BlueB Posted December 22, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2020 Now I'm glad I went for a hike today... I hope they can fix the Raven quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted December 27, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2020 Went up for few hours this morning. Rain/sleet in the parking, but snow by the bottom of the chair! Lower half of all the runs were unbelievably sticky, for few runs. Later, as the snow accumulated more, it became better. My dad was back on skis, 1st time after knee replacement. It worked great for him! My toy: Tanker 192. I scored another used, white one, of CL, on my way home. Unreal to find another of those suckers in Van, other than Scooby's or my garage... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted December 28, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2020 (edited) Got a full day today, on the new Tanker. It's stiffer and higher cambered than my old one. Conversely, it carved better, but less nimble in pow/bumps. It was one of the rare days when I rode all 6 chairs. All sorts of conditions were scattered around the mountain, but mostly limited vis. At one stage it snowed at the bottom of the Raven chair, but rained on top I've never seen anything like it before... The worst run of the day: Benny's. To late I remembered why I never go there. The Tanker Twins ^ Edited December 28, 2020 by BlueB 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted December 30, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2020 (edited) Groomer day... Looked pretty smooth on some runs, but consistency of surface hardness wasn't there... OES Sputnik in the am for carving, 3800 in the park, in the pm. Sunrise: Edited December 30, 2020 by BlueB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xy9ine Posted December 31, 2020 Report Share Posted December 31, 2020 this AM was siiiick. lots of deep turns to be had; crowds stayed away from raven, thankfully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted January 4, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2021 We've skipped yesterday, due to the rain and went today instead... It kind of drizzled a bit as we arrived to the parking, but changed to snow pretty quickly. By the time we left the car, some 30 min later, about 3cm already accumulated! A lot more still came down during the morning, but never quite enough to not hit the ugly stuff below. Vis wasn't great and became horrible at lunch time, when the snow stopped. I had first tracks down the JJA and Cascade. Sweetest would have been the, almost untouched, under a rope, Rainbow, just if I could see where the hell I was going. Tool: 3800 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xy9ine Posted January 6, 2021 Report Share Posted January 6, 2021 this evening was rad; kind of a firm pow. stiff wind & continuous snow was resetting nicely. lots of fresh lines to be had on the peripheries, but the groomers were super fun / forgiving aggressive carving happy making times as well. lines were still on the long side, but i guess this is the new norm for the time being. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted January 7, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2021 Pretty nice day, today! Somewhat foggy in the am, but cleared up nicely after lunch. Lots of yesterday's snow, somewhat heavy though. Weapon: 3800 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xy9ine Posted January 8, 2021 Report Share Posted January 8, 2021 do you have a general idea of when peak hours (or time(s) to avoid) on the mtn are these days? we've been relatively lucky so far, but definitely have had to be strategic with the timing (ie, getting up extra early in the am, or early afternoon before the evening crowd). buddy went up the hill this eve, but got stuck in a traffic line so long they gave up & turned around before even getting to the hill. I'm assuming (hoping?) that at some point fewer people will even attempt after experiencing some of the peak lines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted January 8, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2021 (edited) Come early, go early... Lunch time is still a bit better than 10:30 to 12:00 period, like before. It seems that the week days are in general worse than pre-Covid... Today was 2nd Thursday night that was absolutely horrendous. 30 min from Nordic to the top. At least we managed to get into the upper parking. Lions lineup all the way to directory board. I rode only Midway, but eventually it started stopping/breaking down every few minutes, so a huge lineup formed even there. The snow was pretty hard packed, yet it still started bumbing up badly. Tool: Elan Vertigo. Love it, carves almost as a slalom board, while in a shape of a small classic freeride/bx boarf. It's pure titanal... Edited January 8, 2021 by BlueB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cousin of Beagle Posted January 8, 2021 Report Share Posted January 8, 2021 Friday morning report. 15 cm minipow. Snowing. Hardly anyone showed up. Zero lift lines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted January 9, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2021 Lots of people in the am and poor grooming ruined what could have been a hero day... Surprisingly, the crowd somehow disappeared by the lunch time and we were lapping the Eagle. Raven was crap, Midway very rideable, Lions too crowded to even try. Still, we did lots of laps. Toys: B - WCRM 173, Patrick - Kessler 168 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted January 13, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2021 (edited) Lots of rain, wind and cold last night, resulted in very frozen corduroy this morning. It's sunny now, should be better in the pm. I'm on 3800 and very flat angles, at instructor sessions all day... I saw somone new on a Coiler. I asked the usual question "why the ski boots?" He didn't see my boots right away, so started explaining... Edited January 13, 2021 by BlueB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charliechocolate Posted January 14, 2021 Report Share Posted January 14, 2021 I might have seen the same hardbooter on easy rider. It wasn't much better in the afternoon. That one-pass nonsense they try to pass off as grooming just turns into sugar on ice very quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My Ne Posted January 14, 2021 Report Share Posted January 14, 2021 Hey folks, a Van newbie here. Moved here only a couple of months ago. Yesterday finally made it to Cypress yesterday afternoon. Started on Eagle, the snow was concrete hard. Kinda tough after more than a year of no riding at all. Should have sharpened edges I guess. Then later switched to Lions which was much softer. Sugary piles mentioned above were still very tricky for me. Anyways was fun to get back on snow for first in a while. Setup: SG 163 SL w/ VIST plate and blunt edges Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted January 15, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2021 Welcome, Slava! Sorry you had your first Cypress day in one of the shittiest conditions in long time... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted January 15, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2021 Tonight was a bit better. Lumpy, with hard patches, but carvable. A 4WD 169, I brought, was the right tool for the conditions and crowd. I forgot how buttery is the flex pattern of that board. Solid for everything, not quite great at anything... I only had one run on the Eagle, got annoyed by the lineup, so spent the rest of the evening on the Midway, alternating between the carving run and the park... until I wrecked myself... I managed to accidentally jump a 360 completely off-axis (it would have been a cork, except for the rotation wrong way) and landed on my shoulder It was close to the departure time, so I just did another 2 runs down the Easy and lower Collins... I saw a white Coiler with red F2 bindings, by the old lodge, but the owner was nowhere to be seen... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted January 16, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2021 As I approached the chair, for the first ride of the morning, I spotted another h/booter with a familiar looking board. Sure enough, it was the shorter version of the OS SL, that I was riding too. It was the "Witch", the sister of my "Charmer", the one that one of my former students prayed out of my hands after a lesson This new guy, Wu (Woo?) bought it of him. We proceeded to ride the runs around the Eagle, on very crappy snow. After a while the crowd got bigger and I got iritated by bad snow, so I retreated to the Midway. That was a fair bit better... We spotted Nikita, too... After a break, I'll grab the Elan Vertigo and go fooling a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gtanner Posted January 19, 2021 Report Share Posted January 19, 2021 I saw this today and wanted to see if it was from this group? Any intel? https://www.nsnews.com/local-news/rare-snowboard-reunited-with-owner-after-being-stolen-in-west-van-two-years-ago-3274242 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted January 19, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2021 Yes, it's in this thread, first page. How you've been? Didn't see you on the slopes for ages... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted January 21, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2021 The snow was somewhat better than expected, today. Harder, but not cement in the morning, went to dry-slush later. Good instructor training sessions, right through the day. No crowd! Tool: 3800 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My Ne Posted January 21, 2021 Report Share Posted January 21, 2021 Got a chance to have some fun at Cypress this evening. The conditions were not ideal, but did get a couple of nice runs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted January 22, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2021 Pretty crappy evening snow - sandy slush/ ice/ piles... Less crowded than last few Thursdays, but stil... Midway was the only reasonable chair. Elan Vertigo... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted January 24, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2021 Amazing man made snow and cold temperatures saved, what everyone expected to be a sheer ice, day! It was actually quite awesome and everything that should be groomed, was. I rode with Patrick in the am, around the Eagle. I did a most bizarre and humiliating "move" in the liftline, but that deserves a brand new thread! In the pm I had few runs on Midway, with my, soon to be, new student, Zhe. Jumps between Collins and Midway were awesome today. Tools: B - 4WD, Patrick - MK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charliechocolate Posted January 24, 2021 Report Share Posted January 24, 2021 Pow-ish day, at least on Raven and Eagle. Had first tracks down Raven and it was pretty sweet considering how just a few cm came down overnight. First sun and Trumpeter still yucky. Everything got tracked out and lumpy around noon so there was no point staying. It was still coming down nicely when I was heading back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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