bigwavedave Posted February 7, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2019 The empty 5 mile 4 pipe, drenched in -20°F morning sun refracting through ice crystals made for a dream-like wake-up/warm-up run to get the blood flowing and the joints moving. Can't believe that Minnesota weather (and firm groom) found me here. Just can't get away from it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwmaron Posted February 7, 2019 Report Share Posted February 7, 2019 55 minutes ago, bigwavedave said: Can't believe that Minnesota weather (and firm groom) found me here. Just can't get away from it! Ha! No Minnesota firm groom here today.... close to a foot of nice light fluffy pow when we opened the hill this morning but it got cut up pretty quickly so there’s no carving to be had. If I had my druthers I’d take your conditions! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted February 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2019 Is the snow at Spirit just fantastic? Hoping to get out for a few turns on Saturday morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khoward Posted February 16, 2019 Report Share Posted February 16, 2019 Out today, groom was firm, but not icy despite the high winds on Thursday night. Planning first chair tomorrow:) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwmaron Posted February 16, 2019 Report Share Posted February 16, 2019 I have a patrol shift Sunday morning so I’ll be there before first chair! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted February 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2019 Rode from first chair til about 1:30 and hooked up with Khoward and Jolson for a good part of that. Some of the nicest carving cord I've been on at Spirit this year. It started to get busy after the first couple of hours, but we managed to find clear runs. Went over to the Gandy side when it got busy on the express and found no line at the Gandy chair. The Summit chair started running around noon. I decided to quit when I came down to the express chair and saw the biggest line ever! Just kept on going down to my car. The first chair tomorrow might have 4 carving boards dangling under it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MNSurfer Posted February 16, 2019 Report Share Posted February 16, 2019 Wednesday morning was fun. 10" or so the day before, packed-down, and a little bit slow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolson Posted February 17, 2019 Report Share Posted February 17, 2019 FINALLY caught up with two of the three amigo's this year today.....Great riding with Ken and Dave and looking forward to seeing Russ tomorrow as they said he would be patrolling and on the slopes...….biggest change is my new conviction to start buying lotto tickets cause short of a win my getting to the hill is going to remain far less than I prefer...…..see you guys tomorrow for some flat light riding.....but riding none the less! First tracks till about 11:30 till my grandson arrives and I will work with him the rest of the day..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khoward Posted February 17, 2019 Report Share Posted February 17, 2019 Carvable firm groom and good light. Great morning riding with Russ, Dave and Jim. Blew out another TD3 binding. They should hire me to test them. Felt a hard snap on my front binding and brought it to a safe stop with a toe side J-Turn. The toe side heel bail sheared off at the lug. Fortunately, I was parked at the bottom of the hill rather than at the top, but it was a long walk. Rode the Coiler the rest of the morning. Just invested in new TD3 Sidewinders and a whole new heel block assembly. Planning first chair tomorrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted February 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2019 2 hours ago, khoward said: Planning first chair tomorrow Another great day of carving Trenches 1-3" deep, hero groom 4 carversMore sun than forecast with scattered clouds and a brisk NE wind carrying intermittent flurries from the frozen lake and up the hill forced us to practice our best aerodynamic tuck at the top of the hill. Not quite as busy as yesterday. Managed to have a clear run most of the time. Moved over to Gandy chair after the first hour or so and found virtually no lift line. 4 hours and done! See you in the morning! Most of Lake Superior is frozen over, so the snow machine is turned down to low for awhile, at least for Duluth and western U.P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted February 18, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2019 Rode with Ken again today. Jane was there too. Sun came out and there seemed to be fewer people on the hill today. Groom is getting firmer, still great carving! Rode the first chair with boarder patroller Don. BigWaveDave and the ripples?...Ken & Jane on a couple of my old boards...(the ripples would be my recycled old boards, not Ken & Jane)... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwmaron Posted February 20, 2019 Report Share Posted February 20, 2019 (edited) Tuesday, February 19 The groom was a bit firmer yet after the long holiday weekend and the sky cloudless; Duluth schools are out this week so a bit busier than a normal weekday. Hooked up with Ken early then we met friends Hazen from Idaho in hard boots on an F2 Diablo and Greg from Cornicopia, WI on tele skis so we proudly showed them around both sides of our hill. Jane joined us later as well! More snow on the way too! Edited February 20, 2019 by rwmaron Add forecast Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted February 22, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2019 Soft 1st day groom over on the Gandy side and 2nd day groom on the express side. It was all goodSunshine til 2:30. Rode with Russ and Ken all morning. Saw Jim out in the afternoon. More snow tonight through Sunday. Looks like U.P. gets about a foot or more from this one. Rode the 185 ...Oh...and Jane was there too... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khoward Posted February 24, 2019 Report Share Posted February 24, 2019 Spirit posted that they’re closed all day Sunday due to Blizzard-like conditions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted February 24, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2019 14 hours ago, khoward said: Spirit posted that they’re closed all day Sunday due to Blizzard-like conditions Too bad. Might have been a fun day! @khoward, meet me at the bottom parking lot and we'll drive one car to the top and take a run Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khoward Posted February 24, 2019 Report Share Posted February 24, 2019 Thanks, planning first chair noon tomorrow. Could do 2-3 hours before work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwmaron Posted February 24, 2019 Report Share Posted February 24, 2019 Nope - operations suspended on Monday too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted February 24, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2019 32 minutes ago, rwmaron said: Nope - operations suspended on Monday too! WHY? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khoward Posted February 24, 2019 Report Share Posted February 24, 2019 Dang...not officially announced on the website yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwmaron Posted February 24, 2019 Report Share Posted February 24, 2019 Message from the PD: “due to blustery conditions, cold temps and chill factors, Spirit Mountain will be closed Monday, February 25. Ops will resume as scheduled on Tuesday, February 26.” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khoward Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 Okay, first chair Tuesday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted February 25, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 I give up Heading to Wild tomorrow on my way south. Back to work for a couple of days. Al reports about 3 feet of snow in Bessemer from this storm! See ya in the funny papers... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwmaron Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 4 hours ago, khoward said: Okay, first chair Tuesday. See you then! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwmaron Posted February 27, 2019 Report Share Posted February 27, 2019 Tuesday, February 26 - The temperature was in the single digits, there was no wind, filtered sun through high clouds, and the usual impeccable Spirit firm groom at the noon open and surprisingly no one else showed up....I'm not kidding - I've never seen as few winter sports enthusiasts on the hill as I did today - at least until 2 bus loads of after schoolers showed up at 3:30, but I was done by then! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khoward Posted February 27, 2019 Report Share Posted February 27, 2019 Was out yesterday for 3 runs. Flat light and needed different wax - very slow. Beautiful sun and groom this AM, but Express Lift has been down since 4PM yesterday and they’re waiting for a part. Snow Cat ride over to the C Lift. That was stopping every 30 seconds. Took 20 minutes to get up. Taking a long break in the Grand Ave Chalet till the Gandy Lift opens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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