Big Sky Mood: mischievious Topic: shred report
new snow 5" (at big sky)
so snow king opened today. I wasn't there. last night my friend Chris called me and said "hey, let's go to montana tomorrow." I, of course, replied "sure." he really had to twist my arm there. left jackson at 5:30 am. got to big sky at about 10:30. swirling snow covered roads and long winding streches with no passing lanes made the trip harrowing. but the snow was great.
started out on the quad chair from the base - which was down due to high winds. waited about 15 minutes until it opened. got to the top and realized WHY it had been on wind delay. took a smooth carvy run down to the double chair, and hit IT just as it went down. which was fine because Chris' binding needed some adjustments. I needed to eat the peanut butter and jelly sandwich stashed in my pocket. we rode up the chair and traversed over to challenger. discovered the most bizzarre off ramp I've ever seen. a very narrow and rather steep hill with a sharp upslope at the bottom. kinda like the ski jumps from the olden days. and 60 mile an hour winds. you could barely see to strap in, and the windblown crust and blowing snow made the start of the run basically blind. The upper part of the slope was pretty rocky and the coverage was sketchy, but it was do-able. ducked into the trees. there's always powder in the trees.
wandered down and discovered a rock drop. didn't hit it because I couldn't see the landing. ok, not entirely true. i had scoped out the landing from the lift on my way up, but I couldn't tell which way i needed to hit it. plus I had lost my companion in the trees so I hauled down the liftline to the bottom of the chair and met up with him. he had hit another tree line, which he informed me was just as sweet as the one we had hit together. went back up challenger and down the face - sketchy, then fresh, then sketchy, then we were in the trees again. this time I didn't hit the rock because if I had, I wouldn't have been positioned to take this sweet shot of Chris:
yeah, i know. i am a wuss. maybe later in the season i'll show some cohones. I did hit some other little kickers off the traverse, as well as a mini jump in the terrain park. I was stoked to see that there WAS a terrain park so early in the season, but it was mostly rails, and very difficult to maintain speed or find a line through. better than nothing, i guess. took some more runs through the edges of the slopes.... gee, reminds me of vermont. lots of snow piled up where the grooming left off, and most of the other skiers' tracks went straight down the middle. eventually, the wind and the cold got to us so we headed back to the car.
the drive home was shorter due to daylight and clear roads surrounding ashton, but teton pass was scarier. blowing snow made visibility dizzying at best, but then I finally caught up to another vehicle.... no, actually I stopped and tried to take a gaper shot of the welcome to wyoming sign and a car passed me..... but once I had tail lights to follow the stress level decreased significantly.
Despite the drive and the wind, still definitely better than hitting the groomers off cougar all day at snow king.
first run Mood: caffeinated Topic: shred report
new snow: ZERO
No snow all week. heard snow king was supposed to open at noon today but when i got there the lifts weren't running and there were no employees in sight so I figured they must have pushed it back a day. Of course, I was already there, and dressed, so there was no question that I was hiking.
Halfway up the trail my lungs and legs were burning. I remember what to do but my body forgot. None of it mattered once I strapped in, though. floated down the slope - nothing to jump off or go around - just laid out some turns on the nice man made snow that had been groomed perfectly flat. Definitely soft enough to carve into the corduroy, but pretty typical crunchiness. I don't care. Bout time I got back on the board.
sick and tired Mood: energetic Topic: personal
haven't left the house in 2 days, but i think i finally kicked this flu. mostly. yes, i just knocked on my coffee table. which reminds me - time to take more zicam.
Targhee opened over the weekend. since I didn't leave the house, i obviously didn't ride, but my friend who did reported that they opened dreamcatcher (unexpectedly) on saturday and it was decent. by the end of the day it was pretty mushy, but that's not surprising for early season. and typical for targhee - western facing slopes get pummelled by the sun during the afternoon hours.
Another friend (the one who was supposed to go to targhee with me, but changed his mind due to only beginner lifts being open) went up to the pass on saturday. i'd tell you how it was but i haven't heard back from him. probably because i didn't go along.... but hopefully all is well and he had a good day and got home safely.
I guess I'll just wait until Thanksgiving, when snow king is supposed to open. my schedule just happenned to work out that i'm off during the morning on both thurs and fri, so that ought to work out well. Unless of course, i get sucked into MTGO tournaments - which might happen since they're giving away promo braingeyser cards for participation..... i am such a geek.
Saw the new harry potter movie on friday. they left a lot out, which isn't surprising considering the thickness of the novel. i don't know how cohesive the story was to those of us who didn't already know the parts that were omitted, but it flowed well as far as I could tell. I would definitely suggest watching all the other movies and reading the books before you go see it, if you plan to see it.
Rent is coming out next weekend. here's hoping it hits jackson. then again, surround sound and stadium seating might be worth the drive to IF anyway. we'll see. depends on my snowboarding habits. I'll probably stay close to the hill.
10 days till i start working at the village. two weeks from now i'll be on the gondola. the waiting is almost over.
Piling up Mood: down Topic: shred report
new snow: 4"
Hard to believe we only got 4 inches up there when we got almost that much in the valley. At least that's what it seemed like as I swept it off my car this morning. It was probably a little closer to 2 inches, but certainly enough to slop up the roads. Every little bit helps.
Apparently the flu is going around - that or some nasty bug.... I'm hoping to be healthy by Saturday so I can trek over to Grand Targhee (unless, of course, Snow King happens to open this weekend, in which case I'll save the money on gas and a lift ticket - my pass is anxiously awaiting its first use.)
We've had some bitter cold the past few days, but I'm not bitter, because it means ideal conditions for snowmaking. And the snowmakers have been hard at work this week. Ah, the excitement of early season. Now if I could just kick this cold.... not the weather, the illness.... sometimes double entendres come back around to bite you in the behind. sheesh. I'm sure this loopiness is a side effect of the antihistamines. Either way, i'm feeling very, very sleepy...
snow cycle Now Playing: shaun of the dead Topic: shred report
new snow: 9"
Didn't get an avy report today, but as of 2pm the plot was reading 9 inches. And me with the day off. Sitting on my @$$ watching movies. But my title today may have misled you, so allow me to elaborate. No, I'm not talking about mountain biking down a snow covered slope. Not like this guy:
That's a friend of mine who lives in Colorado. I wonder how much snow Telluride got? I received an email from Keystone letting me know they're open, and I had originally planned to be at Loveland this weekend, but financial choices caused me to cancel the trip I hadn't actually scheduled yet. But waaah anyway. would've been great timing. I'm sure I'll survive. but I digress. got distracted by the mention of Colorado.
What I meant by 'snow cycle' is the cycle of weather that appears to be settling into Jackson. Last weekend, it snowed. then it was calm through the week. now it's snowing again. This is fairly common around here. kinda sets the tone for the entire season. And since my days at the mountain are going to be friday through monday, I'm liking the 'snow on the weekends' pattern. Here's hoping we get another foot or two before tuesday!
Frost and fog Mood: cool Topic: shred report
new snow: 0"
No new snow, but a very thin, very opaque layer of frost on my windshield this morning. Not that it made a difference in visibility what with the fog obscuring anything more than a block away. At least it feels like winter.
Topic shift. Today is my father's birthday. Happy Birthday DAD! I don't know if you're reading this, but eventually I'm sure someone will see it (aka MOM) and tell you that I did actually remember.
Snow King still hasn't announced an opening day, but Targhee is opening in just one more week. Woo hoo! Not far now, papa smurf.
For those of you who didn't read the daily this morning, the season has claimed its first avalanche death. A skier in Colorado triggered a slide near Berthoud Pass. Please be careful. Even though avalanche danger is listed as low for the tetons right now, keep an eye out for terrain traps and unstable conditions (especially with today's warmer temperatures.) Wear a beacon and go with friends. Friends who also wear beacons and know how to use them. Friends with shovels. Be safe, and have an awesome season!
Now that's more like it! Mood: happy Topic: shred report
new snow: 10"
I'm just going with the avy report today. It looks like there was another inch or so since they measured it, but they also have a couple inches in there that I already counted yesterday. Either way, it's a decent amount of snow. Maybe soon there will be enough coverage to go hike something. Or at least build a little jump somewhere. I'm off this Wednesday so maybe I'll just have to plan a little adventure. (insert 5 minute interlude for daydream fantasy sequence here.) Ahhhh. It's nice to finally have snow.
getting there Mood: chillin' Topic: shred report
new snow (past 24 hours) 4" new snow (past 48 hours) 9" as of 7am on 11/05/05
Avalanche reports have started coming into my inbox. Since they report based on the 5am numbers, they called it 5 inches yesterday. we got 2 inches during the afternoon, which they reported today. we also got 2 inches so far since 5am - it's now 7:30. Just in case you're double checking my numbers. Of course, it's still coming down, so I'll probably be checking the webplots throughout the day. I get so antsy waiting for the resorts to open. Or maybe that's just the caffeine talking. Wait, I haven't had any caffeine yet today. That's what's missing!
7 inches and counting Mood: happy Topic: shred report
new snow: 7"
As of 2pm, 7 inches at RAYMER. I cleared about 2 inches off my car this morning - enough that it was too heavy for the windshield wipers to handle and I was forced to use a tool. I would have used a brush, but it was wedged underneath my spare tire and I couldn't get it out of the trunk. So I used my mini-shovel instead. lucky that was in the car.
It's been snowing on and off today, so hopefully we'll get some more accumulation soon. I know everyone (not least of all ME) is itching to hike some backcountry and get some early turns in. The weather report is calling for more snow, so maybe it will happen sooner than we think. wouldn't that be nice.
hit the floor Mood: don't ask Topic: couch potato commentary
woke up this morning to find that snow had finally hit the valley floor. JOY! almost didn't have to get up off the couch to take this:
figured it would be a great day. boy was I wrong. kicked it on the couch for a while playing video games and watching tv. finally decided to enter the ravnica release tourney on mtgo. lost miserably but had fun and got some cool cards. returned a video - pay attention because this is where it all went downhill. didn't need my wallet so I detached my house key from my keychain. i bet you can see where I'm going with this.
fast forward to 6pm. left the house for groceries. took my wallet and the attached keychain. left the house key - you guessed it - inside the house. what a nightmare. long story short - in jackson, if you stop a random stranger on the street and ask him to climb up to your balcony and break into your house, he's probably roommates with one of your friends. And if he finds someone else to do the climbing, chances are THAT person has a picture of your friend on his myspace profile. and if your friend is REALLY cool, he'll bring over a new doorknob and spend an hour installing it despite his raging migraine. Oh yeah, did I not mention that BEFORE enlisting the aid of random strangers I attempted to kick in the door and managed to complete the destruction I started the LAST time I locked myself out and tried to kick my way in. So the only way in was to completely remove the doorknob. Hmmm. I didn't really make that short, did I? anyway, thanks to everyone who helped me. you guys ROCK.
About freaking time Mood: celebratory Topic: skateboarding
Finally felt the progression last night at the Colosseum - more speed, finally nailed my fakie to rock on the bigger slant, went down the other side of it, and pumped about a third of the way around the bowl. woo hoo! had a weird twinge in my knee all evening and hoped it meant snow was on its way.
nothing new Mood: lazy Topic: couch potato commentary
ah. the joy of a day off. after working 2 jobs all summer, it's nice to have two entire days with nowhere to be and nothing to do. of course, that means i have nothing to report. well, except....
THEY'RE MAKING SNOW!
I know, this is not exactly a current event. I'm about a week late with this revelation. but it's been a while since my last post and i've been building things all over the web lately (in between episodes of Rome, CSI, yugioh, and everything else on my digital video recorder.) I've got links on the left of the page if you're curious what i've been building / joining / uploading. prsgrrl.com got a new facelift, as did my site here at tripod.
Bored? Board! Mood: energetic Topic: skateboarding
Had that itchy-twitchy-need-to-do-something agitation when I got off work today. It's the restlessness of off-season. Or possibly too much caffeine in my system. Most likely a little bit of both.
Spent some time getting to know my DVD recorder - it's not very intuitive, and I keep referring back to the instructions (a bit out of character for me, but if it solves the problem I'm not going to complain.) There are a bunch of buttons that change their function, depending on what you're trying to do, but they're similar to the function keys on a computer or switchboard, so it's easy to figure out which one you need to push. Assuming you know what you're trying to do. Eventually decided I needed to put the active in activity so I headed out to the Colosseum.
Skating is fun. It's nice to have the park to yourself, but it's also tiring when you just keep going and you don't have to wait for other people to finish their runs. I worked my way up to rolling in off the larger slant in the center, and tried to remember how to do a... ummm... frontside turn? I always get confused. I ride regular, and I'm talking about rotating counter-clockwise on a halfpipe wall. I know the correct terminology always seems backwards to what seems logical based on my body position. Hmmm. kinda like my dvd player.
---begin shameless promo here--- Incidentally, there's a huge benefit for the skate park on Thursday night out at Walk Festival Hall - premiering a movie and the proceeds go to the Colosseum. I'll be celebrating Yom Kippur so I won't be able to make it, but I wanted to make sure if anyone reads this in the next day or so, they know about the fundraiser. ---end shameless promo section---
Back at home, I decided that my body may have had enough skating, but my brain needed more. Oh the joy of PS2. But my virtual shred grrl is much more talented on her board than I am on mine. I bet it's the tattoo. Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that I entered straightedge on the cheat screen. How appropriate that I use that one... and what a clever play on words, I might add. What can I say - I'm a Libra - I require perfect balance.
cross training Mood: chillin' Topic: skateboarding
The clouds finally cleared today so I could take a nice picture of the snow line on snow king mountain.
Ahhhh. almost winter. stopped by the ill23 shop and said hi to the local snowboard creators - awesome people, awesome company. (see link on the menu bar to the left for details.)
8pm - got a call from a friend who wishes to remain nameless. he convinced me (and it wasn't a difficult challenge) to put down the ps2 controller and quit playing THUG2 to do some REAL skating. 5 minutes later I was off to the colosseum. (check out the link on the left for info on the skate park.) (shameless promo #2) my body remembers how to skate, even if my brain doesn't believe it. managed to remember the few tricks I acutally ever negotiated successfully so I was pretty content. I have proof but it's in the form of a video so I'm not going to put it here. Instead, I'm going to use this space to give my anonymous friend an excuse to tell people to check out my blog.
pretty thoughtful of him to clear the word "colosseum" (thus facilitating more shameless promotion.) and from this angle, you can almost believe it's possible for him to land it. you'd never know he slid down the ramp and his shoe went flying across the floor, would you? oh, right. i guess you would NOW.
seriously, though, I'm just happy to be back on a board.
Snow in Jackson Mood: celebratory Topic: snowboarding
I woke up this morning to a blanket of snow on my car. I guess I should have expected it given the snowy drive home from Idaho Falls last night. I watched the temperature change degree by degree as I ascended the pass. I suppose I should have been watching the ROAD, but that wasn't really an option with the blinding snow that pummelled my windshield. Dimming the headlights helped, but it was still slow going. Luckily my car is much better equipped to handle the weather than I am. Luckily the snow wasn't even sticking to the road because it was just barely 31 degrees. Luckily there wasn't that much traffic at 11pm.
Rewind 10 hours. It's 1pm yesterday and I'm stopping to take gaper shots at the snow line. Half the trees are evergreen. The other half are a lovely orangey color. And the ground is white. Take a look:
Convenient that they put a pullout just across the street from a "snow slide area no stopping or parking" sign. And yes, the little white blotches are actual snow falling while I was taking the picture. Just in case you were curious.
Fast forward 22 hours. present tense. not sure what the final accumulation was on the pass, but there's no sign of the sun anytime soon and the fact that snow made it to the valley bodes well. A couple more storms like this and the hardcore will be hiking the pass. Actually, the hardcore are probably up their destroying their equipment right now. I'm not reckless enough to go it solo, but if I find a cohort or two I'll be right there with them. Any volunteers?
In training Mood: energetic Topic: snowboarding
So I'm sure everyone has heard now that the tram is closing. Which is upsetting to a lot of people. Then there are the die hard locals who are laughing and smiling. More powder for the hikers. So I guess I better get on that right now.
Hiked up Snow King yesterday, just to ease the boredom. Beautiful clear day, and the leaves are starting to turn, so I took my camera.
I guess I'm not as inactive as I thought. I was tired, but it felt good, and there wasn't a point on my journey when I thought I might need to turn around and call it quits. Ah, the joy of reaching the summit just as the sun began to set.
hiked down and enjoyed a loveley evening of csi and alias. tram or no tram, i intend to be ready.
I smell snow Mood: on fire Topic: snowboarding
80 degrees and I'm walking down the street, not a cloud in the sky. I can feel it coming. winter. I can smell it in the air. anticipation. Then again, maybe sleep deprivation is causing hallucinations. Working double shifts all summer sure takes it out of you.
Got a lovely surprise in the mail today - PPLT prices for lift tickets this winter. That's the beauty of working in a hotel - they offer special package rates to your guests. Lift ticket prices went up - no big surprise there. Should be an interesting winter since they announced the closing of the tram. Not like I ever took it anyway, but it kept everyone else off the other lifts. As for me, I'm all about the hiking this year anyway. I think a lot of the locals are saying "great. more powder for the hardcore. less tourons stealing our freshies." or maybe those are just the voices in my head.
Either way, winter is on its way. not long now. here's hoping mother nature gifts me with snow before my birthday again this year.
The mountain was visible through a hazy curtain of snow this morning, with the full moon peering out through the clouds above like something out of a fairy tale. Yesterday's conditions were also legendary, with deep powder all over the mountain. When I got off the Gondola for my first run, I noticed that Headwall was open. I also noticed that there were no footprints on the bootpack leading up toward Casper Bowl. After and exhausting trailblazing effort, I found myself at the first entrance into the bowl, half buried in snow. Just the way I like it. Despite my early morning duties, I very rarely get first freshies, but floating through that untouched powder made me anxious to experience more. So a few lifts later I found myself hiking Pepi's Bench for a run down Headwall, which was also phenomenal. Of course, a few people had beaten me to the snow, but there were still plenty of lines available that hadn't already been poached. All in all, a fabulous day.
Gotta love spring break Mood: mischievious Topic: shred report
new snow: 10" conditions: powder
The weather channel didn't predict this. chance of snow showers, yes. ten inches of snow, no. (on top of nine inches that fell yesterday - sweet!) Of course, that's at the top. Mid got 5 and base got 1. So don't go all the way down. remember that.
Oh, did I forget to mention the 60 mph wind at the summit? sorry about that. 9:30 am the gondola had not yet opened. we hear the announcement: tram, down. sublette, down. thunder, down. Hmmm. guess I'm going to casper. thought about teewinot to a.v. instead of waiting for the gondola, but remembered where the accumulation fell and waited it out. didn't wait long.
Took the gondola to casper, because there really wasn't any other choice. Casper woods were fantastic. Not quite as fresh as they usually are, but certainly nothing to whine about. Had to stay light on my feet, though, because 3 weeks of no snow with 19 inches of powder is still sketchy if you don't watch what you're doing. Especially as you descend to lower elevations. Took a few crowded runs on casper, and heard the announcement that thunder was opening up. Thought about heading over there, but a light bulb appeared over my head. Hmmmm. what if i take another run here? wonder what the lift line will look like? hehehe. Lift line? what lift line? there were 3 people milling around at the bottom of the lift when I finished that run. righteous.
Eventually, I decided that enough time had passed to safely traverse over to thunder and not have too much of a crowd to contend with. Got into the singles line, and a strange thing happenned. I had already joined a party of 3 and was most of the way from the alternating ski lines gate to the lift, when one of the lifties shouted to the guy on the end of our group, and he was all "oh yeah, there's only 3 of us.... come with us..." even though I was obviously already lined up to go on the chair with them. derrrrr. anyway, the lift line traffic guide timidly asked me if I was solo, which should have been obvious due to the SINGLES LINE I had just emerged from. So the next group out of the gate only had 2 people. I moved back to join them, and the guy behind me in the singles line made it 4. OK. got that taken care of. didn't even have to jump out of the way of the chairlift.... hehehe.
Funny how fate steps in and takes care of things for you. I started talking with my new friend, who also thought the scene at the bottom was a bit ridiculous, and we wound up taking a run together. This kid RIPS! Say what you want about east coast college students on spring break, but he was way cool. We traversed over as far as possible under the bottom of expert chutes. The snow was phenomenal. As we traversed, I noticed the snow chunking out under us (not that I was all that keen on heading out of bounds anyway, but that pretty much quashed any hopes of headwall opening up.) Once we started down, though, it was smooth sailing. Totally fresh, totally floating. beautiful. Took another run with my east coast friend. His name was Fitz. Appropriate person to celebrate St. Patty's Day with, don't ya think? While riding up the lift and discussing which run to hit, we noticed that Sublette was moving. And there were people on it. Hmmmmm. 3 guesses where we went.
Cut through the trees down the southern facing slope. Since the wind had come (at 60 MPH) from the North all night, the snow was soft and light and deep. wheeee. cut under sublette to the moguly jumps. Got to the bottom and low and behold, ran into Fitz's Dad. Coolness. Took a run with him (even though he was on skis) through Bivouac woods. more great snow (although a little sketchier than I prefer, probably should have cut in a little farther down.) Took another run with both of them, cutting into Tensleep this time. Papa Fitz was heading to the bottom to meet a friend, so we tucked and made it across the evil flat at the bottom of Tensleep bowl. Traversing into the Cirque, we didn't go far. The snow beneath us was virtually untouched. We couldn't resist. And it's a good thing we didn't. That was probably the best run I took all day. deep, steep, and fresh. what more can you ask? How about a cool cat to ride with.... oh, yeah, had that too!
Took a few more runs on thunder and decided to call it a day. Thought about hitting the lower faces, but Fitz had seen them on the way up and they looked sketchy. As I traversed around past Dick's Ditch, I saw what he meant. yikes. continued over to gros ventre and passed the mid-mountain mark. night and day. the lower faces redefined crap. Definitely not what I would call spring snow (which was what I expected with 40 degree weather at the base.) Oh, no. This was loose granular at best. aka crap. unbelievable crap. Not that I care after such a phenomenal day, it was just a shock.
Chilled out in the VC with my new found friend. He decided to head back out until the lifts closed for the day. Of course, when I met up with him, that was his second run of the day, so I was just a wee bit more tired (not to mention the effects of my cumulative lack of sleep.) If you're reading this Fitz, I'm glad I met you and I hope our paths cross again someday. If not, have a nice life, and may you be blessed with many powder turns and face shots. L8r.
mischievious
caffeinated
energetic
down
cool
accident prone
happy
chillin'
happy
don't ask
celebratory
lazy
on fire