Buck Hill 2011/2012

[thebionicman]

All guns are blazing. If you are coming down I would bring a wide board. I am wishing I would of brought my soft setup.

[BobD]

All guns are blazing. If you are coming down I would bring a wide board. I am wishing I would of brought my soft setup.

Thanks for the warning

[bobble]

Morning

conditions were 100% better than yesterday. snow guns were blowing right under the chairs. the cord was underneath the new snow. new rollers all over the place. it was slow but not too bad considering yesterday.

erik, joe, alex and myself were on hardboots.

first run felt like carving on a cloud. very slow but it felt great. towards the end it became challenging. there were soft areas where the board would sink. then there were the rollers which were intimidating. i switched from donek to rossignol. after todays rollers i think i might change back.

race course was set up on milkrun. on crossroads skiers right had a course. olympic had courses too. i was riding the chair with a skier (one of the regulars). says to me "i'm so sick of these ski racers and sense of entitlement". i laughed.

seemed like everytime i wiped out bobd was looking down from the chair. coincidence?

joe, erik and snowguns. erik had ice forming on one edge of the board.

From 2012-01-02

yeah, snow was getting deep. its a good thing.

From 2012-01-02

GoPro

mounted a GoPro to a ski pole. it was very awkward to hold and do anything without feeling out of control. i also had a very hard time maintaining a grip. i got video of one run but its not that great.

on 2nd run i accidentally put it into this time lapse mode where it takes a picture every few seconds. RTFM!

here's what i got. its not much. my video editing skills need much work.





Phucking Mice

this morning i was trying to find some ear pads from my old helmet. ms. bobble had boxed all my snowboard gear in totes after we discovered we had mice were inhabiting our basement. i opened one tote and saw bird seed on the bottom. showed it to ms. bobble, "what the... how the hell did these seeds get in here?". ms. bobble said "oh weird... maybe the lid was open". she started to empty out the tote. i momentarily went into another room then heard her yell "AAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!". i ran around the corner thinking she found a mouse in the tote. nope, not a mouse. she flipped the boot liner over to make sure nothing was inside. thats when bird seed poured all over the floor.

From 2012-01-02

i don't get it. what would possess an animal to grab seeds one by one and stash them in my liner. why not just eat them. we're not sure where they got the bird seed.



International Moira Day

happy birthday moira!

[thebionicman]

Since the snow piling up I decided to run home for lunch and come back with a different board selection. Brought out the big dog, Lib Tech Doughboy and a Burton Custom 163 both with Catek OS1s on them. I rode the Doughboy for about 45 minutes, the thing can go through anything and its length (193 I think) allows for you to carry quite a bit of speed. I then switched over to the Custom for the rest of my time out. After a couple of tweaks to the binding setting I was very happy with this board with plates on it. Was in and out of the deeper stuff onto the cord and it worked well. I am thinking of just retiring my softboots and just ride hardboots on my wide boards for the soft days.

[Awesomo12000]

I pulled out of the parking lot then I get call from my friends saying they just came and needed tips... i just got back. Went to go extend my lift ticket and the guy said if i came 10 min before I would of gotten a big discount had to pay full price. Snow was actually very good from 2 to 6, it got really carvable in some places.

[bobble]

went in the evening. i didn't know what to expect. i saw that the high was 37F. when i left for buck it was around 34F. i was expecting the worst. instead, the snow was surprisingly good!

there are mounds/rollers all over crossroads. it made it tough to pick a line. i found myself going uphill on heel-side turns. if the rollers were gone it would've been perfect.

milkrun had shallow ruts. warners wasn't so great. the one that goes down the backside towards teachers pet was good -- made a couple runs down it.

might try again tomorrow.

[Speedzilla]

Just a head's up...

Friday Jan. 6th is the High School Invitational Ski Race. It's a huge event and will take over a lot of the hill during the day.

[bobble]

went in the evening. the temp was 48F. despite the warms temps, the snow is still holding.

crossroads was carveable. firm. very fast. pencil thin lines. started to get used to the rollers.

milkrun had ruts. in the middle near the chair was ok but it was definitely harder snow than crossroads. the loose snow on top had set so it felt cruddy going through it

backside run was hard pack. very fast.

i rode my 9m elan in order to keep my turns tighter around the rollers. took me a few runs to get used to riding it. i mounted my td3's on the board. much better than riding with the cateks.

[bobble]

Morning
conditions were tough. it was very fast and hard. i was riding my spoon (elan). a poor choice for todays fast conditions. i couldn't hold an edge. might go later when snow as softened.

grooming has been off lately; winrows, holes, gashes. i carved into a gash and was able to ride out of it. thought i was going to go over the nose. there are holes in the snow downhill of the rollers where you can't see them until its too late.

From Buckhill 1/7/2012

erik and ... OH SH!T!!!!

From Buckhill 1/7/2012

be great if the groomer could make a couple passes to level out the rollers. (hint! hint! @gerg )


Red Bull Crashed Ice

coming to St. Paul Jan 12-14th. this looks absolutely sick! thinking about going. hope its cold.

[bobble]

from the Star Tribune

2 sledding at Buck Hill injured

Two people were injured early Saturday when they tried to sled down a slope at Buck Hill in Burnsville.

They snuck into the ski area about 4 a.m., tried to sled down an expert slope called Milk Run, hit a fence and suffered some injuries, said General Manager Don McClure.

Buck Hill wasn't open during the time. Milk Run isn't intended for sledding, McClure said. "We are a ski area, not a sled area," he said.

honorable mention for darwin award.

any more details?

[bobble]

Morning

erik, joe, alex, karl, steve, matt and myself.

conditions were better than yesterday. grooming was better.

milkrun had races. it was extraordinarily busy for a sunday morning. some racers were traversing over to crossroads. almost had a run-in at the top with a skier while i started down crossroads. the skier traffic pushed us over to the other chair.

oly was fairly decent. there were rollers. joe talked me into doing skiers left. first time was difficult. i didn't trust my heelsides (goofy) enough to pull away from the rope toe. subsequent runs down that side got better but i literally had to slam myself to the snow. skiers right was much gooder.

not much to say about warners.

[Speedzilla]

Just a head's up... No grooming for Tuesday, too warm tonight.

[Gerg]

...and snowmaking will resume Wednesday night and go through Thursday night. Then we look to be getting back to near-normal temperatures.

[Scuff]

Crushed Ice sounds like an event not to be missed.

I know this is the Buck Hill thread, but carving at Hyland
last night was great - very grippy.

[bobble]

went early in the morning to ride at afton, then went to welch.

back to mamma buck.

snow was semi-rigid. could hold an edge. light was better than at welch.

crossroads - the very top has two ginormous piles of snow at the first transition. most people where skiing around it. there are rollers from last weekend still on the run. its strange, i can get 3-4 decent turns then the rollers get in the way the fall line is messed up for me. my heel-sides are now going uphill, toe-sides downhill.

milk - really cool poles were set.

warners - was closed off for racing.

will be there tomorrow.

From Jan 13, 2012

[bobble]

Morning

erik, joe, and myself.

snow was great today. started out flat light and ended with sun. was told by one of the regulars that people were commenting about us. the rollers are starting to be fun.

must confess... i did something extremely stupid.

at home i was messing around with my front binding. trying to figure out how to mount a gopro camera to the binding. in my haste to head out i didn't properly tighten down the screws. i might've been riding like that yesterday at afton. after erik left, joe and i were talking. i started to go down the hill and thats when i felt my front binding twist. i stopped and walked back a couple steps, dismounted and found the screws were loose. fortunately joe had a hex wrench. i usually carry one with me at all times but i left it in the car. loose screws messed with my head. when joe left i went to the car and got my wrench and tightened it more. took a few more runs and left.

overall, snow is back to normal.

[thebionicman]

Good snow and good conditions. Karl, Zach and myself were out on hardboots. Zach did a great job, first day on hardboots! The gentleman with the Asym Burton Prime was out as well, getting a lot better too!

Only spot of ice was on the top of Warners.

Saw BobD out two planking it. Bob you really should of gotten a few runs on a board

[bobble]

@bionicman

yeah, i got this yesterday. trent through down the gauntlets.

Subject: Re: Welch Sunday?
From: trent_j@den_mother.com
Date: Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:06:53 -0600
To: powell@park_monkey.com
CC: snurfer64@imakeruts.com; jdocter@kessler.com

I hear bob's out of tampons, but everyone else is in. See you tomorrow.

-trent

Cent from my iPad

glad you had fun.

@trent - does your iPad have wings?

[BobD]

Despite the warm temps yesterday, the groom was even better today (Monday). So the snow should be in good shape for week or so.

[Speedzilla]

Alright, who's gonna jump into the airbag with an alpine board on? I want a photo of someone on a race board 20' in the air.

http://www.facebook.com/events/349248688438213/

[Scuff]

Rode Buck tonight 5:30-8:30pm.
Temp. 4°F ?
Hardbooters: 3
Snow: Snow looked soft, but it was firm and grippy and totally carvy. Thumbs up.

Have not been out on a Friday night before.
Chalet was standing room only and 3 lanes of SL on milk run.
Cold, but no wind, your breath at the bottom would actually hang around your head for up to 10 seconds.

Met two 'sconsin carvers Jackson and Ike, and we shredded all over the place.



I am totally up (down?) for the "pillow plop" or "one hit wonder" airbag drop. ...
Though probably on my softies.

[bobble]

joe, alex and myself.

snow was excellent! diggin' the rollers.

my health... not so much

have a cold. only lasted an hour and a half. wish i could've lasted longer.

[bobble]

alex, myself, and cameo appearance by scuff.

despite the freezing drizzle, visibility wasn't too bad as long as you de-iced the goggles on every run. seriously it wasn't too bad.

snow was very decent. if the rollers were and bigger on crossroads i might've had problems. took two runs down olympic. the flat light made it very interesting on skiers right.

despite the crapidty of weather, i tried my GoPro/Mills Fleet Farm mount on my front binding. i placed a glove over the camera to shield it from the drizzle on the way up. got some interesting stares. unfortunately the camera flipped over half way down the run. i had tightened it with a screw driver and still it flipped. guess the camera pivot can't handle shock and vibe so no footage. spent afternoon trying to come up with a way to prevent it from flipping over. common problem.

[bobble]

Morning

conditions were excellent. erik and i were today's performance. all smiles .

it got crowded with ski jammers but then they disappeared around 11 AM. a couple of them complimented our riding.

my only serious complaint is that we didn't have the alluring Omega to bump chairs.

feel like i'm still recovering from wednesday's session.


Fun with GoPro

on milkrun... stress test for the rig. jumped out the knoll.


on crossroads...


olympic... skiers right was so-so. parts of the run had small pot holes. from the chair it looked like skiers left was decent. so i went over there. it wasn't as clean as i had hoped. not sure what happened. maybe i'm not as good as i think i am.


it would be interesting to see same perspective from other local riders. i'll loan the camera if you can figure out how to mount it.


Senior Moment

locked my car keys in the trunk when i was setting up the rig. i remember thinking i better put them in my pocket. got distracted. ooops. had to borrow erik's phone to call ms. bobble.

[thebionicman]

The video's look great. Maybe tonight I'll look at making some type of a mount tonight.

[trent]

agreed. vid's look good. i just hope it captures one of your "fist pounding the hill" moments.

-trent

[Awesomo12000]

Halfway down hill then...

[thebionicman]

Halfway down hill then...

Sorry to see that. I am glad it popped again in the lift line and not on a run. Hopefully you can get replacement parts quickly.

[Awesomo12000]

Sorry to see that. I am glad it popped again in the lift line and not on a run. Hopefully you can get replacement parts quickly.

haha actually, after it popped off in the lift line, i went into the chalet and got everything back together. Then I went back on the hill thinking everything was good until I went on a toeside carve and the threads completely stripped!
time for stepins

[bobble]

great turnout for sunday morning. placed was thoroughly carved before 9:30 am. not sure how many people were out. i think there were 8+ people. really bad with names:

1. erik
2. greg
3. trent
4. dave
5. jason
6. alex (cameo, binding failure)
7. ??? riding with Deluxe Suzukas
8. and myself

excellent day to be be out.


GoPro Fun Part II

** i have to be very careful how to word this... there seemed to be a pennis theme today **

[sigh] there's some kinks to work out. holding onto the end of the gopro pole was difficult. you don't realize how much you depend on your arms and hands until you try recording yourself via gopro. i had reduced the length of the monopole thinking it would be easier to control. it was easier but then the field of view was diminished. maybe if it was counter balanced or something. i dunno.

erik



dave... sorry, i should've telescoped it out further.



trent... after he falls down, read his lips at 00:27. its quick.



i thought it worked ok as a chase cam. might be better with a helmet cam.



top of helmet... meh... part i thought was cool is how i bring the camera down and to the side.