Paoli Peaks Diary 2009/2010

[lonbordin]

Today was Perfect North to meet up with PhotoDad2001 to pick up that Burton Alp 7.1. (Oh yes I did BobDea.) I actually rode the Alp for a couple of hours before going back to the Liberation.

While the board review will wait for another day I went back to the Liberation for the larger SCR and the edge hold. While all of Lower/Central Indiana got 6+ inches of snow somehow the PN grooming team turned it into ice??? PN has more steepness than PP and I was really able to let the Liberation fly... it really comes to life at speed. Not sure how I can make that happen at PP.

I drove trough miles of packed powder (must have been a strike on) to find packed powder only to be found in limited stashes at PN.

PN is 400 feet of vertical and 100 acres compared to PP's 300 feet of vertical and 60 acres. But PN is close to large metropolitan areas so it is packed with people. My son has never skied any place but Paoli Peaks and he could not believe the lines. He was aghast.

We had fun and the drive back was much better.

[lonbordin]

Went back to the Peaks tonight to board while everyone watched TV.

My plan was a success... emptiness.

Runnin' the Liberator 57/54 & all the same.

Really was hard work on the Paoli concrete. Tired myself out.

Had a interesting experience as for whatever reason they ran the mini-groomer down to the lift area to do some work... not sure why but...on the way back to the barn they groomed one single lane.

This left a groomed lane on the extreme left of Grabbers for me to play with, well it felt like I was the only one there.

I laid down some of my best carves ever in the groom and realized that I NEVER see Paoli groom. I assume it's done in the morning but now I'm really not sure. There is certainly very little sign of actually grooming on any of the main runs. I'm going to make some inquiries as my interest is peaked.

[photodad2001]

Today was Perfect North to meet up with PhotoDad2001 to pick up that Burton Alp 7.1. (Oh yes I did BobDea.) I actually rode the Alp for a couple of hours before going back to the Liberation.

While the board review will wait for another day I went back to the Liberation for the larger SCR and the edge hold. While all of Lower/Central Indiana got 6+ inches of snow somehow the PN grooming team turned it into ice??? PN has more steepness than PP and I was really able to let the Liberation fly... it really comes to life at speed. Not sure how I can make that happen at PP.

I drove trough miles of packed powder (must have been a strike on) to find packed powder only to be found in limited stashes at PN.

PN is 400 feet of vertical and 100 acres compared to PP's 300 feet of vertical and 60 acres. But PN is close to large metropolitan areas so it is packed with people. My son has never skied any place but Paoli Peaks and he could not believe the lines. He was aghast.

We had fun and the drive back was much better.

Sorry I didn't see you after the board exchange. We only stayed about another hour after we met. My daughter and I ended up going north that day (got the 20 dollar refund on the tickets) because there was softer snow to be had at our home hill. How do you get 8 inches of new snow and still have icy conditions? We actually went over to the opposite side before we left and rode the backstage and took a spin down tuff enuff before leaving. My daughter wanted to go ride with her friends so we made the drive to ride softer conditions. I'm telling you Mad River has better snow and wider runs. You said you have the pass that gets you 2 tickets, let me know if you want to try it, you'll see several carvers (not just me) there.

[lonbordin]

Back at the Peaks tonight... don't worry PhotoDad2001 we'll get to Mad River Mountain before the seasons done.

-The snow was awesome. No really it was...
-The crowds were non-existent.
-The Ski Patrol was having a through the gates clinic and they let my son run the gates with them and he learned a thing or two!
-I moved my front binding rearward after having my eyes redirected by a man with some highly engineered boots.

It was so fantastic... my spouse and my son made note of my improvement as did I. I had a great night and I'm looking forward to the next trip.

Now if I can only get them to groom more often.

[lonbordin]

Just to give you an idea how great of night I totally forgot about the skier that ran into me on my first run.

I gave him a piece of my mind, I was unhurt... he was probably max. 150#s and essentially bounced off but my, my, my did it piss me off.

I'm not worried about me as much as I am if he ran into my son or my wife who were both with me.

Times like this I wish I could believe in karma.

[lonbordin]

W00t! Fantastic night at the Peaks. Great snow... real powder.

Good for my spouse (skiing) not so fast on the race course for me and my son... until trenches were laid.

Prior to tonight I raised the toe lift to 6 degrees which centered my knee over the board and I added 1 degree outward cant to better center my leg in the boot. Made the setup feel and perform a whole lot better. Thanks Erik!

The recent changes of moving the front binding back and increasing my front toe lift made a world of difference tonight. A quantifiable difference as I almost cut my handicap in half!!

I only took two runs off the race course but it was almost too deep for the Liberator... at Paoli Peaks??? What's the world coming to???

[Carve234]

Just got back from a night at Paoli. Been pretty busy for the past couple weeks, but finally made time to get out and ride again. It was definitely more icy than I was expecting, but I think the snow was the fastest I've seen there yet this year. Apparently, there was another hardbooter out there tearing it up on the race course today (lonbordin, I'm looking in your direction...) because literally half the people I talked to mentioned another guy on a board like mine. Guess whoever it was was really catching people's attention...

[lonbordin]

I was at Paoli Sat from 1200 -1600 and today from 1030 - 1400 running the gates with the Ohio Valley Ski Club. I took a couple of free riding runs ... I've improved but I have a long way to go.

I was hoping to really lower my handicap but ran into two really difficult courses over the weekend. It wasn't just me so I don't feel so bad. Yesterday had two gates quite offset from the pack. I had to jump turn just to make it each time.

Then today they had a little g big S course and I left my slalom board at home.

My son came today and he did pretty well... it was definitely the tightest course he's ever attempted.

Anyone know if they make a battery operated pipe cutter? I need to "adjust" these ski gates.

ICY??? That there is Paoli "powder".

PS- There could be a third rider. I found out one of the staff that carves SB-style actually claims to have a HB setup... I pressure him each time I see him to get it out!

[photodad2001]

How's the snow treatin' ya out there in Indiana? We're expecting another 5-8 here by tomorrow night. We've already got about a foot on the ground as it is. If we get what they are calling for I'm just going to hike it around some secret spots I know of around here.

[lonbordin]

How's the snow treatin' ya out there in Indiana? We're expecting another 5-8 here by tomorrow night. We've already got about a foot on the ground as it is. If we get what they are calling for I'm just going to hike it around some secret spots I know of around here.

Looks like we're headed for 6+ right now (still snowing here). There is a defunct ski hill about ~30 minutes from the house (Ski World) but it's just as easy (sometimes easier) to drive to Paoli (season pass) and ride the lifts.

I hear you about the secret stashes I used to go up to Diamond Hill, another defunct ski area, in Cumberland,RI after a serious snow. Serious deep fun.

Drive safe.

[lonbordin]

Back to the Peaks... took the kid, wife bailed... why did I wait?

Snow was epic powder for Paoli. ~8+ new snow today. Hell the damn stuff even squeaked! Knowing this was wait awaited us and no hope for any groom I brought the LibTech 180 Grocer and my softboot setup (O'Sin step-ins). 36F,33R.

Man SBs feel so wrong, the delay, the slop... how did I ever do any of the things I used to?! Well my time harbooting has definitely improved my SB skillz!

After a couple of runs I was carvin' it up. Actually got a couple of woops from the lift. It felt so good.

Saw another carver in a SB setup as well!

Great night... now to watch the recorded SBX and Downhill.

[photodad2001]

I'm taking my 20 dollar refund card (from our recent meeting) and going back to PN Tuesday da 16th to do some "got the day off, midweek outing" snowboarding. I've had the Madd BX now for 3 days and have been hikin' it in knee deep pow-pow and want to finally take it on some (hopefully) packed powder runs. Should get there right around noon and will burn out my 8 hour ticket or until my rectus femoris, vastus medialus, and vastus lateralus give out.

[lonbordin]

Back to the Peaks with family in tow for a night of free "ski".

Snow great. A+
Rode SB for a hour then switched to HB.

Had fun on both...

...So tired
...Turning lights off... G'night.

[lonbordin]

55 degree soft snow but still pretty fast. Ran NASTAR gates all day with my son. More connected carves then ever before on the course... really dropped my handicap today! W00t!

Had a jibber tell me about my equipment with attitude. I laughed at him.

My son said,"That guy is stupid." as we slid onto the lift well within earshot of the jibber. He came up to us after we got off on top and apologized.


It was a great day! Hotter than the sun, though!

[lonbordin]

Been snowing all day but not accumulating. Looking forward to Wednesday night NASTAR.

We've had several days above freezing and sunlight and then we've dropped below freezing the last couple of days... so I was expecting "firm" conditions.

East coast firm that is... We've don't need to inject our slopes with water... ma' nature gladly assists.

First run blew out of the course on the third turn. Blew out second run near the finish.

Started to groove after that.

About halfway through the night a skier catches a tip on the last gate and goes down really hard. We called the patrol while still on the lift.

I helped the ski patrol carry her extra ski's to the infirmary... where I had to fill out the witness forms in the inferno and the chaos. There were so many people in so many states of injury.

By the time I was released it was late. The NASTAR group held it open for me to get a final run (my son reports he took more than seven in my absence!). It was nice and I took the run but my heart wasn't in it and I just stood up and put it on cruise.

Took one freecarve run and found out the slopes were full of school kids out of control. We packed it up and went home. There will be other nights.

[lonbordin]

Back to Paoli for Wednesday night NASTAR. Course construction manager decides it's a good night to go fast and lays out the fastest freakin' course.

Woo-boy fast.

Tonight was rutty corn snow going back to frozen whatever.

Went through the finish line once in the air... sideways... nice ruts...

When I got tired I actually stopped. I must be getting smarter in my old age.

I can't believe the season is about to end. Last night of NASTAR is Friday. I think the scheduled closing day is March 10. It goes by so fast.

(Yes Paoli has plenty of snow but the crowds start to thin as does the snow but the reason they close is their negotiated electric rate goes up and it makes it not cost effective to keep running the lifts.)

[lonbordin]

So I was going to base this post on poking at Bobble and his complaining of the poor grooming conditions by featuring Paoli's typical fantastic groom:

From pub

The problem is that today the powers that be at Paoli decided to train the main racing guy on the groomer.

&%$#@!, please hire him as the full-time groomer tomorrow.

The guys a natural, seriously. Oak trail was as good as it gets tonight. In 6 years of coming to Paoli I've not seen any groom even remotely approaching this level of quality. Hell, I've only seen this good a few times ever. Oh the corduroy... the ripping sounds.

I can't tell you how many times I said F%$k it and started carving from the get go and gladly earning my DNF. It was an hour after the racing was over that I had to pry my self off the slope and head home.

I had no idea how much the groom could open up the carving. Yeah, I've read it but no first hand experience.

The funny thing was is that I thought with the temps today approaching 50 and not a cloud in the sky I was going to the land of lumpy soft mash potatoes. So I packed the SBs and the 180 Grocer and a tired Alp 7.1 for the trip. Boy was I wrong.

That 40 to 60 inch base and the rapid drop of temps made the rest of the mountain into a lumpy frozen piece o' crap. But not Oak... oh the Groom setup so nicely. I stayed until all the college kids started to show up for the last midnight madness.

I can't believe with all this snow they close Monday.

[bobble]

So I was going to base this post on poking at Bobble and his complaining of the poor grooming conditions by featuring Paoli's typical fantastic groom

buck's got corduroy!



yes we do!



we've got corduroy!



how about you!

I can't believe with all this snow they close Monday.

that sucks to hear.

end of season is seriously depressing.

[lonbordin]

I had one of your S turn on the cord shots as my Blackberry wallpaper for a while.

Nice Shots!

And no we do not have corduroy... we have lumpy stuff on top of ice.

The sun was battling (59 F) but the snow pack was winning.

IF Buck was closer I'd make the drive but I can almost make it to Snowshoe in the same amount of time!! The "midwest" is large!

[lonbordin]

So at last years Spring Carnival my son (10) says he wants to do the slosh pit. "Really?", says I. He's committed so I let him. He got really wet and cold. Afterwards he talked me into saying I would do it this year.

He remembered.

So I brought out the SB's and the 180 Lib Tech Grocer, surfboard baby!

The setup:

From pub

The slosh pit:

From pub

The passel of Idiots (me looking around hill top left):

From pub

lonbordin committed:

From pub

OK sooo my ten year old doesn't understand the concept of taking the picture during the action so no money shot.

But I made it... one of only three.

So we had to do a round two:

From pub

In round two we had to grab a duck decoy while going across as the tiebreaker. The decoy was about 8/10ths of the way down the pit. You can see the decoy in the second photo.

I was the only one to grab the decoy and I made it to!!

So I'm the Paoli Peaks slosh pit champion for 2009-2010 unseating the 5-time champ. W00t!

I'm thinking this might be the one event you would NEVER want to do in hard boots but what do I know!

One things for sure a Grocer and soft boots should not be on a race course.

I put the HBs on after the event was concluded did some NASTAR and a few other runs. My son was tired so we packed it up.

The end of our season. I'm going to cry now...




I'm in Providence, RI in April. I wonder what will still be open?! Ok, I'm lying I'll go surfing instead... or maybe not?!

[bobble]

I had one of your S turn on the cord shots as my Blackberry wallpaper for a while.

Nice Shots!

And no we do not have corduroy... we have lumpy stuff on top of ice.

The sun was battling (59 F) but the snow pack was winning.

IF Buck was closer I'd make the drive but I can almost make it to Snowshoe in the same amount of time!! The "midwest" is large!

no cord? do they ever groom?

in the mornings at we're spoiled. sundays are the best! the grooming is usually immaculate. no crowds.

in warm weather riding at night is probably close to what you typically ride. i don't like the death cookies, ice cubes, etc. it shreds my gloves and jacket. i don't like the chunky feel of riding on rutted ice.

a couple of guys have bought metal boards. it makes a big difference in riding over less than ideal conditions. the boards are so damp that you don't feel how crappy the snow is. we just had rain last night. one guy is happily looking forward to riding on ice with his metal coiler.

buck is a small hill. there are bigger places to ride between here and indiana. i just happen to live within 2 miles of the place. BUT should you be in town for whatever reason and you brought your board, let us know.

[lonbordin]

They flatten some of the runs.

They're teasing us by saying they may re-open for the upcoming weekend... we'll see.

Metal... man I wish.

[photodad2001]

I can't believe with all this snow they close Monday.

Is Paoli done for the year? Mad River shut their doors on Monday, but only with the promise to re-open Friday afternoon and stay open all weekend. Now if the rain would just hold off we might get a second weekend out of this. The old management would have pushed the snow from the park onto the main run and stayed open during the week, but now it's all about pinching pennies.

Went windskating today and found a killer place. Usually I go to this church parking lot but they had something going on so I drove around looking for another spot and came across a park with narrow but extremely long parking lots that surround 8 ball fields. Nobody there doing anything so had the place all to myself. Did get stung by a bee. Haven't been stung in years. Not sure, but think he may have been hybernating in my sail and got mad I woke him up.

[lonbordin]

Paoli is either open this weekend or done for the year... the website says they are taking a wait and see approach but I talked to some of the staff and I think they are done. Damn shame to as they have a tremendous amount of snow. They never even pushed their snow "hills" around to cover the thin spots... they didn't have to...

If they were to consolidate the snow on just Jurassic and Powerline/Mindbender and just run the one lift they could've probably stayed open for another couple of weeks easily. They have HUGE mounds of snow on both of those runs that they could spread out. That would be a penny pinching strategy I could understand.

Their business "model" baffles me. There is only a couple of bars in the area and they have a liquor license and a small bar area. Why that doesn't stay open year round is a complete mystery. Hell they don't keep the bar open during the week sometimes during season???

Ah well the joys of a small hill.

[two_ravens]

Lonbordin, so how the heck do you guys do that pond skimming with almost no clothes on!?!??! I've spent a lot of my life kayaking in cold water - but I do it in a freakin' full drysuit!!!!! Is it totally cheating to wear a nice wetsuit under your retro onepiece, for instance?

There will be pond skimming here on Sunday, and I might head up to Whitefish for their closing weekend (including skimming) in a couple weeks - but will most likely just spectate!

p.s. congrats on your win!!!

[lonbordin]

Cold conditions don't affect me as much as most people.

More muscle mass = a greater ability to produce heat so I'm good to go. Also I lived in New England for a number of years and surfed all winter in a wet-suit. Coldest day I remember was water 31 F (-0.5C)(slushy salt water at the water's edge) and air 16 F (-9C) but NO wind and a beautiful chest high swell. So fun! You really did feel it on the face when you got up to speed going down the line.

Most places have large wool blankets waiting for the pond skimming contestants but it was in the 50's that day and while I did get a little wet I never needed one.

I say go for it. Take a change of clothes, your biggest board and have fun. There is a benefit of having few clothes on is that it is quicker to dry off and warm back up.

ps- Thanks... I think I'll do it again next year.

[lonbordin]

Paoli closes for the season tomorrow 16:00...

Saying the weather was unfavorable this season is a ridiculous understatement.