9-28-08 Snowbird

[salida]

The goods:

The house of scree:

Zee climb:

Until next month...

 

[Skidog]

NOICE...i thought there would still be a patch in that spot...I think Admin scored that for his sept turns the year he went straight through.

home issues kept me away this weekend, but now that I see its that easy..looks like im taking a tram ride tomorrow...

Thanks for the beta.

M

 

[Patrick]

=D> =D> =D>

The Streak is On!!! \/

Way to go Porter.

 

[Admin]

Holy crap! :shock: Way to go! =D>

I think Admin scored that for his sept turns the year he went straight through.

I did, but September 2005 Pipeline Bowl was pretty much full of snow:

You make my September 2005 turns look almost sensible by comparison.

How about that heinous scree field to get in there?

 

[salida]

Hell it was also in the beginning of September, versus the end of the September.

But yes, it does make yours look almost sensible!

Thanks guys.

 

[Sharon]

That is just nutty!!!

 

[Bobby Danger]

ALMOST sensible please

 

[rfarren]

That scree field is unbelievable. Those are some big rocks!!! Now I understand why snowbird needs so much snow to open up.

 

[Admin]

Yeah, I can vouch for the fact that's the scree field from hell. During my 2005 year-round attempt I had to cross that, but Salida did a much better job of photographing it. It helps to have another person to provide a sense o scale. However, of course not all of Snowbird looks like that, while parts of Alta (Devil's Castle, Backside) do.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Now you know why my skis got trashed at Snowbird during that lean Christmas 1986-87 with a reported 37-inch base.

 

[salida]

Now you know why my skis got trashed at Snowbird during that lean Christmas 1986-87 with a reported 37-inch base.

Man folks are always complaining about skis getting trashed. But honestly, in powder snow (where most WC almost exclusively ski) the condition of the ski hardly matters. Edge, no edge, core shot no core shot, they all ski the same.

Plus at $200 - $300 dollars, ski are almost disposable if you are getting 50 to 100 days out of a pair.

I skied Sunday's crap pipeline bowl on skis that have no edges under foot, multiple core shots, etc, and it wasn't even close to affecting the quality of skiing.

 

[Tony Crocker]

But honestly, in powder snow (where most WC almost exclusively ski) the condition of the ski hardly matters.

I'm inclined to agree with this. I'm told the core of my Chubbs are severely damaged. But it didn't seem to affect skiing that ego powder at Chatter Creek last year. So the Chubbs will continue to see duty at Baldy even though I have Mantras now for the destination trips.

powder snow (where most WC almost exclusively ski)

That's a touch optimistic. I do well to get above 20% powder for a whole season even with some cat or heli in the mix. 15% is more typical. Admin is around 30% based upon a couple of years info he used to provide.

Perhaps salida believes the ski's condition doesn't mattter for the more common packed powder. It matters some, but not nearly as much as on hardpack.

 

[salida]

Tony didn't mean to hammer you. I know how it feels to trash a pair of skis in one outing. Just trying to point out that it doesn't mean the ski is 'out of business.'

 

[Tony Crocker]

I took no offense at all. I basically agree. There have been some stretches where I've gone 30-40 days without skiing any hard snow and never noticed the need for a tuneup.

I would caution that for some of these ambitious backcountry expeditions, you might run into some situations where you need decent edges. La Grave comes to mind. Even though La Grave is hard on skis, it's a good idea for the skis to be in good tune. Thus the strong recommendation to rent there.