C1erArt

Got out for a couple of hours this morning (a nasty cold is pretty much behind me now), roads were a little tricky first thing in the morning (a snow plow was off in the ditch on 115). Jack Frost was pretty quiet when I hit the slope at 8:30, but still a lot of tracks were down already. Challenge and T-Bolt were half groomed, half natural with 8-9" of freshies. The groomed area was still very soft, and got cut up as the morning went on. East mountain was completely natural. Got some comments from the lifties about being snow covered from the waist down, but it was just from the spray coming off the skis. Had to work on keeping the ski tips up. River Shot was great early on, and Floyds was nice for a longer period. Wasn't too adventurous, just watched a couple people run elevator and e-glade. Did a couple runs down C-glade - a little bouncy where the bumps were under the new snow, but nice and soft. Didn't have to turn too much to control speed, just float down between the trees. Left around 10:30 - everything steep except the sides of Floyds was pretty tracked out. Hard keeping your speed on the flatter parts. Mad Tree Glade and One Park Glade still looked good from a distance. Exhibition bumps were also still there under the snow.

Was there a couple of years ago, saw it, but the slope was closed due to lack of cover. Pretty steep, but short. Slopes were interesting, but snow making was pretty poor (it was early in the season and not much natural snow). A nice WPA era stone lodge. Never saw so many straight skis in the ski racks. Hopefully the gas frackers haven't run over the place.

Conditions a little challenging. Freezing mist covering the goggles, groomers are nice with a couple inches of soft heavy snow on top. Off piste stuff has chunky broken up and refrozen crusty stuff - not nice places to be.

Working from home this week, so been out each morning for a few runs. Monday was pretty cold - after the weekend the groomers were unbelievably well groomed. Looked like a Japanese guy had been over them all with a little rake. Was a shame to mess them up with my tracks. Tuesday was warmer, and hit it first thing and DW joined later (dear wife, that is). Worked Exhibition bumps a little. Nice. Was waiting for opening this morning with freshly waxed PEs. Didn't get as much snow as farther south, but they got 3-4". The groomers were soft as silk - they left the left side of T-bolt ungroomed (would have been nice to have an ungroomed Floyds too - not many people on it - we were all off-piste). The short radius squiggly ones in the middle were mine. East mountain was the place to be. Hit the bumps above River Shot and over to Floyds and then a couple of Elevator runs from the apex straight down the steepest part. Pretty sweet. People were jumping off Risk it. Again the run of the day was Challenge Glade - did a dozen or so runs there. A lot of people in it. Exited the middle a couple of times and ran down under the chairlift. Pictures above were Challenge Glade at the start of the day. I worked extra hard all morning to be sure there weren't any freshy lines left for PASR day. Everyone was over on East Mountain, so the Challenge lift liftys got a little bored.

Hit T-Bolt and Challenge for a couple of hours this afternoon with b-in-law. Just getting back on skis after trying to take out a Toyota Corolla with his Harley. Helmet cams of C-glade and Exhibition bumps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b7ZJ0cmjiU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1OWlFmyi5g

Cold (-2 by the car thermometer) and sunny, no wind. Trees had a coating of ice from last weeks sleet. Another great day - hit the slopes at 8 AM on my Rossi 9Ss and did some groomers to get warmed up for an hour. Switched over to my PEs and did the off-piste stuff. Elevator was nice, right side was big and soft, thought I was doing great until one run when I had to wait for the developmental class of 9 and 10 year olds to clear it. Ran E-glade twice and didn't embarrass myself too much. Risk it looked prime, but I don't want to do a high-speed tree wrap. Solitude glade is getting there, could use some more snow. Did a couple of runs of the Exhib moguls - center section is getting blown out but nice rhythm on the upper section. Saw Dan a couple of times. Run of the day, though, was C-glade. Still a lot of soft stuff in there (a couple of icy patches), and the middle line through the center of the trees is sweet, as well as the bottom section below the racing shack. The upper section of the far right side (to the right of the little trail) has some nice lines through it now. The upper exit to the e-mtn Rivershot run-out is pretty well covered (trail down to the chair lift still needs some filling in). Got to watch that merge though, saw someone almost get a high speed hammering coming out of the woods. Could use a couple of warning poles if a lot of people start using it. A lot to do at Frost - my legs gave out before I hit One Park glade.There is always tomorrow.

Sounds good to me.

Floyds is groomed. Robert, don't mean to hijack your thread, but I will. Was out Sunday afternoon for a few quick last runs with the family before they head off to school again. Some slick spots in well traveled areas of the trails, but the edges were nice. Put away my PEs and used my Rossi 9S - nice to have some edges again. Did surprisingly well in the bumps in C-glade, but I avoided the center runs on the headwalls. Didn't try Exhibition bumps with them. Elevator left side looked daunting, right side looked fluffy and nice, but a rock popped off a ski (on Saturday) and I had to hike back up for it. Quite a work out. Race team slalom course on Saturday and fun race on Sunday took up half of Challenge. Nice sunny day on Sunday, but still cold. Hoping the freezing rain stays away this week.

I agree - its rare you get decent snow at Blue - got to enjoy it while it is there. By the way, quit breaking the curve on the Phresheez ratings. No bumps on Floyds (not a big fan of bumps on Floyds anyway), just beginner bumps on Exhibition, a blue trail.

Got to Frost about 1:30 for an afternoon session with the family and before the Eagles game. Slalom race going on on Challenge, and the glade was closed also. Did Floyds, Elevator a couple of times before heading over to Thunderbolt. Ran Tbolt glade, but it was still pretty scratchy. One park glade was in great shape. Groomers had icy spots but the edges were nice. Exhibition moguls are getting a little shallow but still a good workout for your knees. C glade opened up around 2:30, and still had freshy areas since no one skied it due to the race - far right is skiable now - had a great couple of runs. Risk It waiting for someone else to run it. .

Started with a cold gray morning, temp around 15. Packed powder conditions, Subaru day. Challenge glade getting pretty bumpy in the center, and a little bare on the inner track. Floyds was closed due to GS gates for the race team, and half of Challenge for slalom gates, so did Rivershot, Elevator, C glade and Thunderbolt. Started on my Rossi 9S Oversizes and had a great time on the groomers, but pretty bouncy on the bumps. Switched to the PEs and they were a lot easier to control in the trees. Saw JFSkiDan go off Elevator a couple of times. Started to snow and Floyds opened up later in the morning, but was pretty ripped up. Needed a quick grooming to take out the ruts and scraped off areas. Did a couple of runs on the bumps. The groomers held up well up to when I called it a day around noon. Lodge a little crowded, but the slopes were nice. Was out at Seven Springs earlier in the week and got used to the high speed six pack and the longer runs on the North slope - back to the Frost slow lifts. Top of Floyds:

Wore my steep and cheap green soft-shell today.

Slept in again and skied from about 9:30 to 12. Sunny and in the 50s. Slow corn snow slopes. No lift lines but slopes a little crowded. No one in a hurry to get down. Ran the glades a couple of times, Floyds and Rivershot, but mostly did tbolt. Put purple wax on last night. A little sticky in some spots. Should have stayed with red. Also didn't scrape them down enough after waxing - a little squirrley on the flats. Since I wasn't skiing with anyone, and couldn't embarrass them by being with me, practiced my backward skiing and mogul technique (or lack of).

Suspect they are waiting until after Christmas week to blow snow on Elevator - shudder at the thought of someone pizza wedging down it. Wimped out on Elevator yesterday and started on my left foot with one turn before the rocks, rather than on my right foot with two turns needed.

Slept in, got to the mountain about 12:30. Slopes fairly crowded with a 5 min lift line. Warm, about 40, nice with my red wax job. Lapped challenge glade and tbolt. Glade nice and smooth developing soft bumps - great with my PEs. Will be a different story when it freezes.

Started off at 8:30, pretty cold but no wind. Sunny first thing in the morning. Slopes packed powder and fairly quiet. Slopes in great shape except elevator which is pretty iffy. Got too far over right and it was kind of nasty. Exhibition moguls are getting bigger. Top of e mtn. Elevator Line for tickets a lot shorter than yesterday at this time.

Elevator is off the right side at the top of the last head wall of Rivershot. There is a somewhat skiable glade on skier's right of the headwall above that. Risk it is off to the right at the top of Floyds. There is a flat section right at the top of Floyds, a cliffy jump, then trees below it. Between Floyds and the rhododendrons.

Cloudy and warmer today, sun coming out around 10:30 Elevator a little better, but still hardpack on top, but now fluff on the bottom. C glade mixed hard pack on the slots and soft stuff mixed in. Slopes still pretty quiet. Looking back up at the headwall on challenge glade.

Elevator definitely needs some snow blown on it. Last year they groomed the bottom run out and it made a huge difference.

Judging from the coating on the tree tops, they blew snow towards risk it. Saw a couple of race kids go off it b

Got there about noon, lodge was more crowded than last weekend, but still plenty of room. Saw from phresheez that PARidgeRacer was around somewhere. Headed over to east mountain and ran Floyds for the first time this season. Saw JFSkiDan and PARidgeRacer from the lift go down upper Elevator glade and off Elevator. Tried to get a helmet cam, but it didn't turn out. Ran Elevator a bunch of times, not much room on the right for that second turn. PEs were grippy enough to bite into the hard pack. Run out was a little iffy. Finished up with Happy Time (new sign on Challenge Glade) and an aborted run on the Exhibition moguls (light too flat). Snow picked up around 3, so decided to get home while I still could. Great day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc8FWqeqtjY

Hit the slopes around 2pm for a couple of hours with the family. First time out this year for everyone except myself. Lapped Thunderbolt and Challenge, I hit the glade and Exhibition moguls a couple of times. Quiet, sunny, and fairly cold when the wind picked up and the sun got low. Hardpack with some soft stuff on top. A little scraped off in spots on the head walls. A nice day before the crowds hit next week. Helmet cam of the moguls on exhibition. No more chunks, but the bottom half is getting a little worn down. Ignore my ski tips in the video - my form isn't the greatest. Flat light late in the afternoon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTiUE_J9eHI I've been using Everytrail on my iPhone to log my runs, but tried Phresheez today. Like the statistics. iPhone Phresheez log

If you need the boot tighter, get some Dr Sholl's molefoam (not moleskin) and add some padding to inside of the tongue of the boot liner.

Those bumps. I am trying to conn people onto skiing them into some sort of reasonable shape so I don't kill myself on them next weekend.