Spirit Mountain 2011/2012

[Gcarve]

Took a few runs this evening after work on the new Donek. Looking forward to the challenge of a whole new learning curve.

Nice board!! I have the same Donek board/topsheet.

[rwmaron]

Took a few runs with Ken early last evening - he was like a kid in a candy shop with his new Donek! I left after about an hour when the increasing East wind made it difficult to get downslope....

I'll be out saving lives both Saturday and Sunday mornings; Ken mentioned that he'll be out both days as well.
Russ

[nelsonboat]

I'm heading up to Duluth tonight with my wife. Hope to get some good runs in tommorow on your new snow

[rwmaron]

We got 8-10 inches of snow (with a very high moisture content) from this week's storm. I went out last evening, but everything was packed down to a hard, sometimes icy, surface. This morning, the groom was soft, but even by 11am, high traffic areas were starting to get that hard packed characteristic.

So the take away, for the next few days anyways, is start early.

NB - I've got some spare passes; send me a PM if you see this message and I can save you a few bucks.
Russ

[bigwavedave]

I'm thinking of coming up on Sunday and Tuesday. A shot from the chair last Monday at Bohemia...

[bobble]

@russ

i'm going to be in duluth on next friday march 9th on personal business.

thinking of staying friday night and riding saturday. can i hit you up for a pass?

[nelsonboat]

Sounds great, hope to head out of here in an hour or two. I have no idea what a PM is. Unless you mean phone number?
Dan

[rwmaron]

PM = private message; but just give me a call instead - two one eight four two eight five two one nine.
Russ

[bigwavedave]

Saw a video last week on BOL of the first snowboard in US circa 1917. Found a link to the article in transworld snowboarding for the rest of the story...

http://snowboarding.transworld.net/1...rst-snowboard/

Rockered no less...


They also reference a Jeremy Jones journey to Turkey a while back where he found a remote mountain village where the locals had used a very similar device going back 150 years. Video link for the Turkish snowboarders doesn't seem to work any more.

[rwmaron]

Last night when I checked the weather, the forecast was for scattered snow showers with less than an inch of accumulation during the night, then scattered snow showers with no accumulation today.......instead there was about 4 inches of new when I got to the hill this morning and those big, fat, dry flakes drifted down ALL DAY LONG! When I got home tonight, I had about 10 inches of light fluffy snow in my driveway. Not a great day for carving, but a great day to be outside with a lot of other folks sharing the same vibe. Hooked up with Ken (first on his freeride deck, then in hardboots) for a couple of runs; also took a few runs with Dan (nelsonboat) and his spouse before I got called off to save some lives.

Still lightly snowing now; if you're planning to come out tomorrow, I'd put something a bit beefier in the car - it might not be the best day for those razor sharp, skinny race boards.

The fresh snow brought out some interesting gear today:

Russ

[bigwavedave]

Forecast calls for another 3-5" overnight, guess I better pack the surfboard just in case. I think that guy has his bindings mounted wrong on that Dupraz.

[bigwavedave]

Lake effect magic hovers over Spirit Mt...a few inches of fresh snow over groomed packed powder today made for slow but very carvable conditions and hazy sun. Brought out carvers Russ, Ken, the illusive Jolsen, and time traveler, Gary, straight out of 1989 on a Kemper asym equiped with two piece "hardplate" bindings, flux capaciter and vintage appropriate one piece snowsuit.

[rwmaron]

@russ

i'm going to be in duluth on next friday march 9th on personal business.

Bob - sent you a PM with info (but the way you send PMs has changed since the vBulletin upgrade)....if you didn't get the message, my cell number is listed in a post here from a couple of days ago - give me a call and we'll make sure that you're good to go.
Russ

[bigwavedave]

I'm coming up tomorrow if anyone can come out and play. Anybody out today? Conditions?

[khoward]

I'll be there early tomorrow afternoon and planning an epic session. Had to work this evening, but we had a short snow squall - 0.3" this afternoon.

[rwmaron]

Never got above about 26F today, so my guess is that you'll have great conditions in the morning; I'll be out in the afternoon, probably around 3 or so.
Russ

[bigwavedave]

Great conditions today. Started out sunny, mid 20's, perfect carving conditions. Started to soften up by 10-11AM but remained great for caving--we butchered Gandy Dancer by early afternoon, leaving deep trenches. By 3-4PM things started firming up into bumpy crud. Jim, Russ and Ken all made appearances, but not while the camera was rolling.

New Kessler hover-board

[rwmaron]

"Started to soften up by 10-11AM but remained great for caving--we butchered Gandy Dancer by early afternoon, leaving deep trenches. By 3-4PM things started firming up into bumpy crud"

You certainly have the touch for being at the right place in the right time lately....after you left yesterday the light went flat so I took a break and waited until the lights came on, but by then the entire hill was a virtual skating rink. I could still see your (deep) Gandy trenches when the hill closed at 8pm.

Saturday sounds like the better day for this weekend, but I'll be out both days on patrol duty.
Russ

[bigwavedave]

We're in for a stretch of warm and rainy days starting this weekend. Saturday looks good, I may come up Friday too, as I might have the day off.

[khoward]

We did a couple of runs around 6PM. Empty Grand Ave parking lot is a bad omen. Wind-scoured crust.
We'll try again tomorrow evening.

[rwmaron]

Tried for a quick session late this afternoon; between the flat light and the hard surface, I gave up after a couple of runs. Saw Ken slip-sliding around too. I'm going to Giant's Ridge tomorrow to see some new terrain. Bigwave - if you come up Friday and need a place to stay, give me a call.

[bobble]

i'll be up at spirit this weekend. friday morning i have plans but might ride in the afternoon if it looks good.

will be around saturday too.

[bigwavedave]

Giants Ridge, tomorrow? Keep an eye out for the Butcher of Biwabic.

[rwmaron]

So Bigwave and I hooked up at Giant's Ridge today; $29 each (Spirit pass gets you $10 off). Bright sun, a few 'chunky' spots, but overall outstanding groom, and a whole new set of terrain to play on. May have to start thinking about more than one trip a year up there!

[rwmaron]

Spring came early in the northland this year; temp was in the mid-20s when we started at 9am but soared into the 50s this afternoon. Despite the soft conditions, Bobble, Bigwave, JOlson, and Ken (he's camera shy) came out to play:

[bobble]

Spring came early in the northland this year; temp was in the mid-20s when we started at 9am but soared into the 50s this afternoon. Despite the soft conditions, Bobble, Bigwave, JOlson, and Ken (he's camera shy) came out to play:

i had a good time early to mid morning. it was good riding with everyone. thanks to russ for the lift ticket. too bad gandy was off limits.

i don't quite understand the physics why soft snow feels like riding on sand paper. getting over that first hump on 4-pipe was a challenge.

[bigwavedave]

Fun day yesterday, even later in the day carving up the soft snow. Rode until about 2PM, I did several "last runs" with bobble before finally calling it quits. Two full days in a row and my old knees are feeling it today. Had a beer with bobble and Mrs bobble afterwards. To my surprise bobble was not wearing a suit and tie under his snowboard gear and did not puff on a pipe.

RE the snow later in the day: I think it has something to do with the high water content of the 2' of new snow last week, it felt like sandpaper, but maybe it's a water-surface-tension-suction type of thing, because it was worse when your board was flat. Sure felt like you had the brakes on when not on edge. Would require some serious waxing/structuring magic.

Hope our local carvers Russ, Jim and Ken continue with the hill reports. I think Spirit has enough snow on top of a good base for some nice granular, corn snow conditions, but this warm weather is gonna get people thinking of other things.

[khoward]

We had a great weekend riding with everyone this weekend. Started out with variable conditions with soft spots at the bottom and some crustiness higher up and in shady spots. Juggler Joe
and Double Jaw had some serious issues with ribbing and gashes from the
groomer.
Russ, Jolson, Ms. Marlys Olson, Jane and myself started the day.
It got progressively slower and less carvable by early afternoon and
folks called it a day.
Russ and I hung in there till 2PM till it was quite pointless.
Stopped by SkiHut and picked up a block of warm-weather
wax for Tuesday afternoon.

[khoward]

Arrived at Grand Ave at noon. The Express chair was just making a pitiful buzzing noise and had been abandoned. Four Pipe was roped off at the level of the base of Double Jaw
so I hiked the hill. Could've been worse, it could have been at 13,000 feet. The snowpack held up quite well through the rain on Monday. Met up with Russ and Ski Patroller Don riding hardboots at the top of Double Jaw. They
eventually fixed the Express lift, but conditions slowly deteriorated and called it a day around 3:30PM. My board was coated with sticky tar and resins - needed to completely clean and rewax.
We're gonna try for an evening session Thursday

[bigwavedave]

Is the snow starting to turn to granular/corn yet? Was it still sticky slow? I wonder if the stuff you picked up on your board is what made the snow feel slow since that last snowfall? It did have the feel of dirty snow, but I saw no signs of dirt imbeded in my wax.
I might have to come back up there to investigate. I have Friday off. I think I'll avoid Saturday and all the St Paddy's day hoopla. Sure feels like the season is winding down fast. I almost took my bike out for a spin today.