Buck Hill 23/24

[bobble]

12/1/23 Opening day

arrived at buck at 10AM. already a line to get tickets. office didn't open until 10:30 or so.

quickly got to the new chairlift only to find out people already were in line.

chair started around 11:05am. new lifties getting trained. before they opened to the public, the owner gave a speech about the new chair and the improvements to the run.

the people who made first chair ended up falling down when the chair swooped them up.

i got 3rd chair. would've gotten 2nd but this effin kid budded in front of me. his mother rode with me.

they removed a lot of earth to lower the area around the chair so it was almost level with the south chair. easy to get back to the lookout chair from south runs.

the top has some cargo containers that look like tiny houses. they're making it into some kind of event center.

all runs were open but only two chairs running. snow was not that great for carving. lots of ice marbles. i couldn't set an edge.

got crowded quick. left after 5 runs.

 

[bobble]

12/2/23

sunny. conditions were better than yesterday. not quite in fighting shape.

not as many people there when the opened but by 10AM long lift lines. they aren't running the south chair yet.

met anex-lifty (mike). he used to be a lifty last year but has retired. he said that the new chairlift is lower to allow kids to board. unfortunately, it makes it a little more challenging for tall people who have to squat down further.

[bobble]

12/3/23

rode in evening. snow was good. no ice. mostly road olympic. 

the south chair stopped running. not sure why. it looked like they kicked everyone off the lift. the line to the new lift was super long. i almost left. after about 10 minutes they reopened the south chair.

lot of kids. for some reason people are just loitering at the chair. just standing there.

[Scuff]

Cloudy morning at Buck.Good snow, low wind, and smooth conditions. 1st day for the season and I am easing-in by chosing skis.  Met 2 visiting carvers from Lacrosse, swell chaps, I think in town for a race.

The improvements to (topography, terragen, landscaping) to the landing zone at the bottom, and the top make a huge difference!

[bobble]

8 hours ago, Scuff said:

The improvements to (topography, terragen, landscaping) to the landing zone at the bottom, and the top make a huge difference!

indeed. and the weird thing is that i don't miss the maintenance shack. so wide open. i like it. more room to play.

i'm wondering if they'll put in fences to form queues. it was crazy last night.

how long until some Banksy wannabe tags the new "event center"? 

[Pat Donnelly]

Passing along info I received from info@nidecker.com  

Nidecker Demo Day:  

COME RIDE WITH US.

Hey there,

Did you know you can try Nidecker gear before you buy? We're hosting a bunch of demo days across the globe this winter. Come hang with the crew, test out the latest range and make some new riding buddies. We'd love to hear your feedback on our board and binding lines - including, of course, the game-changing Supermatic binding.

14th December 2023
BUCK HILL DEMO
Buck Hill, Minnesota
2pm-9pm

 

Edited December 5, 2023 by Pat Donnelly

[bobble]

12/9/23

saturday morning. gray sky. some drizzle. snow was not great. too soft to hold a decent carve. the backside to railyard had brown snow. 

ski teams were out. so were the ski patrol.

left after half an hour. conditions didn't excite me.

[bobble]

12/10/23

sunday morning. flat light. 

olympic was icy in the middle. all i could do was skid. warners had dips that i couldn't see. railyard was okay.

crossroads was a little better. 

left after 45 minutes. might go back in evening.

[bobble]

12/14/23

tried riding in evening. during day the weather app said high in 50's. in evening when i went out it was hovering above 35F. warm temps really messed things up. snow was hard pack. difficult to set an edge. bumps. let after four runs.

saw the nidecker tent.

buck replaced the nastar chute. it's still under construction. they have some interesting red/blue lighting that on the facade. up close i couldn't tell if it was neon or LED. it's has to be LED. no way would neon hold up. r

eally kind of cool. it's got a SSX Tricky vibe. maybe they'll have red/blue LED illuminated gates?

i posted a picture of it on instagram... bobble904

[bobble]

12/17/23

rode sunday evening because weather was terrible in morning. it rained on saturday.

car thermometer read 37F at the hill. snow felt like it it was scrubbed down to icy base. nothing to hold an edge. lots of skidding. started sleeting. left after 45 minutes.

[bobble]

12/19/23

rode at lunch. buck blew snow last night. grooming was tough. crossroads had large icy snowballs about size of your palm all over the run. olympic had some icy cord midway. railyard was decent.

saw another hardbooter but i had to leave.

[flatcoke]

Bob, that'll be Leo, he relocated from Colorado to train with G-team.

Conditions sounds tough, I'll be there this afternoon with my son, looks like it might be park time for me. Still on the fence though, I may take both setup with me.

[trent]

heads up, ski races 12/23. 

and 1/13-15. but 13-14 will be the top skiers in the area, so you will see serious talent! 

Edited December 21, 2023 by trent

[flatcoke]

Condition Wednesday night was pretty good, a little bumpy in spots but can hold edges well. Plan to come again Friday before it rains, then take a break until night temperature are low enough to make snow again. An inch of rain over the weekend is no joke...

[bobble]

buck is closed on christmas eve and day "in order to conserve snowpack" due to shitty weather.

forecast is 53F on 12/24 and 43F on 12/25.

can't remember last time that happened.

[bobble]

12/27/23

arrived early. ski teams devastated milkrun and crossroads. the gates extended all the way to the bottom. there was a gate close to the chalet.

olympic was closed off. ski teams started setting up training on warners.

the backside towards railyard was closed. no snow whatsoever. either the snow melted or some construction going on.

the top of redtail has turned into a chute. i am not too proud to admit that i had to side slip it. there are no fences. not even sure it was groomed. they removed the rails and grind boxes.

railyard was carveable but not much fun.

[flatcoke]

 

So "snow"boarded with hard boots today with Leo. We looked like two clowns. Really just Iceboarding. I'd take a solid sheet of ice over this BS any day.

[bigwavedave]

looks familiar. Need a gravel board. 

[bobble]

12/30/23

ski teams have taken over the runs this week so i've been away. today they had courses on almost every run except teachers pet and redtail.

for a while i was on railyard but the lines were getting too long from D-Team. the coaching staff seems to think it's perfectly acceptable to block the way from railyard to the main chair.

i saw the line was long and tried to make it to main chair. there were a pair of skis on the run blocking one approach. there was a couple of guys walking in the middle of the route blocking another route.  ski coaches standing in the way too. i yelled to lookout and threaded the way between the coach and the guys walking on the run. the coach gave me a look. i then had to slow down because a group of kids started coming off of olympic not even paying attention. i yelled again to look out. i ended up stopping before some kid wiping out in front of me. i had to kick it to make it to the chair.

bugs the shit out of me. what was the point of regrading the bottom of buck if they're going to block everyone.

i stayed on crossroads but couldn't carve. there's just too much sugar on top of ice.

met leo.

 

[bobble]

12/31/23

it snowed about an inch.

ski teams were out again. took every run. one of the regulars complained about it too so it's not just me. they had set gates way up high on crossroads. there was a large rut with ice just as you drop in at the top. 

i couldn't carve at all on crossroads or milkrun. on railyard i could carve but it was such soft snow that i rode mostly upright. ski teams set up two courses on warners which seemed rude. 

 

 

 

[bobble]

1/1/24

got first chair.

flat light. fast snow on crossroads. rode upright because i couldn't see. met up with flatcoke.

went over to olympic. the snow was fast but it felt like there was more firm snow on top of ice. finally laying out some turns. felt great! i fell on one run and hurt my back. that pretty much ended it.

yesterday i was talking with one of the regulars, charlie. he was telling me that when he grew up his dad would take him skiing on new year's day at Pine Bend ski hill which is right across from Flint Hills refinery. i had no idea that there was a ski hill there. he thought it closed down because of the pollution from the plant.

it was located at 44°45'55"N   93°1'14"W.

i searched for an aerial photo on Minnesota Historical Aerial Photographs archive. the link to photo below is from 1964. i think the ski hill is almost near center in upper left quadrant.

[flatcoke]

1/3 Met Joe subbing for G-team on a cool vintage F2 rocket shaped board. Joe made carving shitty snow look easy! @bobble Joe said hi.

Buck hill decided to shoot rusty yellow snow probably laced with urea in the middle of the busiest hour. Apparently from what I can tell there was also zero communication, since D-team spent 20 minutes laid out some gates, immediately Buck started shooting yellow snow all over their course, then they started to pull the gates again before anyone even got any runs in. It was hilarious to watch. I feel for the coaches.

Had two runs with Leo then went home with my son.

 

[bobble]

1 hour ago, flatcoke said:

1/3 Met Joe subbing for G-team on a cool vintage F2 rocket shaped board. Joe made carving shitty snow look easy! @bobble Joe said hi.

Buck hill decided to shoot rusty yellow snow probably laced with urea in the middle of the busiest hour. Apparently from what I can tell there was also zero communication, since D-team spent 20 minutes laid out some gates, immediately Buck started shooting yellow snow all over their course, then they started to pull the gates again before anyone even got any runs in. It was hilarious to watch. I feel for the coaches.

Had two runs with Leo then went home with my son.

 

i regret i wasn't out last night. had family commitments. but on the other hand... yellow?

joe helped me get started with hardboots. i originally started out on ski boots on a burton factory prime and struggled. he lent me a pair of his boots and everything just clicked. i remember coming home to ms. bobble all excited. it was near end of season. the following season i flew out to colorado and visited the bomber shop to get boots.

that was the day ms. bobble became a snowboarder widow (she don't mind!).

[flatcoke]

On 1/1/2024 at 11:21 AM, bobble said:

yesterday i was talking with one of the regulars, charlie. he was telling me that when he grew up his dad would take him skiing on new year's day at Pine Bend ski hill which is right across from Flint Hills refinery. i had no idea that there was a ski hill there. he thought it closed down because of the pollution from the plant.

it was located at 44°45'55"N   93°1'14"W.

 

That is very cool, a few years ago when I just got my first backcountry setup I was looking for places with enough snow cover and vertical to practice, and after doing some research Pine Bluff was my choice of the slope in the whole metro area. Glad to know my research was justified!

I ended up just asking ski patrol at Buck Hill nicely and they kindly allow us to skin up and down a couple runs and asked us a lot of questions about touring.

[bobble]

1/4/23

rode in evening. almost all the snow guns were operating. 

crossroads was choppy and busy with ski challenge.

warners was bouncy up top, okay at second pitch.

railyard had some small mounds. kids were making jumps and walking back up the hill.