Buck Hill 22/23

[bobble]

11/22/22

opening day. got there around 6:45pm. long lift lines. only main chair and teachers pet were running. it looks like they have enough snow to open all runs but they haven't groomed olympic or the south runs yet.

place was packed. the beach was littered with skis, poles, and boards. lot of kids were bombing runs.

the snow was okay. i mostly skidded turns. too nervous with everyone all on crossroads.

i think i got 5-6 runs. left at 8pm.

[bobble]

11/25/22

arrived early. initially the place was not crowded. it picked up close to 10AM.

almost all of the runs were open except warners. the south chair was running.

snow was not great at the start. some areas it was like riding over ice gravel. it warmed up and things got better.

[bobble]

welp, looks like i'm out for a couple days. 

after i posted i accidentally dropped the edge of a storm window onto my foot. it banged the big toe at the cuticle. the window didn't break. it was just the weight of the window with metal frame.

i don't think i've ever seen so much blood. the front entry looked like a crime scene.

 

 

[Scuff]

11-26-22

Sunny. Few crowds. Soft but still carvy snow. On the freestyle board. 

 

[bobble]

12/3/22

windchill was -10F. wind blowing from the west was not pleasant.

snow was firm and fast.

D-teams were out on crossroads.

only lasted an hour. too stiff from cold.

[bobble]

12/4/22

warmer temps. sunny. snow was great.

not sure why but warners is not open even though they have the snow.

[bobble]

12/10/22

flat light today. warm. about 33F. 

when i drove it was slightly snowing then turned to mist/rain. 

greese from the pulleys dripped all over me. rode the chair with the guy who used to be a ski coach in aspen. his first words to me were, "you got it all over your jacket".

snow was good for carving but it was difficult to see.

left early at 10:45 am.

[bobble]

12/11/12

great snow. ever where else was fine except it was hard to ride on olympic. 

one of the lifties saw my jacket and said that i must've been out the other day and to use Dawn dishwashing detergent to get rid of the oil stains.

the ex-ski coach stopped me to tell me he tried using lighter fluid on his stained jacket and it worked. learned this trick from bobd. haven't tried it yet. i went so far as to buy lighter fluid at Mills Fleet Farm but when i walked to the checkout i realized i left my wallet back in my stained jacket.

 

[bobble]

12/12/22 

rode in evening. crossroads was half closed for practice. milkrun had a course.

it wasn't very crowded which was a surprise. i didn't have troubles with skiers warming up on the run.

snow was decent. just like yesterday/ a little choppy towards the bottom.

i met a ski jammer instructor who used to ride alpine boards. we rode the chair for several trips. at one point he noticed my lift ticket had fallen off my helmet. my hood must have pulled it off the wicket. i rode for an hour without any hassle. the new lifties don't care.

buck has posted on facebook that they will not be open tomorrow (tuesday) due to rain.

[bobble]

12/15/22

i think we got 6 inches of wet snow.

went out at lunch on skis. went to railyard (meadows) and i got bounced around from the tracked out snow. almost fell down.

went back in evening on snowboard. the snow was packed down and rutted. not much fun. i really wish buck would use sleds rather than 4-wheelers. they tear up the place.

[bobble]

12/16/22

at noon. about 3 inches of snow on top of cord that, in itself, was icy... but only if you have the discriminating eye and look for those things.

wasn't great on alpine board. would be better on softies.

something is going on with the main chairlift. i saw to guys staring at schematics with the panels open. doesn't inspire confidence. 

[bobble]

12/18/22

arrived early sunday morning. outdoor temp was -2F with a windchill of -17F.

buck had snow guns blowing on south runs. it created a cloud that floated over Crystal Lake.

olympic, warners and railyard were closed. despite closed runs it wasn't too crowded.

snow was very firm. very good carving. karl and i had to take a break to warm up our feet. it did warm up a little.

left after 11 am. feet were too cold.

[bobble]

12/19/22

rode at lunch. flat light. excellent snow.

south runs are still closed for blowing snow. if all the runs were open i would ride this evening.

met a guy on softboot setup (name is kaha?). he came up to me and started up about carving and ryan knapton. i think he did a clinic with knapton. i later saw the guy laying out an impressive toe-side. it lasted a several seconds.

on my last ride i rode chairlift and talked with him. he had some plastic over his gloves and forearms so that he could lay out on the snow. told him to check out this forum.

[bobble]

FML!

buck hill is closed Dec 22 - 24th because of cold weather and i just took PTO. 

[bigwavedave]

Heard you got 7+ inches. An opportunity to hth and get some fresh tracks? We only got about 3".

[lordmetroland]

4 hours ago, bobble said:

FML!

buck hill is closed Dec 22 - 24th because of cold weather and i just took PTO. 

When did Buck Hill leave Minnesota? 

[bobble]

8 hours ago, bigwavedave said:

Heard you got 7+ inches. An opportunity to hth and get some fresh tracks? We only got about 3".

buck doesn't like people trespassing otherwise i would walk up.

yeah, we got several inches of light fluffy snow. easy to shovel and very easy for the wind to blow away. i wouldn't be surprised if they ran groomers to tamp down the snow.

ms. bobble and i might head up to duluth next week. weather forecast next thursday might be 37F.

[bobble]

12/26/22

arrived early. buck ski team set up a course on milkrun near the towers. they roped off half of crossroads. i waited until 8:45AM when they started taking down the gates to ride the chair. 

so the only good part was crossroads next to the towers albeit was already carved up by ski team.

very cold but the snow was soft and very carveable. the coaches were still sending kids down the middle of crossroads so i went over to warners. fresh cord.

after an hour my friggn' toes were in pain. around that time the snow seemed to soften up.  went back to crossroads for a bit. sorry randy, wish i could've lasted longer.

at home i had ice inside my front liner. yay.

heading up to duluth this afternoon.

[bobble]

12/30/22

i was apprehensive about conditions due to yesterday's warm weather.

today was in the 20's. snow was great for carving. very crowded but manageable.

when i left, it took me 10 minutes to get out of the parking lot. buck didn't have anyone directing traffic into the parking lot. cars driving into the lot were blocking traffic to get out. i saw later that buck posted on instagram that there lots were full and to park at the mall.

[bobble]

12/31/22

weather report said icy fog with chance of snow around 11am. looked out the window and saw frost on the trees. i debated whether to ride or not.

got to the hill and sun was poking through the clouds. half hour later it was partly cloudy with sun. it remained sunny when i left at 11am when it got crowded.

ski teams rutted up milkrun and took half of crossroads.

snow was softer than yesterday. left some deep wide ruts. halfway down crossroads i was hitting a patch of ice.

 

[bobble]

1/1/23 New Years Eve

arrived early to get first chair. ended up sharing it with a regular (charlie). got first tracks on crossroads.

it was terrible fog. i could barely see 35W from the top of the run. i could not see my tracks from the chair.

around 10 AM it was still foggy but the visibility was improving. at around 11 AM it was mostly cloudy but with occasional sun.

snow was great. i was leaving deep fat ruts. on one trip up the main chair i saw that i made deep wide trench on toe-side. on the way down i went back and tried to fill in my divot. i didn't want anyone to get hurt.

around 11:15 AM, i started riding olympic because the sun was visible. the hill was almost untouched... i carved Nazca lines that were visible to all Delta Airline flights flying above Buck Hill.

rode for three hours. if the sun hadn't poked through i probably would've left early.

[bobble]

1/2/23

arrived close to 10 AM. i thought buck was back to normal operating hours and opened at 10. the place was almost packed.

i went to the ski school to get my ticket. there was already a long line. a father and son were ahead of me and decided to try the clock tower. several minutes later they came back to a much longer line. the clock tower ticket window wasn't open.

early morning fog. difficult to see. it was worse than yesterday. it was as if my goggles fogged over.

the snow felt firm compared to yesterday. maybe a little faster.

crossroads was okay but was getting chopped up. i ventured over to olympic. i think the fog got worse and so i couldn't see. ended up skidding to get down. after an hour the visibility improved and went back. plenty of cord. 

the lift lines on the south chair were too long. the line for main chair was tolerable. i was going to ride down olympic but a wave a families started crossing over from the south chair. i diverted and went down crossroads. towards the bottom i just gave up and headed for the parking lot.

[bobble]

1/6/23

rode over lunch. snow was very soft. slow carving.

crossroads was somewhat washboard-y. olympic was really bad in that regard. i wanted to try milkrun but there were skiers doing a clinic or something.

surprising number of people out skiing. probably a good day for skiing.

[bobble]

1/7/23

epic conditions! firm cord. blue skies. got crowded with ski jammers and d-teams.

i got a couple runs on olympic before it was closed off.

it was either milkrun or crossroads.

[flatcoke]

Nice to meet you bobble and scuff. I'm the guy with a black and white top Donek. Sorry was in a hurry to the ski challenge(NASTAR) race with my little one. Will be glad to ride together soon!