sibhusky

Not my favorite event.

Hiking companion

I got an extra minute of sleep this AM, yay!

Can't wait for days to get shorter. Sunrise at 5:35 and set at 9:42 has me sleep deprived.

Having just given the website a gander to see how much we are talking about, I can only believe that they are trying to keep the riffraff out.

Maybe Jeff should change the forum name to Montage now?

Oh, thought it was maybe your patio or something. Which is why I asked.

What is it a picture of, other than snow?

You get used to it. I just tell myself, "You've been down this hundreds of times, you know the trail, just believe that." And I stay away from certain areas that I know will induce vertigo due to the lack of visual reference points. The Bowl, Inspo Ridge, Toni, and sometimes Moe-Mentum, are all things to stay off of due to lack of trees and changes in pitch that you really cannot see. Doesn't mean I don't appreciate visibility. Ideal is thick clouds hovering ABOVE my head. Brilliant blue days are only okay if it's in the teens or lower.

I'm jealous.

Unless you're doing seven days a week, I don't see the issue. Tune and wax the evening of the day you get home, then scrape and brush the next day. I ski five days a week, it's planned into my week. Using the Fiberlene significantly cuts back on the scrape time. Roto-brush cuts way back on brush time. Now the bulk of my time is edge polishing. Used to be scrape and brush was what I hated the most. I do look at the weather forecast to make sure the wax will be right, but it's no biggie.

Classic Whitefish humor

One of the men I took around was intimidated by the height of the mountain - his hill was 300 feet. But we took him down a bunch of things while he was here that he didn't think he could do. Crowds are very low here, which helps. You just need to sorry about yourself. What might be a problem for her is the fog. But if she comes, I'll help out. Big Sky is way more intimidating than Whitefish visually. Lone Peak, soaring into the sky, with those cliffs, makes for quite a sight.

Our terrain? Or Big Sky's? Both have tons of blue cruisers. What level skier is she?

Thinking about it, they are also doing a great job on social media, not just the mountain, but also the town. Plus, we had... yech.. The Bachelor a few months back.. People apparently watch that horror. And they are going to be filming a movie shortly.. Then Powder and SKI had us highly rated. Native Eyewear had a big contest we won. Huge ad campaigns in Seattle, Minneapolis, and New York. And, of course, there's my website.

Hadn't seen that yet. Thanks for the link. As to visitors, I had a new record of EpicSki visits, I know that much - five different visits. I think the last two years of having way more snow than Colorado is the reason this is happening. I bet Schweitzer is seeing even more increases than we are.

Totally agree. Told him today that I hoped that now that he has set a record unlikely to ever be broken, that he'd start exploring the 3000 acres of mountain we have and that I'd come across him in the trees next year. A friend and I had an uproarious time this year getting totally turned around and lost inbounds in some trees on the back. 45 minute journey full of bushwhacking in some beautiful trees. Can't do that if some number is important.

Anyone interested in SERIOUS vertical achievements. A guy here will crack 5.6 million vertical feet today...That's in ONE SEASON. When you factor in that not every scan registers, his actual achievement is much higher. Personally, I'm glad he's done doing it. He needs to explore the whole mountain, really, not just the straightest point between the top and the bottom, but in addition, I stayed the hell away from some runs this winter. He's a GREAT skier, but I didn't want to be in front of him.

Closing day, more fresh snow. Going to be really nice...tomorrow. No, I will not hike up.

Today. Snushing most of the time, but also had rain and graupel. Terrific soft snow, great fun. Sibby's in her glory in weather that sends most running home.

Before someone starts on about snow depths vs. snow fall.... The snow fall number is whatever the depth is on opening day without any regard to how much snowfall came in the prior months. Then they start adding daily new snow fall to that settled base starting point. Other mountains start counting their snow with the first storm in October and never report that all that stuff melted before the base started holding. They don't do it that way here. If we get a foot in October, and it melts, it is NOT included. Only the remains of that foot that are still around on Dec. 8 or whatever are included.

Looked up what was available. To date this year, 256 and 96. So, yes, not a stellar year. But, the base depth has been worse on closing day. Of course, that's in two days, so if the weather doesn't cut it out, the numbers could get worse. Fortunately, they are calling for snow. We'll see.

Not sure about "normal", but worse than last few years. I keep meaning to do a look up for snowfall and base going back in time. I know it's the worst since 09-10. Oh, and probably won't make 1.3 mill. It was forecast to be pouring today so I didn't go up. 100% probability, but...guess what... wasn't that bad up there. Showers if anything, but mostly sun near as I can tell. Will go on a SATURDAY (gasp) to make up for it. But...can't make myself ski longer days when conditions are getting hazardous, so will probably miss that 1.3 by a few feet.

The good skiing seems to be lasting until about noon.

The pass with the Fiberlene is done WITH the iron, so it's not pulling anything OUT of the pass, just absorbing wax that is still liquid. If I was allowing the wax to cool, maybe I'd be pulling something out of the base, but at this point it's liquid. You can see there is still wax on the base, believe me. They still get set in a hot room (utility room) to slow down the rate at which the wax cools, then get scraped 6 - 12 hours later, and brushed like crazy. Although I think in the spring wax may or may not be key (I think it's a clean, fresh structure, personally), I know that on the cat tracks (and we have many here) I am rarely passed unless someone has been in a tuck TRYING to pass me. It could be I'm a good glider, or...it could be that I take care of my skis. Good glide = time saved. Today, I beat friends who I was skiing with, and started down the trail at the same time as, by the amount of time it takes to remove my boots and get my shoes on. Normally, from a SKIING perspective, they would beat me, hands down. But...not when it's all about the glide. This couple knows beans about wax..and it showed.