Spirit Mountain 21/22

[bigwavedave]

Time to start this up. After a long and mild autumn (nice for biking, hiking and paddling), we have finally turned the corner toward winter. It's raining hard down here by the river, but I can see snowflakes on the webcam at the top of the hill roughly 1000' above me! ...and up on the range, Giant's Ridge has a few inches on the ground.

Our little hill in all its autumn glory exactly 1 month ago.

Update 11/12

Rode up to Spirit to find snow guns set up on the lower XC trails and BindleStiff. Then headed west on the DWP and saw another extension of the Duluth Traverse single track being built along the south side of the DWP....then the sky started spitting sleet & snow.

[bigwavedave]

A fresh blanket of 2+ inches overnight here. The snow guns fired up on the hill last night and are still going this morning. The U.P. got several inches of lake effect snow.

[bigwavedave]

From Spirit's website it looks like there will be no snowmobile races over opening weekend, so no distraction of efforts to get the hill open. Snowmaking has been going strong and if it keeps up they should have terrain open by Thanksgiving.

New hours of operation posted. They've added Tuesday back, so it's Tuesday-Saturday 10-8 and Sunday 10-5. Likely only weekends during the early season while snowmaking is needed.

Looks like Giants Ridge and Indianhead/BJ are making good progress too.

[bigwavedave]

 

Looks like good snowmaking conditions will continue into next week. That's a picture of Bindlestiff above. There are snow sticks set up on 4Pipe & DoubleJaw. Maybe we'll get to make some turns after Thanksgiving!

[bigwavedave]

Rode up to the base of the hill today. They've been concentrating snowmaking from the top of the express to BindleStiff and also covering a XC loop through the woods and the bottom of 4Pipe. I wouldn't be surprised if they're also working on the rope tow park at the top. Guns shut off this morning when it warmed up. Should be favorable snowmaking conditions after tomorrow. If they open Friday it will likely be one run.

Very little natural snow so far...

[bigwavedave]

Good snowmaking weather. Getting into single digit temps. They appear to be done with BindleStiff and they're on to ScissorBill and DoubleJaw and maybe SkyHooker too. I wouldn't be surprised if they get more than just BindleStiff open by Sat or Sun. They're still working on covering the XC trails in the woods. I rode the fat bike up the DWP, and they have a lot of snow on the trails up in there. 

Not sure if I'll make some turns tomorrow, but I'll surely go check it out. Better bring my stuff just in case.

 

[bigwavedave]

Nice to see all the opening day reports today!

Being very cold with flat light this morning motivated me to finish installing new handlebars on my bike rather than heading right up to the hill. When I looked at the webcam, the express chair wasn't even spinning at 10:10. When I checked a little later I realized they were using the Summit chair (#3). So, after a test ride on the bike up to the hill to check things out, I drove to the top with my kit to pick up my pass and maybe make some turns.

I made one run. Just BindleStiff open. It was mostly screaming kids bombing the hill, so few carved turns were made descending BindleStiff. The snow was pretty nice for early season. Of course, BindleStiff had been scraped down to a hard icy crust, but there were piles of light, loose snow all around. Was very carvable, but for the screaming bombers.

From the top of the Summit chair all the "features" were on skier's right, which attracted most of the traffic, so I was able to find room to make some carved turns down the left side back to the parking lot.

ScissorBill and DoubleJaw look close to ready. They've made great piles of snow in the rope tow park too. Hopefully that will be ready by next weekend to isolate all the "hazards".

I'll be very tempted to go back up for first tracks tomorrow and Sunday. I think the fresh morning groom will be good. This cold weather has made for some of the best quality early season snow I've seen in awhile. Not having rain after snowmaking helps a lot!

Hours are 10-5  this weekend.

 

[bigwavedave]

Saturday

Drove up for 1st tracks this morning and the snow was purrfect. A nice plush groom. Enough room to get my carve on--3 turns in and everything was groovy.  I made 3 runs before it got too busy for me. Only had to pull over once to let someone safely pass half way down BindleStiff. Felt really good to make some turns, but it took discipline to call it quits. It's always nice to finish after a good run.

Still just BindleStiff open. Riding the compliant and turny Contra 166 for my first turns of the year.

 

[khoward]

Hey Russ,

Sorry to hear about your gear being stolen. 
Do you need your F2 back or the Generics?   Also can borrow a set of TD3s. Ken

[bigwavedave]

Drove to the top for first tracks again this morning. The clouds have moved off, the sun is out. A much firmer groom today, where you barely cut through the ridges of the corduroy. I only made 4 runs before it started getting too busy for one narrow trail. It was hard to leave, as the sun was softening the snow and it was getting nicer with each run.

Snowmaking has come to a halt. Hopefully they can make snow during the cold nights ahead and get more runs open for next weekend.

[rwmaron]

21 hours ago, khoward said:

Hey Russ,

Sorry to hear about your gear being stolen. 
Do you need your F2 back or the Generics?   Also can borrow a set of TD3s. Ken

Ken;

Thanks for the offers - if we could meet some time I would like to get the F2 back (at least for the early season).

Thanks!

Russ

[bigwavedave]

Biked up to the hill today and rode the DWP. Big XC race this weekend. Much of Spirit's focus and energy has been on getting the trails ready for this event. They have put snow on the bottom of 4Pipe, DoubleJaw, JugglerJoe and Downhill Musher to the Express lift, all part of the XC race course.

So, it looks like it will just be BindleStiff open this weekend for downhill sliding. Maybe, with a bit of luck, ScissorBill too. It has a lot of snow from last week. Though, little or no snowmaking this week. We got a few inches of natural snow which later melted, but I don't think we lost much of the base. Hopefully they will be able to fire up the guns Friday night and keep'em going into next week.

I suspect there will be quite a crowd for the XC races. It's likely the only snow covered XC trails within several hundred miles.

And it's looking good for some snow this weekend.  Thinking I should put my snow tires on.

 

[bigwavedave]

Sunday

Nonstop snowmaking for the past 36hrs and the potential of several more inches of natural snow through tomorrow morning.

2-3" on the ground this morning and still snowing. Rope tow park and BindleStiff are still the only 2 runs listed as open, EXCEPT, that when I arrived at the top the Summit chair was out of service. With the XC races at the bottom, there was no option to use the express chair.

They wouldn't allow me to take a run and walk back up either. 

I've been taking daily fatbike rides to the hill. There are XC race teams from all over the country here. It is apparently a qualifier for the Olympics. I saw teams from NY, Utah, Colorado (SSWSC) and a guy from Venezuela.

update: turns out the Summit chair was running with the brake on all day yesterday. Apparently there was a funny smell and no one figured it out til the end of the day--oops.

[bigwavedave]

Monday

Only about 5-6" total at Spirit from this storm. Giants Ridge, Lutsen and Indianhead all reporting a foot or more and the lake effect is turned on at Indianhead today. Nonstop snow making everywhere with these low temps. Instant winter!

Hiked up this afternoon and made some turns riding the 169 swallowtail. Yeah, it was only ½ foot of powder and -11° windchill, but it was fun to make some turns (from DoubleJaw to 4Pipe). They're still blowing snow on SkyHooker, done with ScissorBill and now working on 4Pipe. The lower third of DoubleJaw, JugglerJoe and 4Pipe were snow covered previously for the XC races.

[bigwavedave]

Biked up to check out Bindle Stiff from the bottom. There was one groomer pass down the middle with fluff on the sides. Came back with the baby swallowtail and by the time I walked up to the bottom of Bindlestiff, the groomer had made 2 more passes and groomed out most of the fluff.  Now I wished I'd brought the 162 SF instead, but continued on to the top anyway and found the groom soft enough for the swallowtail to get a grip. 

We should have a few more runs available by the weekend; ScissorBill for sure, very likely SkyHooker, DoubleJaw & 4Pipe look close as well. Should be non-stop snowmaking til then.

Here's some snow porn for you...

9 seconds of snowmaking on SkyHooker and the bottom of the groomed BindleStiff (sounds dirty, but it's not)...

 

[bobble]

why aren't you driving the groomer? 

[bigwavedave]

4 hours ago, bobble said:

why aren't you driving the groomer? 

That's my dream job Bob, but in the meantime I continue to volunteer my services for snow & grooming quality control.  pretty sure they wouldn't let me drive the groomer anyway.

Buck is looking good. Are you going to make some turns today?

[DonPablo]

10 minutes ago, bigwavedave said:

Buck is looking good. Are you going to make some turns today?

I'm gonna go tear it all up before Bob gets there 

[bigwavedave]

Snowmaking still going. The whole hill was lost in a giant cloud of snow lifting 100's of feet in the air last night.

Went up this morning for a couple of hike & rides. Walked up BindleStiff which was primarily groomed by snowmobile traffic, so a little rough, but still fun. On the way up I talked to the mechanic who informed me that both the 600 & 400 (park groomer) Pistonbullys were broken down and they're waiting for parts.

So, huge piles of quality subzero man-made snow and there's no way to groom it.

They have 2 smaller groomers, a 100 Pistonbully (XC trail groomer/tracksetter) and a small Bombardier cat with a blade and a lift bucket, no tiller. Both too small to knock down those big snow piles.

Also talked to the park groomer driver. When I told him we like to go in there and carve down that left side, he laughed--knew exactly who we were! Carvers!! I planted the seed of an alternative idea of leaving the left side mostly open and making some banks to carve turns on. He seemed to like the idea. We'll see.

[Bretting14]

I’d love to go hike the hill with someone during a weekday, let me know if you ever need a carving friend at Spirit!

[bigwavedave]

Looks like they got the big groomers repaired, yea! They were out knocking down the piles of man-made snow today. This weekend they expect to have 3 runs open (Bindle Stiff, SkyHooker and ScissorBill) and running the summit chair and express lift. Also, starting regular winter hours next week, Tuesday-Sunday.

On 12/8/2021 at 11:21 PM, Bretting14 said:

I’d love to go hike the hill with someone during a weekday, let me know if you ever need a carving friend at Spirit!

Probably won't be hiking up until next spring, except when we get a powder Monday.

I plan to be out 1st thing Sat & Sun and will leave once it starts getting too busy.

[bigwavedave]

Saturday

5 runs and done today for me. BindleStiff had a couple of fresh groomer passes from top to bottom this morning, so it had the best groom. Skyhooker & ScissorBill had an impenetrably hard & irregular groom, so a challenge to carve turns. 

Saw Ken & Jane, and Colin (bretting14). It got busy pretty quickly and became more of a challenge to get an unfettered run down BindleStiff. When I don't have room to make C shaped carved turns, I'm not having enough fun to keep doing it. 

The first turns in the fresh groom were nice...riding the 166 Contra "ice"...

I plan to be there for a few runs first thing tomorrow.

[Lurch]

Nice BWD! SO good to see that pencil line playing off those rollers.

Just waiting on some stoke from the @softbootsurfer now to confirm normal programming has resumed!

[bigwavedave]

Sunday

Best day so far. Same 3 runs open, but with only the express lift spinning, there were more people riding the chair than on the slopes. Rode for 1½ hrs making about 8-9 runs. The lift line started getting long, but once at the top, more often than not, I found an empty run. The groom was softer today and got softer as it warmed up.

No snowmaking last night. Looks like they need more snow to get 4pipe open. DoubleJaw looks close.

First tracks... 

Be back Tuesday...

[bigwavedave]

day 9

Can I say best day yet, again? Same 3 runs open and freshly groomed this morning. It was as plush as man made snow gets. Really got the endorphins flowin'.  Never a lift line, easy to find a clear run. Russ was there.

Rode for about 3 hours. I called it a day after I accidently went off the edge of a run after glancing uphill for traffic. By the time I looked back, I couldn't make the turn before dropping off the groomed trail into one of those rollercoaster side tracks the youngsters make.  You know, where there's a jump at the end that sends you back up onto the trail. Luckily, I stuck the landing,  but took the experience as a sign to quit while I was ahead. 

It was hard to stop cause it's gonna rain tomorrow. The groomers were out pushing down the snow piles on 4pipe and DoubleJaw. It's supposed to get cold enough for snowmaking after the rain.

Might be out again on Thursday.