Johnny Law

^ not shitting on anyone, I do the exact same thing but in my whole life I've heard maybe once somebody say bad shit about a ski they own. Skis are like sexual orientation, very personal and alot about what works specifically for you. Ride a bunch of skis across the turn radius spectrum, pick skis that are directional and have twin, ride conventional and those with rocker. Ride god damn everything and then you can picture the perfect ski in your head, then try to find it. Additionally once you know what you like you can find people that ride with your same style and see what they think. Atomic is a great skier, I don't doubt his ideas on gear but I would almost never buy a ski he says is fantastic on his advice alone. We ski very differently and what is a great ski for him might be total shit for me.

Those guys are very good skiers, ever try turning xc sticks. LOL

They closed in January for a week and half about three years ago.

Nice dude ! Demo days are fun. If you already know this then feel free to call me a condescending douche but the main reason those skis feel different is turn radius. Turn radius is actually a very complicated concept that includes things like flex profile and side cut and physics but theoretically its the tightest circle the ski could make. So the Rossi Experience 88 has a turn radius of 16 meters whereas the Mantra has a turn radius of 25.4 meters, thus they are very different skis. The EX88 is a turny mother, real easy to get them to move but its going to be more difficult to arc big radius turns and obviously the opposite for the Mantra. Now obviously that isn't the total of everything that goes on in a ski but its the quickest way to evaluate a ski. Sub 15m - Sl ski, lots of turns, real easy initiation 15-20m - More like a GS ski, wants to arc bigger turns, probably the top for mortal mogul skiers (excluding reverse camber designs) 20m - 30m - Super G, real big arcs for peeps that want to go very fast, tush pushers look elsewhere 30m+ - Go straight, go very very fast in a straight line LOL I have a pair of 104 Squads with a 39m radius, amazing ski but by far the most difficult conventional ski I've ever skied on. Always trying to kill you, I would bet in AK or something similar they are insane amounts of fun but you really have to push a ski like that, lots of leg and crazy high angles. Reverse camber has changed alot of this because big skis then ski very short, a 195 super7 has an effective length of maybe 170. So a giant pow ski actually skis like a mid range upper gs ski as its effective length is short and has a mid 20's radius. Stiffness of the ski is also very important a ski can be torsionaly stiff so force applied in a twisting motion or more conventional up and down stiffness. I would argue the later is far less important, additionally the stiffness generally varies over the length of the ski. Again this isn't a guarantee but generally a soft ski is more forgiving, easier to maneuver but flaps around at decent speeds. A stiffer ski is less forgiving to operator error but is a more put together package, it can handle big speeds and big skiers. Lastly swing weight is also important but there isn't hard and fast rules there, conventional wisdom says make them light at the ends to make them easier to throw around and have them torsionally stiff to counteract deflection but DPS thinks differently and Stephen Drake it seems is always about 5 years in front of everyone else. This obviously isn't the end all be all but understand turn radius and stiffnes you can actually figure out what ski is for you. EDIT: I did ski the 88,98, 83 and the Mantra, Goats, Shiro so I think the above is accurate when you actually ski them as well.

Go the Knob when it snows, best hill in PA by far. Also use your lookers, lots of logging/snowmobile shit in that neck.

I don't know why all helmets don't have them, I have always had a visor and its useful for so many things. This is going to sound stupid but hear me out, the best thing I've gotten recently is a hunk of plastic. http://www.tognar.com/ski-visions-tuning-stick/ When using a belt sander or even the hand tuners its tough to tell what's sharp and how much, with this stupid plastic stick now you have a super simple way to measure what's sharp and how sharp. Its a truly elegant solution to a simple problem.

There is alot of snow in VT right now, newbs from NJ drop off and don't see the traverse back blow by it and now realize they are 2000ft of wallowing in waist deep snow. They are from NJ so they are dumb and decide just keep going down, at which point they realize this is VT and it maybe 10 miles to the next something. Police found all these idiots but they are pissed, even started talking about charging which until this year was a big no no in VT....NH well that's NH.

Killy and Stowe were 20% over last years Christmas numbers. 30 some odd people have gone lost as killy in the last two weeks, all from NY, Jersey and Mass, that is like a years worth in two weeks. Early to mid January is tough because everyone just blew their load at Christmas. If things stay on the current path this will be one of the best years for VT at least in a long time.

If you need new pants hit up EVO's outlet of Dep't of Goods, you don't even need to leave the house. 260 $ Flylow Magnum BC's for 90$ I gave it the 30sec look over Norrona, Arcteryx, MH, Helly Hansen, etc etc, you get a better pant for less money.

I have been majorly slacking on TR's but I almost never bring a camera anywhere......in my defense the ones I have posted were of good quality.

I actually liked him but I think I maybe ran him off with some post about the first Barry election. I don't remember the details but I posted a fake news story that he couldn't stop slobbering McCain's nut sack and he never posted again. LOL If you are out there 999 please come home, I'm terribly sorry I hurt your delicate feelings. LOL What happened to the Huntah dude ?

Do they still throw the one gate waaaay out so on the first trip down you have to hunt and hook it ? I actually liked the Bear Nastar course it was weird like PA in general and definitely more gs style.

LOL Third is probably putting it nicely......sometimes..... Stoked people are interested, the EC BC scene is pretty sparse....I'll keep this thread updated with discussion about where to ski.

Nice, I talked to some other instructor and it sounds like a real good clinic. As an aside every time I see your post I read it as tamponhead, that's my problem but man does it make some of this stuff alot more funny.

LOL

hahaha sorry not sure how to put that.........the June thing with a PA connection took me back on the time machine. We don't know each other but we used to ride with the same group of people.

You by chance wouldn't happen to have skied at Bear with Andy and Co waaay back in the day ? Cool to see people interested, I will definitely keep people in the loop but nobody has to know for sure until about two days before when we go buy food.

March 29-31, we leave Thursday night from the LV area, we generally arrive at about 6am. There is nothing to do there so we rally out which normally puts us at camp by the latest at noon. Peggy O is only about 2 miles so probably about 8-9am. Friday we explore or sleep, Saturday is the tour, Sunday we pack our shit up an leave. We eat a sweet mofo diner meal in Keane Valley hit up the Mountaineer to peep new shit and are home by about 8-10pm. Peggy O is pretty much the only indoor spot in the Dacks. I actually prefer a tent because I'm dumb but it has a shitter, heat, and a real kitchen. You will not find a more comfortable place to tour on the EC. Last year it was only me and my buddy on an exploratory trip due to the cancellation of winter but two years back it was single digits and Peggy O was about 80 degrees inside. It ain't the ritz by any means but its pretty fucking posh for the EC. You have to book your spot about 8 months in advance. - http://www.adk.org/page.php?pname=johns-brook-camps We eat well, I take Friday dinner which was lobster mac and cheese, Saturday is big steaks and potatoes, Breakfast is eggs and bacon. Lunch and snacks you bring for yourself. There is always fucktons of leftover food. Water is on site and each person brings whatever other shit they want, beer/booze. Gear wise we have shit for the group pretty much handled, you would need to bring shit to eat, like a plate and utensils, you would also need an ice axe. I guess you actually don't need one and I'm not talking about an ice climbing axe I'm talking mountaineering style, booting up 40 degree shit just feels alot better with an axe. You can snag one for like 30$ and I actually do have an extra. Crampons would be nice but not mandatory as we sure as fuck aren't skiing something you need 12 point crampons to get up however sometimes the trails down low in the dacks are blocks of ice as you get a strong freeze thaw cycle going in spring. You kinda need something to get uphill in, we do have an extra pair of snow shoes which suck in comparison to skining, that said its spring and generally the approach trails are pretty well packed, guys did the 2 miles to peggy in tennis shoes and once you get to the slide everyone is booting anyway. A sleeping bag isn't bad though Peggy O gets hot so a blanket would work in a pinch particularly if you don't mind sleeping in your gear. Lastly you need like general camping shit, knife, headlamp, backpack etc. We have lots of extras though there is a reason we bought something new. A beacon is nice but not necessary, we don't ski shit that is even close. Normally spring in the daks is 40" of concrete rounds with some kind of corn on top. We do a formal assessment and boot what we are skiing, if it is anything other than ec spring cement we go somewhere else. The daks are not the whites, the avy thing while possible and to be planed for is a long shot. Group dynamic is pretty laid back, democracy that yields to those with knowledge. I pretty much find were it is we are going and provide general info/snow safety. My buddy Z was an eagle scout and does navigation and general outdoors shit like start fires in the pouring rain, the other dude M carries serious weight and generally keeps things light, he also has the spiffy DSLR and is charge of the movie/pics. As for the no giving up rule that only applies when everything is good, we escorted/hauled our buddy out of tuxs with a blown acl/mcl after a full day of skiing and made another trip to retrieve all his shit. If someone breaks a leg I'll carry your ass out if necessary but we aren't turning around because someone is uncomfortable. The dude got hit by some other dude hiking down the tuxs trail, it had nothing to do with skiing just a wrong place wrong time dealio. We have had as many as 8 people but over the last decade its always the same 3 guys and some others occasionally mixed in. For one thing the extra people means you can really split the group weight and bring some nice non=necessary things. We do a planning meeting, normally its at Union Jacks but the LV would work if there is more people from that area. We drink good beer, look at maps and shoot the shit, eventually we get drunk and go to the pony races or something equally as stupid. The big question what we will ski will come much later when we have solid beta and are maybe a week away. Barring a total shit year it will be a bigger slide, Bennies/Gothic NF (lol) some of the new shit on Wolfjaw. We are good skiers who are confident in being able to ski 40-55 degree shit that said we aren't anything special, there are better skiers on this site and all over the EC. Its BC skiing so one maybe two trips down and no style points. That's about everything I can think of off the top of my head, but if you have any questions just fire away.

One of the main gentlemen in our group wisely decided to book Peggy O for the last weekend in March, probably because he heard our new 4 season only holds two people. Peggy O is unparallelled on the EC in terms of access and comfort, it sleeps alot and we only have 3 for this last trip of the year. Therefore as Ron Burgundy once said I'm going to throw this out there, if you want to go experience the dacks we have lots of room. We are a laid back democracy with only one real rule which is we don't give up. If your interested let me know, yourself or an additional group doesn't need to worry about $$, basically show up with your shit and we got the rest handled.

They never close, you just can't get to them from WF lifts instead you have to use the road in the park. This is going to sound like a douchey bro-brah earn your turns dealio but the slides at WF suck hairy ball sack compared to the slides in the High Peaks. Get in car, drive 6 hours to garden lot, skin about 2 miles of almost completely flat terrain. Look at map and continue on trail until you hit Bennie's brooke, look left, boot uphill for about 2k and then ski back to the lot. I'm a lazy smoker and my dumb ass can do it no fucking problem, get out there an experience real fucking skiing, not some disneyish bullshit where to pump you up they want everyone to beep even though 99% of the EC people don't know how to switch a beacon to search let alone find somebody. I have a book and countless pics of hundreds of slides and drainages in the Dacks, I will gladly provide anyone in PA all available intel. Fuck if you aren't a douche I'd let you even tag along. Go even if just to hang out but go, the Whites are cool but the High Peaks are something really special.

I got 500$ on plattekill for the 10th anniversary, I got a 1000$ if I have a good year at work, though I like being real lazy so..... LOL

Its been on my calendar for ever

Definitely celebrate, gotta bring the celebration beers....hmmm choices choices....

Some Flouro mixes are really only crayon on. Also wax irons are really a modified short so the temp indicator may or may not be all that accurate. Really $$$ irons are generally the same except they have taken the time and precision to make sure when it says its 110 its actually 110. As long as you aren't burning bases or huffing the fumes the extra temp shouldn't be a problem.

The 176 had a 16m radius so that should be about 15m in a 170.