*** Official Snow Surfing Thread ***

crustBrother

Kelly Slater status
Apr 23, 2001
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Hell yeah. Wolf Creek has been on my radar for a long time but haven't got over there. So much more snow than most places in Colorado. And even better to hear that they are fighting the corporate takeover. It also looks like their ticket prices aren't retardedly expensive like other mountains.

The corporate monopolization and overdevelopment of all these mountains (and America in general) really needs to end, preferably at the business end of an avalanche cannon.
You are singing my song, Kento! Ski Wolf creek all day, soak in Pagosa Springs all evening, repeat ad nauseum. Sounds like heaven to me, though I have never done it. I would be all over it but my budget and geographical location has me getting a season pass at another little hill that is very nicely off the mainstream radar. This year we are planning on snow camping to save money on lodging and therefore get MORE DAYS OF SKIING. Gonna be EPIC!!!

 
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Kento

Duke status
Jan 11, 2002
68,684
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The Bar
You are singing my song, Kento! Ski Wolf creek all day, soak in Pagosa Springs all evening, repeat ad nauseum. Sounds like heaven to me, though I have never done it. I would be all over it but my budget and geographical location has me getting a season pass at another little hill that is very nicely off the mainstream radar. This year we are planning on snow camping to save money on lodging and therefore get MORE DAYS OF SKIING. Gonna be EPIC!!!
While #beachvanlife is annoying as hell, oh man, would it be great to see the foo-foo resorts like Squaw, Aspen, Deer Valley, etc. get absolutely descended on and overtaken by the most dirtbag of van lifers (yes, worse than the Live Life Taste Death guy from Ski Patrol). :jamon:

Yep, I think people forget that the actual terrain on the mountain is what you are there for.

Pack your own lunch to eat on the lift, bring a sixer (or 12er) in the morning up the lift with you and stash the cans in various places on the mountain (mark them well with something that won't blow away but isn't obvious either). I used to do that at Hemlock on Mammoth, six cans on top means you're hiking it 6 times and enjoying a proper coldie between hiking and dropping in.
 
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Chocki

Phil Edwards status
Feb 18, 2007
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Planet Earth
You are singing my song, Kento! Ski Wolf creek all day, soak in Pagosa Springs all evening, repeat ad nauseum. Sounds like heaven to me, though I have never done it. I would be all over it but my budget and geographical location has me getting a season pass at another little hill that is very nicely off the mainstream radar. This year we are planning on snow camping to save money on lodging and therefore get MORE DAYS OF SKIING. Gonna be EPIC!!!

If I was younger I’d be all over winter camping again especially if there’s snow caves/igloos and snow bunnies involved. Staying in Pagosa Springs means getting shut out way more often and I believe for longer than South Fork when the pass is closed…

Fully stocked to check out Silverton some day but only when ready lol. Looks like an easy place to get in over your head.
This was the place I dreamt of as a younger man and plan on finally making a pilgrimage to:

 
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$kully

Duke status
Feb 27, 2009
60,006
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You know what I miss?

That anxious restless night of sleep when you know it's nuking outside and you're gonna score in the morning. I sleep like a champ almost every night of the year. It's one of my great gifts. But I can never sleep when it's dumping and all my gear is ready to go.
 

$kully

Duke status
Feb 27, 2009
60,006
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After this series of rain, the fire danger should be low enough to use chainsaws at my local ski mtn. I am volunteering to drop trees in order to open up tight spots - in exchange for our pa$$es and RV $pot.

Yyyyeeeewwww!!!!

How's the wife, she back at 100% and frothing for snow?
 

Random Guy

Duke status
Jan 16, 2002
32,005
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Totally. When I was younger and lucky to get 3 ski days a year the concept of the lunch break seemed utterly insane to me.

Now that I'm 52 and shooting for 30 days, a half hour break to rest, eat, and hydrate is starting to really make sense to me.
I’m only shooting for 10 days
most on the east coast
utah days are generally pee breaks only
except white out days - I had to take a few mental decompression breaks cuz I wa s freaking out
 

crustBrother

Kelly Slater status
Apr 23, 2001
9,084
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utah days are generally pee breaks only
i'm using covid as an excuse to pee in the trees this season - allegedly to do my part in reducing the lodge crowd and corresponding covid transmission risk - but really just because i like to pee in the trees
 

Chocki

Phil Edwards status
Feb 18, 2007
6,354
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Planet Earth
This could be a pretty epic covid ski destination.....


JK about the meadow skipping, but not about hipsters lol. Price is right and I’m all for not screwing around with Avalanches ala you will never see me in the backcountry.

 

afoaf

Duke status
Jun 25, 2008
49,204
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who DOESN"T pee in the trees and have we checked under their (powder) skirt to verify yet?
 
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92122

Michael Peterson status
Jul 29, 2015
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Since we got screwed out of the 2020 season early, I updated the thread title to encompass 2021. :geek:

Keep it coming!

 
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Kento

Duke status
Jan 11, 2002
68,684
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Hell yeah. The hike in and the hike out may suck but that is all worth it to be bombing that first tracks.
 

Kento

Duke status
Jan 11, 2002
68,684
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I like it best when you can ride the wind to the top of Daves and score free refills of windbuff all day.
It's like one of the few times in existence that south winds are favorable for something. Will load up and reload the mid to bottom with "powder" by time you get back around. Hemlock (easily my favorite run there) is notorious for that. I just couldn't stop going back for more - record of 13 runs on it in one day; it was just too good. Breaking trail on that can kind of suck though.

I know how to troll Bob out of lurking: of all the mountains I've been to (a fair amount; nothing crazy), the best run to this day and it doesn't come close is Canis Lupis at the Canyons in Utah. It's like Hot Wheels Gully at Alpine x50. My quads burn at the thought. I have to consciously do other runs earlier in the day because once I get over on that side of the mountain, the day is done. It's the only run I'll do because it's just that good why would you deviate?

BTW, inside knowledge, a cheap trick to getting first tracks at top of Mammoth is when 23 opens after Gondola 2. Screw torn-up Climax. Hustle by bombing roadrunner and then hike/run remainder to top of 23 before the first people on that lift get to the top. Nothing better that the line of stinkeyes as you bomb Dropout while first people on lift are 6 chairs from top. Save the Flats (P3 and P4 to be precise) for run two.

Fuck I need to go boarding. And I need to find a way to do Mammoth for cheap, i.e., not with family (that'll turn it from $150 to $2K). Get hall pass, for midweek day trip perhaps, put kids in bed, take nap, leave at 9, get there at 2, sleep in town a few hours, ride the day, and then return, get home by 8? I think that can be done. :unsure:
 

studog

Duke status
Jan 15, 2003
35,863
637
113
CA
It's like one of the few times in existence that south winds are favorable for something. Will load up and reload the mid to bottom with "powder" by time you get back around. Hemlock (easily my favorite run there) is notorious for that. I just couldn't stop going back for more - record of 13 runs on it in one day; it was just too good. Breaking trail on that can kind of suck though.

I know how to troll Bob out of lurking: of all the mountains I've been to (a fair amount; nothing crazy), the best run to this day and it doesn't come close is Canis Lupis at the Canyons in Utah. It's like Hot Wheels Gully at Alpine x50. My quads burn at the thought. I have to consciously do other runs earlier in the day because once I get over on that side of the mountain, the day is done. It's the only run I'll do because it's just that good why would you deviate?

BTW, inside knowledge, a cheap trick to getting first tracks at top of Mammoth is when 23 opens after Gondola 2. Screw torn-up Climax. Hustle by bombing roadrunner and then hike/run remainder to top of 23 before the first people on that lift get to the top. Nothing better that the line of stinkeyes as you bomb Dropout while first people on lift are 6 chairs from top. Save the Flats (P3 and P4 to be precise) for run two.

fook I need to go boarding. And I need to find a way to do Mammoth for cheap, i.e., not with family (that'll turn it from $150 to $2K). Get hall pass, for midweek day trip perhaps, put kids in bed, take nap, leave at 9, get there at 2, sleep in town a few hours, ride the day, and then return, get home by 8? I think that can be done. :unsure:

ain't cheap anymore in mammoth. they're even running out of housing for people working on the mountain and in town. friends that own a house up there said they got an email from the city asking it people could house workers in any spare bedroom they have.

as far as windblown, best was Chair 5 when they groom a strip right under the lift line. then it had blown there and was just doing big turns all the way down throwing spray. Off Chair 9 towards 5 is a good section for wind blown too.
 

Kento

Duke status
Jan 11, 2002
68,684
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The Bar
ain't cheap anymore in mammoth. they're even running out of housing for people working on the mountain and in town. friends that own a house up there said they got an email from the city asking it people could house workers in any spare bedroom they have.

as far as windblown, best was Chair 5 when they groom a strip right under the lift line. then it had blown there and was just doing big turns all the way down throwing spray. Off Chair 9 towards 5 is a good section for wind blown too.
Sucks about the workers getting hosed; no surprise given what everything costs. Aspenization of America sucks; the only people it benefits are the kooks that are there to be seen and Instagrammed. I mean, I could really GAF about whatever panini cafe they have or whatever. I just want to ride, grab a pizza from Nik n Willies, and 12er and crash. Not like there are casinos there. Anyways, yeah, that's why I am considering the midweek day trip strike. Bypass the whole hotel issue.

Oh and by the way if we are talking about Mammoth, everyone should Live Life Like Lloyd. Heartbreaker about him dying; more SWD than erBB but that guy was awesome.

You know what some of the best powder stashes are? The ones that stay clear until mid-afternoons? The ones on the side of the parks. Chair 4 in particular. Springtime; the stretch between 22 and 25 is all slushy windlips with gaps from a few feet to, uh, that's not a good idea distance. Hit that in the morning, then meander towards backside for afternoon. Never touch 13 and 14 before noon.

And on a mogul day, if you really want to fuck yourself, hit the mini-couloir between Dropout 1 and Dropout 2. Destruction. You have to straight-line it and it dumps you right into a mogul field. Perfect after a few lunchtime tequila shots when you can absorb (or at least roll with) the imminent impact.

But that being said, I could ride 22 all day long. Favorite area by far.
 
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