Spirit Mt 22-23

[bigwavedave]

First snow on Friday Oct 14th

[bigwavedave]

We've had a month of Indian summer since that October 14th snow. It took the gales of November to reset the weather pattern to winter. A foot of lake effect inda U.P (SnowRiver) with a dusting here at Spirit and a few inches to the north at Lutsen and GR. Spirit started making snow a couple of days ago, so a Thanksgiving opening seems plausible. One run at a time.

Snowmaking happening on BindleStiff and the XC course at the bottom.

 

 

[bigwavedave]

Looking better after 5-6" snow over the past few days.

11/19/22 Update: An inch or so everyday past week. Snowmaking every night and now 24/7 with the colder temps.

BindleStiff appears groomed out and snowmaking moved to Skyhooker yesterday. Spirit will be open this Friday, Sat, Sun.

11/21/22 looks like they started knocking down the piles on Skyhooker and have started blowing on ScissorBill. Also looks like they're making snow in the upper park. I can see a gun over on Gandy. Otherwise there is only 4-5" of natural snow on the ground everywhere else.

11/23/22 Still blowing snow on Skyhooker & ScissorBill. Looks like BindleStiff & Skyhooker and, with luck, ScissorBill for opening day on Friday. It looks like the rope tow park is set up, so that should help with traffic on the other runs. Summit chair only.

12/7/22 BlueRuin is groomed out. Piles are mostly knocked down on 4pipe. Still blowing snow on Gandy and BigAir. I suspect Gandy, BlueRuin and 4pipe might be added this weekend. We're ahead of where we were last year at this time.

12/18/22 Night plumes below zero. blowing on DoubleJaw, TimberC, BigAir, CinderSnapper, Bear 

12/20/22 Almost there. From this afternoon. Subzero temps tonight. Just the outer runs left, blowing on CinderSnapper, BigAir and TimberC with more natural snow on the way.

 

[bobble]

how are you getting those pictures? is that a webcam?

[bigwavedave]

On 11/18/2022 at 3:07 PM, bobble said:

how are you getting those pictures? is that a webcam?

I got a drone, mainly to get some sailing videos and aerial shots of anchorages around Lake Superior this summer.

But, it's just too easy to fly over to Spirit to check snowmaking progress rather than riding up on the bike. I'm getting lazy.

Here's a short, low res sailing clip. I'm gonna need a faster computer to edit the hi-res stuff.

 

[bobble]

who's the manufacturer of the drone?

my first quadcopter was a simple quadcopter with a 1.3 mpx camera. first time i tried it i immediately lost control. i was in backyard trying it out. once it got above the roof the wind blew it away. i couldn't control it. at 0:19 you can sort of see me at the bottom of the clip.  i ran to the front of the house and it had drifted across the street into neighbor's yard where i dropped it.

they're fun but i worry about losing one.

 

[bigwavedave]

@bobble

It's a DJI mini 2. I held off on getting a drone for years, waiting for the price (and size) to come down on a drone that could reliably fly in some wind. This one compared well to drones costing much more, and it's small enough that you don't need a license to fly it. It was easier to fly than I expected. I don't use any of the automated fly features. 

I practiced flying a lot from dry land before flying from the boat. After some experimentation, I fashioned a small handle attached to the drone with Velcro and shaped to have minimal interference to flying.  This allowed me to retrieve the drone by flying close enough to snatch it from mid air while sailing on a boat that's bobbing & rolling in a swell. Not for the faint of heart.

[bigwavedave]

^^^^I'm posting updated photos of snowmaking progress a few posts up^^^^

rather than use up my allotted image allowance. 

[bigwavedave]

Rain today! Makes me less excited about opening day tomorrow. I'll probably still go up and check it out and pick up my pass.

They plan to have 3 runs, BindleStiff, Skyhooker, ScissorBill. Rode my bike up to the hill yesterday to ride the DWP trail. Guns were already relocated from ScissorBill to 4pipe. The groom I saw doesn't look promising. Lots of marble sized ice chunks. Looks like groomed gravel. So, rain today, freeze tonight. At least it will be sunny and warm tomorrow.

 

[bigwavedave]

Friday Opening day!

Also, the first day that passes were available to pick up. Needless to say the line to get your pass was 2+ hours long.  I decided to try to make a few runs and come back when the line was hopefully shorter. Unfortunately, they were checking passes at the bottom, so just one ride back to the top for me. At least I got to make a few turns on okay snow. It was inconsistent with hard & soft spots. Man-made ice pellets with gravely ice chunks mixed in. It was just above freezing and heading toward 40+°. It was more like spring conditions. 

Apparently the express lift is down while awaiting parts.

Hours will be 10-5 for the next 2-3 weekends.

Might go back up later to try and get my pass so I can make a few runs tomorrow.

[bigwavedave]

Saturday

Picked up my pass late yesterday afternoon. Only a ½ hour line.

Took my 1st run from the top this morning before the lift was going. Sunny and warm, very spring-like conditions—40° at the start, 50° by the time I left. Same 3 runs open. Scissorbill had the nicest snow and the least traffic. There were some hard icy bumps under the slushy stuff, so I rode with Geckos on the 166 ice Contra for cushioned & tight turns on the limited terrain. It was fun to make some deep trenches. Made about 6 runs in a little over an hour until it started getting busy.

Looking forward to some cooler weather next week for making snow. 

[bigwavedave]

Biked up to the hill today. It has been good weather for making snow. They're blowing on 4Pipe and BlueRuin making connections to the Gandy Chair. Nice piles of snow on JugglerJoe too...

Maybe we'll see 2 or 3 of these runs added to ScissorBill, BindleStiff and SkyHooker this weekend. The express chair was running on & off today, so maybe it will be repaired for this weekend. We had 2.5" of new snow the other day and may get a dusting Friday night.

 

 

[bigwavedave]

Saturday

Arctic cold front came through last night with 30 to 40 kt winds and temps going from just above freezing to 1° this morning. Freezing rain preceded the dusting of snow overnight.
Same three runs open today. The snow was pretty hard and crusty, but carveable. My 166 ice contra with geckos was the best tool in my quiver for today’s conditions. Made about six runs in an hour and was done. It got busy with only three runs open and race teams practicing on Skyhooker. Express chair was running today good snow making weather!

 

[bigwavedave]

Sunday

Got that first run again this morning before the lift started up. Snow is a little better today, about 2 inches of nicely groomed snow over the icy hard pack.  Scissorbill still has the best groom with snow blowing over from 4pipe. Got about six runs in an hour again before looking up the hill on every turn became necessary.

[bigwavedave]

Things are moving right along. Guns have moved from 4Pipe and BlueRuin (leaving snow mounds top to bottom) and are now blowing on the tubing hill, Gandy and BigAir (which already has some big snow piles). 

[bigwavedave]

Alberta Clippers have brought us 3-4" new snow the past few days. ^^^Snowmaking update^^^ posted with pic above. Should be some more runs open this weekend. Rumor is Spirit will open with new winter hours (W-Th-F-S-S) beginning next Wed Dec 14th. Might coincide with a potentially significant lake enhanced dump next week.

[bigwavedave]

On 12/7/2022 at 12:12 PM, bigwavedave said:

 new winter hours (W-Th-F-S-S) beginning next Wed Dec 14th. Might coincide with a potentially significant lake enhanced dump next week.

Wed

Well, the lumbering low rolled in last night, drawing big NE gusts in from the lake and depositing rain and sleet and turned to all snow overnight. Only an inch of wet snow so far, but they're still predicting 1-2 feet through tomorrow! 

Spirit has a wind delay til noon today. Schools are closed, so it will be a pow-day zoo if they do open the hill today. Can heavy, wet snow be called powder? I think it's a stretch.

[bigwavedave]

Wed

Got up to the hill before noon planning to hike for my first turns. As I half expected, the lifts were not running due to the heavy snow and wind. There were a few of the regular hiker/skinner-uppers there. I found untracked, boot deep snow on ScissorBill. The top of the hill was wind scoured revealing a rock hard frozen groom (it was well above freezing when groomed). Made 2 runs (had to hike back up to get a photo of that 1st track)

riding the PCjv swallowtail. 

Temps are hovering near freezing now and our wobbly low has decided to hang around for a couple of days, so more snow!

Planning to go up tomorrow and will hike up if the lifts don't run. 

[bigwavedave]

Delayed opening again today: 12:00 noon.

It's been a sloppy wet storm. This low is like a lumbering drunk who staggers into you while vomiting all over. and then says "sore-y" before stumbling into Canada and passing out

Regardless, it should be interesting on the hill today. I plan to hike up before the proposed noon opening.

[bigwavedave]

Thursday

Roads were clear enough to drive to the top before opening. Before the lift started spinning, I managed 1½ runs on ScissorBill in 4-6" of untracked snow on top of a groomed surface from last night.

Tracks of the 181 PC swallow-tail powdercarver  The fat-tire bike of boards. Puts a big grin on my face.

4pipe was mostly groomed and was fun once the ungroomed stuff got tracked out. Rode the Big Kahuna, TSm² (202cm) over there.  Biggest board I've ridden! It did what I had hoped, carving through chop like it wasn't there, while not sinking too deep in the soft snow.

It started getting busy after about 1½ hours with the schools closed again today. We got over 2 ft of wet snow in 48 hours. 

Russ was there. Back tomorrow.

 

[bigwavedave]

Friday

1 ½ inches of fresh dry snow this morning. Unfortunately, the underlying groom was hard frozen with lots of imperfections. It was well above freezing when the slushy snow was groomed last night. On the bright side, we are done with above freezing temps for the foreseeable future, we now have a good base from the storm and there's more snow in the forecast. 

A short day for me today. I expect it will be nice tomorrow morning. It's supposed to keep snowing through tonight. I plan to be there until it gets too busy.

[bigwavedave]

Saturday

A nice surprise of 4-6" light fluffy snow overnight.  I knew it would be busy today so drove to the top early enough to make 1st tracks and hike up for a 2nd run before the lifts started. 

Started out on the 181PC swallowtail. Snow was deeper on Gandy having been groomed earlier. The underlying groom is still pretty hard and a bit uneven. After several runs, I switched to the Superconductor, hit a soft spot and crashed hard head over heels spraining my thumb. Called it quits for the day. It was getting busy anyway.

Should be nice tomorrow, a little more sun and colder.

A fe3w hours later....

Okay, thinkin' I may have fractured it. It started getting purplish and puffy within an hour and hurts like hell when it comes into direct contact with anything. Who needs a left thumb? right? Ouch! space bar. damn! I can still ride 

[bobble]

18 hours ago, bigwavedave said:

 

Okay, thinkin' I may have fractured it. It started getting purplish and puffy within an hour and hurts like hell when it comes into direct contact with anything. Who needs a left thumb? right? Ouch! space bar. damn! I can still ride 

exactly this guy's thoughts. movie is a wee bit o'dark.

 

[bigwavedave]

On 12/18/2022 at 7:51 AM, bobble said:

exactly this guy's thoughts. movie is a wee bit o'dark.

Yea, I want to see that movie, not just for the dark, but all those rocks. 

Sunday 

I was out for the first tracks today. 1°, sun, very firm groom, a bit uneven. Enough to make me ride a plated board—175 REV (11-12scr) with F-plate.

My neck and upper back are a bit stiff and sore from planting my head in the snow doing a somersault yesterday. My thumb didn't hold me back much. Just can't use it for anything. Especially, no petting the snow today. 

The light went flat after about 1½ hours. Even though it wasn't too busy yet, I was done. It still feels like early season.

Good snowmaking weather ahead along with some natural snow. Spirit is still making snow on DoubleJaw and JugglerJoe and on CinderSnapper and BigAir park. I expect all will be open by Christmas.

11

[bigwavedave]

~3"+ past 24 hrs here. Thought about going up to Lutsen today. They got ~7".

But, I'm still a little sore from my crash. Saw the Chiro yesterday. Planning to be out tomorrow for winter solstice. 

Another big storm on the horizon! Looks like the U.P. will get the lion's share from this one with significant lake enhancement, so merry xmas to @Algunderfoot and Beth.