bumpyride Posted January 4, 2016 Report Share Posted January 4, 2016 Rode for a couple of hours this morning - overcast at my house but sunny by the time I got to the hill. Big racing event had Blue Ruin and Gandy tied up; between the terrain features and kamikaze ski racers on the way to the B lift I stayed off of Sky Hooker. Bindle Stiff had icy patches down the center of the run, but everything else open was in good shape. No Ski Patrol bizness to attend to, so I made good use of my time. Still no lift lines on the Express when I left a little after 11am. Came home and spent part of the afternoon in K-9 assisted fat biking - gotta love Duluth! Russ Well what did you do for a fat bike. Also, was going to email you, but forgot you're other address. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwmaron Posted January 6, 2016 Report Share Posted January 6, 2016 Jim - I chatted with Mark last night; good possibility that those features at the bottom of Four Pipe will get moved once the Progression Terrain Park area is open (they also create traffic problems for folks coming off of the far west runs). Keep your fingers crossed! Greg - I picked up a mint used Salsa Mukluk and have been having a ball with it. Trails in Hartley and Lester are primo right now - we've gotten 8 - 10 folks to show up for each of the last couple of Sunday rides we've set up. I'll send you an alternate e-mail address in a PM. Nastar will be back on Saturday so Scissor Bill will be closed - I'm thinking Sunday morning for this weekend. Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2016 Nastar will be back on Saturday so Scissor Bill will be closed - I'm thinking Sunday morning for this weekend. Russ I was thinking about Sunday also...clearing skies after some new snow, sub zero temps to keep the crowds home to watch the football. Could be a good day for carvers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolson Posted January 6, 2016 Report Share Posted January 6, 2016 Russ, I did send along a note to Spirit Mt. Exec Director early yesterday about the apparatus at bottom of four-pipe that included in part that very issue of distracted and merging traffic off the west slopes....good to hear it was most likely on the agenda for removal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khoward Posted January 7, 2016 Report Share Posted January 7, 2016 Got a few runs in Monday and today. Flat light and some mist, but still good to be out carving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bumpyride Posted January 7, 2016 Report Share Posted January 7, 2016 Jim - I chatted with Mark last night; good possibility that those features at the bottom of Four Pipe will get moved once the Progression Terrain Park area is open (they also create traffic problems for folks coming off of the far west runs). Keep your fingers crossed! Greg - I picked up a mint used Salsa Mukluk and have been having a ball with it. Trails in Hartley and Lester are primo right now - we've gotten 8 - 10 folks to show up for each of the last couple of Sunday rides we've set up. I'll send you an alternate e-mail address in a PM. Nastar will be back on Saturday so Scissor Bill will be closed - I'm thinking Sunday morning for this weekend. Russ Hey Russ, Got the PM and actually added it to my address book. If I can find what I was going to send you'll, I'll send it. Deb is out here in Tacoma with me right now. Doing last things off the check list. What tires are you running and think you'll need studs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 10, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2016 (edited) The perfect trifecta... ...subzero temps with a bit o' wind, day of the "big game", and skiers consolidated way over on Gandy for a race! Russ and I pretty much had the express side of Spirit to ourselves for the first 3 hours─literally there was only about six other people riding the lift most of the morning. Snow was firm (hard), you did not want to put your hand on it, but good for carving, although "trenches" were a mere 1" deep─kept us on our toes. Some of our work after a few hours... Spirit is still making snow. Good base on the hill now and still some runs not quite open yet. We had perfect blue sky all day, but you could see the lake effect snows out over the lake to the east and flowing down over da U.P.─the cloud bank several hundred feet high on the horizon in the photo below... Edited January 11, 2016 by bigwavedave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Futahaguro Posted January 12, 2016 Report Share Posted January 12, 2016 Too bad we're always on the wrong side of the lake! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 13, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2016 Thinking about coming up tomorrow to play in some fresh snow before the frigid holiday weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwmaron Posted January 13, 2016 Report Share Posted January 13, 2016 Great minds think alike - I'll be out in the morning too and am bringing a board for Don. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2016 Man, that was fun today! A couple of inches of new snow over a nice soft groom. Surfy carving Rode for 4½ hrs til the after-schoolers started arriving and by then the legs were saying "enough". Russ, looking for trouble... Looking down on the chair, I realized each of these boards were mine at some time...at least I recycle... bigwavedave, khoward, rwmaron and boarder-patroller Don. Missing, jolson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwmaron Posted January 17, 2016 Report Share Posted January 17, 2016 (edited) Air temperature never got above 0F and a brisk northwest wind kept the chair rides invigorating, but the light was good, the groom was firm, and the expected MLK weekend crowds either stayed in the chalet or didn't even make it to the hill. I rode the Donek slalom in the morning, and the Palmer BX in the afternoon; taking the cant wedges out of my bindings on the Palmer made for a much less knee-stressful day. Thanks for the suggestion BWD! Met up with Ken late in the morning appropriately dressed for the occasion - and the phrase 'a rose among thorns' comes to mind..... Russ Edited January 17, 2016 by rwmaron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 18, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2016 (edited) Thinking of coming up tomorrow, providing Spirit opens in the morning. Otherwise back to Wild for ½ price Tuesday. Indianhead is reporting almost 2ft of snow in the past week. Still not 100% open, but should be good conditions now, so let's watch for a sunny day in the forecast for either Thurs or next Tues. Hopefully Al will post an update after this weekend. Looking at Spirit website for opening times for tomorrow (not posted yet), I found that they are planning to open Timber Cruiser and Juggler Joe to fat bikes on Sundays, in addition to the bike trails─explains the rollers at the bottom of JJ. Edited January 20, 2016 by bigwavedave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2016 Everything was purrrrfect (the sound made by a Coiler slicing through corduroy)─bright sun , warming temps crept above zero, no wind and NO body there─literally 10 people riding the express chair for the first 2 hours. Rode with Rich and later Ken─9:30-2:30─when clouds started moving in with after-schoolers. Many laps on everything from Bindle Stiff to Juggler Joe. BS had the best snow for a change (2" deep trenches), everything else a little firmer (1" trenches). Never got over to Gandy chair or Blue Ruin. Sky Hooker still cluttered with skate-boardy features on the right half. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2016 Heading up tomorrow, Thursday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2016 Intermittent light snow all day, overcast, but not flat light. Snow was soft and moist, causing our 2-3" deep trenches to compact making us curse our hardened trenches on subsequent runs. Though, the first several laps on each run were sweet. Rode from 9:30-2:30. Same crew, but shuffled the deck from the other day... Learned something interesting from boarder-patroler Don today...said he lived in Nepal many years ago and recalled seeing in a shop, the skis ridden by "the man who skied Everest" (or survived trying). https://youtu.be/j-8DLUc5iJg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwmaron Posted January 25, 2016 Report Share Posted January 25, 2016 Sunday, January 24 Flat light early; a few icy hard spots from yesterday's heavy traffic; runs closed for other activities (Timber Cruiser and Juggler Joe for Fat Tire Biking, Scissor Bill for Nastar, Blue Ruin for a racing event); typical Sunday heavy traffic; but Ken and I spent a couple of hours plying our trade. JOlson was out test driving some heavy duty new bling (boots and bindings) too but we always seemed to be out of sync and never caught up with him. We were both out at 11 - just too busy with the limited space available. Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 25, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2016 (edited) Maybe this will freshen things up. I'm thinking Spirit on Tuesday─clearing skies after the snow─could be good. Looks like icy mix towards Indianhead─not so good. Edited January 25, 2016 by bigwavedave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 26, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2016 I might not make it up tomorrow after all. Maybe by noon with a little luck. Reports of about 2" and it looks like it's still snowing a little. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 (edited) Plan to come up tomorrow, Thursday. As usual, will be there for 1st tracks and ride til my legs give out. Edited January 27, 2016 by bigwavedave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 29, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2016 My first hint of the overnight freezing rain/sleet event were the cars in the ditch when I got close to Duluth. Started out with the dreaded combo of flat light and a frozen crusty groom. Fortunately the sun came out within a half hour , but it did little to soften the snow . Rode everywhere and found the best carving snow on Double Jaw and Juggler Joe, so did laps there until about 2. No lift lines or traffic on the way down. It was a good day to have a titanal board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwmaron Posted January 31, 2016 Report Share Posted January 31, 2016 Saturday, January 30 Clear morning, but still evidence of the rain/ice event of earlier in the week in certain areas; like Dave found on Thursday, the best conditions were on Juggler Joe and Double Jaw. The bright sun made the normal kit for this time of year feel like overkill - it's just not right to sweat in January. Saw a bank thermometer that read 44F later in the afternoon. Feeling a bit nostalgic for that nice stretch of cold weather we just had....... Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwmaron Posted February 3, 2016 Report Share Posted February 3, 2016 Stopped by the hill on Monday to pick up some gear - the combination of warm temperatures and heavy traffic over the weekend resulted in a thin layer of granular snow over a rock hard, ice base. We're getting a couple of inches tonight, but I have my doubts as to whether it will be enough to keep our edges off that hard base layer.... I'm toying with the idea of a trip to Giant's Ridge on Friday. Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted February 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2016 (edited) ATC trip update: 1st day onda snow today─euphoria! Was able to ride up at quarter-to-opening, so made the first 2 tracks on one of my favorite Buttermilk runs─Ridgeway to Midway─soft (Aspen plush) consistent groom, sun!, and wide empty prefect pitch slope . Had to stop twice on each run to re-oxygenate (heavy breathing). Won a Donek board bag in the raffle...if I only had a new Donek board to put in it... No pics on the hill today─altitudinally challenged Lots of big piles of snow in town, kinda reminds me of daUP. Wish I could bring some back, as they're really having a hard time getting rid of it. On my way, after managing to navigate successfully around the interstate closing blizzard Kayla, I stopped at the Ski & snowboard history museum in Vail. Saw versions of the WWII Italian Army skis that were my introduction to skiing and examples of the evolution of skiing in our lifetime. But best of all (this is about snowboarding, right?) was the exhibit of the first patented snowboard, developed in Coquet, MN! Yes, the Bunker, a prototype (the narrower thicker one on the right) and the final wider version on the left. Looked like it was steam bent 3/4-1" thick oak, all rocker and square nose (what's old is new). Apparently this is one of only a few in existence. Lots of other early snowboards, many looked like water skis, and the earliest ones had neither camber nor rocker, just a flat piece of plywood with upturned nose. Edited February 7, 2016 by bigwavedave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwmaron Posted February 8, 2016 Report Share Posted February 8, 2016 (edited) And now we return to our regularly scheduled programming..... In the headlines tonight - "Reason Prevails" Last Sunday was the first day of fat tire biking at Spirit - runs 6 (Gandy) and 7 (Blue Ruin) were both closed for a downhill event; run 10 (Scissor Bill) was closed for Nastar; and runs 13 (Juggler Joe) and 14 (Timber Cruiser) were open only to the fat tire bikes. I'm glad to report that a more reasonable approach was in effect today - there was no Nastar course set and only run 14 was open only to the fat tire bikes. This strikes me as a more reasoned approach to accommodate the constituent pool clamoring for this piece of real estate. At 1 pm when I started my patrol shift it was snowing on the top and misting lightly at the bottom. Set aside the getting wet and it was an awesome day for carving - soft and grippy wherever I went. That is until about 4pm when the temperature dropped and the surface started to freeze from at the top and gradually move down the hill. Still fun but at a faster pace. Plus most folks stayed home to prepare for Super Bowl parties. Russ Edited February 8, 2016 by rwmaron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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