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View Full Version : South Opening Day - 12/10/05



Strat
12-10-2005, 02:23 PM
Date(s) Skied:
Saturday, December 10th 2005.

Conditions:
Ungroomed: POWDER! At least early in the morning... got tracked out, moved to thin cover/questionable surface later. Groomed: Nice groomed surface. A bit of crust mixed in from what appears to be melted and then refrozen manmade, but nothing death-cookie sized.

Trip Report:
Arrived for first Super Bravo chair (though may have been 3rd or 4th, or later). Right at 8 am at least. Bombarded with snowguns from Lower Birdland, but Murphy's was going off! Only a few tracks from patrol, looked awesome. A few coming down it as I was going up, but not too many. Off the lift, and right on - WHOA! First real pow I've been on in since exactly 2 years ago (Dec 6 - 7 03, when we had the multiple 2 foot dumps). Deep, steep, and gloooorrriuuss..... smiles all around. Except my sister of course, who weighs so little that there's not enough force of gravity to propel her through the pow - plus she lacked experience. She was a good sport though.

A few more powlicious runs on Murphy's before it got too chopped and thin to go anymore. People were still bombing it at 9:30 like it was pow but the soft bumps were throwing them every which way. Kinda funny to watch.

Moved on to Heaven's Gate after the few Murphy's runs. This is about ten after 9, so early birds up there too. Deathspout on the way there was actually delightful; groomed nicely, only a bit of crust, nice little pow shoots on the side... lacking the 3 things that make it terrible midseason: icy bumps, boilerplate, and crowds. Lift ride was very foggy, but the tracks on Lower Ripcord were clear; Spillsville had just been opened and Lower Ripcord was pow-filled. As we got closer to the top and were able to see Spillsville, it was clear that it would not be a good choice for the day - was already tracked out and thin cover; Ripcord looked enticing but figured it wasn't worth it (my sister was deadset against it as well). Organgrinder was filled with fog, and my sister wanted to hit Jester, so we moved in that direction. It was postively wonderful... groomed to surface (at least to maybe the 4th switchback from the end) was soft and smooth and awesome, no crunch to be found. Groomed to perfection. The soft on the sides was wonderful as well. Had a nasty run-in with one of the bigger spruces lower down (crunched my spine a bit, but I'm okay). Arrived at the bottom of Jester to find the connector piece of Jester that runs between the start of Allyn's and the 3 right turns to Domino, Lower Jester, and Organgrinder before Downspout ungroomed and filled with about 5 inches of pow - not enough to hold you back in the flat, but enough to be excellent.

Proceeded to do a few more laps on Jester. On the 3rd or 4th, came down to find a massive crowd in line for Heaven's Gate. Decided to continue down Lower Downspout, which was quite nice, some easily accessible pow on the sides. All untracked too; I can't understand why no one else besides me was hitting those stashes on the sides, on all trails; they were completely danger free (except those spruces on Jester)... I did have a bit of a spill on Lower Downspout coming off one, but fell into pow, so I was fine. Noticed on the way down Lower Downspout that Lower Domino looked excellent; pow-filled and very few tracks. Was wondering why it wasn't open; by later in the day it had been poached many, many times, so many clearly shared my idea.

Back down on Super Bravo, took Domino to Organgrinder, just bombed through and down. Saw the tracks of someone who had gone through the permanently-closed section of Organgrinder; actually saw the guy do it when I was on Bravo many runs earlier; looked like he had a good time though. Back to my run, Organgrinder was quite nice, much pow on the sides, popping over the little bumps (when I could of course, there were legions of skiers parked on top of the headwalls. Why in God's name do people do that?!?! Grr... you never see snowboarders standing for 10 minutes in the middle of trail, shooting the breeze. :x Saw a few guys standing up at the top of Jester doing it too; they weren't in the middle of the trail, but they were right in the way of anyone trying to get onto Jester. Skiers of course. Gah, what am I gonna do, they're allowed to come to the mountain too; just be nice if they wisened up a little bit. One thing I noticed too; in the big rush that started with the Heaven's Gate crowd, 95% were skiers. All the snowboarders from the morning (was probably 70/30 then) must've gone to North or something. Hwhatever.

Anyway, after the Organgrinder run, came back up, took Livespout to Heaven's Gate for one more run (figured it would be less crowded and it was). Took Jester down, was thinking of taking Lower Jester all the way but had the bright idea of taking Livespout to lower Livespout, figuring it would be uncrowded because all of the people on that side of the mountain were going up Heaven's Gate. Boy was I wrong. MINIBEARS! Got cut off twice, cut this little kid off once (he screamed quite loud... now I know the downhill skier has the right of way, but if I'm going pretty much straight down the mountain, minding my own business and making no sudden movements, isn't it his responsibility to be aware of those uphill of him if he's heading directly across the trail???)
Anyway, after the minibear fiasco, had a pretty nice run proceeding down Lower Downspout, to a bomb down the bottom of Organgrinder to Gondolier; so much fun to absolutely bomb that section, hop over the little lips and positively fly... alas, it was time to go. I'd kinda had enough anyway; never actually done the early morning thing before, was kinda tired, and a bit sick of the crowds, and the pow was gone. Overall though, positively excellent day; helped out also by brand new snowboard of course, didn't mention that yet; my first ever wide board for my size 12 feet, so way more stability, and a step up to high-end bindings... excellent... great day, looking forward to more of South opening, and our next big dump. :wink:

Did you read all that? :D

ski_resort_observer
12-10-2005, 04:03 PM
What a great report! What about the parking? Was what is left of the main lot full? Did you have a sense that most were having a good day? Did you hear any complaints about limited terrain? Thanks again for a great report. :D

Strat
12-10-2005, 04:47 PM
Glad you liked the report, first one I've done - thought I might run out of things to say, but it just kept going! Now onto the questions. Parking lot is pretty much the same as before, minus the hotel and temp village areas - village by the way looks excellent, they did an amazing job - new stairway out of the parking lot is LONG, but definitely the best setup. Hotel has really gone up since the last time I was there too... towers over the base area, but isn't seeming terribly intruding. Parking-wise, there is a new pickup/dropoff area just in front of (to the east of) the temp village; some nice rocks to sit on too. Existing regular lot was packed (wasn't really paying attention though). Definitely a good day being had by all though, especially earlier in the morning. Didn't hear much about limited terrain, probably because South feels so darn big - well, at least a lot bigger than North. 8)

Tin Woodsman
12-11-2005, 02:00 PM
Boy was I wrong. MINIBEARS! Got cut off twice, cut this little kid off once (he screamed quite loud... now I know the downhill skier has the right of way, but if I'm going pretty much straight down the mountain, minding my own business and making no sudden movements, isn't it his responsibility to be aware of those uphill of him if he's heading directly across the trail???)

Actually, uh, no. Not at all. It is 100% the responsibiity of the uphill skier/rider to make sure he or she doesn't run into those downhill of them. In the situation described above, you were going to fast given the numbers and ages of the skiers involved below you. It's really not even a question.

Strat
12-11-2005, 03:49 PM
Boy was I wrong. MINIBEARS! Got cut off twice, cut this little kid off once (he screamed quite loud... now I know the downhill skier has the right of way, but if I'm going pretty much straight down the mountain, minding my own business and making no sudden movements, isn't it his responsibility to be aware of those uphill of him if he's heading directly across the trail???)

Actually, uh, no. Not at all. It is 100% the responsibiity of the uphill skier/rider to make sure he or she doesn't run into those downhill of them. In the situation described above, you were going to fast given the numbers and ages of the skiers involved below you. It's really not even a question.

I know the downhill skier always has the right of way. And I know children are unpredictable. But I'm not typically an @$$hole on the slopes, and I was doing my best to avoid this legion of little 'uns to give them the right amount of space... it just happened I planned wrong. I was going fast in this effort to avoid getting stuck and being a further annoyance to the group. I was pretty sure I was aware of the location of most of the group, and in making an effort to keep a straight path and not make any sudden movements, I wasn't turning my head around in all directions to verify my assumptions.

I mean, I know I always (at least 95% of the time) check uphill before traversing or substantially changing direction on any trail. I understand that little kids aren't going to have the mental capacity to be doing these necessary checks, but doesn't it seem that they should be taught this sort of thing before hitting the slopes? Maybe the instructors are training them in this area, and they're just not getting it, I don't know... I just don't consider myself completely at fault in this situation. Maybe I was going a bit too fast, but I had no intention in doing so then ensuring the safety and security of those around me.

smootharc
12-12-2005, 08:03 AM
Boy was I wrong. MINIBEARS! Got cut off twice, cut this little kid off once (he screamed quite loud... now I know the downhill skier has the right of way, but if I'm going pretty much straight down the mountain, minding my own business and making no sudden movements, isn't it his responsibility to be aware of those uphill of him if he's heading directly across the trail???)

Actually, uh, no. Not at all. It is 100% the responsibiity of the uphill skier/rider to make sure he or she doesn't run into those downhill of them. In the situation described above, you were going to fast given the numbers and ages of the skiers involved below you. It's really not even a question.

I know the downhill skier always has the right of way. And I know children are unpredictable, etc...

And it got "spirited", to say the least. Tough to control things on the slopes. Easy in principal (on paper), much harder in person....

I've found that as I age, I try to perform the skier's responsibility code to the best of my ability.....and to the best of your/him/her/their abilities, too. I've even been the old grump who reminds the truly clueless/reckless about their responsibilities. Actually feels pretty good. Perhaps best of all is doing this in a large lift line, having the offender "talk back", and then loudly dressing him/her down with some specifics of their actions as other grizzled vets nod, chirp up in aggreement with me, and we converge, along with concerned parents of young skiers, on the idiot with snowballs and legal administration of polypro wedgies.... :lol:

Nice trip report, btw.

Tin Woodsman
12-12-2005, 10:10 AM
It can be tough with large groups of children who aren't looking where they go while snaking across the entire trail. I tend to simply slow down enough that I can slowly glide by and make directional adjustments as necessary. I'm surely no angel, especially on a powder day, but I tend to give the clueless and especially wide berth.

Strat
12-12-2005, 05:50 PM
Smootharc - If the offender is truly out of line, I can see that as warranted, but far too often, an innocent snowboarder gets targeted because he made a small mistake in his direction, and then gets reprimanded... always bothers me to see that... but alright, fair enough... thanks for the compliment on the report.

Tin - Glad you're kinda on the same page. Your method sounds good, and I tend to do similar, at least when available. Well, what's done is done, and no one got hurt, so I guess we're okay.

Lostone
12-12-2005, 08:27 PM
Great report and glad you had a good time. :)


Had a nasty run-in with one of the bigger spruces lower down And you called me a tree hugger? :? :roll:

:lol:

And as for Murphy's, I was on play time from 12:00 to 1:00 and snuck in two runs down it. There was a lot of scratch and a lot of bumps, but the snow was still really nice. Sorry I missed Spillsville, but didn't have the time to go up Heaven's Gate, with that traffic.

smootharc
12-13-2005, 08:34 AM
Smootharc - If the offender is truly out of line, I can see that as warranted, but far too often, an innocent snowboarder gets targeted because he made a small mistake in his direction, and then gets reprimanded... always bothers me to see that... but alright, fair enough... thanks for the compliment on the report.

....at least from this guy. I didn't even know who was on skis or boards....

Remembering one of my first great faux-pas of a season about 15 years ago....Mount Snow opened early, I was blasting my first run of the season, coming up on this older guy just minding his business, making turns. I roared up behind and to his left, and yelled "On your right", and then I blasted by on his left. I stopped at a knoll about a hundred yards down, and he skied up and stopped. I laughed, and sheepishly said "Your other right", and he said "I kind of heard you on my left, and figured I'd just keep on going straight". We had a darn good chuckle....

Strat
12-13-2005, 03:47 PM
Great report and glad you had a good time. :)

[quote]Had a nasty run-in with one of the bigger spruces lower down And you called me a tree hugger? :? :roll:

:lol:

[quote]

Hehehe... 8)

Smootharc, nice story...