sibhusky

View from top of the Swift Current chair across to the other peak: Views of the bowl below Lone Peak: Views looking up to the trails serviced by the Ramcharger chair: View of Lone Peak. A tram runs up to the peak.

These are from my trip to Red Lodge a week or so back. Red Lodge is NOT a destination ski area, it's more of a locals' place. They have mostly manmade snow there. Just like my trip there last spring, most of the place was not open. What was open was only half groomed, the rest was bumped up and had rocks in it. The view off the main side of the mountain is mostly of the prairies. Off the back side there are mountains, but the back side was closed so I didn't get over there.

Actually, the steepest trail in PA is at Denton -- Avalanche at 66 degrees.

That's why I always called it Suicide Alley....

I am probably the only skier in the whole state locking my skis out here. But, after years of skiing back East, I know that it only takes a minute to have piece of mind.

Did she ski or did she like the town?

The course was really long (2.1 Km) and lots of people along it, so there could have been, but I wasn't looking.

If I wasn't in a hotel room I'd pull out my dictionary and convert 6'2" to cm's, but I am sure at the WC level there isn't any "shaving the rules" going on....

She's 5'3". You know how long the minimum length ski is for a FIS downhill? 205cm's!!!

Never I hope. She didn't do the downhill here and has no plans to add that to her repetoire. In SL and GS you usually don't die. Downhill you can die.

I don't have any pictures, because I was too worried to deal with that, but Siblet had her first FIS SG today and survived. She lowered her FIS points from 990 to 208, not a fantastic day, but better than last year's USSA race. Now that she has her confidence she plans to really go for it tomorrow. She looked solid and I will try to get some pics tomorrow. I hate speed events....

Sounds good, but you ask the guy did you make the gate, if he doesn't know, you head down. Later if he decides you MISSED it, you tell them HE TOLD YOU HE DIDN"T KNOW at the time. He can't change his mind later. He either saw it or he didn't. The rules say if they aren't sure, you get the benefit of the doubt. It's written on the gatekeeping card.

If the gatekeeper didn't see you miss it, why did you hike, he should have either cleared you (in which case you go down) or told you to hike (in which case you hike). If they are unsure, they are supposed to give you the benefit of the doubt, which means they should have told you to go down.

Let's see, you have adult friends here, high speed quads, and a top notch race program, plus no crowds. Seems like you should be moving HERE, not to Elk!!!

Yeah, well the store where I work spent too much money replacing or repairing stuff they sent via UPS, so if it's fragile, they now use FedEx. BUT the local FedEx delivery guy doesn't have the stones to drive to my house and leaves things in town and I have to call around trying to find out where he left it. He never asked me if this is okay. Unless the sender gives me the tracking number so I can find it, I might never get things. UPS delivers to the door. So, I send out via Fed Ex and have things come in via UPS.

At least they're "free". I don't suppose FedEx'ing was an option?

Frankly, I'd still contact Atomic and complain. Sometimes manufacturers honor warranties even if they've expired.

Anyone who is into cold should come here: Wednesday. Snow and areas of blowing snow in the morning then snow likely in the afternoon. Highs zero to 11 above zero. West winds around 15 mph. Wednesday night. Chance of snow. Partly cloudy. Much colder. Lows 13 below to 22 below zero. Northwest winds around 15 mph. Thursday. Slight chance of snow. Partly cloudy. Highs 10 below to zero. Thursday night. Partly cloudy. Lows 16 below to 25 below zero. Friday and Friday night. Patchy fog. Partly cloudy. Highs 6 below to 4 above zero. Lows 2 below to 18 below zero. Good for snow quality, but we leave for Red Lodge on Thursday for siblet's racing. Can you imagine being in a speed suit for this: Friday. Partly cloudy. Cold. Highs around 5. Saturday. Partly cloudy. Cold. Highs around 4. Sunday. Partly cloudy. Cold. Highs around 15. Maybe I should put a blanket in my backpack and throw it on her at the bottom of the course???? Or maybe this old down coat I have would fit.....

There's no shame in falling in a race. Dude is doing phenomenally.

Well, there is a park but no pipe. After all, a good portion of the mountain is natural terrain. The pipe aspect is covered by "George's Gorge" an natural groove in the terrain that curves around and has trees in it as well. Who'd want a pipe with things like that around?

No, I'm not. What are you looking at?

Big Mountain. 3000 acres in Northwest Montana.

We have had practically NO SNOW so far. It's only coming in three to six inches at a time. Last year the whole place was open by now. We are still not entirely open. BUT, we are the only place with this much snow in the area. Ski teams from Washington state and elsewhere in Montana are coming here to train because they have even LESS snow than we have!!!

The rest of the pics:

Well, I had a day off from work, thank goodness, on a day when the visibility was outstanding. Of course, I had to put up with six to seven minute lines, but the view was worth it. I hope when ole2planker visits next week he gets the view without the crowds! This is in two sections as the site won't allow me to post them all....