Thursday 02/04/10

[skiingsnow]

Went out for three runs, one on Superstar, One Great Eastern to Bearly, and a run down Skyelark top to bottom. Good snow on Skyelark, Great Eastern, and Bearly.

Snowmaking underway on much of Superstar, Upper Great Eastern, bottom of Snowdon.

Superstar was great where the guns were running, where they weren't it was good but had to go slow with a lot of uneven surfaces from all the mounds of snow.

Hard to get good pics of Superstar as it was Sunny with blue skies all around, temps low teens but felt warmer.

Snow is nearing the height of the bottom of the chair at the top of the lower Headwall, and is above eye level right below Launch Pad, when you are riding the chair up.

Superstar


Superstar


Superstar


Superstar


Superstar


Upper Great Eastern



The headwall of Superstar was edge to edge in late May last season, with much less snow than what is there now. Seems like enough snow on the entire trail to get to Late May, based on what I am seeing, and snowmaking is still underway. Something to note is that on the portions that didn't have snowmaking today, the hoses were gone.

Last May:

[Mister Moose]

Seems to me shade has as much to do with it in that spot as much as snow depths.

Bottom line is weather this Spring is unpredictable. I say blow the snot out of it while the temps are cold, and leave a cat on site starting late April to push around the mounds and fill in the holes.

[johnny the jibber]

only problem with moving it around to fill and patch holes is that it melts quicker when you move it around...

[SkiDork]

They did it! They did it!

[Mister Moose]

only problem with moving it around to fill and patch holes is that it melts quicker when you move it around...

Right, but when the holes are gaps across the trail, you can push connector lanes and keep it open. That's what I meant by holes.

[KMartman]

good on powdr......looks like theyre really working the "glacier"...

I like what i see. Even from 2000+ miles away.

M

[Legion]

Borrowed a factory fresh pair of Volkl Grizzlys and set off for Pico today.
The mountain was empty with only the accumulated M-T-W-Th snow to cover it.
This added up to a few inches which was especially fun where they didn't groom.

Even where they did the hill was nice and soft.
The lower mountain skied really well.
They added two more jumps skier's left at the top of the terrain park where I spent some quality time this AM.

Upper KA was the best trail from the top.
Riduculously soft and east turning; a welcome change from the slick and fast surfaces found there last week.
Birch Glades and Middle Pike were the best of the "middles".

ROTD was an absolutely reserved Lower Giant Killer with about 5" of untouched on it.
Combined with lower B it was an absolute treat.

The Grizzly is an outstanding ski. It's 89mm across, but when combined with the Marker IPT WideRide binding (licensed copy of the Griffon basically) it feels like it's low 70's when carving.
They're big, heavy boards, well suited to a big heavy guy like me.
At first I thought I made a mistake as I hobbled up to the lift; they felt like 2x4's.
Once they're brought up to speed (faster... FASTER!!!) they become sweetly obedient and easy.

Medium-Long turns are it's natural strength, so it was great on the wide groomers, but I was easily able to shorten up into nice powerful quick turns on steep/narrow KA where there's not much room to bring a big ski completely around.
These puppies even make nice slalom turns.
In short, these skis floated in the soft, blasted through chop and uneven snow, and absolutely slayed it when carving.
I didn't mess much with the power switch; I left it in the middle "dynamic" position.
I'll take these boards to K tomorrow and see what else I find.

[jbkmart]

First of all, you should check out the NorAm bumpers on OL. They dial it up another notch every day, and today they were amazing. They're throwing double twisting back somersaults (back double full), forward somersaults, double twisting off-axis stuff, well you get the idea. Also, the speed that they ski the course with is startling.
Anyway, back to Superstar. It was great. You should stop whatever it is that you think is so important, and ski tomorrow. You deserve it. (It needs more traffic to bump up some more)
Best natural snow?
Low Road. The bump lines had knee deep fresh this morning.

[MrsG]

First of all, you should check out the NorAm bumpers on OL. They dial it up another notch every day, and today they were amazing. They're throwing double twisting back somersaults (back double full), forward somersaults, double twisting off-axis stuff, well you get the idea. Also, the speed that they ski the course with is startling.
Anyway, back to Superstar. It was great. You should stop whatever it is that you think is so important, and ski tomorrow. You deserve it. (It needs more traffic to bump up some more)
Best natural snow?
Low Road. The bump lines had knee deep fresh this morning.

Good definition jb . . . those kids are amazing . . . skiing was fun today - and skied with great peeps as well:) . . . all you people going north - have fun, more room for us

[TeleTim]

The volume of snow they have made on SS in the last 5-6 days is amazing. They must be thinking about staying open well past the planned date! And for some reason I am going to be away the last week of April! But with some luck we may just get a couple of weeks in May.

I was not up today but on Wed the blowover onto Skyhawk was the ROTD. Pretty amazing what the prevailing wind will do. Also was surprised to see lower Ovation open. It was fun but you better have sharp edges.

TT

[TWA]

Keep blowing, I want to ski in June.

[andyzee]

Superstar is looking sweet, thanks for the pics.