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
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