Timeless

Yeah, they have girlie blacks out west..... The Hump is surely the steepest 12 feet of vert on the US mainland..... On the helmet issue, I had a Giro Fuse 2 seasons ago and that was really nice, liked the closable vents (but didn't use them much) and is was comfortable, but also pricey compared to others (at least before I found it on e-bay). After a late season fall on some rocks punctured the outer shell I thought I'd better replace it but went for a Pro-tec (cant remember if it was the Descent or the Stealth, but either way it came with the audio stuff), this was much cheaper than the Fuse, lighter and fits just as well but has permanently open vents. This hasn't bothered me at all and on balance I prefer this one over the Giro.

Do you work for Rome?

Yep, or December and March if by some chance they get dumped on early.

I'll be out there in March anyway, just saw this as another opportunity to get away and maybe try somewhere new.

I hope to get to Blue a few times this year, didn't manage a single appearance last season, felt like I missed out.

I have to book the flight before Decmber 15th, can book quite a long way in advance it seems so I'll probably wait till early december, see what the conditions look like and either book something then, or book sometime in Jan/Feb. I really can't wait for the snow.....

So I've gone back to CB for another year, it's just too damn close not to choose it as my home mountain. Hopefully they'll be a little less concerned for our safety this year and let us decide when it's too cold / dark / windy to ride. $365 for a sunday to friday & nights pass seemed like good value with some discounts at the loft and barley creek thrown in. Only today left to get the cheapest prices.

I'm not saying I would buy one, but they seem to have gotten good reviews. I guess value is relative, there are more expensive boards out there. Me I'm happier on my 2 year old Ride, and having the extra money to spend on tickets and airfare

There's a day in december, have to check again, but you made me think to check if I just need to book the flight by then, or if the flight has to be by then. I guess I might be able to drag it into the new year.

I dunno, the main face of millicent is probably serious enough to keep those of limited abilities away, but I would have to agree that the old lifts had "character". My favorite places at Brighton are down off of Clayton Peak, some of the best riding I came across in Utah, steep, thin trees and powder

Any one have any views on when it's safe to assume decent coverage / conditions in the various areas of the rockies (CO, UT, MT etc) most resorts claim mid november openings but will that be sketchy & crowded? I have a bunch of airmiles I have to burn before December or I lose them so I'm considering an early season trip somewhere. Any suggestions

I just received the years "ski utah" planner in the post and it's just adding to the pre-season impatience Anyway, the only news in the "magazine" was that the Brighton have torn out the two old lifts on Millicent, including the one with the hugh drop and no safety bars, and replaced them with one high speed quad. For those like me that think Brighton is a great place to ride, this is good news indeed.

Ah yes, that small fact did escape me for a while. My prediction is that the snow conditions will be infinitely better where you are than here in PA.

unless I'm missing something, the NOAH maps show average or above temps and average or below precip, so a warm dry winter (no snow). The almanac is a POS anyway, as is any long range forecast. Look at how "terrible" the last two hurrican seasons were predicted to be after global warming was blamed for the last bad one. How bad did they turn out to be?

care to elaborate? amazing for park? everywhere?

Nice report, nicer pic's. Just what we need at this time of year. How late in the season was that? The conditions look very "spring", but the bowl looked really good. How long is the drive up from seattle?

It seems from the information I can gather that lib-tech are inverting their board shape with "banana technology" so that rather than a traditional camber, the board curves from the middle upwards . It seems to me that it could work, given that your weight is supposed to pre-load it, but will it only work with magne-traction because a traditional edge would have the contact points off of the ground (on hardpack anyway). Anyone else looked at this? Any thoughts?

They seems to be quite outspoken about a few differnet things (like how their "conformist" straps are so much better than "cap straps" when actually they look to be ripping off the Ride "convertible" idea.) The stance thing is correct, but I'm sure if Burton cared about this they would just point out that the binding baseplate should be centred on the board (for proper flex) and that if you really have a need to offset the position of your feet relative to the board, you can do it with the heelcup adjustment on the binding. The new "EST" system from burton looks to have a single rail through the middle of the board and only 2 fixings, giving you zero adjustment edge to edge. Rome's stuff seems to be really good, they really don't need to bash on anyone else.

Good luck with that then I see they posted the new (higher) season pass prices, claiming them to be lower than last year. They've also pulled in the "buy early" date to mid-september.

^^^ did this have any point?

^^^ listen to Glenn, he speaks wisely despite his age.

As a beginner, there will most likely be nothing open at most of these resorts before thankgiving, especially killington where you can be taking your life in your hands on the first open days with snow guns, "thin cover" (meaning unmarked ditches, pipes etc), and tons of people on a couple of trails. Best thing wold be to not rely on it and see what the weather brings, then make sure that they are offering "easier" terrain before you head up.

That fits with the idea that seems to be coming to fruition to have everything off of that little double lift turn to park type runs, but I'll miss turkey trot if they do it. Despite only being a little green run, it was usually quiet and was fun to take at speed. If they manage to get that turned to a park run, with lower moores set up like the end of last year and the other "advanced" features in Rhodo, they should have a reasonable area devoted to the park people. Then the only question comes down to the ability and will to set it up properly and maintain it, I'm not going to get into that discussion.

The website says 2 new rope tows, so I'd assume it's one for each. wouldn't it eat up too much space in rhodo? Anything that keeps the jibbers off of the bottom of Raceway is an improvement IMO.