Alpine skiing?

[Tanuki]

I've been getting skunked. Inconsistent weather's resulted in really poor conditions, plus I've been dealing with the flu for three weeks. Had to cancel this week's trip to Gore... this blows. I seem to be stuck with consoling myself by dreaming of the Renoun Z90's I might get next season.

Too bad about the trip. This one storm really moved the Mt Hood snowpack from substandard to exceptional. Temperatures are remaining quite low. With winds decreasing we might even get the higher lifts open this week.

No guarantees though. Our next storm might be warm rain.

 

[Tanuki]

No high lifts yet, more snow coming...

From the Timberline website:

HISTORICAL SNOW DATA
Since the winter of 1949-50, Timberline has been recording snow depths on the mountain. We’re not scientists, but the numbers show we consistently have one of the deepest and most reliable snowpacks in North America. The Base Snow Depth is measured at the top of the Pucci Chair, and is a measurement of settled, compressed snow, not total snowfall (which is a much higher number).

 

[Schnitzel52]

Think Snow!!
It's snowing in Utah and headed to Colorado with high winds associated.
High avalanche risk is likely in the back country.

 

[Granite.Glasser]

Kalamazoo, Michigan native here!

As you know, @chilehed, there's just not much in the way of true "Alpine" skiing opportunity in the Great Lakes State's glacially-deposited sand piles. As a life long runner, I do enjoy cross country skiing to complement my runs in the winter time, ...and for some gravity-driven, down-hill fun, I elect for snow boarding. Boarding just always felt more appropriate for our brand and limited magnitude of topographic relief.

With the irrefutable, scientifically documented, global climate change that is occurring at ever increasing rates, one is going to find equally decreasing regions that are conducive to "Alpine" snow sport activities! Yet another fine mess we've gotten ourselves into!

PEACE,

 

[Schnitzel52]

Kalamazoo, Michigan native here!

As you know, @chilehed, there's just not much in the way of true "Alpine" skiing opportunity in the Great Lakes State's glacially-deposited sand piles. As a life long runner, I do enjoy cross country skiing to complement my runs in the winter time, ...and for some gravity-driven, down-hill fun, I elect for snow boarding. Boarding just always felt more appropriate for our brand and limited magnitude of topographic relief.

With the irrefutable, scientifically documented, global climate change that is occurring at ever increasing rates, one is going to find equally decreasing regions that are conducive to "Alpine" snow sport activities! Yet another fine mess we've gotten ourselves into!

PEACE,

You should come do the Frisco Gold Rush in Frisco Colorado!
We also ski the sand dunes near
Walsenburg.

 

[martym]

I woke up to 71° this morning here in south Texas. We don’t have mountains or snow. Growing up we would water ski in the local irrigation canals. Tie the rope to a truck bumper and the truck would take off along the canal bank.
We didn’t know any better.

 

[Tanuki]

I woke up to 71° this morning here in south Texas. We don’t have mountains or snow. Growing up we would water ski in the local irrigation canals. Tie the rope to a truck bumper and the truck would take off along the canal bank.
We didn’t know any better.

Take your thrills where you find them! And ski boats are expensive.

I grew up near Chicago. The only snow skiing was down re-purposed landfill piles.

 

[Schnitzel52]

I woke up to 71° this morning here in south Texas. We don’t have mountains or snow. Growing up we would water ski in the local irrigation canals. Tie the rope to a truck bumper and the truck would take off along the canal bank.
We didn’t know any better.

That sounds cool!
I’m from Nebraska originally but grew up in Colorado.
We had ranch’s in the Sandhills and I learned there that “country fun” can be the best fun.

 

[martym]

Amen!!

 

[chilehed]

Finally! I've been sick for a month after getting the flu, and am just now up to getting out. We got a lot of rain the last couple of days, but today it's mostly gone and we've got deep soft corn. Our steepest run has a huge whale on it, and about 50+ feet of the backside is at 40 degrees pitch - it's about the steepest thing I've ever skied. By midwest standards, it was about as good as it gets. I had a blast today.

You should come do the Frisco Gold Rush in Frisco Colorado!

I love that area, been there many times on work trips in spring and fall. But never heard of the Frisco Gold Rush - what is it?

 

[Tanuki]

I had a blast today.

Glad to hear it!

Mt Hood has been rainy since Thursday. I was already very wet when we bailed at 1pm on Wed. Should cool down by Monday. Lots of precip this winter in the Pacific NW.

 

[Chuck P3]

7 straight days skiing Summit County. Today we tackled all of Breckenridge!

 

[Ad Astra]

Very cool! I'd break my leg.

Sleds for me!


AA

 

[Tanuki]

Presidents Day weekend got a bit ugly on Mt Hood. Some hard to spot ice in the lowest bowls of Heather Canyon resulted in two snowboarder deaths and a bunch of injuries.

I personally looked at skiing the upper part of the Heather ridge with a buddy on Tuesday. More ice made that impractical (or deadly?) after entering the gate and skiing down 50 yards, so we traversed off and ducked the rope to re-enter the Outer Limits run.

Last run of the day I skied into yet another ice patch on the opposite side of the resort. I’m now recuperating.

 

[Tanuki]

Fun while it lasted. Finished off with two days at Hoodoo. Met lots of people who had flown to Bend for a Mt Bachelor vacation, arriving just it time for the covid closure. Hoodoo hung on for two more days.

 

[MrSpeedy]

About a month-and-a-half ago I went skiing for the first time in 25 years. I grew up in New Hampshire and skied when I lived there, but now live in Florida. We were vacationing in Banff and took a day to hit the slopes there. Just like riding a bike!

 

[Tanuki]

After getting corona-frozen out of skiing in mid-March...

Baby, I'm back and I'm stoked! I could have skied some November days, but family responsibilities intervened. "Finally" made it up today about 10 or 12 days earlier than a normal preview opening.

The whole mountain was open. Plenty of coverage for the groomers, sunshine and light cloud cover. Better conditions than late December of any recent seasons.

21k feet of vert, probably my biggest opening day ever. Maybe short to zero lift lines and the reunion with my core ski companions contributed to slightly overdoing day 1.

And I only heard one yahoo arguing about the masking requirements and abusing the liftie who attempted to correct him. She finally had to flip him off to get him to shut up and stop holding up the line. I hope she sicc'd the patrol on him.

 

[Owen Bawn]

I was mad for alpine skiing for decades. I'd ski 30-40 days a winter, and I'd climb New Hampshire's Mt Washington to ski well into June most years. Around 1995 I started to lose interest- the crowds, the ostentatious displays of wealth, the waiting around and the cost all got to me. I have been XC skiing since the 70s as well, and I still do that as soon as there's 3 inches on the ground. I was out on the slats once already when it snowed last week, but it's long gone already.

I still follow alpine and XC racing religiously. I particularly enjoy the speed disciplines in alpine, and biathlon in XC. I love the fact that nearly every World Cup race is televised nowadays.

 

[Tanuki]

Around 1995 I started to lose interest- the crowds, the ostentatious displays of wealth, the waiting around and the cost all got to me.

Midweek/non-peak skiing and avoiding (for the most part) destination resorts helps me dodge a lot of those annoyances. Good gear is half price or less in the spring. And, Craigslist! Spending close to zero hours in lodges helps too. My senior non-peak annual pass works out to less than $10/day. My largest cost (and carbon signature) is driving to the resort and back. Carpooling with my ski buddies mitigated that, but this year I'm back to solo drives.

That said, in my youthful incarnation as a skier it was all XC and backcountry. I was definitely much holier than those folks on the lifts. Now, I are one.

 

[Owen Bawn]

Midweek/non-peak skiing and avoiding (for the most part) destination resorts helps me dodge a lot of those annoyances. Good gear is half price or less in the spring. And, Craigslist! Spending close to zero hours in lodges helps too. My senior non-peak annual pass works out to less than $10/day. My largest cost (and carbon signature) is driving to the resort and back. Carpooling with my ski buddies mitigated that, but this year I'm back to solo drives.

That said, in my youthful incarnation as a skier it was all XC and backcountry. I was definitely much holier than those folks on the lifts. Now, I are one.

It's all moot now anyway. There's no elevation around here but the landfill.