bigwavedave Posted January 9, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2022 On 1/7/2022 at 9:48 PM, khoward said: Out for a few runs today from 12:15-1:30. A bit brisk with firm groom, but little traffic. Four Pipe lift seems to be operating normally. Planning first chair tomorrow Too tired to ride today after 5 hrs driving & 5 hrs riding yesterday (trip to Indianhead). I could see racers gathering at the top of Gandy at 8 this morning. I imagine tomorrow too? Checked the webcam a couple of times today and it looked really busy. I'm planning 1st tracks tomorrow. It will be cold and windy, but sunny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 9, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2022 Sunday -10°F and blowing 15-25mph downhill, so roughly a gazillion below windchill riding the lift straight into it at at 12mph, not so bad riding down! No crowds and sunny with the bluest blue sky. Snow was racecourse hard and fortunately no grooming features. I had to really weight the board going into turns to get the edge to penetrate ½". Despite how hard the surface was, the smooth grooming made for fantastic carving. @khoward was there. Ken just didn't have the body mass to make a track. Even BigMario would be reduced to merely making grooves. I lasted about 2 hours. The XC was the tool for the job today. A lot of the snow from the last blizzard ended up in the trees. The wind today was blowing that loose snow back onto the slopes and filling in the cord. Free refreshment! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 10, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2022 Will be out tomorrow for 1st tracks and more. It's going to be above zero. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trent Posted January 10, 2022 Report Share Posted January 10, 2022 looks like you're having a pretty great season dave! funny how spirit looked like it might be done a year or so ago, and now it's all the hills that vail bought that are barely open / pissing everyone off. glad the northern mn crew are getting in some playtime! and i think the only reason bigmario wouldn't make a trench, is because he and his co crew aren't used to (or are too smart to) riding in sub zero temps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 11, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2022 Yea, Spirit is owned and run by the city of Duluth, so taxes help subsidize it. Giant's Ridge is subsidized by iron range mining tax dollars and run by a private management company. Highland Hills is owned and run by 3 Rivers Parks of Hennepin County. All should be safe from corporate takeover. Guess we can thank all those egalitarian minded Scandinavians who settled this area. Indianhead/BlackJack (Big Snow), Lutsen and Wild Mt are still all privately owned. @trent Are you coming north this winter? I was just over to Indianhead/BlackJack last Friday after they had over a foot of snow which helped get their coverage up to speed. Weren't you there for your daughter's ski races last year? I have signed up to help out with the NorAm/RTTC races (PGS & PSL) at Giant's Ridge on Jan 20 & 21. My experience at Giant's Ridge over the past several years is that they have the best grooming. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwmaron Posted January 11, 2022 Report Share Posted January 11, 2022 Today’s posse: Good times! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 11, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2022 Great snow today! Temps rose above zero today with intermittent sun. Great crew on the hill today, just missing @jolson. Nice soft groom on 4pipe, DoubleJaw and ScissorBill. Still kinda crunchy on BindleStiff and SkyHooker. Races on Gandy. CinderSnapper and BigAir need to be groomed out. Rode a bunch of different boards today, just for fun and the XC continues to be one of my favorites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 12, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2022 Wed Another warm day (above zero/below freezing), really flat light but near perfect groom. Rode with Ken for a couple of hours. A little busy today, not big lift lines, but you had to watch for traffic. Did a little test riding today: Rode a 176 Coiler all mt with an 11m single side cut. A dreamy smooth, mellow ride. Easy carver. Then rode my old 175 Donek Rev, 11-12m side cut with a Donek F plate. I think I like it. Similar to Geckos in dampening the ride, but felt like it increased my edge pressure more than Geckos.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 13, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2022 Thurs Another great morning of carving. Temps up to 29° (makes me little nervous when it gets that close to melting) and dropping slowly, sunny for the first hour or so, then super flat light. We had a dusting of snow overnight, maybe some more tonight and tomorrow. I switched over to the 175 Rev with F-Plate during the last hour in super flat light. Could barely feel all those trenches we made earlier. The F-plate really smooths out imperfections and gives such a solid edge hold that I wasn't hesitant to keep carving full speed, even though all definition was lost in the flat light. ...but when it was sunny...Russ riding his CC+ and me on the Super. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trent Posted January 13, 2022 Report Share Posted January 13, 2022 nope, probably not making it up north this season. kids aren't racing anymore. which i guess is good.... i heard last weekend at the (spirit) race that one of the chairs stopped for over an hour. with people stuck on it. then a different chair did the same thing. apparently, at least one kid was on both chairs! i hope nobody was frostbit being stuck while in their gs suits. racing is at indianhead this weekend, and 1/28-1/31, and 2/25-2/27. racing at giants 2/12-2/13. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 14, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2022 About 15° at the top, flat light with a 15-25kt uphill wind that made downhill travel slow. Light lake effect snow and whipped up snow in the wind was producing snownadoes across the slopes. Looks like everything is open from BigAir to TimberCruiser. Snow conditions are pretty nice, still some man made crunchy, but carvable stuff on Gandy, SkyHooker and BindleStiff. Some nice rollers on BearClaw. Not very crowded, but XC races at the bottom and a full parking lot. I only lasted a couple of hours. Should have worn more layers for the wind. They're still calling for a 4-6 inches of lake effect snow late today and overnight. Plan to be out tomorrow morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 15, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2022 Saturday Well, the lake effect was turned on last night and gave us 3-4" of huge, light, fluffy flakes overnight. 4Pipe had 1" over groom, 3-4" on ScissorBill and 2" on DoubleJaw. It was nice! Ken was there. Despite there being lots of people, I rode for 3 hrs and managed to get free & clear runs til about 1pm. With 3 chairs running, the lift lines didn't get long until about when I left. Even after everything was tracked out the new snow mingled with the old and made for fabulous carving. SkyHooker still has that unpleasant icy crunchy snow. Gotta remember how to reset my Gopro settings as it's just taking single pics instead of a movie. This one wasn't bad. I'll be on it early tomorrow. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 17, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2022 MLK Monday Lost my pass on Saturday, so went up on Sunday to see if it turned up. Nope . $25 for a replacement. Sunday had long lift lines and flat light, so I took the day off. Big flakes fell from the sky for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Less than ½". Rode for about 1½ hrs today. Made 1st tracks at 9:30. The snow was super nice, but I couldn't see it in the flat light. Without the Summit chair spinning the lift lines were extending out of the corral by the end of the 1st hour. Short day. Looking forward to tomorrow. It's gonna snow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 18, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2022 3-4" of light fluffy fresh over groom! Real flat light and some fog with the snow tapering off. Temps nearing the freezing mark Rode both my swallowtails, cause they're super fun in soft snow and finished the day riding a 176 Coiler Safari AM I picked up from @1xsculler last year and it just went through all the tracked out mashed tater snow like buttah. I've been trying to pass this board off to someone, but I think I might keep it. It's sooo smooth. Russ was there. @khoward a no show? For a "powder" day there were very few people on the hill. Nice to leave the holiday crowds behind. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwmaron Posted January 18, 2022 Report Share Posted January 18, 2022 Best day of the year so far, to my way of thinking ! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 19, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2022 5° below to start and up to 5° above by noon. Temps got above freezing yesterday afternoon, so we had a firm to hard groom this morning. About 4 people there for the first hour. Ken showed up when the thermometer broke zero. At least it's mostly sunny when the arctic cold slides south over us. My deepest trenches today... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 20, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2022 Another subzero day! 12 below to start and was still 5 below when I quit just before noon. Russ was there and a handful of skiers. Even the usual suspects were missing. Snow was about as hard as yesterday. Bright sun. Heard a clunk and thought I hit a chunk of ice. 2 turns later my front foot came out. Another broken bail!! Got a call from Russ at the bottom of the hill asking, "what's up?". So, he called a patroller and got me a ride back up to the top and my car. Nice to have friends with connections. Fortunately I only got twisted up a little and was able to continue riding on another board. Russ had to go in to warm up a frostbitten nose that poked out from under his face mask. Any exposed skin doesn't last long in these temps. Left some nice tracks though... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobble Posted January 20, 2022 Report Share Posted January 20, 2022 56 minutes ago, bigwavedave said: Heard a clunk and thought I hit a chunk of ice. 2 turns later my front foot came out. Another broken bail!! yikes! scary. TD3? i often wonder if riding in sub-zero temps is harmful to gear -- especially boots. i've cracked a couple heels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 20, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2022 2 hours ago, bobble said: yikes! scary. TD3? i often wonder if riding in sub-zero temps is harmful to gear -- especially boots. i've cracked a couple heels. td3sw I think the bail & lug assembly are the same as td3 with a through-bolt lug shaft. I'm thinking it's metal fatigue from the bail working back and forth, not necessarily the cold. Lesson is to take them apart and re-assemble each season and get some spare parts, ie; bails, lugs and it wouldn't hurt to have the lug shafts too. No consensus on weather to use thread lock, never seize grease, or even thread tape. I re-assembled that front binding with new heel & toe bails and lugs today. Last winter I replaced the bails on the rear binding when they broke whilst trying to turn the lug to adjust the fit for my new boots. A whole discussion here: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwmaron Posted January 21, 2022 Report Share Posted January 21, 2022 FWIW - just a bit of frost nip for me this morning….after lunch I put a heavy coat of Dermatone on my nose, dug out an old but better fitting mask, put in a pair of toe warmers and enjoyed another session on the ‘Minnesota Firm’ along with the three or four other customers out today in the bright sunlight, though the temperature never got above -5F ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 21, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2022 A bit sore this morning. 10 -15 below this morning. Heading up to gate judge for the NorAm races at Giant's Ridge today & tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 23, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2022 This is one of the longest stretches of arctic cold in recent memory. 10-20° below at night and barely kissing the zero mark during the day. Feels like my body is getting stiffer each day and I need a daily sauna just to loosen up. Plus it's hard to move or look up the hill for traffic with all the layers including a full face mask and hood up. Hand warmers are a necessity and any exposed skin will freeze and fall off in minutes. Keeps the crowds down, even on weekends. After riding up at Giants Ridge in similar cold yet softer, plush groom, it is apparent that Spirit just doesn't set the tiller very deep when grooming. The snow is much harder here. Still very good carving, it's just a bit harsh in comparison. Rode for a couple of hours this morning. Posted a pic in the cord porn section. It looks softer than it actually is. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 24, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2022 About 1" of soft fluffy powder last night. Since Spirit is closed Mondays, I decided to take a rest day. I'm still a bit sore from my front binding release and subsequent awkward crash landing. The lake effect is cranked up nice today over in the U.P. You can see it nicely on satellite photos. Good enough to motivate algunderfoot to text me an update. Said conditions are best at Powderhorn and Blackjack. Indianhead still struggling to get the hill in order. Maybe this new snow will help. I plan to be out for an early session at Spirit tomorrow, provided they don't delay opening. It's supposed to be close to -20°F in the morning. Hoping the new snow softens things up a bit. At least it won't be crowded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 25, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2022 day39 Getting kinda tired of living in a subzero world and sounding like a broken record, but here goes... 15 below this morning and "warmed" up to -6°F by noon. Just me and 4 skiers on the hill today (2 of them patrollers, so they had to be there). Even the regular morning gaggle of skiers didn't show up. Me? I'm just trying to do this jigsaw puzzle carving patterns in the snow on a blank canvas of Minnesota phirm... Then 3 snowboarders showed up (you know, the regular kind) and my toes were getting cold, so I went home. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonbordin Posted January 25, 2022 Report Share Posted January 25, 2022 Petition to change @bigwavedave's Member identification from Gold member to Cold member. Wish I was there... dressed like a spaceman. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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