C1erArt

Nice morning skiing, 11 degrees and cloudy first thing. A lot of new snow blown in. Slopes pretty quiet. Floyds was great - smooth and good snow. Very fast on both sides. (Even got dear wife to run it a couple times). River Shot was a little choppy with some ungroomed areas on both sides, some small rollers and bumps. Probably be groomed out tomorrow. Didn't see anyone go down the Vader. TBolt was also a little rolly but pretty nice. Again, will probably be groomed flat tomorrow. Upper glade was nice, but lower was still pretty thin. Lower TBolt left of the towers still not filled in, narrowing the trail a little. Challenge was in great shape - groomed out flat and very fast. Huge side to side carved turns. Don't like the bumps on the right - to short to get a good rhythmn going. Last Sunday, between the race gates on the left, bumps on the right, the headwalls got scraped off and there was carnage. Run of the day, though, was Happyland (Challenge glade). Open top to bottom (including below the race house down to the E Mtn chair). The 'inner' trail was covered as well as in the trees. Just one rock just barely visible that I saw. Snow was very firm hard pack, but eminently carvable. Bumps in the trees on the headwall were quite manageable at high (for me) speed. Ears ringing a little now from having the music up too high. Cutovers to under the EMtn chair were still too sketchy though.

From the Jack Frost web cam, and the snow on the lift that's not running and the tree branches, looks like they blew a lot of snow on East Mountain last night.

Was out this afternoon. Great snow conditions on the slopes, very firm and fast. No ice anywhere. Blowing some snow on the west side. Should be a good weekend if not too crowded. Glades are still pretty sketchy though. Bumps on Challenge are nice, but only on the headwalls. Preferred them on Exhibition, but not much base on the trails left side.

Pretty quiet here on e Mtn. Have to say though, JF has some pretty foxy ground crew. Nearly hit one as it crossed the bottom of Floyd's.

Low 30s foggy but sun is starting to peek thru. Didn't lose much cover on the groomers, but fairly soft. Elevator looks primo. Great conditions.

No, but I did get passed by some of those darn race kids. 😄

Navionics, not Navigon.

Did a head to head compare of Phresheez and the Navigon US and Canada Ski app. They agreed pretty well (Challenge and Tbolt maxed out at 32 on both for several runs - I was skiing faster today on my Rossis). The only significant difference was in Rivershot where P. had me max at 27 for both runs and N. had 39. I would go with Navigon - I was moving as fast as the skis would take me at the bottom of the run without tucking. Possibly P. lost the GPS signal or isn't taking readings frequently enough to catch the short section at the bottom if the headwall.

Never had a wind hold on a lift, but if the wind is from the north, it blows in your face and can slow you down quite a bit.

Great day, skied from 8:30 to 11. Tried a few runs using Phresheez and a few using Ski Tracks down Tbolt and Challenge. Phresheez gave me an average of run max speeds of 25.3, and Ski Tracks of 30.6. Phresheez max speed range was 22 to 28, and Ski Tracks range of each run's max speed was 27 to 36. Looks like Ski Tracks is reading 5 mph high. A couple of years ago I compared Phresheez against a hand held Magellan, and they matched pretty well.

Photo of the crowds building up at the top of the challenge lift.

Hit the slopes early. Cloudy with snow in great shape with the Challenge trees filling in and some nice bumps on Challenge right side. Saw JFSkiDan on the slopes. Demoed an Élan Amphibio 14 which was pretty nice - quick turning with good grip. Bad news is Tbolt not open despite the web site status (maybe tomorrow). Exhibition has a long way to go, but they are blowing on East Mtn. Got pretty crowded on the slopes so I packed it in early.

Nice snow today at boulder, but pretty foggy

Was out for a couple of hours Sunday afternoon with family on Challenge and Tbolt. Great weather and surprisingly fast if you avoided the soft areas. Skied until the red ropes went up. A good year considering the weather. Missed the bumps on Exhibition - they added a lot of variety last year and improved my skills quite a bit. Time to pick up next years season tickets and break out the kayaks.

Weather was pretty tough this week on the slopes. Everything open, but some brown beginning to show and a couple of rocks peeping out along the edges. No washouts though. Was out for a couple hours this afternoon, slushy on top and bottom, but firmed up a little in late afternoon. Elevator looking pretty thin, but some people were running it (I've spent too much time this winter working on my bases and edges, so I stayed off it). Run of the day was Floyds - left side has a hump that gives you a little air. Tried SkiTracks again - definitely giving high speeds - clocked me at 53, when in this soft stuff I think I may have hit in the low 30s maximum. Back to Phresheez. Elevator - kind of sad, but maybe next year there will be enough snow for bumps and the full width of the glades.

Got out for a few hours Sunday afternoon. Some periods of sun, not too windy. Still plenty of coverage on the trails, but Challenge glade is getting thin. Took a few runs down Floyds, but most of the time of Challenge and Tbolt, except for one yard sale run down the left side of Exhibition. Used SkiTracks instead of Phresheez. Gave a nice evaluation of the day, but the speed on a couple of runs seems a little high (47 on one run down Challenge).

Haven't seen any signs of it. Most of the hoses are put away. They did get some snow over the weekend, so the ground off the slopes wasn't completely bare.

Was also up Sunday afternoon for a couple of hours - nice weather, and the snow on the slope wasn't too bad - just a little soft on top and at the bottom. Challenge was closed for a race most of the day, so TBolt got torn up, but after they opened Challenge it was pretty nice. Floyds was in good shape too. Happy Land is tearing up my bases, but it is still a great run.

Nice day today, warm and partly sunny, not too windy. Was in my spring gear, and it was a little crowed for a Friday. Snow a little mashed potatoes higher on the hill, but not slushy. A little slow, but a lot of control - a lot of people trying out Floyds and River Shot (even got my wife to try a couple runs down Floyds). Got there around 1:30 and skied until closing. Run of the day was Elevator, still a lot of snow, and easy to get your edges into it. Put on a show for the lift trying Elevator Glade - can't get the Rossies to turn fast enough on the entrance bumps (or maybe it's just my creaky knees). Challenge glade was nice too, soft and fast as long as you didn't stray to far to the right. Really miss the bumps they had on Exhibition last year - would be a nice time now to let them build up. Should be busy this weekend.

Downloaded Ski Tracks and will try it this weekend. Normally use Phresheez which shows where your buddies are using it are skiing. It seems pretty consistent - do about 35 down the blacks and 40 if I push it on Floyds. Have used a stand-alone GPS which gives a point by point reading to check for dropouts (so I knew it was accurate), and it gave about the same speed.

Will be up this Friday morning if you want a chase video from my helmet Go-Pro.

Crunchy cord in the morning, very fast. A little softer when I left around noon. Bluebird skies, but a some wind blowing up the hill, slowing things down. Using a Dominator graphite filled wax which is working great at these temps. Looking across to elevator glade. Looks like some new man made snow for tomorrow.

There is a new sign posted (Dare to Risk It) just to the right of the entrance off Telstar. You huck over the cliff, but it is pretty rocky now. Elevator is off the right side at the flat spot above the last headwall on Rivershot. The section above that (almost under the chair lift) we are calling Elevator Glade, but it looks that old map calls both Elevator. Took a pass on them today, but did a run down Challenge glade. Pretty noisy - glad I had freshly sharpened slalom skis that I don't care too much about the based. Lots of brambles showing through again.

Out this morning, 9 degrees, sunny, a little windy blowing up the hill slowing you down on the groomers. Met up with Dan, PC and Dom for a couple runs. Blowing a lot of snow on Floyd's - might be open tomorrow. E-glade was a little crunchy, elevator is getting better. Run of the day was still Challenge glade (watch out for the snow snakes though).