Let's talk about skiing & snowboarding!

[Doodski]

Getting excited for the season, places are just opening in Ohio so I've not gotten a chance to go out yet.

We've had the big yearly trip on the books for a while, to Whistler this year. I think none of us have been there yet, and it's been kind of a bucket list place for me. Me and a few others also just fixed plans for heli skiing while there, all of us first timers, also a bucket list kind of thing to do. Super excited for this trip this year!

Now I just need to find time to do a few days around here before we head there.

CooL! What kinda planks are you going to use for the heli run?

 

[DWPress]

Our latest winter storm last night is so far meeting expectations. A little too much to XO ski at the moment with 2' of powder but in a couple days I'll be out Skijoring with my dog. Right out the back door and we can be gone for hours.

 

[Trouble Maker]

CooL! What kinda planks are you going to use for the heli run?

Rentals.

They recommend at least 105mm underfoot and closer to 110 is better. I guess my east coast ice skis at 88mm underfoot isn't enough.

I've started to become much more of a 1 quiver kind of hobbiyst; 1 speaker, 1 ski, 1 bike... etc. I demoed a bunch of stuff a few years ago and at the time the Elan Amphibio 88 xti was perfect for me.

Maybe not quite enough for big powder days out west, but that's fine with me. I'm good with an easy rental in the rare case that I need it. I rode these in about 1.5 feet of snow from overnight in Hakuba. It was fine but it was easy to see the draw to wider skis in those cases.

 

[Doodski]

Rentals.

They recommend at least 105mm underfoot and closer to 110 is better. I guess my east coast ice skis at 88mm underfoot isn't enough.

I've started to become much more of a 1 quiver kind of hobbiyst; 1 speaker, 1 ski, 1 bike... etc. I demoed a bunch of stuff a few years ago and at the time the Elan Amphibio 88 xti was perfect for me.

Maybe not quite enough for big powder days out west, but that's fine with me. I'm good with an easy rental in the rare case that I need it. I rode these in about 1.5 feet of snow from overnight in Hakuba. It was fine but it was easy to see the draw to wider skis in those cases.

OOooo nice snow pic! Yeah, I never bought a set of power planks either because where I was skiing last was not a powder mountain. We had power days but maybe 400cm at years end so nothing spectacular. What I have been told by expert skiers with lotsa powder experience is that the wide skis float and are much faster over the powder and carve better. Everything is much much better. I really really would like to try deep powder on proper wide planks.

 

[RayDunzl]

Snow?

 

[Doodski]

Snow?

That video is pretty scary. I used to ride sleds on weekends when I worked at a outdoor equipment shop in my teens. The shop supplied the machine and fuel but we had to work on the sleds and repair them on weeknights because we always broke something. We where riding mid 80's Arctic Cats. I rode a Cheetah with a Wankel engine and man did that thing climb and run deep powder like a champ. It had low end torque and would not spin the long cleated and spiked track. Then I rode a Panther, a Jag 4000 and a El Tigre 6000 that went really freaking fast when the track hooked up. Good times for sure. Lotsa beers, lotsa weed and lotsa hot food cooked on the exhaust headers.

 

[RayDunzl]

I skied various locations out west while working...

During what was probably an early wave of snowboarding popularity at Heavenly, I remember skiing off the lift between the newbie boarders that had just crashed getting off the lift, and then between and around all the "crabs" flat on their back with board still on their feet trying to figure out how to stand up again, and on past those standing and "pumping" trying to get going on the nearly flat areas near the top.

I wasn't impressed, so never attempted it myself.

Surfboards, yes. Snowboards, no.

 

[DWPress]

Snow?

Epic crash.

I used to ride sleds in the 80's as well. For speed it was the John Deere 440 Liquifier beast but the most fun was a little Yamaha Bravo 250 that you could pick up the rear with one arm. Sleds were heavy back then. We did lots of weekend excursions, it was a family thing. Grab a couple sleds for the young kids, a couple packs of hot dogs and some cans of beans, find a lovely little hollow somewhere and have a cookout. Good memories.

Nowadays I hate the things, winter banshees I call them. I live in a beautiful secluded spot, the road becomes seasonal on the other side of the river and there's a bridge on the upstream side of my property so the road becomes a snowmobile trail in winter and a haven for ATVs in summer. The whole valley can smell like 2 cycle fuel mix on a low pressure weekend.

On the flip side of that last statement, looking forward to a few sleds packing me down a trail to ski on....

 

[Leporello]

Planning a trip to either Skiwelt (Austria) or Alta Badia (Italy) in February and Les Arcs (France) in March. However the February trip may have to be cancelled because of work situation.

 

[Trouble Maker]

What a sh*t season in the mid-west so far, I never expect much but this is about as bad as I think we've seen in a while. Usually it's consistently cold enough Jan-Feb to be OK conditions. It seems like every week we keep bouncing between 3-4 days of kind of cold but maybe not continually cold enough to blow snow for very long, then 3-4 days of warm (45-55F) plus rain.

I got my boots punched out again, so I'd really like to try them out before the trip if I can to see if any more work needs done. But at this rate I'm going to struggle to get onto the hill before then. Being out of town for 2 weeks and now work being busy isn't helping anything.

Hope everyone's having a better season so far!

 

[Trouble Maker]

Planning a trip to either Skiwelt (Austria) or Alta Badia (Italy) in February and Les Arcs (France) in March. However the February trip may have to be cancelled because of work situation.

I'm jealous you get to go to the other two still. I've not ever been to Europe for any vacation but somewhere in the Alps is a bucket list ski trip for me!

 

[DWPress]

In Northern MI we got 37" for Christmas and within a week it was mostly gone. Very unusual for us too though recent winters have all been duds.

The ski resort downstream may not be viable for much longer.

 

[LTig]

No snow here either, it's just too warm.

 

[pjug]

Who is getting excited for the upcoming season? A little snow was falling this morning in NH. White peaks a couple weeks ago through ME, NH, VT as I drove through the mountains. It's coming!

 

[Doodski]

Who is getting excited for the upcoming season? A little snow was falling this morning in NH. White peaks a couple weeks ago through ME, NH, VT as I drove through the mountains. It's coming!

I've been buying ski gear for 3 months now... got new planks, new boots, new goggles, new head warmer and am going to get new bindings and poles tomorrow morning...

 

[LTig]

Who is getting excited for the upcoming season? A little snow was falling this morning in NH. White peaks a couple weeks ago through ME, NH, VT as I drove through the mountains. It's coming!

Still golden october with warm days here. Snow is getting less and melts faster, due to global warming.

 

[pjug]

Still golden october with warm days here. Snow is getting less and melts faster, due to global warming.

Probably I should know where you are, but where is "here"? I am going to be in Florence end of January, tempted to ski Italy but I don't think I can make it work. Global warming is going to kill the ski industry, but in USA it seems snowmaking is so far is making for good skiing still in New England, and the west was stetting snow records a couple seasons ago.

 

[kemmler3D]

I'm stoked for the upcoming season, although I don't think the Tahoe resorts are open yet. The current big plan for this year is to get several days in Switzerland for my buddy's 40th. Should be quite a time!

 

[pjug]

I'm stoked for the upcoming season, although I don't think the Tahoe resorts are open yet. The current big plan for this year is to get several days in Switzerland for my buddy's 40th. Should be quite a time!

I got some days at Palisades last April and it was one of the best trips of my life. Arrived during party time on a Sunday and could not believe some of the California Girls dressed down displaying outside of the bars. But the rest of the time was just fantastic skiing.

 

[kemmler3D]

I got some days at Palisades last April and it was one of the best trips of my life. Arrived during party time on a Sunday and could not believe some of the California Girls dressed down displaying outside of the bars. But the rest of the time was just fantastic skiing.

Oddly enough I haven't been to Palisades yet because I kept getting an Epic pass and sticking to Northstar mostly, but I think I'm going to make a point of hitting it this year.