TR: Blue 12/22/08

[RootDKJ]

Hey folks,

 

I took another trip out to Blue Mountain today. I got off to a really late start, which threw me off the whole day, but that's not important right now....on to the TR.

 

It was 10 degrees when I left my house. 12 when I pulled into the Velley lot. Got on the mountain around 9:30ish. No lift line, just a bit of congestion because nobody knows how to count to six there. In retrospect, they probably should have installed a 5 person lift so the guys in the Eagles jackets could just use their hands. So after forcing my way up through the lift line, I decided to start the day off on Challenge. It was awesome. No ice or death cookies. Perfect packed powder. Nice wisps of smokey snow coming off the backs of everyone's skis. I hit Challenge about 5 times straight. The flat light area was still a bit of a problem, but the sun had finally started to hit the skier's right side of the trail. The wind was blowing right up challenge, and at times it was quite the headwind.

 

After Challenge, I went over to Lazy Mile. It was unbelievably fast today with a nice coating of powder. I'm also really glad that I used my better judgment last night and put some cold temperature wax on. Zoom!!! I did a a bunch of runs alternating Challenge and Lazy before I decided to hit Main Street. It was also super fast today, but as usual, a little choppy on the bottom third of the trail. I cut through the park on the way back to the lift, it was ok, nothing special there.

 

Challenge was getting really wind blown, so I spend a lot of time skiing Lazy Mile into Falls. Falls was also a little wind blown by mid day, but this really isn't worth mentioning since it's so short. Headwinds were also pretty strong coming down Home Stretch as well.

 

I got bit by a snowsnake on Lazy Mile, and almost slid into the woods, so I decided to change it up for my next run. I skied Lazy down to the Main Street double and then skied Raceway for the first time this season. Raceway was really fun and there were about 6 other people on the trail when I was going down it. I took raceway into Burma. Ski Patrol had a speed trap set up right after the 1st right turn. They were busy punching holes in two other kids tickets and didn't notice me flying by them. I slowed it down a bit anyway.

 

Snowmaking was happening on Razor's Edge (upper and lower) but was totally ineffective at building anything resembling a base. Actually, the way the wind was blowing, more of the snow was hitting Dreamweaver. Around 11:30 they turned the guns on upper Razor's. The guns were running on lower Razor's until I left. Paradise had snowmaking going on top to bottom. Snow cats were moving the snow around, leveling it all off. I saw three snow cats working it. There was some snowmaking on Switchback but that was turned off at 10:30. Massive amounts of snowmaking on Sidewinder Park with some whale approaching 6-8 feet deep. I rode the lift with two kids who claimed to poach it. By judging the amount of snowmaking snow they were wearing, I believe them. More snowmaking on the half-pipe and in the tubing park. There was also evidence of grooming on Chute, but still mostly on touched.

 

I had such a blast today. Everything was so damn fast. It was more crowded than I expected for a Monday. Perhaps the schools are on Christmas break. I skied 22 runs for a total of 25290 feet of vertical. No pictures today, it was too damn cold.

 

Anyway since I was so late getting started today, I didn't get my Boston Butts in the Orion until 8pm. At 10:30 I'll have to add some charcoal. I'm not expecting them to be done until after12:30am. Then I'll have to transform them into some Christmas PulledPork. Good thing I'm working from home tomorrow.

[AngryHugo]

Just got back a little while ago. Yep. Mighty fast and MIGHTY cold. My facemask/bandana thingy was frozen solid. Yummy. I was pretty much taking runs down Lazy, Main St, and Challenge in that order and rotating through that progression like 3 or 4 times.

 

They were blowing the SHIT out of Sidewinder. The piles were almost as big as the ski patrollers' egos.

[toast21602]

They were blowing the SHIT out of Sidewinder. The piles were almost as big as the ski patrollers' egos.

 

good to hear.