enjoralas

The Razors are on today's trail list.

Got to Blue just a bit after 7 pm and parked in the Upper lot for convenience in case Pops wanted to visit his mug up at the Last Run Lounge before heading out. Booted up inside for the same reason and on the snow by 730ish. Had a nice run down Burma and skied though the Yeti bypass to see what they put in there. A small flush to the snow box and a second one sticking up just a bit with a tiny ride on ramp were in there. Snow was nice, a bit scraped off in the corners but not nearly as bad as one could expect during hour 12 of operation during a holiday week. Took it down to the valley and up the 6 for a run down Paradise. Another enjoyable run, spent most of it on the edges of the trail where there was plenty of loose snow to be had and minimal scraped areas. Sixer back up and over to Lazy. Had some gullets and humps formed at the top of the trail, I guess from people cutting in from both sides, but nothing that couldn't be handled easily and the trail cleaned up immediately and was in great shape, even on the hard right at the bottom. Over and down the Falls and I think that's when we took our one quad ride. They had a couple of cats pushing out Razors, so looks like that one's just a matter of days. Guns were blazing on NightWeaver and they were getting awesome production. Hopped off the quad and took a run down Sidewinder. Lots of fun and really looking forward to getting some more runs on it this year as a ski trail. Enjoyed the run but was definitely the most scraped run we found all night; Challenge and Chute looked like they were probably scraped more bare, but we didn't hit those. After a second trip over the Falls we stopped for the first waffle of the season before going back up the six to hit Main St. Found plenty of loose snow coating Main st and easy to read wear patterns that made it a cinch to stay off the smooth surfaces. Upper Main was great and Lower Main had minimal chop, but got a little spicy for me as my goggles iced up right in the area where the upcoming trail fills my field of vision, coupled with going through a dark spot skier's right that made the small chop tough to read (through icy gogs.) Took the double back up and noticed they had a single gun pointed into each of the glades. Looks like their really aggressively taking advantage of these cold temps this week. There was a ton of base being pushed out on Razors, and some nice whales sitting on Widowmaker, although with the micro-micro-climate and waist deep powder that trail always has, they probably don't need it and I wonder why it's not open yet. Come around over to Burma, and jumped on the double again. Talked about cutting out, but decided conditions on Main were so good we wanted to get another run. Patrol was doing a sideslipping drill on the right side, but plenty of room for a last fast, fun run back to the double. Well, Last if you don't count Easy Out and .5Vista back to the lodge. As hard as I had to work to skate through all the fresh man-made at the top of the double, I'm counting it, lol, for 8 runs and got back in the lodge just after 9. Decided against hitting the bar and just headed out. Run of the day was Main St followed by Burma. Likely back on the snow Thursday night.

I'm pretty sure it goes right across Pocono Raceway. They may have trenched it so it's not so hard to cover. I remember looking at the trough while skiing off the Raceway Triple last year and thinking that it had to be for a modern alpine slide because it was too far from the existing water park to be a waterslide

I saw the six spinning on the valley cam yesterday afternoon, but couldn't tell if there was anyone on it.

Probably for the same reason they installed the trough for the new alpine slide crossing directly over a slip, so they have to make sure they have enough snow to totally bury it before they can open it, and in the spring when it emerges they have to close the trail when they otherwise might be able to get another weekend out of it. i have no idea what that reason is tho

I was just messing with you. Back on topic though, you should seriously be able to put those bindings together yourself. I don't even want to say "mount," because you're not really mounting anything. The rails are already mounted, and you just have to slide the two pieces on there. Setting DIN is just a turn of a screwdriver, and forward pressure isn't hard to set with a bit of googling. I'd take mine in for mounting if they had to be drilled and stuff, but these, no way it's worth paying for. Incidentally, if you were stuck on the 170 instead of 177, don't mind used and 2016 gear, these are killer cheap too: http://www.powder7.com/Volkl-RTM-81-Skis-170cm-Used-2016/for-sale But comparatively, $529 for brand new is a better deal.

Buy them now. No reason to dilly dilly any longer. You loved 'em, Root found you a great price, just do it. Your biggest problem is going to be finding a fake ID to get into the beer store to buy Root his thank you sixer.

This is truth. That price for brand new wrapped RTM81s is awesome. $35 for shipping is reasonable too. Even if you decide you want something wider in a season or two, you could probably move them for not much less than that, or hang onto them as your hardpack groomer ski and get something wider anyway.

EDIT: Duplicate post, so on the edit I'll add to the broken lift discussion. Anyone know if the Vista lift is broken? It wasn't running Tuesday and it seems strange that they wouldn't have it running on a weekend day. It's nice for stone cold beginners to be able to lap Easy Out to Vista, and with no top to bottom park I'm sure some of the jibhonks love to use it to lap Come Around

I told you it would be like that. It's surely some of both, but as the physical improves the psychological, your skiing will improve and help the physical even more. Did you end up pulling the trigger on the 81s? Did you try anything wider? I don't think you'll see much improvement with a wider ski today, but come March with the deep sugar and the piles would probably welcome them.

Now that it's open I'm gonna have to keep an eye on their Facebook for the butthurt to start flowing.

Long range, wistful gazing.

That's how my weekend worked out. Bagged skiing in the rain today, but heading up tomorrow morning. Being Christmas Eve and all gonna have to bug out kinda early so no Sausage Sunday tomorrow.

I know what it's like to be burning to get new equipment, but it's really too bad you can't put it off until late season. Buckmans has a demo day scheduled at Blue for Feb 21 where a bunch of manufacturers show up with tents and skis and you can demo all you want for free. They had on in Jan last year at Camel but I don't see one on their schedule yet.

Galileo was great at observing things too and he got a ton of likes. Well, eventually.

Some guns back on at tubing. i know all are relieved.

Also Fake news.

Fake news.

Looks like I'm out for tonight. See everyone this weekend.

Yup, just passed through mid county toll, and it says 52 minutes to my house in Northampton. Hope traffic stays clear if he's not on the road yet.

Rossi Experience HD88s

Definitely Sidewinder, can see it clearly from the Vista camera view.

You're not the hero we wanted, but the hero we deserve.

When I demo'd skis at Blue's demo day last year, when it was free, it was a warmish, mashed potato, push-pile kind of day. I immediately noticed a difference as soon as I got on something that was stiffer and wider than my beginner skis, which were Head Primal Instincts. I was more confident in my ability to hold my line and cut through the mess, and so was able to charge harder and felt a lot stronger. I demo's the Rossi Experience HD in 75, which was okay, and then tried the 88 which I immediately loved. I moved over to Volkl and tried the RTM86 and liked them as much or even a little more than the 88. Then I tried something by Soloman in a 95 width but it was a little to wide for me that day. I decided to jump on the best deal I could find on either the Rossi 88 or RTM86, and did when Camelback put their used demos on sale in March.

Yeah, mine were ex-Demos that I picked up at Camelback last season so they have adjustable bindings on them.