bobble Posted March 3, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2018 3/3/18 got on the lift at 8:15 am. races were going on. temp was above freezing. i'm surprised buck even groomed. extremely windy. it was blowing from south. snow conditions varied. i didn't like crossroads. the top was okay but icy underneath. towards the bottom the snow was soft piles from skiers who already been warming up. olympic had ruts but skiers right was okay. rail yard was soft in a surfy way. be great on softboots. the problem was getting there from main chair. the wind blew so hard i had to tuck to get there. left at 10 am. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonPablo Posted March 6, 2018 Report Share Posted March 6, 2018 Buck groomed the hill, said they weren’t and then they did. Buck is the worse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobble Posted March 6, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2018 3/6/18 jesus christ... they groomed over the new snow EVEN THOUGH THEY"RE CALLING IT A POWDAY. my reaction ... to be fair, the conditions sucked. super slow. started on softies but could barely make it to the lift line even with the groom. on third run i switched to hardboots. could not set an edge without immediately slowing down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonPablo Posted March 6, 2018 Report Share Posted March 6, 2018 I like how they have video of the groomer going up the hill in their post that says powday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobble Posted March 6, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2018 22 minutes ago, DonPablo said: I like how they have video of the groomer going up the hill in their post that says powday yeah, that cracked me up too. I commented on the instagram post. nothing harsh. what a disappointment. as I was loading my car I saw a guy pulling out fat powder skis. should've gone to welch or afton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted March 6, 2018 Report Share Posted March 6, 2018 (edited) Powder? More like Sierra cement (Minnesota mush?). Nice if you get the first turns. Once tracked out in an hour or 2, wet push-piles would solidify. Not so fun. Maybe not a such a bad call to groom. How was it? Did you get about 7" new snow? Edited March 6, 2018 by bigwavedave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobble Posted March 6, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2018 33 minutes ago, bigwavedave said: Powder? More like Sierra cement (Minnesota mush?). Nice if you get the first turns. Once tracked out in an hour or 2, wet push-piles would solidify. Not so fun. Maybe not a such a bad call to groom. How was it? Did you get about 7" new snow? we got maybe 5 inches. I couldn't set an edge without immediately slowing down. I don't think I had any boot drag. it was like the edges of the board were pinched by the snow. I was skidding j(no carve) just to keep speed up so I didn't have to walk as far to the chair. the wind made things worse. there was hard ice underneath the <air quote> powder </air quote>. last run blew out a turn and fell on a sheet of ice. so... not worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted March 6, 2018 Report Share Posted March 6, 2018 2 hours ago, bobble said: we got maybe 5 inches. I couldn't set an edge without immediately slowing down. I don't think I had any boot drag. it was like the edges of the board were pinched by the snow. I was skidding j(no carve) just to keep speed up so I didn't have to walk as far to the chair. the wind made things worse. there was hard ice underneath the <air quote> powder </air quote>. last run blew out a turn and fell on a sheet of ice. so... not worth it. Ouch! So conditions must have deteriorated quite a bit before this snow?. I have Thursday off and trying to decide if I go north to where there was no new snow (but maybe less melting), or south to fresh snow. Maybe it will be better after a couple of grooming cycles.? You'll have to go out tomorrow and file a report Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonPablo Posted March 7, 2018 Report Share Posted March 7, 2018 (edited) No concrete powder or slush, it's been cold enough and the wind blew any moisture out of the snow when it was falling. What was under the powder looked really bad. It will probably be decent carving here for a few days until it gets warm again. Edited March 7, 2018 by DonPablo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted March 7, 2018 Report Share Posted March 7, 2018 1 hour ago, DonPablo said: No concrete powder or slush, it's been cold enough and the wind blew any moisture out of the snow when it was falling. What was under the powder looked really bad. It will probably be decent carving here for a few days until it gets warm again. So you were at Buck yesterday? If it was light and fluffy, maybe they groomed it in to keep it from blowing away? Should've seen the snow at my house!─very heavy and wet, worst I've seen in years, and once compressed, very solid! I'll be interested to hear how it is today. Looks nice on the webcam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonPablo Posted March 7, 2018 Report Share Posted March 7, 2018 I think they groomed because it blew so much that there was spots of icy hard pack and spots of powder. They shouldn't have groomed the whole hill, they left nothing untracked, the most complete grooming done all year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonPablo Posted March 7, 2018 Report Share Posted March 7, 2018 Board game tonight, I think I'll be at Buck Thursday night but skiing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobble Posted March 7, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2018 3/7/18 blue bird skies. temperature around 28F. snow was ok. there were spots where snow was soft and board would slow down. might need to wax my board. olympic: there was a course that was taken down. i didn't see it until i was underway. could've been better. crossroads: ok milkrun: ok warners: did multiple runs with @BobD. it was decent. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted March 7, 2018 Report Share Posted March 7, 2018 Thanks for the report, might do the earlybird tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonPablo Posted March 8, 2018 Report Share Posted March 8, 2018 (edited) I think I see three of those ski boarders from the web cam at Buck right now making ruts... Edited March 8, 2018 by DonPablo 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobble Posted March 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2018 3/8/18 36 minutes ago, DonPablo said: I think I see three of those ski boarders from the web cam at Buck right now making ruts... yep... good times. snow on Olympic was really firm and fast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted March 8, 2018 Report Share Posted March 8, 2018 Minnesota (extra?) firm─good carving─firm, grippy, and fast. About 1 outta every 3 or 4 runs I'd make contact with the rough substrate and get all shook up. I'm gonna guess @bobble was peeking at the webcam too and came over early to see who was poaching on his territory. It was me and Karl, BobD was there too. Some tracks on Olympic: Top to bottom:Karl, me, Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted March 8, 2018 Report Share Posted March 8, 2018 (edited) Got a couple of nice pics from my 1st run this morning using the boardcam...interesting perspective...vsnaps from a gopro. Edited March 9, 2018 by bigwavedave better pic 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobble Posted March 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2018 1 hour ago, bigwavedave said: Minnesota (extra?) firm─good carving─firm, grippy, and fast. About 1 outta every 3 or 4 runs I'd make contact with the rough substrate and get all shook up. I'm gonna guess @bobble was peeking at the webcam too and came over early to see who was poaching on his territory. It was me and Karl, BobD was there too. Some tracks on Olympic: Top to bottom:Karl, me, Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobble Posted March 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2018 3/10/18 got a text from a friend that he was going to buck at 11:30am. i get there and the lot was almost full. there were ski races going on. courses were on warners, olympic and milkrun. basically only had crossroads and the railyard. as it was the place was too crowded. so i texted my friend that Welch would be better. so we agreed to meet at Welch. i lasted an hour at Buck and then headed off to Welch. the only remarkable thing was i saw this snowboarder carving across the run. apparently he didn't see the mogul field. he carved right into a mogul and flipped head first with legs fully extended in the air. he wasn't wearing a helmet. i yelled down to him if he was okay. i couldn't hear him but he gave a thumbs up while rubbing his forehead. he sat in the field for a long time. so i did two ski hills in one day. welch was more goodly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott.Creer Posted March 11, 2018 Report Share Posted March 11, 2018 23 hours ago, bobble said: 3/10/18 got a text from a friend that he was going to buck at 11:30am. i get there and the lot was almost full. there were ski races going on. courses were on warners, olympic and milkrun. basically only had crossroads and the railyard. as it was the place was too crowded. I got there about 8:45am and the chair was turning, gates already set, lift ticket line it the door. I didn't even get out of the Jeep, took a drive through the parking lot and went home. Next season I think I am getting the Afton pass again. Not having a pass is really not motivating me to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobble Posted March 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 11 hours ago, Scott.Creer said: ... Not having a pass is really not motivating me to go. give me $390 every time you decide to ride at buck i will pay full price lift ticket. ** repeat until money gone. whatever money is left over at end of season i keep. ** requires 72 hour advance notice prior to departure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonPablo Posted March 16, 2018 Report Share Posted March 16, 2018 Buck has this going for them "at least we aren't that ski hill" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonbordin Posted March 16, 2018 Report Share Posted March 16, 2018 33 minutes ago, DonPablo said: Buck has this going for them "at least we aren't that ski hill" I hope Minnesota has better regulations around lift inspections than Indiana! I'm always worried who will be in the next video. I hope all that were injured (10 at this time from the news) fully recover. Indiana inspections are done by essentially one person who does elevators and carnival rides as well. It's basically up to the local operations to demonstrate that they are doing what they should be in maintaining a lift, it's largely a paper inspection. Thinking about all the lifts that exist, how old most of them are, and how tight the budgets are at most hills ... well maybe we're better off not thinking about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobble Posted March 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2018 On 3/16/2018 at 9:34 AM, DonPablo said: Buck has this going for them "at least we aren't that ski hill" On 3/16/2018 at 10:16 AM, lonbordin said: I hope Minnesota has better regulations around lift inspections than Indiana! I'm always worried who will be in the next video. I hope all that were injured (10 at this time from the news) fully recover. Indiana inspections are done by essentially one person who does elevators and carnival rides as well. It's basically up to the local operations to demonstrate that they are doing what they should be in maintaining a lift, it's largely a paper inspection. Thinking about all the lifts that exist, how old most of them are, and how tight the budgets are at most hills ... well maybe we're better off not thinking about it. i don't know how often inspections are performed. maybe @Speedzilla will chime in. i remember another rider had made the comment that the main chair house (sits above the big wheel) needed a bucket of paint. it was peeling off everywhere. i hadn't noticed it before that time, but now i do. @DonPablo just don't look up. the new managers are not playing their "A" game. if it were me i would've have painted the structure prior to inspection. several years ago i was on the main chair where it had a very minor failure (compared to the video). we're cruising up the will when it suddenly stopped. it wasn't a normal stop. the cable sagged and the chairs bounced up and down. it was like the cable lost tension. the chairs dipped maybe 4-5 ft. the chairs were also swinging. i grabbed the chair because it felt like i would be pitched off when it swung backwards. after a long time they tried restarting. instead of it slowly ramping up, it was like they popped the clutch. it just made the chairs swing wild. eventually they put it into jog mode to vacate the lift. i could've walked up the hill faster than it was traveling. it was down for the rest of the season. wonder if vale would buy buck? be sweet if i could ride buck and afton on one pass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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