few years now.   Hope to get a few more good days in.  Glad to hear you are getting some turns in too!!   Come visit anytime.  Addition is officially done but not done :)   

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Sunday 2/28, Day 48:  Yesterday saw around 3" of new in the afternoon.  Today I went up just after noon and encountered the Hawaiian Hardboot Happening.  They had been riding since open.  The morning was sunny but clouds are rolling in as we might get more snow tomorrow.  SoCo runs were pretty bad.  I think that the runs thawed on Saturday morning then got snowed on later.  El Dorado has an unpleasant crusty layer below the groom.  Andesite front-side runs were better, but there's still some high-traffic skitch.  We spent a bunch of time on various Swifty runs.  Maybe 5 hard booters on the hill today?  Me, 3 known Hawaiians and one unknown mystery Hawaiian.  Out at 3.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Tuesday 3/1, Day 49:  Riding from open with the Hawaiians.  3" of new fell on Monday.  Cloudy with temps starting in the mid-20s, rising to the low 30s.  SoCo runs are immaculately groomed and are good carving but are a little on the firm side.  Swifty runs and the front of Andesite were just about perfect.  Except for flat light, conditions were good.  I stayed until 1 PM.  We got one camera whore pass on Calamity Jane, so we'll see what comes of it.

 

Edited March 2, 2016 by ExcelsiorTheFathead

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Wednesday 3/2, Day 50:  Out at open again with the Hawaiians.  1" of new with mid-high 20s temps and unsettled windy weather.  From what I understand, a groomer smashed into an electrical box overnight and lifts all over Lone Mt are shut down, including Swifty.  We go up to SoCo and find 1-2" of new over excellent groom on El Dorado.  During a morning sunbreak it was nothing short of stellar and the south side of Andesite was sheltered from the wind.  Way more people than normal are up here because this Boyne FUBAR situation has shut down half of the resort.  From the top of SoCo we can look through the howling winds at all of the Swifty runs without a single person on them.  What a waste.   Despite the reduced terrain it isn't horribly crowded, but there are more meat gates to carve through and some minor lift lines as SoCo periodically stops due to power interruptions (my guess).  I left around 11:30 with a run down grippy Tippy's with wind and snow blowing uphill.  Periodic snow flurries. 

 

The power outage to the summit seems to have taken out the resort's 2-way radio system so now there is no "normal" way for ski patrol, maintenance and ops to communicate.  Hopefully the phones still work.  The summit temperature and wind sensors are not reporting, so as long as these readings are absent from the resort web site, you can be sure that the problem has not been fixed.  Same with the tram cam and snowstake cam.  The FM radio station that broadcasts from the summit is down as well.

 

4PM: 2-way radio is back, power restored to the tram and Shedhorn.  Hopefully this will all be fixed by morning.

 

Edited March 3, 2016 by ExcelsiorTheFathead

[bumpyride]

Hopefully will be out tomorrow.  Bruised a rib on Monday going faster than I should have.  All was going well until I hit the wind scoured bumps at the last little headwall on skiers right at Elk Horn.  Landed on my stupid smartphone which was in my breast pocket.  Luckily the ribs aren't moving around.

[west carven]

howdy

great to see brudda dane and buster tearing it up.

so is whitefish out of the way? miss you guys... here...

[buster]

We don't want no stinking spring conditions. But look out for Dane, he's gonna be there Friday.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Thursday 3/3, Day 51:  Power issues are fixed and Swifty is running again.  Out at open with the Hawaiians and skier Bill, who is visiting from Mt. Rose and knows a number of carvers like James and others from Schweitzer, etc.  No new today and it is cloudy with temps starting around 30F and rising.  Swifty runs are excellent carving as is the front of Andesite.  Up on SoCo, Ponderosa was a little firm but Sacajawea was perfect.  El Dorado was not groomed today but it was ok enough for a couple of camera whore passes.  I left just after noon with the Hawaiians still going.

 

Ha.  It's great when the shot includes people on the lift.

Edited March 4, 2016 by ExcelsiorTheFathead

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Notes for people coming to Big Sky:

 

I know nothing about the Bozeman Yellowstone Airport except that it is really closer to Belgrade than Bozeman.  Once you get there you drive south on MT 85 (Jackrabbit LN).

 

Before leaving Belgrade you might want to stop in the Albertsons supermarket near I-90 to buy some food supplies.  Just about everything costs more in Big Sky. 

After you cross through Huffine Ln at Four Corners, you are now on US 191 and have one more opportunity to get the cheapest gas prices at an Exxon in Gallatin Gateway, some 6 miles further down the highway.  Gas in Big Sky is 9-10 cents more per gallon.

 

From Gallatin Gateway to the Big Sky turnoff is a further 28 miles through the Gallatin river canyon.  This road has more twists and turns that it seems!  Unless the road is bare and dry, exercise caution and go slow.  All manner of vehicles crash on this road almost daily.  Also note that in many parts of the canyon, there is no cell phone coverage from any carrier.

 

At the Lone Mountain Trail (MT64) turnoff for Big Sky there are two gas stations.  One is right at the intersection and the slightly cheaper one is just a few seconds further down the road.  As you start driving up towards Big Sky watch the speed limits carefully.  The initial stretch of the road is only 35 MPH then rises. I often see people being ticketed for speeding within the first 2 miles or so of the road up.

 

Going up the road you first pass a brand-new hardware store that has the best local selection of that kind of stuff.  Next is the Meadow shopping area where the Post Office and the Country Market grocery store are.  A little further is Roxy's (expensive) supermarket and an area with a host of restaurants and shops.  Once out of the business district it is a 4-5 mile drive further up to reach the resort area.

 

Food buying up near the resort is limited.  I think there is a small market in the Mountain Mall and also a C&P Grocery over by the Hill Condos, but they have only a small selection.

 

The temperature reading on the bigskyresort.com home page is not a good indicator of actual mountain temperatures.  I think that this reading comes from a sensor on one of the lodge buildings and is often too warm.  Navigate to |The Mountain|Snow Report and Conditions|Weather Stations to see some real data.  I think that the Lobo sensor is up near the top of Swifty.  The wind speed data is also useful for guessing at how much snow has been blown around overnight, and also for predicting the closures of the higher lifts that can't run if it gets too windy.

 

It is a good idea to check the grooming status in the morning as some runs are not groomed daily.  The grooming report PDF map has the most detailed information and tells you which shift a run was groomed on.  This can be important if it was snowing all night.  The "Run Status" section of the web site is often not updated until well after 8 AM so be careful.  If all else fails, there are grooming indicators on signboards located at the base of Swift Current and the top of Ramcharger.

 

Cell phones: I think that Verizon has the best coverage in the area around the resort, the next is AT&T.  Sprint phones may roam onto Verizon and T-Mobile roams onto AT&T (as long as you have a 3G capable phone).

 

The direct phone number for ski patrol is (406) 995-5880.

[icebiker]

Awesome Art....you oughta earn a commission as a big sky ambassador! See u soon.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Friday 3/4, Day 52:  It's stupid warm today with lots of sun.  I went to the gym in the morning and got on snow at 1, headed for SoCo.  El Dorado is on its 2nd day of not being groomed, but it is reasonably good.  Temps are well into the 40s.  I only do a few runs then try Ambush where some high-traffic skitch throws me into a slide.  I was going to go home out of exhaustion when I ran into the Hawaiians at the base.  I said that I would do one more so we went up Ramcharger where we ran into Bumpy.  We all went over to Tippys which was an excellent carve.  True to his moniker, Bumpy went down the never-groomed Old Tippy's which is just a mogul field.  I was astounded to see a hardbooter sail down that thing.  When I left at 2:30 the parking lot was rather soupy.  Colder weather and snow is in the forecast.

Edited March 5, 2016 by ExcelsiorTheFathead

[bumpyride]

Finally got to ride with fellow Hardbooters.  Art, Ron, and the Hawaiians, although not everyone is Hawaiian.  Garrett and Alberta are in Hawaii, and I hope I heard this right Max is from Idaho.  If that's not correct blame my bad ear (which happens to be both of them).  Anyway, great fun and it was unfortunate that I missed them the last 4 days.  Next year I hope.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

For visitors without cars, there is a local bus that can get you from the resort down to the business district and the canyon.

 

I think it is free?  not sure.

[grayontray]

I am not a Hawai'ian, Bumpy, but what I call a local haole.  Went to high school and college there a LOOOOONG time ago!  Met Alberta and Garrett in '09 at OES at Bachelor and the rest is history    Good to meet and ride with you today!