indiggio

Dude! Black is 100% open. Gotta hit it!

Curiously interesting.... Indigenous Origins and the Coeur d'Alene Tribe The area around Coeur d'Alene was originally inhabited by the Schitsu’umsh people, who called themselves “Those who were found here” or “The discovered people.” For millennia, they lived across a vast territory of over 3.5 million acres, encompassing present-day northern Idaho, eastern Washington, and western Montana. Lake Coeur d'Alene, a central feature of the region, was the heart of their homeland, providing abundant resources like trout, salmon, and whitefish. The Schitsu’umsh were skilled hunters, gatherers, and fishers, using tools like gaff hooks, spears, and nets. The name “Coeur d’Alene,” French for “heart of an awl,” emerged in the early 1800s when French-Canadian fur traders from the Northwest Fur Trading Company, led by explorer David Thompson, encountered the tribe. The traders nicknamed the Schitsu’umsh “Coeur d’Alene” due to their shrewd trading practices, likening their sharpness to an awl, a pointed tool used for piercing leather. This name stuck, eventually applying to the tribe, the lake, and later the city.

Ahh, I wanted to hit Dartmouth when we were up there but ran out of time. Next trip. Waiting for the Black report... 😉

Guess all this is why up in Maine all they do is spread sand around instead of dealing with all the headaches of salt.

A few bumpers are headed there Thursday...

Sloppy!

How about some ice melter stuff followed by some traction stuff after it has melted a bit so that the traction stuff has a place to sink into the ice?

No sarcasm there either! 😄

Yup. The time we were there the groomers were in pristine shape first thing but then deteriorated to boiler by the afternoon after the masses scraped off all the goods. Just conditions with which all mountains and sliders have to contend.

Report from Gah-skier George said it was pretty good. Good till on the snow and the place is a ghost town. Still have to deal with the wind in same ol spots.

Thought about it, but went outside to find the plow blasted my mailbox off its post. Spent a rainy morning repairing it, fuckers!

Indeed it was crazy how good it was for the first run on practically all the trails and then just went to shit on the next run down them. Quit the shit-show around 11:30 since everything was down to boiler in the middle and crazy sugar on the edges. Lower Main was just a pile of sugar waiting to envelope those who weren't paying attention. Left around 1:30 or so with lots of people still pouring in and searching for parking spots. Pay lot was down to 15 free. Departure was interrupted by a pretty good 2 car accident on the North side of Mountain Drive. Looked like the lost it on the top turn and T-boned and uphill car and then spun into the ditch. Staties were there limiting traffic to one direction at a time.

Alta doesn't stand for Another Long Traverse Again for nothing... Yeah, it torques the locals when rookie skiers can't even handle the traverses properly let alone the problems boarders would have with them. Deer Valley on the other hand...

Does it have a winch, looks like there's one in the bumper? There appears to be plenty of trees around.

Would be a great buy by Indy like Black Mountain NH. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/10/05/metro/entabeni-systems-indy-pass-black-mountain-ski-area-nh-co-op-model/ Check out...

What were they feeling? Was Matt Edge involved?

Briefly looking at the various KSL resorts on their website, Blue seems to be one of or maybe the only without a hotel, plus they don't seem to have many snow destinations either. Might make sense for them to dump the winter ones, save Deer Park, and just concentrate on warm weather ones?

$749 Not leaving anything on the table...

Rumors/lift talk has been that since they acquired the plot of land across the street, they were going to move tubing over there and then make the entire lower area a town complex, complete with all the resort amenities. But then again, it'll probably be sold by then...

There were a lot of cars in the lot when I left, but the expert slopes were still virtually empty. We did make our way over to the beginner/intermediate area to leave and found where all the people were as it was packed. Going through there was like being back at Blue on a Saturday at 11am, dodging families, beginners, etc. Luckily we found the extended Lower Sidewinder-like snake trail that nobody was on so we could avoid the masses to get back to the lodge.

They're in a bad spot and from what I hear, not marked at all by SP. The light is typically flat in that area which makes the rollers disappear until you're on them. If they're going to leave them overnight and open Razor's to the public in the morning, the rollers need to be painted or marked by a lollipop or sticks.

Yeah, we hit the Rattler connection, well some of us did. A couple of the stragglers missed the rest of us make the turn and they ended up taking the long way round. We also made a run through the trees on Branch Line that had a lot of ice in the middle and inside corners. One of the corners was a sheet of ice and most of us barely survived it without going down.

Driveway is 1" of SOLID sleet that I can't even scratch off with shoe. Must have rained and froze everything up. Punt!

A bunch of us had had enough of Blue lately and decided to use up an Indy on Montage yesterday and from the sounds of the reports out of Blue, it was a good decision. Arrived in the lot just after 8am to 19' and hazy sunshine. It felt cold in the lot, so went with the extra puffy just in case. Later the sun came out and standing around in it, felt overdressed, but out on the slopes it was cold again. In all the years I've skied, I've never bothered to venture to Montage and have to say I'm happy I finally did. Even though the mountain has a bizarre layout, it's unique and a throwback. The beer shack in the middle of the mountain with a DJ cranking tunes was cool, even though we didn't stop for a beer. They had another DJ cranking tunes at the bottom of the Phoebe Snow lift. They opened precisely at 9am and for kicks and giggles we took the Short Haul lift out of the lodge area. The snow was spectacular, loose talcum powder groomed to perfection, what a concept! We cruised on down Boomer which too had perfectly groomed snow and the run had some giddy up. Passed by White Lightning that unfortunately had a Closed sign, and the reason was evident when we got to the bottom and saw a winch cat grooming the bottom headwall. Up and down Smoke which was also perfectly groomed and a lot of fun. Is it Saturday? The place is a ghost town! If it were 930am at Blue, we'd be dodging people already and the runs would be cookies, marbles and ice, but none of that was around, at least in the expert area. Giving the groomer some time on White Lightning, we went over to the Iron Horse lift and down Switch were they were setting up the Nastar course. Next to the run under the lift, there was overblown chalk that a few sampled and found quite enjoyable. The run itself had groomed powder. Up the Long Haul and now we found ourselves back in Blue conditions. They evidently hadn't put as much effort into the conditions over here and/or it has a lot more traffic from beginners and intermediates. The snow was more granular with patches of ice here and there that you had to be careful of as they'd take down an unsuspecting slider. Back over to Boomer to check on White Lightning and they had just dropped the rope. Down the in run, it reminds me of Coming Soon, flat. Up ahead there are a bunch of people just standing around. We all fly past them and down the headwall. Woo-hoo, it definitely has some giddy-up and woah that compression at the bottom was unexpected. Wow that's fun! We lapped that a bunch of times and discovered a bunch of overblow into the woods next to the run where you could actually get a few nice pow turns in the trees. Definitely a fun diversion from the rigamarole that is Blue. This place holds a lot of potential for Spring skiing and warrants a repeat then to use up the second Indy ticket.

Light snow falling up at Blue and the quad, at least, is running...