method9455

Ha you have no idea man its crazy. My girlfriend calls me a planner but its more like I'm obsessive. Thats why I'm going to be an engineer so its all good. I think I'm settled on JFBB but I'll be at Blue more in February and March because thats when I'm back in school and thats when they are 100% so don't worry I'll be up there next year and I'll get to ride with you guys. Its the early season that I'm home and JFBB excelled at early season park - which is what I'll do when I'm home alone in January. When its mid/late season I'll be freeriding with my friends from college and my girlfriend, we'll be at blue but not often enough to justify a pass.

I've been hearing the setup on Sugar is the best its ever been (albeit its only been open for 3 years, but it usually a really good park). Nice size wall ride, good size jump to learn spins on, the apex box is sick and the stock boxes are setup well.

Blue is closer to my school and my girlfriends school - but its farther from home. Same with Bear Creek, its like an hour from school but a few from home. I live about a block from the Route 80 entrance ramp and a mile from the 287 entrance ramp so I can head out to Shawnee/Camelback/JFBB easily and Mountain Creek easily - but Blue and Bear take me far out of the way from here. I get 6 weeks off next year again that will be 60% of my riding from home so Blue probably isn't the best choice. And the lift tickets for students at Blue are cheap anyway so I don't mind going up and buying them. Although I really do like the trails and lifts better at Blue the drive is just an issue. (Although the only time I went to blue I got super lost because my directions were wrong and ended up at a llama farm so I have no idea how long it actually takes to get there)

From MC Myspace: Half Moon and Kamikaze(Sayonara, don't know why they're mislabeling it on myspace) parks are still going strong. (Flat box 20 foot into down flat gap down 60 foot box on one side, 40 foot double barrell into 30 foot flat gap 30 foot down box). Sugar Jib has been open for three days and is super duper fun - down box, apex box, flat to down rail, down c rail, 10' table, and a wallride. Check out the video below to see some of the work that our park crew put into building it. Great Northern is open with a Downflatdown rail, Flat down box, 1 hit, and a 27ft flat rail. Khyber and Indian are also open, though with no features. YET. Building should start soon on the rest of the park. http://myspace.com/mcjiblab has a bunch of videos too. The apex box looks pretty sick - much better way to set it up than on top of the wall ride it never worked out the way they intended on top of that wall ride anyway.

I was looking into next year already, and right now I'm feeling like I'm switching my season pass to JFBB, with some days at Blue & Bear Creek because I'm sick of Mountain Creek (and the season pass I bought and used 1 fucking day this season - even at the discount of $100, the day I went only had 1 trail and it was late January, $100 for one trail doesn't fly with me) The price for the unlimited is $450, just wondering if they do a spring time/end of season sale like some places where it will be cheaper? Although at $450 thats only 10 days of snowboarding which I did pass this year despite the weather and my injury, so its not unreasonable, but who doesn't like a better deal?

It does look like serious quality. I can't figure out what material the treads are made out of. The frame is metal and the support for the treads is metal, I can't figure out if the steps are wood or if its a plastic or one of those fake wood type deals - but anyway, that thing is going to last forever. I like the way Jiblab builds stuff, its sturdy and it lasts. The Iron Works at BC does too, Planet Snow isn't as great. When you look at the more wooden stuff at Camelback, Mount Snow, other places, it just doesn't hold up as well. Tremblant had good jibs as well but I don't know where they came from.

I'm scratching my head on this one. It looks HUGE or is it just the perspective? Not sure about the setup any reports?

Yea Mountain Creek was on deaths door until Intrawest came, and what did Intrawest do first? (Aside from burning down the lodge?) Replace the lifts and improve the parks. Lifts + Parks = $$$$$. And look at the most important lift there - the gondola is clearly designed more for snowboarders and bikers in the summer than skiers, skiers bitch about it all the time since you have to click in and out all day. Not saying the park should take over the whole mountain, but park is more to a mountain than meets the eye. Even though a small amount of the acreage may be devoted to it, a lot of people will come for a good one, and sometimes a group of people will avoid a mountain for lack of a good one. Even though the majority of the people I ride with don't do any park, we'll go somewhere where this is a good one for the 2 of us that hit stuff and the other 8 will ski around and we'll meet up in the afternoon. Thats ten tickets going somewhere based on the park that represents half a day of 1/5th of the groups riding. Its not atypical.

Yea but we have lights here, I've never been to a big mountain up north or out west that had a lot of lights, maybe some lights in the park but thats generally it. Although I did notice a lot of the southern Quebec mountains that are close to Montreal have lights for the afterschool crowd - and they're a lot better than ours. They have the white lights close together instead of the amber shitty ones we have spread out. But I was thinking and in general it sucks to be a local at a mountain that closes at 4, you could get an hour and a half afterschool tops and thats it. If it weren't for going up until 10pm afterschool i wouldn't have had 1/3 of the days I had last year.

I've had people from out west tell me that it is impossible for people to tele without powder. I wish I had a picture, not only do we have guys doing tele, but doing it switch. Thats why east coast skiers/riders are better, we are given nothing to work with and suck every last piece of fun and challenge we can out of it. Even after I move out west I'll never be a snow-snob. I could see trying tele out, I hear its an insane workout too. Can you use them like cross country skis? I was thinking for backcountry access type stuff, or do they just look that way with the free heel? My impression was that it was like a more durable cross country binding slapped on an alpine ski and I wasn't sure how that worked out but I've seen some people who were really good at it so I believe it works.

I view him as color commentary. Sadly there isn't much talent in the announcer pool although I wouldn't mind Lean Tweeden (of bluetorch TV fuck I miss that show) being an announcer. Who cares if she knows anything just show me her instead 17 shots of shaun whites stupid hair.

Yea I was reading about this on another forum and a guy listed this happening like 10 times. Usually it happens if there is thin natural snowfall but enough to cover the grass/brush, so total like a foot of fresh, then they try to blow enough wet snow on top to have a base. On a steep enough slope the basebuilding snow on top will break the real stuff free and it all slides down the hill. Its pretty similiar to how avalanches out west happen early season when the lower layers are weak and then a big wet storm comes along.

Actually thats the only reason I switched to snowboarding. I was doing park skiing before twin tips were really out, and I nutted myself on a rail and after I got up after the pain I said FUCK THIS i will never do a sport where you can get nutted again. And that was my last day on skis. It scares me skateboarding but I'm not doing rails that are high enough to get nutted on. Ironically enough I did once get semi-nutted snowboarding, one of those death cookies popped up from my toe edge and hit me right next to the balls and it was a near nutting experiance without ever falling. I had a welt like I was hit with a paintball so glad it missed.

If I had a job at a mountain I'd be a groomer. Work the night shift, get a few early turns in the morning and go to sleep from lunchtime until your shift starts and miss the crappiest part of the day. Its not great for being social, but its better than being a liftie and working during the best part of the day. Short of that bartender, waitor, or snowmaker are along the same lines because they are afternoon/nightime so you get the morning out on the hill.

Ha yea jumps are tricky day to day because sometimes with just a tiny bit of movement on the blade on the cat will change it completely. The first big jump on Indian at MC last year was like a 25 footer from lip to knuckle, and with the long landing you could make it a 40 safely. I had it really dialed for about a month and was throwing everything. Then when day I hit it first run without checking it since they hadn't changed it in so long, but they had made the lip with like twice as much kick and much closer to the knuckle, and I cleared easily 50 or 60 feet. I hadn't reached my highest point when the knuckle was under me. Luckily the trail itself is kind of steep so I hit the ground feet first, but I had so much momentum from falling my ass hit the ground so fucking hard I thought I had broken my tailbone. I couldn't sit for at least a week I had unbelievable bruises on my ass. My best friend who saw it happen nick named the jump Bubba since it raped me hardcore. You always have to check jumps out before you hit them, I probably would have noticed the change if I had checked it out first.

I originally did it sailing at University of Delaware. I was pulling a full time workload in school with 4 hour practices 6 days a week for Sailing Team and somewhere along the way got mono and didn't realize because I just generally exhausted everyday sick or not. You know how they tell you not to do anything physical when you have mono? Well one day after 4 hours of practice we got to shore and had to drag the boats onto the beach but it was low tide and muddy as hell and I sank about knee deep in the mud dragging a 250 pound boat through that shit with one other guy, and somewhere along the way ripped my spleen. The nurse I saw about 10 hours later incorrectly diagnosed me as having food poisioning but that was incorrect. I didn't know about it, the spleen eventually healed, and then I had surgery to remove a wisdom tooth (that was really infected due to the lack of immune system I have) and the medication plus the shock of surgery and stiches blew the spleen up again. Now its about to rupture without the physical activity, so add that in and it will be sure to rip and this time it will most likely be fatal so I have to be super careful. I'll still be on here I want to see how the season turns out because I'm planning to get a season pass to one of the pocono mountains next year and I want to see which one, plus at least I can see some pictures and shit so that keeps me going. I'm mad its happened but glad I found out before I ended up killing myself. One of the doctors mentioned that a big portion of fatalities in car crashes come from people ripping their spleen and apparently it is so toxic it kills you before they can get you to the hospital, even if you are healthy. It is pretty sobering having a bunch of doctors tell you that you almost just died by doing your normal routine. I just don't know what the fuck I'm going to do with myself because all of my hobbies are physical, snowboarding, skiing, rock climbing, wakeboarding, skateboarding, going the gym, I can't do anything. I guess I'll have to pick up videogames and poker and posting here incessantly.

Sadly it appears my season is over. I've had a lot of complications from my surgery and after seeing 3 doctors today they all agreed that I have a bunch of internal problems that mean I can't do anything physical for about 2 - 2.5 months. Clearly rock climbing & lifting at the gym are out, and I protested on the snowboarding saying I don't fall (if I don't do the park), but the doctors agreed that we're not talking hardcore snowboarding verse cruising around, they're saying I can't take stairs two at a time or jog twenty feet or lift a heavy box on the floor without ending up in a hospital. My primary doctor told me I have the most dangerously enlarged spleen he has ever seen in his 35 years of being a doctor and if I tear it I will die faster than they could ever get me to a hospital. So this years over for me, I'm looking into possibly doing a summer camp at Whistler or Mt Hood because by then I could be ok, but I'm not sure if I'll have the money (although I had budgeted for 3 lift tickets per week all season plus a big vacation and now I had to cancel it all), but certainly none of the pocono area mountains will still be open by the time I can start up again. My only consolation is that this winter has sucked hardcore and after a few months I'll be back to normal and fine next season but man, has this been the shittiest day ever.

Funny story, I was bombed out of my mind once right after a huge snowstorm and ended up getting fairly involved with a girl in about a foot of snow at about 2am, in jeans and a t-shirt, and didn't feel how cold it was until a few hours later when I sobered up and realized I was soaked in melted snow and mud. So yea, I can vouch for the alcohol keeping you from feeling how fucking cold it is, but its not necessarily the healthiest of ways to stay warm.

You know 90% of people wouldn't complain about the steps if there was a gondola because you would already have the board off anyway so they're just spoiled by having a chairlift. Go to Mountain Creek, you walk a hell of a lot farther than you do at Blue, and you have to strap in both feet every time anyway. Or compare it to a mountain with half as much vert - you have to strap your back foot in every 500 vertical feet anyway - so you are even on the amount of time wasted doing that anyway. I think its a good step in the right direction if only because it prevents someone from saying "I didn't know" if you confront them about being a danger in the park. Plus I think it ads a bit of responsibility to it, if you choose to go up stairs preventing you from easily accessing something, you are making an affirmative decision much more so than if there are just warning signs and something written on the back of the lift ticket. While people may deny it, that means an awful lot more in court if something did happen. Speaking of which - why do you think they keep track of names, addresses, etc on park passes? They don't replace if you lose it, so it is a lawsuit/liability thing. Whether or not you sit and watch the whole video, they can show that video and court with your signature and your receipt to be granted access to features - and if you sue the mountain you don't have much of a case. The stairs are a move in that direction, and I say it might be a better compromise than anything else proposed.

careful with the heat packs. They have been known to cause burns and also might make it too hot, you sweat, and then you freeze. I would buy better gloves and socks before using those things.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll...361/1002/NEWS01 Apparently a good skier, going fast, slid off the trail and into a tree. Did not die on impact but later on passed out and they couldn't revive him.

Ouch I've never run into someone who did that before. Did the boots fit right? I usually find it really hard to hurt myself below the waist, it is usually head/arm/shoulder injuries.

On high school ski club nights I usually brought 3-4 pairs of gloves and a hat in by bag (and I don't even wear a hat) because my friends always forgot shit. Almost every night at least 2 kids were using stuff I had brought. You never know what you are going to need. I always have an extra hoodie for layers/the ride home too, because I run out of my house in the morning and don't realize how cold it is until an hour into the ski day.

Well you don't mind beating it up because you are expecting to. I never buy a current model one because they're all the same. Full wood core, biaxial fiberglass, sometimes sintered sometimes extruded base, and a little variation in shape but all twins. So sticker price is only like $350 and you can find them for $200 on sale no problem. I've been going through one a season generally. It breaks about mid-february or march and I pick one up for the end of the year and the majority of the next season. I couldn't get away with just one board because I'd buy a stiffer board for freeriding, and it would be a bitch to replace. So instead I picked up a really nice board (at of the year sale it was pretty cheap too) and it has lasted me a long time while I keep going through the cheaper boards in the park. As for ptex, while I still wax mine a lot I generally don't ptex the jib board unless its a core shot because it is a waste of time. Rarely are you going into a jib with too little speed, and if you are then the setup is bad. The wax is more to reduce more scracthing and let it slide better than speed on snow. I start by beveling the edges 3 degrees up, then running a file lengthwise down the whole edge once or twice, and then I'll basically grind out the edge from binding centerline to binding centerline. It won't get through ice but even on hardpack the control is ok. Generally the in ramps in the park are pretty chewed up so ice isn't a huge issue. I've never really worried about it because if you want to do the park there is no way to avoid it and until you blow out an edge or break the core or something like that it doesn't stop you from riding park.

I always have an extra pair of good gloves in my car/bag so that if I get snow in one pair and its super cold I can switch to avoid freezing my fingers. Even if its a long walk, its better than ending your day early and you warm up on the walk over and back to the hill. Another option is to stand at the bottom for a minute or 2, you work up the body heat coming down the hill and before you head right onto the lift again let it spread to your extremities, as soon as you get on the lift you are surrounded by wind/cold and your body cuts off the fingers and toes. It doesn't take long but just standing for a minute makes a huge difference.