Cypress about to open

[BlueB]

Get ready guys!
Nov 13, 2006, 12h00 report is showing 97cm of white stuff mid-mountain and still snowing. More on forecast for next few days.
With litle bit of luck, I might brake out the 4807 on the weekend.

[Dave*]

We'll see you up there Boris, got a season pass for Cypress, just need to slap some new snowies on the car, watch for the orange brain bucket.

Dave*

[BlueB]

Sure thing!

[mr_roboteye]

sweet!

[Allee]

I got the email this morning, opening on Saturday with feet of fresh. I can't make it, so I nominate you to go for me. Enjoy!

[Dave*]

No you were not hallucinating, for those that know what Dave* looks like with helmet off that really was me at my scruffy best with the soundbite on the weather channel

The weather lady snuck up on my blindside and while distracted with her the camera guy got me from the other side, they got me like a pride of lions takes down a water buffalo on discovery channel.

[BlueB]

Did I miss something?

I take it, you hiked Cypress for few turns, or even Whistler?

[ruwi]

I just bought a ski card @Cypress, too bad I also have a season pass @Grouse. I will continue to ride my freeride at Grouse and start learning to carve @Cypress. Since I'm a rookie on carving you'll find me in the easy runs for sure. I'ts easy to recognize me with Grinder 168 like Boris'. SE Asian descent(Filipino).

CU guys,
ruwi

[BlueB]

Latest News @ Cypress Mountain...

"With all of the amazing snow Cypress has accumulated in the last week, we plan to open for the 2006/2007 Winter Season on Thursday November 16th for day operations from 9am until 4pm. This will be the 3rd earliest opening in Cypress history! "

http://www.cypressmountain.com

[Victory]

Ruwi....watch for the Grouse crew this season. There's 3 of us hardbooters that usually ride in the evenings.

[mr_roboteye]

Ruwi....watch for the Grouse crew this season. There's 3 of us hardbooters that usually ride in the evenings.

Are you guys all pretty good riders?

Dave R.

[ruwi]

That's great. I also do niteboarding @Grouse from time to time especially after a stressfull day @work.

ruwi

[Dave*]

I wandered up there( Cypress) for a few hours this afternoon from about 1230 to 1530 before work to get my first turns of the season.

Coverage thin, was foggy, my legs are out of shape, about 1-2 runs open, always good to make the first turns of the year.

As to weather channel they tagged me in pacific boarder

Dave*

[BlueB]

Dave*, myself, and Ruwi later on, all felt the consequences of being lazy over the summer. My legs are shot, but hey, so happy!

Both sides of the mountain had chair lifts running but only green cruisers were open. Patrolers are still fencing off the rest of the runs. I guess tomorrow the blue runs would open.
Snow was decent for carving, wet from the light rain in the morning and then some fresh, all compacted by the crowd, later a bit chopped. Thin cover, but no rocks. Crowd was medium. All in all, good day in the office.

I took out 4807 (couldn’t resist the urge to try the new toy). In the beginning it felt strange, like a real pig, wide and slow to get onto edge. Nose is soft and tail stiff, but it holds the edge! Actually when I figured out that I needed to really commit to the carve, transition by cross-under and ride centered without pushing much, it was really nice. Carved even on the early afternoons chop! Actually, it is rather easy to throw some ECs on it, especially on toe side. Well, so far I’m impressed, bloody thing carved way better then I expected. Oh, yeah, it certainly caused a lot of comments, mostly good ones, like “whoa, speed demon”, “is that very fast”, “sweet board”, “swallowtail”, “do you do a lot of heli?” and then most interesting one “carving board?” Now I need some serious powder to really see what this baby can do…
For few runs I switched to my old Generics, with TD2s on for the first time. Well, that was less impressive… With my ski boots, TD2s felt ubber stiff, and very little dampening, even with the yellow rings. I really sucked on heel sides… I guess it will taks some times to get used.

Ruwi was on his Hooger, same as my old board. Spotted it straight away on the racks and left him a note. He found me on the hill later, after Dave was gone.

Rob, a softbooter I know from last season rode with us for a while. Good tricks, and good carving. He can throw a non-recovered EC on toe side. Hopefully I’ll convert him to the Dark Side this year.

I’m teaching tomorrow, but I can not foresee big crowd, so I’ll have plenty of hours off to play. I think that 4x4 will get some slope time.

Boris

[skategoat]

Boris, you're killing me. We're a month away from real snow, if we're lucky. Give us the report on Whistler when you make it. I might have to jump on a plane.

[BlueB]

Henry, nothing to be too jalous about. Today wind gusted 100k and strong rain kept mountain closed... If it went on like this it would mean total melt down :( Pacific North West at its best...

Make sure you let us know when heading to Whistler. Keep in mind that we'll have WES, probably after New Year.

[crucible]

Boris and Cypress Crew,

See you this Thursday evening maybe, I'll be heading up there for my first go of night skiing.

I did a backcountry recon up Cypress yesterday, on my Verts and lugging up a Winterstick 165 Severe Terrain with my plastic Koflach climbing boots.

The powder off of the Sky Chair is knee to waist high, but it's starting to really get sloppy- you just have to point it to get a head of speed, then rip some long arc GS turns to keep the nose above the slop.

George

[BlueB]

George, you maniac :) ...

Mind you, I think night skiing's not open yet.

Boris

[Dave*]

The Monday Cypress report


Was up from 0900 to 1230, clear in the city, very foggy on hill worsening as the day progressed with increasing wind and rain/slush/snow depending on where you were, ( of course it probably cleared up as soon as I left)

On the positive end, the hill was deserted, actually shared a chair once ( and that guy scurried to jump on so he could shoot the s*&t re hardboot gear), the snow was a nice grippy packed wet powder/schmoo with the corduroy ripple on top. They are opening and buffing more runs each day, only chair not running was the sky chair. Coverage still thin but no bare patches yet in the "high traffic" areas. Still hesitant to go off piste due to lack of coverage, boulders and stumps hurt.

Was going to take a few pics but I figured no one wanted to see fog.

Assuming no new overnight will be on the 179 4x4 tomorow.

Dave*

[Hugh]

Boris,

Congrats on breaking out the 4807 on the first day :biggthump, also known as the "secret weapon" :AR15firin :AR15firin :AR15firin

It totally hauls on morning soft groomed and carves super well on 2-3" of fresh on top of hard groomed. Afternoon chop is no problem as well. Floats well in deeper powder, but I would suggest reducing your binding angles in deep snow to something more like freeriding. I tried to keep carving angles in the deep snow and my legs could not hold up to the challenge.

My 4807 gets more happy comments than any other board that I ride. Snow isn't ready in Tahoe yet, but soon.

Keep the reports coming...

Your friend in CA,

Hugh

[BlueB]

Snowing heavilly all evening... I'm tempted to skip work tomorow...

Hugh, what angles do you ride in deep on 4807? I think I had something like 40-35 or 45-40 all day on Saturday. I probably could go another 5* down, but I was a bit nervous even about the angles this flat...

Ruwi, where you dissapeared on the last run, Saturday?

[Hugh]

My carving angles are decided by the width of my board. On the 4807, I'm usually 50/50 or 50/45. I remember last year getting beat up in moderate deep powder with hard bumps underneath. My feet were also taking a beating. Reducing the angles to approx 30/20 felt a lot better. Your new 4x4 also likes some powder :eplus2: I never had to reduce my angles on the 4x4 in pow, in fact it glides better without toe overhang.

If the steeper angles are working for you, experiment away :AR15firin We are always searching for the best glide.

check this out http://www.cs.uu.nl/~daan/snow/stance.html I just found this today. Cool that he has a BOL link.

Happy turns,

Hugh

[crucible]

On my Winterstick 182 Swallowtail, I have reduced the angles to 40 front, 32 rear - 19.5 inch stance.

It makes a big difference in having a freeride stance on this type of board since I find that you ride it very differently than a carving board- in anything deeper than 6 inches of powder, you float through snow, rather than carve on it.

Sweetness.


George

[ruwi]

Boris,

Thanks for the tip. My first day and first carving day was too much on my legs, it hurts so much when we met at Panorama. I have to get fit. I will continue to ride when grouse opens since i have a pass and hope to ride with you when I'm in a better shape at cypress.

ruwi

[Dave*]

The wednesday report.

A much nicer day than yesterday ( wind/fog/rain/sleet)

Weaselled out of work after an hour or two, got to hill about 1200hrs, about 10 cms new, hovering around 0 celcius at parking lot, very foggy, nice packed powder on what was left of the groomies, easy to bury the nose if not careful ( had the 79 4x4) , enough snow to get me going off piste, some nice turns in the shrubbery, just have to watch for the odd rock/stump/creek bed etc


Started snowing quite nicely about 1430 hrs and the vis cleared up a bit lower mountain. Tomorrow could be quite good if snow continues.

Rode to about 1530 hours, Took a few photos in the fog, will see if any turn out and post.

Will be back up for a few hours on friday then again on sunday afternoon, Whistler on monday if all goes well.

Dave*

[Dave*]

Parking lot and top of the double seater chair, about the only places with more than 30 ft of visibility at 1230 hrs, end of weds cypress report.

Dave*

[BlueB]

Hmmm, the things look quite soft... If it carried on like this, 4x4 or 4807 for Friday morning? (Just kidding - they'll be both in my Jeep :D )

[Allee]

Sunshine has Goat's Eye opening tomorrow - earliest opening ever.

I have a friend boot packing and prepping for the World Cup Downhill at Louise this weekend, she's being dumped on - not so great for racing ...

Kicking Horse opening early Dec 2 with 215cm in a week (Break out the powder board).

Fernie and Kimberley have snow forecast right through to Monday ... (Roll on New Years!)

Even Panorama has 70cm (which is normally about as much as they get in a whole season :eplus2: )

Only downside - the temperatures for the next week are hovering around -16C for a high (dunno what that is in deg F, but damn cold even by Calgary standards).

[BlueB]

Ok, today’s report – POW DAY! :D
18” overnight, and another 6-8” during the morning, mostly over skied up stuff from last few days (at least on steeper runs)… Not crowded at all. 4x4 didn’t get to play, it was all 4807 again. After lunch pretty bumpy and skied up.
Met Dave* at the first chair and carried on with him until I had to go to the on hill shop and buy some serious goggles (my little ones were getting fogy and stuffed). Later I found Randy (softbooting buddy, but great rider) and played with him.
Well, first, here’s the guy (me) who can sink the nose of 4807 :( especially on the heel sides. Dave watched and said that I’m loading the nose almost like on race board (which I kind of felt myself, too), but I knew that I was doing something else wrong, on top of that… Maybe counter-rotation on heel sides?
Then, latter Randy lured me into some supper steep dense trees (Dave I’ll have to show you this stash), with waist deep pow. Well, I totally sucked. Randy made it look easy on the soft setup, but trees were never my cup of tea. After few open and bump runs, we went into some less dense trees with big skied up bumps – famous Humpty-Dumpty run. That was better, but exhausting. I still love the open steep pow runs the best…

Probably no more snow tonight, so tomorrow will be all soft pack cord. 4x4 and Generics are making the trip. 4807 too, just in case ;)

Best lift line question today, by a young lifty: “Bro, how old is that board?”
Me: “Brand new my man, brand new…”

Boris

[BlueB]

Prior 4x4 made the trip to the mountain today, as I was really expecting just soft pack. As it turned out it was all hard pack! They really groomed well all greens and blues and left blacks with soft yesterdays moguls. Nice sub 0 temperatures right trough the day provided for no ice. Crowd was medium in the morning and heavy by 11. I left just after 12. It was starting to snow again as I was driving away.

Saw another unknown h/booter on asym and few guys on asyms with softies (Jack, help – epidemics!). I got to talk to one on the chairlift. Said he had an old F2 and plates at home, but never rides it… Later when I passed him I showed of with few near-ECs, just to remind him what he’s missing out.

As for 4x4 - sweet board! It holds the edge, even with high inclinations on hard pack. Well not quite like full blooded race board, but not bad at all. Nice dampening but not dead at all. I can see the speed limit to it, due to the short scr, but very good at medium speeds. Easy to skid when needed, too. One run I took it to uber steep big bumps (VW Beetle size). I got scared by the length of board – not easy to jump turn it. On flatter and smaller bumps it felt ok. No problem in skied up powder that I managed to find, either. I’m starting to appreciate the one-to-do-all concept. Funny enough, it feels quite stiff, maybe it’s a beefed up model? It might prove to be an ideal comfort board, and push the Hooger out of my car’s trunk… I still have to try it on ice.

Teaching tomorrow… Hopefully there will be few hours off, to play more with 4x4.

[BlueB]

Who needs heli trips? Another 2ft of fresh at Cypress!
Not too many kids to teach, and 4807 really came alive today. Freshies were available almost until lunchtime. What a pleasure flying down at double the speed of all freestyle boarders… And I was thinking if I’d ever use this board at Cypress when I was buying it…
One of my instructor buddies wants to try the plates. I’ll set him up next week…

[crucible]

Boris, I know exactly how you feel.

I never thought that I'd be able to ride my Winterstick Swallowtail in bounds on any of the local Vancouver mountains, but I just spent the whole afternoon and evening ripping my Swallowtail through 2 feet of powder at Grouse tonight - my legs are Jello.

I'm gonna pop some Ibuprofen tonight and call in "sick" tomorrow- Mt. Baker is calling me and my powder gun to come out and play....

When is Cypress gonna open for night skiing?

George

[BlueB]

Probably from Dec 15.

I just saw a report there was another 2' fresh overnight...
Working today :(

[Dave*]

I hit it, " just another powder day" temp around minus 4-5 around 15 cms fresh on top of very soft pack from yesterday, no sky chair, eagle opened around 1230hrs, they were working on the lighting system.

Am quite digging the moons area with all this snow. also had a blast popping off the lumps on humptys,

Quit about 1400 hrs, will be back on hill tomorrow.

Dave*

[crucible]

If this cold snap keeps up, I might have to take the whole week off!

Mt. Baker was epic.

I have to smoke an afterglow cigarette now....

George

[Dave*]

Dave*s tuesday Cypress report

Bluebird skies, around minus 10 celcius, hill deserted, some very sweet "powderoy" , almost good enough to forget about whistler.

ungodly amounts of grip, only a few soft spots on the groomies ( had the custom 71 atv out, it seems to crawl out of any hole you can create), a few ankle biter groomer ripples to keep you on your toes, but pretty decent carving,

the legs could only handle three hours at full pace on the eagle chair, so over to the other side for a couple more laps and it was called a day.

Did a few off piste laps, most powder is punched out, snow still soft as no melt freeze cycles yet,

Am contemplating the 168 rentiger or the 172 proton gs for tomorrow if no new snow.

Dave*

[BlueB]

I just had to take a day off today! It just looked too promissing. 4" overnight, good grooming, clear sky in the morning, with some fog creeping in later on. 4x4 action...
Found Dave* there, of course. He lured me into the steep trees in search for remaining pow. There, I sucked on 4x4 even more than on 4807 other day.
Proceeded to destroy the groomers "unter zee lift" with occational expeditions into the bumps... Dave is getting closer to his winter legs then I am. We caled it the day at about 1pm.
I'm impressed how 4x4 can be laid over even at speed...

Warm front is comming, so the ice boards might come out to play soon.

Oh yes, night skiing is starting on Dec 06, week earlier than normal.

[BlueB]

No fresh, perfect hard pack...
I'm getting the grasp on TD2s on Generics. I narrowed the stance a tad from the last ride (more to what I used last year), and it worked well. It felt powerfull, but somewhat unforgiving. A bit of occational nose chatter on heel sides, I'll have to work on that. I left some nice trenches on Midway/Lower Bowen. Tomorrow I might try the Renntiger...
Also, another instructor budy wants to try plates. I'll borow him the Hooger, tomorrow.

[Dave*]

Will see you up there in morning for a few hours, sounds like a 79 4x4 day to me. BTW work sucked big time today, jealous I am.

dave*

[BlueB]

Perfect groom again.

I landed my Hooger to Mihal, a buddy ski instructor and former ski racer, and an average soft booter. He got grasp of basic Norm type of turn within 2 runs on bunny hill. Took him to a steep blue after that. He's stoked! It was also very interesting to see him step from his 145 noodle (he's a short guy) to 168 Hooger :)
Later on I left the board with another instructor, for a week. Recruiting is going pretty well this year :D

As Mihal and me rode the Midway chair, a well known bright orange helmet
appeared on the slope below. Dave* was digging some monster trenches, laying over some modified ECs (floating just an inch above snow, but basically laid over). Whoa spectacular, just other day he complained that he couldn't do them!?! I wish I looked half as good...

[Dave*]

The tues n weds report

Yesterday ( tuesday) got off work slept for two hours then up to the hill by 1130, warm around plus two C, about 5-8 cms of warm fresh slop on the ground, a very light drizzle coming down making for visiblility issues, all in all a bit of a nasty day, rode to about 1330 and called it quits.

Today ( weds) a much improved day, in parking lot at 0840, temp around plus 1-2, high cloud cover, snow was a nice firm pack corduroy ( the jibbers were complaining abit) temps increased as day progressed with sunshine by around 1030 1100 hrs and progressively softening snow, I rode to around 1230ish then back to the city for errands.

If temps below zero tonight might be a bit " icy" tomorrow am but forecast is for another bluebirder.

It has taken 12 days on hill for the first lifty to ask " dude, what do you do for a living?"

John the ticket checker supervisor guy from OZ has been watching me (and Boris) "dragging your nipples" ( his quote) down bowen the past week or so, he is thinking of getting his HB gear shipped over now.

When does the infamous Cypress thursday night HB crew start to ride?


Dave*s cypress report

[BlueB]

Kevin told me he would go tomorrow...

George? You were keen last week.

I'll call Sanjin and Pierre to check what are they up to.

My Mrs says some people are comming tomorrow to see our baby son, but that I'm not obliged to stay ?!? Hmmm, too good to believe, so if you do not see me tomorrow, tough luck.

Boris

[BlueB]

Kevin bailed out, George is keeping quiet, I think I'll skip it too... :(
Sorry Dave.

I'll ride tomorrow morning, I hope.

[Dave*]

No problema , just home from whistler ( free ticket, just had to drive, a perfect nine she comes with lift tickets, could have been a ten if came with six pack o beer) and the legs are shot, ( 0830 to 1430)

Some nice cord in the AM, flat light in the alpine, not many people up,
That new lift is friggin long, goes much further down than what I had pictured in my head from the map.

A few of the returning lifties were happy to see me back, and were wondering what the hell happened to me,

Back to Cypress tomorrow.

Dave*

[BlueB]

I was expecting slush (warm weather), but it turned out to be super compact wet snow. Very fast too. I would have been much better of with one of the race boards instead of 4x4. Oh well... Later when it softened a bit, 4x4 came alive.
We are loosing the base very qickly - already some rough patches on critical spots :( We need another snow storm, very quickly...

[crucible]

Sorry to have been AWOL gents- I was in the Kootenays for work this past week.

I managed to gets some runs in at RED Mountain in Rossland, and Whitewater in Nelson, their snowpack is still pretty new, and the famed "Kootenay smoke " was nowhere to be seen- at least on the ski-hills....

I'm off to Grouse with my daughter for a morning session.


George

[BlueB]

I'm off to Grouse...

Traitor! :D

Wet compact, fast... like yesterday. Very small crowd for Saturday.
Mountain crew patched some of the bad spots, good job.
I rode Renntiger/TD2s and tried some new boots, and had quite a few issues, but more in another tread.

From chairlift I saw some excelent carwing by a softboot instructor drilling few of his mates: He was carving almost full C toesides, on a steep blue run, then jumping 180 and lending on toe edge into other direction without any skid, thus carving toe after toe after toe side. Quite impressive. Generally there seems to be more instructors who can carve their softies then last year. Good.
Then on a flat spot, merger of a blue and a green run (Fork and Panorama), I saw a perfec circle trench! It had a run-out trench too, which means that guy didn't end up laying down. Smaller radius tells me that it was probably done on softies. I never did more than 270...

Later,
Boris

[BlueB]

Wet compact fast, light rain on lower elevations, snow on higher.
Compact to slushy and dry in the early afternoon.
Rain in the afternoon.

A bit of teaching a bit of wild carving of 4x4 (with ski boots :) )

[BlueB]

3" of quite light pow over frozen base (result of recent rains and then cooler front passing through), made for some very difficult conditions this morning. Well, at least on steep stuff. What do you do in these conditions? Ignore the fluf and just try to carve the hard base?
Later on it got all skied up and choppy...
I bumped into Adrian Bar and had a run or 2 with him. Nice Donek FC, Adrian!
No signs of Dave or the rest of Cypress crew...

[Dave*]

Dave* was up for a few laps from about 0930 to 1100, conditions uninspiring, amateur hour on the lifts not helping,

Was up yesterday afternon too, conditions much the same.

Did not see you guys today , Will try again tomorrow.

Dave*

[BlueB]

Gorgeous groom. Super hard packed (but not icey) and -5C in the morning made for superb carving conditions. It held all day without getting skied up!

First few runs I got inspired to take my skis for a bit of EC - total blast, but quads killer. I washed out on few really laid-out turns, I think it was boot out. I need carving plates bigger then 9mm...
Later in between teachings I ripped on Generics. I felt completely in tune with the board. Got used to TD2s, and figoured out the cant'lift angles and stance that suited the board.
I found Pierre with his Sword and had few runs with him. Later on, Dave past by my group of students on his way out of the mountin. He had big smile on his face. Saw Kevin after the mountain, and met another new hardbooter with Mistral asym... Brotherhood is growing.

Fun part: As I came back to Kids Camp after every carving session, coverd with fine snow dust, the other instructors kept asking where I was finding all that powder on hard pack day :D

___________
Cypress crew:
Kevin is suggesting Wednesday night session this week. Anyone in? Dave, George?

Boris

[Dave*]

Dave* the media whore made the front picture on todays cypress web page,

looks like a snappie from about two weeks ago, didnt know i was being pictured.

Dave*

[skategoat]

Looking good Dave*. Nice cord too.http://www.cypressmountain.com/CBRbaseCam.jpg

[crucible]

Nice form , and an even cooler helmet.

MMMMMmmmmmm...cord.

[Dave*]

Looks like I shrank and grew some skiis today, pic relegated to #17 on the 06/07 gallery.

Just snuck away from work for the rest of the day, aiming to be on hill around 1430 to 1530, looks like snowing heavily with high winds.

Those that show tonight see you there till around ? 1900-1930?

Dave*

[BlueB]

Kevin's car is broken, he's out.
I'm probably out too - Xmas shopping...
Give us a report how it was.

I'll be there Friday morning.

[BlueB]

Looks like I shrank and grew some skiis today, pic relegated to #17 on the 06/07 gallery.

Ok, here...

[Dave*]

Just got in a little while back, was on hill from 1500 to about 1845hrs, the "groomers" were nothing to write home about, lumpy n beaten up from the day people, however the off piste was pretty damned entertaining

I will not lie the weather was a bit nasty, high winds ( blowing the dog off the leash) with wet snow/sleet falling quite heavily, this did however give me about 8-12 cms of wet fresh that the tracks would be filled back in after a few laps, spent most of my time on sunrise chair poking around the trees above midway ( enough light to navigate by, barely) tons of fresh lines as nobody else riding in that neighborhood, will be looking at rigging my mtn bike headlights up to helmet for future night riding forays to get to the good stuff, this was my first time night riding in about 8 years, just have to remember to dress a bit warmer next time.

Didnt see any one else on HBs.

Dave*s evening report

[big canuck]

I'll most likley be there on the 22nd. from about 10-4 I'll be wearing a black jacket, darrk grey pants and a black helmet riding a 68 baby blue Burton Speed. Give me a hollar if you see me and point me in the right direction!!.

[BlueB]

Hey Big!
I'll be there in the morning. Large grey helmet, blue (of course!) jacket, board, well... Generics, Prior or Dynastar.
If it's groomed, and Midway is running (short old 2-seater chair on the right), I'd be more than likely there. If pow, Sunrise chair (next chair, quad), Bowen or Rainbow runs. Later in the morning Eagle chair, Fork run.
See you,
Boris

[BlueB]

I was there 9:30 to 12:00, no signs of Kurt or Dave...
Hard pack, but warmer temperatures coused few softer spots on Midway. Pretty ugly when you hit them at full carve.
Better snow on the other side, by Eagle chair.
Rode the Generics today.
More action tomorrow morning...

[BlueB]

POOOOW! 8" overnight and still snowing in the morning. Surprisingly, the crowd wasn't too big for Saturday morning.

I was lazy and missed first tracks. Dave made it super early to the mountain and got to ride 1/2 hour before official opening of the resort!
I broke out the Dynastar 3800 169 - fun board! It looks like a bastard child of 4807 and a freeride board. Flex is quite similar to 4807 and it carves in a similar fashion. Ride is a bit livelier than 4807 as there's no huge nose to dampen the things. More agile in the trees. Still has superb float to anything else I've ridden. More vibration on chopped then with 4807...

Good part is that I managed to follow Dave through his bellowed steep trees, with limited number of face plants ;) Now I need to work on style...

[BlueB]

I still had to do the lessons today. Never the less, grooming was perfect this morning. Super hard ripping, on Fork, by Dave on 4x4 and me on Generics. I saw everyone on the chair lift turning around and stretching their necks to watch Dave blast by...
What started as a perfect day tuned into chaos later on. Heavy winds and snow storm caused stopping of the chairlifts, except Easy Rider. Kids Camp remained open until 3pm and I had to deal with unreasonable parents insisting on signing up kids for lessons in that weather, and half-frozen kids later on...


MERRY CHRISTMAS!

[BlueB]

Hillarious - I was supposed to work today (real work not ski teaching), but a call came through last nigt from my boss "We are skiing tomorow at Cypress...". No hard convincing rquired :D

Sooo, clear sunny skies, cold morning, perfect hard pack, hard ripping.

On the down side, after 11am crowds were crazy. Also the boss-man pitched up with 4 kids on snowboards and one one skis. Teaching again... To be honnest, I have no clue what to do with a little weak kid on snowboard, without any reall riding (or staying upright) abillity :( I have to do that CASI 1 asap. Others who could ride a bit had a ball with me.

Snow on forcast from tomorrow...

[tangaloor]

Work ending early today, and I'm heading up to Cypress. Be riding the bunny hill for a few warm-up runs by 1600, then probably Collins (hey, it's my first day this season). May also be there tomorrow afternoon from 1600 (I have a nighttime pass). Anybody else planning to be around?

K

[BlueB]

I'll be there in the morning. Teaching 2 NEW hardbooters, one new softbooter and one lower intermediate softbooter...

[BlueB]

Grooming and snow texture to die for! As they reported 3" of fresh overnight I brought 4x4, but Generics would have been better. Ah well... With latest changes I had that Prior realy dialed in. Funny enough, I have a bit of underhang on that board, now... Carved 5-6 quick runs on Midway, before my friends showed up for their introduction to snowboarding.
2 of them I started on hard boots!
3rd one was on softies. As former skier he got it very quickly. The 4th one was a girl who boarded before, so she pretty much took care of herself. Both are willing to try hardboots next time.
Well everyone had good time. We'll do it again.

[tangaloor]

missed you today boris, didn't get to the hill till about 5. very nice conditions today, certainly a sight better than yesterday's total white out, har har. seriously, after a couple of nice runs the clouds rolled in and in about 10 minutes i couldn't even see the chair ahead of me on the lift, and on the hill people would suddenly appear out of nothing directly in front of me. like riding in limbo.
tonight was beautiful, though, and the crowds really thinned out about 6. picking up my snow legs again!

[BlueB]

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

As for the hill - double teaching shift, yesterday and today. Crazy busy - up to 30 kids in camp at the times. Only had 3 runs for myself yesterday. Today was so wet, windy and misserable, and my glows and pants got soaking wet, that I was too cold to ride after I was done with teaching...
Bummer way to star New Year, but It still beats a worm lazy day in front of TV/computer at home...

[Dave*]

Was up for a few hours this am. I think the bumpersticker got it right "***itzpukin".

Therefore Boris and company make sure you take a powder capable deck up tomorrow in addition to a carver,

Snowies on the car a definite must today, the cypress bowl road a bit of a gong show today,

Will be back up in AM.

Dave*

[BlueB]

I'll see you there. 4807 or 3800 are making the trip. If you can't find me look on bunny hill too - I might be teaching my new h/boot recruits again...

Got off work early today, just didn't quite decide to go boarding - some tummy bug's torturing me whole week.

[BlueB]

What was supposed to be an 18" fresh pow day, turned out to be skied up on steeps, windpacked in trees and hero groom on blues ang greens, in the morning, and all skied up later on...
Dave and myself showed up with fat pow boards, only Pierre came with his Swoard and was the best off. Ah well, 4807 can carve well enough. There's definitely a speed limit to it, and I still overload the nose on heel sides, but hey, it still beats soft boots by far.

[BlueB]

50cm (20") of fresh last night. But, 20" of fresh.... um, cement. Super heavy stuff. People taking boards of mid mountain and walking down... 4807 was able to bust through that stuff, but no mistakes were forgiven - I stuffed it few times.
Now I understand all the complaints I heard from people who skied Sierras.

Freezing rain through the morning and millions of kids to teach....
By the afternoon all the cement compacted and made for decent carving conditions (providing that one could plow throug mini mogulls).

[crucible]

Boris,

You shoulda been with me at Big White in Kelowna yesterday dude -

40cm of Okanogan smoke and first tracks on the chair at 0800- I didn't have my Winterstick Swallowtail with me, but my 170 Winterstick ST was plenty capable of ripping through the powder stashes.

I heard from 4 separate boarders and skiers that my binding-boot combo (Catek OS2's & Raichle ski mountaineering boots) were the strangest they had ever seen- until I showed them how to carve up corduroy - then they told me they got "it."

Went up Seymour backcountry today, and turned back after digging my first test pit halfway up First Pump Peak - too iffy for my tastes. Last thing I needed was to be another North Shore statistic.

George

[adrian barr]

boris

might see you up there fri/sat/sun
I'm booked in to do the level 1 course

[BlueB]

I'm doing the course, too. Great to have company. Dave might join in too.

Are you doing it on hard boots?

[Dave*]

Well it looks like Dave* got registered to do the course as well, I tryed my soft boots on last night( first time in five years) and I honestly do not think I could ride in them any more so Boris it looks like hardbootin for me.

Looks like an afternoon session of practicing switch for me just in case its needed.

See you guys up there friday at 0830 in the brown bagger room.

Dave*

[BlueB]

Great! I'll do it "hard" way too. I guess with 3 of us on hard boots, it is less likely they'll look "down" on us...

Boris

[Rob Stevens]

How was the course?

[BlueB]

Huh?
I'll tell you AFTER we did it... next Monday.

While I've got your attention on this thread, few course related questions:
1) How much switch we'll have to ride (h/booters week spot)?
2) Anything to download/read prior to course? CASI manual you mentioned before?

Thanks,
Boris

[Rob Stevens]

If you could do beginner turns switch, that would be good, but not required. It's not a bad tool to have, though, to show a beginner something, who stands opposite to you.
The required element would be switch riding in a pendulum. You don't have to turn switch.
You cannot download the manual (proprietary) but you can look at the riding standards for all levels on the site.

[Dave*]

Ahh hell, I cant wait for Boris(Blue B) to put his two cents in, The three hardbooters passed level 1.

Thanks for the heads up on the switch riding Rob , it wasnt needed except for a few turns on morning of day one when I think the evaluator was getting a feel for the groups riding,

We had almost perfect weather for the three days of the course, sunny and cold, nice hardpack. Would not have wanted to do those three days in traditional Cypress conditions ( foggy/rainy/windy/sleeting or all of the above simultaneously)

We got lucky, the guy(teacher/evaluator) for our group actually hardboots once in a while, the other evaluator not, funny thing that guy going off about balanced stance and duck etc and poking fun at us hardbooters when Boris asks him what stance he would take in a fight, he looked a bit stunned for a sec Boris jumped up into a classic boxing stance , and what do you know its a hardbooters stance, the evaluator we had laughed his *** off and said dont mess the hardbooters they know their stuff. Good one Boris!!!! High Five( in a good Kazakstanian accent) !

For anyone else thinking of doing the course in HBs the biggest problem I personally had was " dumbing my riding down" to level 1 requirement,

I was more self critical of my teaching than I needed to be and stressed myself unnecesarily. Keys- short and sweet, no verbal diahrea, a good lesson plan, watch what the teacher/evaluator does and where he does it, then copy it to the number on exam day and you cant go wrong,,,,, "monkey see, monkey do, heres your bananna"

Got a good chuckle out of watching Boris surrounded by perfect groom three mornings in a row and not being able to let her rip, reminded me of an old retriever dog eyeballing a porkchop.


Equipt used

Boris prior 4x4 angles unkown

Adrian ( aka alastair now) coiler AM one day, prior 4X4 two days

Dave* ( I cheated a bit) prior 167 BXer angles about 40/32, I found slacker angles for a lot of the stuff much easier,, I think if I ever actually teach I would be using the Nordica TR 12s for boots not my raichle 224s I took the course in.


I am sure Boris will be chiming in soon, Dave* needs some sleep working 0700 hrs tomorrow


Dave*

[BlueB]

Well you heard it from Dave allready - hardboots rule! We proved it's doable on plates. Other comment we've got from our chief evaluator, rigth in the beginning is that he had never seen anone doing level 1 on h/b. 3 at the time was certainly a shock...
My angles were about 55-50 or 50-45? A bit of underhang on 4x4...

For those interested to try Level 1, I'll put a bit more tech comments in CASI tread posted by Neil not long ago.
http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/showthread.php?t=13646

The rest... great athmosphere, freindship and bonding in the group, nice and knowledgable evaluators, good fun. One of the successfull candidates (softbooter) is on his way to conversion. In a short brake after I let her go, he said "I like this, can I try it?" Between Dave and myself, we've got enough stuff to gear a small army of alpine riders, so sure budy - you can try it! :D

Thanks to CASI. Well done Adrian and Dave!

Boris

[crucible]

Well done Cypress carving crew!

The Alpine carving braintrust for the Lower Mainland is established and on its way....

Boris, good luck with the goal of establishing an alpine carving program on Cypress, if there's anything I can do to help, please don't hesitate to ask.

Your pal,

George

[BlueB]

George, thanks for help offered.
How about riding with us sometimes ;)

I do not have a completely clear plan, but I'll probably start by offering alpine lessons through Cypress Snow School...

Boris

[crucible]

I totally miss carving with you guys this season- Grouse on the Y2Play pass is OK, but it's just not the same....

Having said that, there is a regular posse of 4-6 hardbooters that I meet on Grouse- just not at regular times, like with you guys.

Spent last Saturday doing the Cypress backcountry loop with a bunch of backcountry skier buddies- the snowpack outside of the ski boundary is funky- 3 inches of powder on top of a two inch ice layer, then a 1 foot graupel layer underneath- you have to carve this stuff g-e-n-t-l-y, or it'll kick your ass.

[BlueB]

40cm fresh reported on snowline turned out to be more of 10cm on top of 30cm yesterdays tracked up. Still crazy amounts of snow this year - it's almost that my pow boards get to play more than ripsticks...
Dave* and Pierre came to play, too.

Today I broke out the Tanker 192, with plates. What can I say - it's different to anything I've ridden before. True about comparisson to a big comfy Cady. Super stable at speed (actually it needed speed to become rideable), smooth over everything, good in pow, carves decent. Biggest surprise - really turny when you crank it hard! I think it likes to be "surfed".
The manufacturers sweet spot stance has 50mm (2") set back. I started about 20mm forward of that with stance wider than my usual. It felt quite stiff, reluctant to initiate but then hooky. I blew zillion of heel side turns, but that's normal for me on new boards... Later I narrowed the stance a bit and went back to ref. set back and it felt just right - flexed better and felt balanced.
I felt almost brave enough to straightline the monster over chop and mini bumps down a black diamond.
It totaly sucked in steep tight trees (very brief passage to another run), but that's probably me - I suck in the trees.
Looking forward to try it on good groom. I have feeling it won't have the edge hold I'd expect from a board that long, but it's too early to say.

Now, back to CASI issues:
I'm delighted to say that I've been hired by Cypress Snow School as snowboard instructor and Dave's on his way in too, providing that his work schedule is ok with lessons schedule. We'll both do one day a week (me Sundays). We've got green light to teach on hard boots, even beginner lessons.

Boris

[crucible]

Congrats to you and Dave for starting a new carving renaissance for the North Shore!

Spread the word my brother- spread the word.

[BlueB]

I had my wish granted - perfect groom (not to hard) to test the Tanker a bit further. Whoe, I was wrong, the beast can really rail. Generally it feels like bigger and fatter 4x4. Super fun to ride. You can carve it lazy or crank it up a bit, it is always happy. One run i straightlined it dow the full length of Midway/Lower Bowen run - no problem, stable as a rock.

Later on I swaped boards with Dav1 ;e. He also had all the bet to say about the Tanker - it was hard to get him off it! :D In exchange I rode his custom biffed up ATV. Super board! I thought it would be too stiff for me (Dave's got "a bit" of weight advantage on me), but not, just super stable hard railing board. I was really surprised by the amount of edge grip, I wasn't expecting nowhere near that. I must has to do something with Dave's tune-up, 88 deg edge bevel, as oposed to my 90...

On the less bright side, this morning I slipped in the parking lot and fell, full weight on my board and board on my left hand thumb. If there wasn't for the glove, it would have chopped of the top of my finger. This way I just ended up with a small cut/tissue burst on the side an completely ripped of nail. Blood everywhere, but first aid kit from Kids Camp office sorted out the situation - 2 band aids and finger of a rubber glove... I thought it would be sufficient, but after 3 hours of riding, my glove was full of blood again. Luckilly my whife is a vet and she's got experience patching up the beasts like myself ;) Few painkillers before sleep should sort me out tonight...

Boris

[mr_roboteye]

I slipped in the parking lot and fell, full weight on my board and board on my left hand thumb. completely ripped of nail. Blood everywhere, 2 band aids and finger of a rubber glove... but after 3 hours of riding, my glove was full of blood again. Luckily my wife is a vet and she's got experience patching up the beasts like myself ;)
Boris

I think you must be pretty hardcore to even want to go riding after doing something like that to your thumb. Get well soon.




Few painkillers before sleep should sort me out tonight...


Ask her if she has any horse tranquilizers, I hear they're great.:biggthump
once again get well soon.

later,

Dave R.

[Dave*]

Yesterday like Boris said was very nice cord, nice enough to make even me look good, the sunshine was nice too, a pleasant change being able to see where the hell going.

Yup Boris is like pitbull, no whining about the finger all morning, he did say it hurt on toe side with a little hand dragging once and laughed.

His 192 tanker was a bunch of fun, very stable, got caught the first few laps hanging on to the carve way to long and bleeding to much speed, I did set it up completely different to Boris though , back binding as far back as possible and front up 22 center center, took a bit of getting used to moving that thing around in the lift line and coming off chair, I think it would be a bit of a handfull in west coast powder in tight trees, very fun deck!!!

Todays snow report, around minus 1 celcius, snowing, some very nice carving to be had till the crowds showed up around 1100 hrs, of note a group of twinkies up doing am session , all soft booters, not a single one did a passable heel side carve in my books, a few could crank the toe side but no powerfull heelside carvers, its going to be interesting when Boris starts sessioning with those guys and laying the smacketh down in the HBs,

Dave*

[BlueB]

I think you must be pretty hardcore to even want to go riding after doing something like that to your thumb. Get well soon.
Well, damage was already done to the thumb. Not riding that day would double the damage, right? It actualy wasn't too sore until the evening. Then I was really in need of some horse stuff you talk about. It took 3x dose for large dogs to even try to sleep... Thanks for good whishes.

This morning I could not get the glove on :( Even the trick with cut of thumb from liner from old gloves wouldn't alow the shell to come over the bandage - too tight, too painfull. So I spent the day working at Kids Camp reception counter... I saw Dave in parking lot and gave him a big-thum-up. Literally.

To drawn my sorrows, I just had to win that sweet Rad-Air Hornet 164 on ebay, Vancouverite seller :D


...its going to be interesting when Boris starts sessioning with those guys and laying the smacketh down in the HBs.
Aren't you joining me on my mission?

Boris

[Dave*]

Yes I will be joining you, just not for another week or so, all paperwork in, my real job resumes on weds, Then we see what sort of schedule Clovis sets me up with.

Dave*

[BlueB]

Super fine weather - sunny and cold in the morning, warm during the day. Crowd wasn't too bad due to heavy fog in the city. Those who ventured above it, enjoyed the sun all day... But that's about it - snow is getting pretty crappy now - lot of freeze/thaw cycles, no fresh, poor grooming. After 2 weeks off the board, and difficult conditions today, my riding has gone to the dogs... Yet, it's still good enough to impress the most of my new instructor colegues. ;)

I had just a few lessons to teach and not too big group. Fun stuff. One of the teenage boy students (1st timers) practically rode the board straight away. He inquired about binding angles etc. As he stated that it felt equaly good to ride goofy or regular I suggested mild duck stance, thinking that he would be jibbing very soon. To my surprise and delight, kid asked "IS THIS BETTER FOR CARVING?". Wow!

Statment of the day:
As I joined the snowboard instructor lineup for lessons, one of the instructoress, wanting to be helpfull said: "Hi, you are new?",
me: "Well yes..."
Her: "See, ski instructors line up over there - this is snowboard school"
me: "I am snowboard instructor."
Her: "But these boots...?"
me: "Hard boots"
Her: "Oh I'm so stuppid, welcome..."
:D :D :D

[Dave*]

Hey Boris, that will be me trying to teach tomorrow, weds and thursday. have to go early as no uniform or anything else set up yet.

Was up whistler today, It rocked, the cord was incredible, not icy like I was expecting, hardly any one up, clouds clearing to bluebird, awsome.They even groomed a swath down boomer bowl, the grooomers up there must be racking some serious overtime.

Stopped and talked with Mike at finelines on the way back, what he said was pretty damned funny, he said all the whistler locals dont know what to do with themselves as they have had so much powder this hardpack is bumming them out( its fricken awsome hardpack), Mike is going to take his AT boots out on a BX deck tomorrow for the first time to give the whole carve thing a go.

I miss my whistler.

Dave*

[mr_roboteye]

I went to Whistler last Saturday.(27th) I hit Whistler first thing. I tried that mistral sonic 167 I rescued from the "secret store" in FJ. I think I got a real jewel there for a total investment of $60 (board plus stone grind) Whistler was a bit too icy, board was very loud and squirming around for grip. There were a few spots with passable hardpack, but they were few and far between. I figured that Blackcomb would be the same. I went to my truck and swapped into ski boots and whipped out my best carving skis. (I always come prepared). Once I got to Blackcomb, I regretted swapping the board off. The snow was way different (better) than on Whistler. I didn't have enough time by then to go back for one of my boards, so I made the best of it by skiing at ridiculous speeds.


When I was in the lift line, there was a guy in front of me with a prior WCR metal. I started to talk to him a bit and he says "I haven't seen you in a while, where have you been" It's Chris freakin' Prior I'm talking to. Another guy in the line starts talking to Chris, asking "Where's my board, Chris?" I turn to look who it is. None other than Ross Rebagliatti. I had seen him a few times before when I used to live there, but it was the first time that I had actually seen him ride hardboots. I again regetted that I swapped for skis. Oh well, it was better than being at work.

later,

Dave R.

[Dave*]

Jan 30 report.

Got up there about 1200 hrs to warm bluebird with slush on top of "icy" layer

pretty fun until 30 minutes after the sun went down when that stuff solidified , mmmm iced up crud lumps with polished patches.

Was up to about 2140 hrs teaching.

As to the teaching was first day ever.

Did one lesson shadow, then taught my first ever full blown lesson. It was a few level ones aka never nevers. That CASI course is a bit artificial compared to teaching a real pack of never nevers, should have grabbed a person at random and done a practice lesson a week or so ago. Going to give it another go tomorrow .

Not entirely sure this teaching thing is going to be my cup of tea.

Dave*

[BlueB]

Congrats on your 1st lesson! You'll lern to love it, believe me.
Of course the CASI drill is artificial - you are teaching guys who pretend to be never evers. Also the teaching areas at Cypress are a bit steeper than I would really like them, especially the bowl behind instructors hut. Ah well...

Boris

[BlueB]

Blue skies, frozen cord (good grooming) in the morning, sugar on ice by lunch time.

I rode the little Rad-Air Hornet 164 I got from ebay other day. Very interesting board, I might write a tread about it...
Also, I carved the skis for few runs. So, I could compare the feeling and look at the tracks from chair lift. And guess what - my snowboard arcs in snow looked way cleaner than ski! A shame for 30+ year skier and 4 year snowboarder... Interesting issue - I suffered from serious boot-out on skis. Seriously hard snow and extreme carving proved that 9mm raiser plates were not enough on 68mm waist skis. Fun part is when you loose edges while laid over on skis, you just keep sliding on your hip...

[BlueB]

3" fresh overnight, then rain all day :(
Arrrgh, had to teach in that...
On the bright side, I got 2hrs lesson with small group of level 3s. 2 of them, a pair from New Zealand, was actually above that level, so I decided to skip few steps and had them nearly carving by the end of lesson. They were so stoked that they'll bok few private hours with me next Sunday :) They loved my alpine gear and few laid over turns I showed-of with...

[BlueB]

Sunny skies and no crowds at all ? Sweet.

Very frozen cord in the morning, then after 10:30 slush in the sunny spots and still frozen in shades. Rode Generics and Hornet today. Didn't like the Generics much this morning? Don't know if it is getting "tired" or I messed up my edges tune last night? Hornet performed like a champ in mixed conditions of the late morning.

Early in the morning, on that frozen corn, I did one very laid and locked carve, letting my hand slide on snow. I must have placed too much pressure on it, as the suvenier is a small burn blister on my palm! Funy part is that the glove survived. I have to remember to wear the wrist guards...

Teaching tomorrow...

[BlueB]

Last Sunday, 11th, rain, argh, teaching in that again. Sill good carving conditions - rain really compacted the snow.

Yesterday, 16th, frozen corn in the morning, softening up later on. Great carving. Met this outstanding soft boot carver, Kevin, but there's a whole new tread about it...

Today, 17th, great carving conitions! It didnt go below 0 last night, so no freezing. Very good groming, great amounts of grip.
Later it bumped up a bit. I practiced carving through the soft bumps as they were not there and launching of them for edge transition. Great fun! 4x4 handled whatever I threw at it.

Boris

[crucible]

Hey there Boris,

How are ya digging that 174 Prior 4WD?

I'm thinking of getting one myself for freecarving to complement my Winterstick 162 Cirque, but am torn whether to get a 169 4WD or a 174 4WD.

Any input would be appreciated.

see ya tomorrow,

George

[BlueB]

George,
Easy answer - try both tomorrow! Prior is having free demo day.

I ride 174. I could easily have it as my only board. It does everything pretty good. Doesn't shine in pow or ice, and is a bit too long and stiff for trees, for my liking. So, I use it mostly as carver for imperfect or softer conditions.
Sometimes I think I would be better of with 169 (softer flex), for bumps and trees, but then this beast carves so nicely...

[BlueB]

We were getting new snow whole week!
Only 2" fresh was reported this morning, so I took Tanker to the hill. Right cohice! Older snow compacted already into great soft pack and new one made it for marginal carving conditions, but not poder gun contitions at all. So, Tanker ate it all with vengance :D carved where carvable, sufed where deaper.

I left the hill as the snow started to come down heavilly. It's supposed to stay like that through the night. 4807 or 3800 are going out tomorrow...

[Rob Smith]

Hey Guys, I'm guessing you have all the "inside" dope on Cypress Mtn.
I'm with the Association of Ontario Snowboarders. My son rides with the Ontario SBX team. We have 2 NorAms there late March (postponed from Feb.) These races are the required "break in" races in prep. for 2010. I've seen summer footage of the (earth work) construction on the course.
Have they built a course yet?
Are you impressed?
Last years Grouse mtn. races where cancelled, lack of snow. Is Cypress more dependable?
The NorAm coures this year (Tremblant, Copper & Big White) have been marginal at best... I hope Jeff Ihaksis is at his best for this project.
I look foreword to your imput.

[Dave*]

Well I have to admit that I have had the mid season doldrums going on and have been a bit lazy the past three weeks (only on hill 7 out of the previous 21 days) as I just havent really been "feeling it"

Today got the mojo back, one of my top three days on Cypress for the season.

Bluebird skies, minus 5 celcius at 0820hrs warming to plus a couple by 1300 hrs,

Very few people on the hill until about 11ish, talked with a few on chair they went to work, quit and came riding, one guy even conned his boss to coming up.

About a foot of leftover fresh for me in the "bundoos" as Boris calls them, aka some of my tree stashes, the sky chair was damn near untouched, didnt open until 1130ish though and there was a minor feeding frenzy of bottom feeders side slipping fresh powder THE HUMANITY!!!!!!

And to top it all off some very nice sections of grippy hero corduroy , didnt have to contend with any spodes either until about 1230hrs on the groomies.

Got my helmet camera mount dialled in for the old pentax w10, some good tree line footage and a few carving laps done on the digicam.

Quit around 1315 with thrashed legs, the spidie senses worked for the radar trap on the way home, traffic was light ( I only swore three times, a new record low, not sure where the handitards were but they werent in front of me), got home to find my CASI registration # finally showed up, hello pro deals.

All in all a great day, had to slip out and buy a lottery ticket just in case.

As to Robs question RE Bx track there is no snow being moved for that near as I can tell yet, I can see a few potential lines around the upper park area that might work, knowing the general hinkiness of Cypress they will leave it to last minute to put something together. edit: should probably mention I dont think they will cancel due to lack of snow this year unless we have a really bad case of warm weather and rain over march, there is a lot of snow right now.

Dave*

see attached view from sunrise chair overlooking ?bowen? island and I think Howe sound.

[Kimo]

Mmmmm. Pretty.

[Dave*]

Feb 28 report, per usual the cypress snow report is pushing creative license to the utmost. In actuality about 2cms on top of some decent hard pack. Off piste froze up a little after yesterday aft warm spell.
Overcast but good visibility. Should have taken the 185 factory prime up, the hill was deserted. Temp minus 5c at 0815hrs , warming to minus 3 c at 1115hrs when I came off the hill.

Should be good carving conditons for the weekend crew if current conditons continue. Wont be back up till monday, gotta make the bucks.

Dave*

[BlueB]

Dave, dude, we need to ride together again. It's been couple of weeks now, if I don't count Whistler...
Last Sunday was spectacular, but mountain opened late - they couldnt clear the parkings and chai off-loading areas in time. Did you ride - someone told me a very agressive guy on plates was spotted?

I'll be riding on Friday morning and teaching/riding on Sunday.


Rob,
No signs of a serious bx course being built... Do not worry about snow, we are set well into April with the base we've got right now.
All the coastal mountains are fluky, it can dump today and rain tomorrow...

Boris

[Dave*]

Ola Boris,

if the aggressive plate rider was spotted sunday it was not me, I slept in way late over the weekend.

I have been up early (0815ish) the past few mornings though.

Is there another Cypress hardbooter lurking out there? I thought it was just us two.

Yup need to get synched up for some riding sessions, no weekends off till mid march though, I am getting bored riding by myself all the time, havent found any jibbers that can keep up even in the trees.

BTW starting early april I am shifting my work to Wed/Thur/Fri with only one night shift per month. Getting to old for the nights that I have been doing.

Bumped into Ron the Israeli guy from the Casi course today who thought HB gear should be banned from the mountain, he didnt recognize me in my "normal" helmet initially, he took a look at the feet and clued in pretty quick.

Thats all, start work set tomorrow. Riding monday.

dave*

[BlueB]

Totally awsome snow this morning - like butter. Few days of dumping and good grooming made for hero snow. Well at least untill it started snowing again, mid-morning...

My new toy, WCR 181 (non-metal) is a real deal. Probably the best carv stick I tried so far. Thanks Jim!
I does it all: EC, race style, long turns, medium, medium/short), speed, airs on edge changes, great edge hold, stable, incredibly quick edge transitions indespite the 19.5 waist... It felt stif on hand flex, but doesn't feel stif when riding at all. Very nice nose profile, too. Just f$#**n amazing board.
Well, all of this with keeping in mind that it all happened on hero snow. I still have to ride it on some yummy frozen cord that we get so often at Cypress...

I saw Adrian's Donek against the racks by cafeteria, but culdn't find the man...

I'm going for few more hours in the morning.

Boris

[BlueB]

Rainnnnn :(
Quite compact snow, though. Carvable.
WCR performed great, nose is definitelly good enoug for all-mountain applications. But... I did my 1st ful cartwheel. I overloaded and then stuffed the nose on the toe side and it launched me big time, to the great amusement of people on chair lift. It kind of took me by surprise - I always overloaded on heel sides in the past... As I know the feeling very well, I alwys manged to sit on the snow or drag the backside a bit to recover. However, the toe side was something new to me, and it showed...
2 hrs of water sports and I called it a day.

More rain on forcast for tomorrow:

Teaching in the rain, just teaching in the rain,
what a glorious feeling, I'll be wet again.

[Radial]

Hi Guys,

I guess I am the other rider out there. I spent Friday,Saturday and Sunday at Cypress while visiting my daugher who is in school at SFU. I have the Donek that was in the rack.

I really enjoyed the mountain and hope to get back in a couple of weeks. I am from Seattle. I spent most of my time on the long intermediate chair since visibility was poor on Saturday.

These were my 59-61 days this winter and I am feeling pretty good about things. I did have the worst crash of the year yesterday afternoon when I went over the nose trying to avoid a couple of off duty instructors who came down from above me. I was just about to run them into the trees so I bailed and spent a couple of seconds looking down at the snow before a truly spectacular crash.

For anyone who does not know, Cypress is about 20 minutes form downtown Vancouver and will be the site of some of the 2010 Winter Olympic events. The views from the top are awesome, lift ticks are afordable and the whole thing is a lot closer than Whistler.

[BlueB]

Hey Radial! That solved Donek mistery. Drop me, or Dave, a message next time you are headed for Cypress.

Sunday was actually very good, it didn't rain until late afternoon. Wet snow compacted itself - very carvable. Didn't teach too many lessons either - I had time to rip few runs. Pierre was there with his Swoard, too. He's getting pretty good...

[Dave*]

The Tuesday report....

1) I didnt ride yesterday it was raining per the website. i must be getting old that would never have stopped me in the past.

2) Today plus 4 celcius this am at around 0900 parking lot warming to what felt like plus 8-10 by 1200 .

Snow started off on the corduroy about 4 cms of butter smooth schmoo transitioning into a nice firm grippy base, unlimited grip, very nice to carve, off piste was already at least 10-15cms of semi firm schmoo.

Skies were a mix of sun and cloud. crowds were non existant, did not ride the chair with any one period.

Was able to leave some horrendous trenchies until the snow got to soft and wouldnt hold a full laid out carve without exploding out at just past apex or burying the nose, it was about 6 inch deep schmoo layer at 1200hrs when this was happening, the 4x4 can only sink in so far when on edge to find the grip. Of note my trenches were the only ones visible from one side of valley to the other, no other skier or jibber was digging em deep, was able to leave a few nice sets of figure 8s on lower bowen that were plainly standing out as visible from top half of eagle chair. Midway chair not running had to boonie bash off the top of sunrise to hit that little stash of cord, small quarter pipe forming up near top of midway chair, good for a nice little pop of air just before railing the grooomies.

Newly repaired gloves worked way better than expected on both knuckles and palms, imminent issues with right knee and elbow, dragging to many body parts. Did not luck out with traffic on way home, Need to do some hot waxing tonight with the secret warm weather stash.

Hopefully no rain tomorrow.

Dave*

[crucible]

Dave*,

I looked out my window this AM and saw the North Shore and thought, "Who among my carving brethern is lucky enough to have the morning off?"

I'm glad it was you- being a salaryman definitely has its downsides for me on days like today. :(

Thanks for the snow update.

[BlueB]

Foggy and feeling of the comming rain, in the morning, made for empty the hill... Yet, the snow was really nice and grippy - nice grooming job, 18" of shmooze we've got over past 48 hrs compacted into very carvy surface. For even bigger fun, there were some giant death cookies, sized like coconuts *&$@**. I managed to hit my hand against one in laid-over turn.
Yet the fun wasn't long, it started raining at about 10:30...

I had silliest 3some collision today - a teenage girl cut me of while commited to my toe side. Instead of busting her into pieces I managed to pick her up in my arms, but then my controll was gone and we crashed into another guy. We all ended up sitting in the snow and laughing...

Not going to the hill tomorrow - time to re-arrange the docks at the sailing club. :(

Boris

[Dave*]

Ola Boris,

1) I guarantee you had a better day than me at work today, a bad day on the hill is better than a good day at work, I had a crappy day, we were minus four staffers today.

2) Was she cute?

Dave* ( not riding till at least weds afternoon, will be up next weekend for sure)

[BlueB]

Was she cute?
You horny old devil :D

Actually I do not know... I was just happy that no one got hurt. But now I really know how to pick the chicks on the hill ;)

Boris

[Dave*]

The thursday report

Minus 3c at 0850hrs parking lot, zero at 1200hrs

Very few people on hill.

High overcast skies, one or two brief sunny periods.

Some very nice firm cord, supergrippy if edged in, no worries about snow "letting go" today.

I think the groomer guy that did eagle chair side was into BCs finest product last night, more than a few softball size death cookies, very firm, I tagged one with my left ass cheek on a carve , that hurt. None on the other side though.

Riding the "big evil" today, (190 coiler), ton O'fun just got caught a few times running out of turning room.

Will be back up till sunday if not raining,

Dave*

[BlueB]

Ha Dave, you beat me to my last night's report. Here it goes:

Roy asked me for a night ride (my first one this year). As I didn't see him ride from the WES, I was keen to go. And whao! what a progress, on his 7th or 8th day on snow (any kind of snow sports) and hard boots, the man is riding the greens with tons of confidence, and he can get down a blue. Every now and agin he rails the turns. Looking very promissing.
We also bumped intop Kevin, the expert soft boot carver and his buddy Troy. Towards the end of the evening we met another chap on an Alp, then his friend on softies who claimed to be ex racer from Whistler and the third guy on skis who knows Dave*.

The hard pack was really good, just as Dave described. Maybe few icy patches, but nothing serious. I rode the Prior WCR 181 again and I love the beast more and more - strange combination of dampness and livliness ?!? The only complaint is that it is not a board that I would be able (physically) to ride all day long. But that's my lazy a$$, nothing wrong with the board - it's just what it's ment to be - a top race stick.
My other ride for the night was little Easy Jungle 165 SKWAL. Now that was different ride and tons of fun too. I'll write a separate tread about it...

All in all, great night out.
Will be teaching Kids Camp on Saturday and Snowboard School on Sunday...

Boris

[BlueB]

Rain... Medium to heavy at the times. Surprisingly, the snow was super carvable in the morning and decent for the rest of the day. I call it rain compacted.

One of our ski instructors, Ilia, approached me about carving, with lot of enthusiasm. It turned out that he learned years ago in Austria, from a race coach or someting like that, and later he instructed at Tahoe, before comming to Vancouver. Propmtly, I stack him on my 4WD and I jumped on his Metrons and off we went. My jaw dropped instantly - I gues we were lucky that it was raining, otherwise the slope would have cought the fire - Ilia just teard the hill appart! Such a pleasure to watch someone ride with so much energy and ethusiasm, very strong race style, mixing in few ECs for fun.
Tomorrow he'll buy my old Nidecker Sl and a pair of ancient bindings, just to get him started on hard boots again.

On the side note, I'm totally sold on Atomic Metron skis. His pair is only 157 and I looked on them suspiciously - I never rode skis shorter than 163. It turned out that this is plenty, Metrons are incredibly stable, edge hold is gargantuan, I wasn't able to find their top speed. Actually, the faster I went the better they carved... Way better carvers then my Heads.
The only down side is that they are really heavy, peobably a single ski weighes as a pair of "normal" skis.

Boris

[BlueB]

Rain and fog in the morning with "rain compacted" snow, sunny breaks with slush about lunchtime...

Big carving party - usual suspects: Dave, Pierre, Boris + our new recruit Ilia on my old Nidecker. Great fun.

I tried another pair of Ilia's skis, little Atomic 9:11 150 (they feel like snowblades). They are carve specific machines, and hold great edge and can be laid over. However, they are narrower then Metrons and boot-out becomes a problem on extreme angles. They have ASYMETRIC sidecuts - inside edge has more radius and arc is offset forward, to compensate for wide stance and inner foot forward position...

[BlueB]

After pouring rain and closed hill yesterday, today was almost perfect: Sunny patches, hard pack in the morning, no crowds until 11-12 am. However, mountain decided to open only green runs ?!? for the morning, and the Fork (with boarder cross course under construction on it) opened only at about 11:30. By that time snow started turning into slush at the sunny parts.

Roy is starting to rail on hard boots, unfortunately he had a light collision and reinjured his stiff back again. Still was able to walk of the hill. Dave* was there on his 4x4, fun to ride with as usual. Elia (sorry, not Ilia as I miss-spelt before) showed up only as we were leving the hill.

I tested my new boots, Dalbello CarveX, the are the very same shells as Head Stratos, but with DIN blocks (good for skiing to). I think they'll work great for me after a bit of bootfitting. Very nice flex and lot of adjustability.

Also I rode a very fun little board, Xena - only 159cm long with 142 cm contact edge and 14m (yes 14, not a typo! it's like Shred's design almost) radius on it! 20cm waist and mellow flex make for very very interesting ride. On top of that, the female torso graphic with sticker swim suite on it got Dave's imagination really going :)

Boris

[BlueB]

Another great day at Cypress. Decent pack and smooth grooming in the morning and complete spring slush by lunchtime. Mostly sunny.
Practice runs for oncoming Noram BX race attracted lots of young racers, otherwise not too many people on the hill. And of course, Dave and I met/saw all lot of people on hard boots, probably Cypress record for a day.

We bumped into Fast Freddy from Alberta, who used to frequent here, on BOL, in the past. Freddy was on his new Kessler and explained some of the finer points of the board’s design to us. Most interesting parts were almost none existent, almost square nose and very progressive SCR – starting at about 21m and ending with 14m. Fredy claims it’s not longitudinally soft at all, contrary to the other things I’ve heard. My general impression was that the board is pretty unusable for a recreational rider, or it has very limited spectrum of use, at the best. I didn’t get to ride it, though.

My weapon for the day was a newly acquired Speed 68W. Very sweet board. Ripped nicely on groom in the morning, and floated very well in the slush at noon. Wide waist (22.5) makes it stable, while not slow edge-to-edge. Flex is on easy side, I would say a touch softer than my 4WD 174 – nothing wrong with that, just had to ride centered. Nose is big and it doesn’t get buried in slush. I think it would make great AM / teaching / EC board. It’s a keeper.

Dave and Freddy will continue with ripping tomorrow, and I’ll rejoin them on Sunday (I’m launching my sail boat from winter storage tomorrow).

[BlueB]

Snowing!
Not much but still... One good dump and we might be back to great conditions again.

Frozen corn in the morning, but of the kind where you still can dig the edge in and rail. Softening just a little through the day.

Ruwi joined Dave and myself for the morning - good riding with you bud! We traded the horses - I gave him one of my 4807s for his Apo 2000. Coudn't resist the urge to ride the beast a bit, even on hard pack. What can I say - the board kicked my a$$ big time. It must be one of the stiffest sticks I ever tried. Huge nose ends just in front of the aftmost front inserts, so the front foot does not affect bending of the board much. The scr is super long, maybe 2om or so (I'll calculate later). Given that and the stiffness it just wants to ride big. Couple of times I initiated on heel side, I could feel the initial edge bite and arcing, I leaned in more and just fell on bu beck/bum - the board just woodent bend more on that hard pack. It felt better at the speed, but I guess it would come to its own in pow, the real intended use... Well, next year.
On the way home, I had to wipe Dave's droll from it first, befor putting it into the car ;)

[Dave*]

April 02 2007

Just home from whistler daytrip, some of the tastiest groomies I have had this season , cold crisp n smooth, some pretty good powder found off piste also. If temps stay cold tomorrow should be even better for carving,

Riding with one of the soft booters from work, another probable hardboot convert on the way, Chinch did a pretty good job of keeping up today but I got a good chuckle when his leg cramped up at 1430, us fat old guys can still lay the smacketh down on the skinny young pups either on or off piste.

Dave*

ps: renew edge card for next year and get unlimited rest of season for 99 bucks,

[Dave*]

Just home from a two dayer up at whistler

Yesterday was again top three days of the season for carving , stayed cold minus 10 minus 5 C all day overcast but good vis, Erin was complaining it was "icy" but compared to what I have gotten used to at Cypress it was buttersmooth with a ton of grip, my poor gloves and the butt of my pants are thrashed.

Today a much different day, around zero celcius at roundhouse at 0835, getting warmer as the day progressed, sunny a good part of day, snow stayed remarkably carveable up to around 1500 hrs when my legs gave out , was riding solo today so a full on hair straight back kind of day( I put in more vertical in two days whistler than I would have at cypress in two weeks, and I didnt get bored)


Crowds were quite light all in all

Will be heading up mid week next week again.

Dave*

[BlueB]

Nice soft groom in the morning, slush later on. Not to crowded either. I left some nice trenches on Midway and tried a bit of softened up BX course on Fork, then bumps under Skychair (Ripcoard). Devine view from the top of Skychair - mostly sunny day.
I've got some silly back injury between left shoulder blade and spine - it really hurts when I put my hands down in the soft snow. So, I had to work on "propper" technique, quiet upright upper body, angulation, etc. It worked mirracles in that slush...

Speed 68W rulled the conditions again. Becoming one of the favorites.

I'll probably teach on Sunday...

[Dave*]

Just home from whistler, opening day of SnSfest, lots of people in village, hill deserted.

About 10cms new on top of firm pack at 0840 hrs, temp stayed minus a couple in the alpine, snowing consistently T/O the day at about 1cm per hour,

Visibility good mid mountain, challenging up top. Harmony open, peak did not. Expecting 20-30cms O/N.

Visibility at bottom divine, made me want to buy new cell phone, see pic, "sorry" about the snow coming down, on way home big wet flakes to just past Daisy Lake.

Good canadian kids Jets Above and Sam Roberts were the opening day acts.

[BlueB]

Ola Dave! Nice report, even better photo :D

I'm going to Cypresss, with Roy, in the morning. 5cm of fresh so far....

[BlueB]

7cm of fresh, nicely groomed and frozen overnight... Carvefest on sunny empty hill in the morning, slushy later on. A bit of fresh on steeper ungroomed runs was kinda nice too.

Roy rode his Oxygen F67 for the first time and loved it. I'm impressed with his improvement every time we go together.

I tested the Speed 68W on hard pack and it has resonable edge hold. Not quite like WCR 181, my other ride for the morning, but acceptable. However, it rulled later when everything softened up.

Possibly more snow tonight.
Tomorrow is the last Cypress day for the season.

[BlueB]

Didn't make it to the hill today for the closing day.

It was a great season, in despite of all the rains we had in the last 2 months.
Thanks to the Cypress for running the best North Shore resort. Lots of new chairs and advanced/expert slopes comming up for next season.

Thanks to local hard boys (and a girl!) for shearing my joy.

Thanks to all of you, Bomberites, for reading my Cypress Diry. Look it up again, next year.

Boris

[ruwi]

I did my last ride @Grouse last Saturday. Not many riders so I ended up riding from 0900 to 1530 Hrs, longer than I normally did before in crowded slope like Grouse. By 1300 Hrs, snow fell briefly and everone was happy even the tourists browsing around.

Thanks to Boris, Dave and George (Crucible) for all the tips on my very first year of carving. Can't wait for the next season and improve my technique.

I'll also try to teach Level 1 Boarding in any of the local mountains that will take me during weekends and holidays, paid or volunteer will do.

BR/ruwi

[crucible]

Ruwi,

Thanks for the props.

I've been away from my computer for the past week, I took a vacation to Puerto Vallarta with my wife and missed the last day of lift operations on Grouse.

It was a pleasure to ride with you this season- see on the slopes again in November!

Your compadre,

George

[Dave*]

Per Boris's request the lowdown on whistler.

Went up friday morning to meet my alberta buddies who had been boozing in whistler for the previous 3 days, Conditions at 0835 off the top of village gondy were superb carving condtions, a mix of sun and cloud t/o the day, off piste on the friday was still quite good as not to many melt freeze cycles from the last snowfall of the few days previous, warmed up in the afternoon, the 171 ATV a good choice for the day. Prior's demo tent up so temptation got the best of me, decision between 177 or 183 wcr metal, I opted for the 177 with the 12m scr as a little more traffic friendly and in the scr range I am shopping for.

My brief ride impressions of the WCR metal, I tried one out last year but not set up to my stance preferences so couldnt give a fair shake, this year the burtons went on at 22 inches center to center 60front 55ish rear. Back binding as far back as I could place it. Condtions were firm at about 10 am.
Board is a bit on the "soft" side for my 210lbs felt like I was on the verge of folding it a few times when getting rammy on it on the other hand the ease of flex made it super easy to bend and tighten the turn, It did have incredible edge grip, a very easy board to ride, the "round" tail corners make it easy to butter the turn out when needed, one could easily go off pisting with this thing in under 10 cms of fresh, I ended up doing three green chair laps, three reds , and three peak saddles, as to the chatter/rut handling ability of titanal I would like to try a WCR in same shape/scr/lenght but non titanal in a back to back comparo and give a more educated response, all in all a sweet ride, I think I might have to get one. End of WCR Metal talk.

Was able to ride to village at 1600 hrs via Tokum/Crabapple, had to dodge the odd bare patch and rock down lower.

Hit the GLC, met the alberta crew and got quite drunk, (my original plans of a quick day trip went right out the window), from GLC to Dubhlin Gate for "dinner", to Bills, and then the Longhorn till the ugly lights came on, all this in my original sweaty socks from riding , ended up crashing on hotel room couch.


Saturday AM, woke up 0700, voodoo witch doctor got ahold of my head somehere along the line, (note to self drink water before passing out , remember cant keep up to 25-30 year olds drinking habits anymore), a Mcdonalds drivethru breakfast (my car didnt get towed, whoooo hoooo) another sunny morning on hill , great corduroy, three laps and hangover sort of went away, managed to get two of the crew up on hill, more curiosity RE hardboots, Bumped into Mike from Seattle at 1100 ish at the Prior tent , he was all pimped out in full on TD2s/AFs/4X4 this is the same guy I bumped into three years ago at the prior tent asking questions about the gear, we ended up slapping his soft boot gear on a 4X4 and doing some laps, This year he demoed a little 171 WCR and we did some laps, Mikes riding much improved , his own self taught carving has less bad habits than my own.
Legs ended up running out of gas at 1400 hrs , so back to Vancouver dog tired, Passed out on couch sometime after Mirko CroCop damn near had his melon taken off by the Brazillian in the UFC,


Sunday Morning, woke up at 0700 on the couch to the phone ringing, the work crew are doing a last minute whistler trip do I want to go? So much for sleeping in and watching the Turkish round of MotoGP. Getting five people rounded up and into a vehicle, lift ticketed, etc put us on top of hill about 1045hrs , overcast, abit warmer than days past , thin slush on top of firm pack, still very good carving on the floral 179 4x4 ( ditched the work jibbers), I was one of about 8 carvers I spotted probably a new record other than when race events in town, ran a few laps with Adrian B who was demoing the same 177 metal I did in days past, then bumped into Tom ?C? at the demo tent with a Donek mounted with Cateks and no 3-4mm key to tighten them. It was whistlers last day so every one hanging out before relegated to blackcomb only. Ended up doing a bunch of laps under the green chair looking for the jibbers I came up with who were supposed to be in the park. My repeated laps under the chair got more than a few positive comments from subsequent chair rides and people that saw me go under, ( its funny a kid in the park can huck a huge 1080 and no one looks , lay a few carves down on green/blue run under the chair and look at the buzz you get from the lift). Rode to 1530hrs , a few pints in the longhorn, and back to Vancouver, I didnt drive so got to rubberneck the whole way back, a pleasant change from my ussual whistler trips this year.


End of story, Hoping for a few Blackcomb days next week.

Dave*

[BlueB]

Dave, you monster! You'll make me pull the boards out of storage and scrape the wax :D