trent Posted December 21, 2023 Report Share Posted December 21, 2023 i was looking at ski racing calendar, thought i'd update y'all so you can adjust your expectations. 1/16-17, 2/1-4, 2/9-11 (top level, should be fun to watch). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 1 Author Report Share Posted January 1 Monday Jan 1, 2024 25° winter reboot 1st track of the new year! After 2 weeks of mountain melting temps and another 3" of rain over Xmas, Spirit is back making snow day & night for the past few days. We had ½" natural snow Saturday night. The hill is in surprisingly decent shape, though quite variable. In one carve you'd go from an easy carving 2" of man-made groom over an ice base (as in the pic above) to hard frozen groom, to groomed ice chunks. Flat light made it hard to see the bad spots. Skidded a third of my turns. At least it wasn't too busy for the first hour. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobble Posted January 2 Report Share Posted January 2 @bigwavedave i was wondering what was going on up there. the conditions sound the same as down here except buck hill ski teams devastated almost every run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 2 Author Report Share Posted January 2 On 1/1/2024 at 6:18 PM, bobble said: @bigwavedave i was wondering what was going on up there. the conditions sound the same as down here except buck hill ski teams devastated almost every run. Good snowmaking weather everywhere and no more warm weather in sight. The big lake is still open so there will be opportunities for lake effect snow in the coming cold weather. There's some in the forecast for Snowriver this week. I'll go out again tomorrow morning and report back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 2 Author Report Share Posted January 2 Tuesday Getting better each day... Had sum sun for the first hour. Still blowing snow on outer runs. I rode SkyHooker, ScissorBill and 4Pipe, all pretty good. Far fewer icy patches than yesterday. Gandy and DoubleJaw have all man-made snow, blown after the meltdown. Word was Gandy was good. Rode 3 boards with plates: 171 XC (w/modified Gecko style), 175 Rev (F-plate), 166 Contra (full Gecko). Since the plates allow for more clearance, I'm trying more relaxed angles on the plated boards for more edge pressure. Moving from 62° front & 57° rear, to ~55° front & ~50° rear. I'll be out tomorrow 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 3 Author Report Share Posted January 3 Wed Yesterday the forecast called for clear and sunny today. It ended up being overcast with flat light and light flurries all day. No accumulation. It was above freezing late yesterday, so the groom today was frozen and crusty. Found some nice turns on DoubleJaw, but it was still sketchy. A short day for me. Hoping the forecast sun appears tomorrow and there's snow on the horizon! Welcome back winter! ps: Snowriver got 4-5 inches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 4 Author Report Share Posted January 4 Thurs Overcast with flurries again, still not enough to accumulate. Russ was there. DoubleJaw had the best carving snow. Still crusty, gravely, icy patches in the groom on 4Pipe & SkyHooker. Didn't check Gandy. Good snowmaking temps and they're making new piles on ScissorBill. Rode for 2½ hrs. Not too busy on the slopes. There was a big high school XC race at the bottom. Parking was full of cars & buses and warming tents. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 6 Author Report Share Posted January 6 Saturday Wow! 4" of wet snow overnight. The first 1-2" were groomed in with 2-3" on top of the groom. Best day yet this season, really feels like winter. And, yes it's funny to be excited about a few inches of snow, but it was enough to soften the hill for some beautiful carving. Rode for 2 hours. It got busy, but no big lift lines. 32° with light snow, dim sun and fog at the top. Wet snow and soft groom underneath made for deep ruts that were quite firm when you hit them later. I did find the ice base in a carve later in the day once things were scraped off and carved up by all the traffic. There was a USSA ski race that got cancelled, so a lot of racers free-skiing the hill today. Rode 2 boards today, 181 PC swallowtail and the 202 TS Powdercarver. Lots of comments on the big board. Both were a blast. The 202 really smooths out all the bumps and ruts, like riding in a cloud. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 7 Author Report Share Posted January 7 Sunday Another ½" overnight. Drove to the top for 1st tracks. Snow was nice for carving, despite having flat light and moist snow that groomed up firmer than yesterday. Ken was on it. The ratio between pleasurable carving vs crowds & flat light tipped after about 1½ hours, so a short day, but not bad for a weekend. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 9 Author Report Share Posted January 9 Tuesday Another ½" yesterday. Overcast & flat light today. They're almost done blowing snow on JugglerJoe, CinderSnappper & big air. Everything else is open. It's an interesting mix of man-made and natural snow that is nice for carving... ....but there are still crunchy, ice gravelly areas of fresh, man-made yellow snow that are not so nice for carving. Rode for 2½ hours. Light traffic and lots of room to carve. btw, the grooming has been exceptional and seamless so far this season. Really appreciated on these flat light days. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 10 Author Report Share Posted January 10 Wed Snowing, temps in the mid 20's. Freezing drizzle drove me inside for a coffee break after the first hour and then it turned to big snowflakes. We had a couple of inches by 2pm and it's still snowing. Carving was the best yet this season. Hardly any crunchy man-made anywhere. Gandy was good, Blue Ruin had the only crunchy made-made, yet still quite carvable. Virtually empty slopes too. Crowds never materialized. Wait, what's this you say. Another freak on the hill? Spotted Wess (from Idaho) first thing this morning riding his 270-ish? Pogo swallowtail in softboots. He was quite the head-turning sensation. He drove overnight from North Dakota and is here for 2 days. ...and it's supposed to keep snowing through Saturday. Rode for 4 hours today and thinking of going back out for more later. Should be nice tomorrow! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobble Posted January 11 Report Share Posted January 11 20 hours ago, bigwavedave said: Wed Snowing, temps in the mid 20's. Freezing drizzle drove me inside for a coffee break after the first hour and then it turned to big snowflakes. We had a couple of inches by 2pm and it's still snowing. Carving was the best yet this season. Hardly any crunchy man-made anywhere. Gandy was good, Blue Ruin had the only crunchy made-made, yet still quite carvable. Virtually empty slopes too. Crowds never materialized. Wait, what's this you say. Another freak on the hill? Spotted Wess first thing this morning riding his 270-ish? Pogo swallowtail in softboots. He was quite the head-turning sensation. He drove overnight from North Dakota and is here for 2 days. ...and it's supposed to keep snowing through Saturday. Rode for 4 hours today and thinking of going back out for more later. Should be nice tomorrow! good lord... i would hate to have that attached to my front leg riding the chair with high wind! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 11 Author Report Share Posted January 11 Thursday Another inch or so overnight, mid 20's and light snow falling this morning. Drove up for 1st tracks. The wet snow yesterday groomed up firm with a ½" fresh on top. Legs are a bit tired from yesterday, so only rode for 2 hours. Russ was there, but on duty at the H.S. XC races at the bottom. We did one run together. No Pogo stick sightings today. Rode the 171 XC and the 185 8rw. The XC was really slaying it with the 3 toed Geckos taking the edge off the bumps and ruts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khoward Posted January 12 Report Share Posted January 12 Out for an hour this afternoon hoping for a bit of sun. Surprised how crusty it was and it remained flat. We had 4 inches of fresh snow at our house. Looking ahead to colder temps and better light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 12 Author Report Share Posted January 12 Friday 2°F and filtered sun. Firm seamless groom (1-2" deep trenches), hard in places, but no more crusty/crunchy yellow/brown snow. They're still blowing snow on outer runs and we should have some lake enhanced snow in the next couple of days...along with subzero temps. Could be some big lake effect pow for the UP this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 13 Author Report Share Posted January 13 Saturday No new snow for you (Snowriver got all the lake effect, 12" and counting) Cold (2°F), windy and sunny!! Drove to the top for 1st tracks. Express chair was down for the first ½ hour, so I was directed down SkyHooker to the Gandy chair. Caught the 1st chair up and made the first tracks down the GandyDancer. Gandy had the best snow anywhere on the hill due to fresh snow blowing over from the snowmaking on CinderSnapper and BigAir. Nice packed powder made for 1-2" deep trenches. Then racers showed up setting 2 courses on BlueRuin and making big lines for the Gandy chair. Snow was harder everywhere else--½" deep trenches. Still, great carving was had...the best day ever....yet....so far...this winter. Scissorbill was pretty good, but even skiers complained about the groom being hard. So, it wasn't just me! Rode for 2½ hours, plated boards...171 XC and 166 Contra. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 15 Author Report Share Posted January 15 MLK Monday -5°F & sunny with 15-15kt west wind. The windchill was off the charts riding the express chair into it. Late start for me (forgot that Spirit was open on holiday Mondays). Didn't matter, as nobody was there anyway due to the cold temps. Snow was hard everywhere, so hard that seemingly insignificant seams between groomer passes made carving across the hill a joint-jarring ride. "Trenches" were merely grooves, ¼-½" deep at best. GandyDancer still had the softest snow, but not by much... Rode 2 plated boards. A longer effective edge helped smooth out the ride, but a tighter sidecut was nice for controlling speed because the hard snow was so fast. Still making snow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 16 Author Report Share Posted January 16 Tuesday Another subzero night. Waited till early afternoon when temps got above 0°. Filtered sun, enough to make a slight shadow and a gusty west wind in your face on the chair. Less than 10 cars in the parking lot and low and behold there's Ken carving down a wide open and empty 4pipe. Just a handful of people on the hill. Snow was better then yesterday. The best carving was found on 4pipe, making ½-1" deep trenches in nearly seamless groom. Rode for an hour. Gandy and BindleStiff closed for snow making today. 4Pipe and Skyhooker will be closed tomorrow for snowmaking. Nice to see them take advantage of the cold weather to freshen up the slopes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 17 Author Report Share Posted January 17 Wed +2°, sunny and very little wind!! Skyhooker and 4Pipe closed for snowmaking. Scissorbill had the best snow having some arctic powder drifting over from 4Pipe making for the softest turns anywhere on the hill. It would still qualify as Minnesota Firm (1-2" deep trenches), but noticeably gentler on the knees than the hard stuff on all the other runs. JugglerJoe is groomed smooth (no humps) and wide enough for a GS board. Ready to quit after 1½ hours, I ran into Ken, so made a few more runs. And Jane showed up too! Scissorbill after a couple of runs... ...probably the most fun carving so far this winter. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 18 Author Report Share Posted January 18 Thurs 3° above, no wind, dim sun, not enough to make a shadow. Rode for 1½ hrs. Russ was there. Scissorbill and JugglerJoe had the nicest snow. 4Pipe had hard, crusty, chunky first day manmade groom. Never got over to Gandy. Skyhooker was getting it's first grooming after the manmade refresh yesterday. Things should be in nice shape in time for the next warm-up. Crazy winter. I'm heading over to the UP for a few days. They're getting some nice lake effect today through Saturday. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 25 Author Report Share Posted January 25 After experiencing the best conditions so far this winter with 9" of lake effect at Snowriver inda UP, I arrived back in Duluth to days of fog, freezing drizzle, freezing mist, fog....it's hard to get motivated. I suspect I'm not the only one. Looks like we're in for still warmer spring-like temps into early Feb. I hope we see some sun. I do enjoy slarving slush, even though it's kinda early for that. We're working on the warmest winter recorded in 150 yrs of record keeping in MN. Hoping for a return of winter in Feb. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khoward Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 The week of cold was great, but fog and drizzle not so much. The Norse vision of Hell was cold and drizzle - kind of like April in Duluth. We may be headed for the longest April ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khoward Posted January 28 Report Share Posted January 28 Got first chair today. Flat light and rutted hardpack. Left after an hour. Probably not worth the time and effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 28 Author Report Share Posted January 28 Ha! I waited for the sun to come out this afternoon so I could see all the frozen ruts. It didn't help much. I also only lasted about an hour, rode 3 different boards. Testing a new little plate on the 165 Thirst CC, but ended up on the Thirst 202cm TankerSpanker, which was the smoothest ride by far. One of the best slush slaying boards ever, but the slush was starting to set up as the temps cooled, so... Looks like we will have some good slush slarving weather later this week....with sum sun. 25 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted January 28 Author Report Share Posted January 28 Hard to believe the last time I was out riding, just 1 week ago (seems like ages), it looked like this at JCS... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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