Steep and Deep: The Snow Skiing/Boarding Thread

[Surfah]

This looks amazing,

[YOUTUBE]kh29_SERH0Y[/YOUTUBE]

My sister and brother-in-law gave me this video for Christmas. It is sick.

[TripletDaddy]

:rockon2:

deets?

[hostile]

deets?

Sorry for the delay - all day on the mountain followed by a bball game for my oldest and then work for a bit.

Best day of the season. Several new inches of snow at Snowbird - not enough to cover everything or open up all runs (Road to Provo, Mineral Basin still closed) but enough to open some new lines through the trees off Gad 2 and make Great Scott less harrowing. It also allowed for some bomber runs down the previously groomed trails - top of the Tram down Regulator was fun. My ski app says my fastest speed was a bit over 50 mph. I have no idea how accurate that is.

I spent the entire day with my wife and oldest (11). The younger three were in lessons. Not very many crowds - never stood in line longer than a few minutes. Getting down the canyon was a bit slow at the end of the day. It was still snowing when we left - hopefully there is more on the horizon.

[TripletDaddy]

Sounds awesome. I'm jealous. Was your trip today planned or was it spontaneous as a result of the new snow? I woke up this morning entirely surprised by coverage all over my 'hood. I'm hopeful we will see more of that later this week. Do you have season passes at Snowbird? You seem to go there a bit. I need to make it up to Alta as well but right now, hate to say it but I think Big has more coverage than Little. I might be hanging at Brighton a little longer until we get some real storms.

How were the temps up the canyon? It was very cold outside today and windy at times.

[Surfah]

Taken on Monday at the very same spot, right near the top of the lift. What a difference a year makes

That's where this picture was taken as well. It makes me sad to see no snow there.

[hostile]

Sounds awesome. I'm jealous. Was your trip today planned or was it spontaneous as a result of the new snow? I woke up this morning entirely surprised by coverage all over my 'hood. I'm hopeful we will see more of that later this week. Do you have season passes at Snowbird? You seem to go there a bit. I need to make it up to Alta as well but right now, hate to say it but I think Big has more coverage than Little. I might be hanging at Brighton a little longer until we get some real storms.

How were the temps up the canyon? It was very cold outside today and windy at times.

Our three youngest are in lessons for 5 Saturdays so we were going regardless. The new snow was a bonus; seems like all the good storms hit on Sunday. We have season passes at Snowbird. Their family-4 pass meets our family ages perfectly and the cost breaks even at about 8 days of skiing.

Temp was fine -low 20's at Peruvian base and low wind. I basically wore a base layer with a fleece vest and shell and was comfy. The new snow makes you work a bit harder as well.

[TripletDaddy]

So speaking of shells and layers, a quick detour to talk about gear. I am looking at getting a new layering system going this season and have been giving some extra attention to The North Face triclimate line of jackets. There are several different styles within the triclimate line.

I like North Face gear.....good quality and it keeps me warm and dry (pricey but I guess you get what you pay for) but I have only had North Face shells or fleece or puffy down...never a jacket designed to be a full layering system.

The triclimate appeals to me because it has the zip out liner making it pretty versatile the entire season, even once Spring rolls around. My concern is that with the liner in the coat might actually be TOO hot. I would probably only wear the liner on the coldest of days, and even then probably rarely. Does anyone use a triclimate North Face? Any opinions?

I'm looking at the Vortex. I thought the drummer blue color was cool. Feedback?





A pic with a model!



And just in case, there is a pic with the jacket completely inside out

[hostile]

I like North Face but I haven't ever used an entire layering system. They stand behind their products. The body of their jackets/shells is a bit too short for my stature.

For the last 5 years I've been wearing the Arc'Teryx Theta SV bib.



It has held up well - no rips/tears or seam failure. I realize Arc'Teryx is pricey but if it lasts I'm OK spending the money. I also like that it comes in a Tall size.

This year I upgraded to a new shell. Arc'Teryx as well.



In today's storm I was completely dry.

[TripletDaddy]

It has held up well - no rips/tears or seam failure. I realize Arc'Teryx is pricey but if it lasts I'm OK spending the money. I also like that it comes in a Tall size.

This year I upgraded to a new shell. Arc'Teryx as well.



In today's storm I was completely dry.

That shell looks pretty bad-a**. The face guard coupled with some dark polarized goggles and helmet and I would look like a ninja or an assassin. The material almost looks like neoprene. What is the fold in the forearm sleeve for?

Like you, I've never done an entire layering system. I have basically been a shell guy, as well.

[hostile]

That shell looks pretty bad-a**. The face guard coupled with some dark polarized goggles and helmet and I would look like a ninja or an assassin. The material almost looks like neoprene. What is the fold in the forearm sleeve for?

Like you, I've never done an entire layering system. I have basically been a shell guy, as well.

The material is Gore-Tex pro. The sleeve fold is probably due to the cuff being fastened without an arm inside. I've never noticed it when I wear it.

[TripletDaddy]

Fun day today with 1/3 Puffy. Took one up to Brighton for ski school class not knowing how she would like it. turns out she loved it. Great day to be up there, too. Warm, sunny, not too crowded.

Her class was from 10-12:30. I was just hoping that she wouldn't be crying or upset when I picked her up at the end of the class. Instead, she loved the experience. I let her decide where to go and what to do because I wanted her to have a positive experience. She wound up forcing us to stay until 4PM. I was really impressed. She started on the Explorer lift but soon graduated to Majestic. We stayed on greens the whole time but this was her very first day on skis so i thought she did great.

Best of all, she came home and really got the 2/3 Puffies pumped for their turns. I need to take advantage of this free skiing at Brighton as much as I can this season before the kids turn 8.

Since I had no idea how much skiing I was going to get in myself, I bought one of those limited areas passes (explorer and majestic) for $35. Turns out to be a pretty good deal. Terrain is pretty mild but great for a day with little kids. I spent my day on Majestic. I found a great little gem.....a short series of two areas with decent sized bumps that are mostly untouched. I guess since it is mostly a green/blue chair, the bumps aren't alluring to the general clientele. I don't even know what the runs are called but at the top of Majestic, instead of skiing hard to the left, just ski a little more towards the right of hard left. The wide open area merges with another large run. At the merge point, you will find a relatively narrow and obscured chute that isn't marked with any trailhead. The chute is crossed by some sort of snowmobile path and then the second chute continues below. The lines were fantastic and the bumps were just the right size. It wasn't overly steep, which I prefer because it isnt as hard on the knees. It was steep enough to get a good rhythm going though. I skied that thing over and over for 2.5 hours while waiting for my daughter to finish and I think most times I was the only one there. It is a nice little find if you are looking for a little tiny challenge but cant make your way up to GW or Crest.

There was some huge contest/event today at the terrain park so I was able to watch some great tricks and stunts as I rode up Majestic over and over. I'm tempted to try one of the smaller rails but I wish they werent right under the chair

One interesting thing.....saw some dude while I was on the chair...right below me with a totally mangled arm. You could tell that it was broken because the arm was bent into all sorts of weirdness. As "luck" would have it, the lift stopped right as I was right over him. I guess someone had trouble getting on or off the chair. The snowmobile medical guy had just arrived and the guy had bent his arm back. I took a pic of him laying there. Pic is a let down, doesnt show any mangle-ness.

[TripletDaddy]

Question for skiers......I'm trying to focus on my mogul technique this season and in reading up, I'm quickly learning how little I really know about proper mogul technique. Of the four main techniques for mogul skiing (zipper, trough, green line, blue line), I am a combo....trough and/or blue line. It is clear to me that I have never been a zipper line mogul skier, even in my wildest college days. And the green line technique sounds foreign to me.

As I have mentioned before, I prefer a gradual slope when skiing bumps. I'm not a huge fan of carved up double diamond moguls that are about 5 feet high between the troughs. I'm just not good enough to enjoy skiing those all day. And for anyone that has watched the winter olympics, you know how incredibly hard on the knees a zipper line technique would be on anyone. Speaking of zipper, I don't think I have ever zippered moguls a single time. I never bounce off the top of the mogul, ever. You have to be going super fast to keep that up and I've never done it.

I find that skiing blue line suits my style. It allows for me to make wider turns from the flat top of the mogul down to the next flat top. I can also get into a nice rhythm and hit 10 or 12 bumps in a row. That is a great feeling. If Im mostly all the way through a run and have maybe 5 or 6 turns left. I might stop at the flat top of a mogul and then trough it down quickly through the final 5 or 6 turns before I finish. It is fun to feel the speed rush but it ends quick enough that I don't have enough time to get myself into trouble going too fast.

For those that might be unfamiliar, here are a couple of videos that explain pretty simply the difference between green line and blue line:

[YOUTUBE]Xb4G2xNyHlY[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]WQU3uTueeF8[/YOUTUBE]

I'm hoping we can still see some good pow days because skiing bumps on ice isn't half as fun as having a built in cushion all the way down.

Has anyone else here given some time and effort to improving mogul technique? What is your mogul ski style? I welcome input from skiers of all levels. Lost Student, hostile......looking at you two especially. help a brother out!

[Shaka]

I do not ski bumps any more but that's all I did back in my heyday. I skied a zipper and you're right, it's a lot of pounding and not the best for us oldsters. If I were to take up bump skiing again I'd probably use a blue/green hybrid. I can't really imagine going with the blue technique only.

The only advice I have to give is that you need ski bumps with at least some aggression no matter what technique you're using.

[TripletDaddy]

I do not ski bumps any more but that's all I did back in my heyday. I skied a zipper and you're right, it's a lot of pounding and not the best for us oldsters. If I were to take up bump skiing again I'd probably use a blue/green hybrid. I can't really imagine going with the blue technique only.

The only advice I have to give is that you need ski bumps with at least some aggression no matter what technique you're using.

Interesting. what makes you say that about blue line? I have skied that way for as long as I can remember, I just didn't know it had a name.

Perhaps I am imagining it incorrectly, but green line sounds counter intuitive to me. It seems that you actually have to be turning much faster since you are skiing down the ridge lines of consecutive moguls that are all in the same line. With the blue technique, you are able to make wider turns. While you have to cross the trough, you are in essence touching moguls in 3 adjacent lines as you turn right and left on your way down.....the main line, the right line and the left line.

I suppose I have used the green line technique, as well. Probably more often than I realize. But if I were to teach someone, I would probably start with blue line, not green line.

Since you are no longer a bump guy, what do you do these days? Groomed? I'm not knocking it, btw. With each passing season, I am finding increasing joy in a lazy corduroy day. I also find that I am taking longer and longer for lunch. In college, a lift ticket was a substantial investment. It cost way too much to w.a.s.t.e. any time inside sitting down eating food. Plus I had no money. So we would ski all day and then afterward we would hit some local cheap place and devour 20 tacos or something like that. Now I get up the mountain, ski for a couple of hours, go sit in the lodge and eat some lunch, rest for awhile, then head back out for a couple of hours. Much more enjoyable!

Another stylistic change I have made.....again, in college, we would ski hard until the very last run. That meant that we would get as far up the mountain as we could before 4PM, even if that meant getting on the lift at 3:59. Problem is that by that point, we were exhausted and were only trying to prolong the ski day because we wanted our money's worth. Inevitably, the last run of the day was usually substandard....lousy form, tired legs, cold, hungry, etc. And it took forever because we were at the top of the hill. These days, I stop when i think I have one more run in me. And it has been a great change. Now I never have a bad run. I always go home wanting a little more, but I never finish the day annoyed because I had a lousy run at the end.

We need more people to talk about their skiing or boarding. this is fun!

[Shaka]

You stated the reason I probably couldn't use solely the blue. The turns are too wide. I'm simply not used to making those types of turns in bumps and I think I'd have trouble picking up the technique.

One of the reason's I don't ski bumps is my weight and multiple knee surgeries. You've met me and know I'm not puny. Now that the issues with my left leg are resolved I'm working on getting down to a more workable weight. These days I'll ski anything but bumps. When I finally get up there this year groomers will be the order of the day. If my legs prove strong enough I'll try some other stuff out. If there are freshies then maybe I'll ski some powder or even a little crud. I also look forward to taking my snowboard out on a powder day.

My attitude towards skiing has evolved over the years. I had the same attitudes as you at the same ages. These days it's all about being up in the mountains, enjoying the view and clean air, and meeting new people. I'm not in a rush, I don't care about getting twenty runs in, and I want to enjoy a nice meal for lunch and chill. I sort of consider myself the snow version of a soul surfer. I ski because it's something I've done since I was four and it's completely ingrained into my person. If my body lets me I'll be skiing into my seventies just like my father.

A word of caution. Getting in that, "last run" of the day isn't the greatest idea. The last run is when the injuries happen. It's much better to pack it in a little early then get hauled down the mountain on a sled. I did not come up with this nugget of wisdom. It was shared with me by a physical therapist at TOSH (they handle the US Ski Team) when I was rehabing an ACL surgery.