Mt. Bachelor 2021-22

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Friday March 4.  It rained on the hill earlier this week for at least 2 days then finally there was 5 inches of new snow for Thursday morning.  I went up Friday on the 2nd day of groom hoping for the best but the icy underlayer is prominent in many places.  I did my first run down Thunderbird but it was a bit too firm in random places to be any fun.  Kangaroo was downright bad.  Over to the Sunrise and Cloudchaser areas and the snow is less icy but still chunky and variable.

Eastern Oregon farmers are already calling for a drought alert because they see no way that the snowpack will reach normal levels by the time growing season begins.

[Keenan]

On 3/4/2022 at 12:35 PM, ExcelsiorTheFathead said:

Eastern Oregon farmers are already calling for a drought alert because they see no way that the snowpack will reach normal levels by the time growing season begins.

Good thing your in Central Oregon.  One of my best powder days was at Bachelor on May 9th.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Thursday, March 10.  The weather earlier this week was too warm but finally it cooled and 4-5" of new fell on Wednesday.  This morning started very cold but bright sunshine warmed things up quickly.  I did a run down Thunderbird at open but it was too firm for lazy carving.  I managed to get a run down Beverly Hills from Summit which was not bad with some good turns but the lift line went out of control quickly.  I ended up just farting around Sunrise and Cloudchaser areas.  I'm betting that the sun will cause thaw-freeze so I'm not going to bother going up tomorrow. 

The electronic RFID gates tell me that today was only my 17th day.  I couldn't believe it but I just compared it to the notes in this thread and I think it is accurate. 

Gas has now hit the most expensive prices since I started snowboarding back in 2008 or so.  That doesn't help.

I've also been asking locals if they think that the total breakdown of Skyliner is due to the resort skimping on maintenance.  Most say yes. 

Friday the 11th is the last day of the Oregon State mask mandate.

Edited March 10, 2022 by ExcelsiorTheFathead

[west carven]

aloha

nice to see brudda dane going at it… thanks 7B Stoke for posting ...

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

 Wednesday - Thursday, March 16-17.  Some new snow fell the day before and Wednesday was pretty soft.  I found one AM groomed green run that was firm enough to hold an edge and lapped that over and over.   On Thursday the grooming on Thunderbird and some other steeper runs was stripey and annoying.  Warm temperatures had already made the lower runouts to the lifts a little icy.  Still only 19 days so far.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Wednesday, April 6.  Day 20.  Many, many days of no new snow and ongoing thaw-freeze.  This past Sunday and Monday there was finally a new dump of 21 inches total.  Tuesday was a purely pow day and today had nice groomed runs at last.  The snow was still a bit soft and the steeper runs had stripey grooming but it was good to be riding again.  Temperatures got warm really fast and I suspect that tomorrow will be icy hard.

Resort management announced that the Skyliner lift will be repaired for the 22-23 season, then it will be replaced with a new 6-pak for the 23-24 season.  No discounts announced for current season pass holders who have been inconvenienced.

Early this season I switched over to new ZipFit liners in my UPZ RC-10s.  I had been using custom foam injected Surefoot liners for the past several years but they started to fall apart at the seams.  I think that they weren't built robustly to begin with, and the heavy flexing combined with the rigid foam caused the sewn seams between the lower and upper cuff to fail.  I was also wearing out some of the internal lining near high friction points in the heel areas.

The ZipFits have a really high quality construction and I hope they last.  Because I have small feet and ankles, I have already added four tubes of cork composite and I could still add more.  This is an additional expense to very expensive liners, but being able to add more is a great feature that can counter the effects of eventual packing out.   The cork is much softer than the rigid foam of Surefoots and I don't have any uncomfortable pressure points.

[pow4ever]

1 hour ago, ExcelsiorTheFathead said:

I have already added four tubes of cork composite and I could still add more. 

 which zipfit model did you go with in your UPZ?

maybe a high volume one is a better starting point?

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

I'm using Freeride Neoprene liners which are advertised as being High Volume.  Out of the box they didn't feel loose or sloppy, but simply not snug and I could notice heel lift in my rear foot.   I have added about one tube to each tongue and one tube to each ankle area.  This has been a good improvement.

The ZipFit guy I talked to on the phone when I bought the liners said that he knows of racers who cram 4 tubes of cork into ONE TONGUE to get the feel that they want.  I might also like more in my tongues and could easily put another tube into each of my liners.

[pow4ever]

wow.  That's interesting.  Make me think maybe you can go down a shell size.
I am in the opposite boat.  In between size problem.  volume wise i am good but length/width it's very tight.

shell is snug; toe box need to be punch out and blown out.  hence i need low volume liner for MS951 boots
on the deeluxe track 700 (with toe box widen) - where the high volume liner fits the heel well.

I was told to give the cork 5-7 days of riding to let it settle before adding more cork. if you are getting clear sign of heel lift; then i would add more cork but for me I am not sure if it's tiny bit of heel lift or just poor technique on my part.
if all this doesn't work; i might need to go up a shell size and go from there.

Best of luck!  i am a fan of zipfit.  Buy one once/cry once  

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Friday,  April 15.  Day 21.  A storm system came thru earlier this week and dumped something like 4 feet of new snow.  Monday thru Thursday all had snowy or otherwise poor weather but Friday was sunny and clear.  The steeper runs had stripey grooming again so I stuck with the easier runs where the snow was a little soft but quite nice.  The Summit lift opened around 9:30 but the line there was ridiculous all morning.  By 11:30 the place was quite packed.  Seattle people are on Spring Break and mucking things up.  I briefly talked to a visiting Mt. Shasta guy on an old Oxygen.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Monday, April 18.  Day 22.  There was a little more snow over the crowded weekend.  Monday morning was just under freezing with high overcast skies.  The snow is pleasantly firm but Thunderbird still had stripey grooming.  I cruised and carved the easy runs around Sunrise.  Today the resort was dead empty.  A nice change for me.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Friday April 22.  Day 23.  I might have gone up mid-week but my car's exhaust blew a weld and I had to get it kludged up.  Today was mostly sunny with cool temps at open.  Not much new snow lately and everything is groomed well.  I got a bunch of runs down Thunderbird carving hard on the smooth hero surface.  One run down the big groomer from the summit, and some other farting around.  Not at all crowded for such a great day.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Monday April 25.  Day 24.  The resort is now on spring schedule, running from 8:30 to 1:30 daily.  The Sunrise lodge is now closed and the only parking is in the West village.  I was up at open with temps right around freezing after a warm afternoon the previous day.  I was hoping for a reasonably soft surface but things were pretty darn firm.  I did a couple of runs then waited an hour in the lodge.  After I went out again the very top was softer but most of the base is pretty hard.  Closing day is scheduled for May 29. 

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Tuesday May 3.  Day 25.  Finally there was around 7" of new over the past couple of days and today was bright sunshine.  Only Pine Marten and Sunrise lifts run regularly now, with Summit when possible.  At the 8:30 open the snow was softish and sluffy on most of the groomers.  Many people came up today and the resort has closed the Sunrise parking lot, forcing everyone into the West Village lot.  The line at the Pine Martin lift was way too long for much of the morning.  Summit opened after 10 AM when blasting ended (why can't they do this earlier?).  I got a couple of good runs down Beverly Hills which was firmish on top and sluffy further down.  The forecasted high for Bend tomorrow is 79-80.  I'm pretty sure that this is the first time I've been on snow in May since I left A-Basin in 2013.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Monday May 9.  Day 26.  11" of new snow fell over the weekend.  This morning had a lucky window of mostly clear skies with cool weather.  No thaw yet.  It was windy and the cold was a little biting, but the snow was good.  The resort is only grooming in the afternoons so just about every run had windblown and a little bit of new over groom.  Too soft in general for hard carving but it was a nice morning to be out.  I left around 11 and they still hadn't opened the Summit lift. 

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Tuesday-Wednesday May 10-11.  Day 28.  Nice weather with cool temps, but the lower elevation areas are a little thaw-freezy.  Beverly Hills run from the top of the Summit lift is the best trail.  Good carving there and I was finally able to meet NoSchoolRider on the hill.  Now my life is complete.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Wednesday May 25, Day 29.   The weather is warm enough for no overnight freeze so I went up to check things out.  The lower level runs are a little soft right from the 8:30 open and I just did my best to make good turns on the Sunrise runs.  Summit was on wind hold until 9:30 or so and Beverly Hills was pretty slarvy.  Not a bad morning.  Some new snow is in the forecast for the weekend but this is my last day of a somewhat unfortunate season.  I'll be leaving town soon.