J.Spin
New member
We?d thought about taking Ty and Dylan skiing during Paul and Linda?s visit to Lost Trail on January 14th, but with the boys in tow, neither E nor myself would have been able to do much skiing at more than a snail?s pace on flat green runs. Thus, I got the chance to ski with Paul and Linda, while E stayed home with Ty and Dylan. This option had worked out well, but we still wanted to get Ty out on the hill for his weekly dose of slope time. So, we dedicated Sunday as Ty?s day for turns. To make sure I continued my recovery from my nasty stomach virus, I decided to take it ?relatively? easy and hang out in the lodge with Dylan in the morning, while E skied with Ty.
I?ll relay E?s comments on Ty?s skiing, since she was out there with him. They actually only did two runs, as Ty was pretty tired, but they were both the usual long Meadow Run/Meadow Trail combination. On the first run, Ty only skied without the leash when they finished off at the Bunny Hill slope, but on the second trip he went without it on the upper section of Meadow Run, up to the point where the trail splits into the groomed and ungroomed sections. When he did put the leash back on at that point, he actually chose to tackle the ungroomed option, which had about 6-8 inches of tracked up powder. E said Ty did well and had a good time. He kept the leash on for the rest of the trail, although E said she kept it fairly slack most of the time. He was tired and hungry enough by the end of the second run that they didn?t even hit the Bunny Hill, instead heading right to the lodge for food.
When Ty came into the lodge, I took the opportunity to head out for a couple of ?easy? runs. I say easy in terms of the physical effort required for me to ski them, which even for rather challenging runs is only a small fraction of what a run with Ty requires. The base depths at Lost Trail were in the 100-inch range at the summit, and since I had my Salomon Pilot Hots (which are great in tight trees) I figured I?d do a little tree run reconnaissance. My buddies were coming out for our annual ski trip in less than two weeks, and there were a couple of tree areas I suspected would be nice spots for them to visit.
The first area I visited was the large mass of trees between Southern Comfort and the Chair 2 lift line (Corkscrew). I dropped into the trees near the junction of Meadow Run and Meadow Trail, so I could get a feel for the lines in the upper sections of the woods. With the fantastic depth of the snow, almost all the logs and small undergrowth were covered, and there were a lot of nice, relatively open lines. The most unusual part of the exploration was the underlying snow. There were few if any tracks in the surface powder from other skiers, but there were a lot of irregularities underneath. The irregularities appeared to have arisen from huge globs of snow that had fallen from the trees. The fact that these globs were somewhat hard suggested that there had been some warming at some point in the past. There had been probably six inches of additional snow since that point, so for the most part it was like skiing powder with the old tracks of other skiers underneath. Still, although the bottomless powder had been ruined in some places due to some apparent warming, at leas the coverage was fantastic. This was further evident as I approached the lower part of the woods and entered into the main streambed. The streambed was in prime shape, so I was confident that the 311 boys would have a good time in there when they visited. The other area I explored was off to the skier?s left of North Face. There are a lot of pockets that remain untracked in the steep trees there, and I was looking for a few new lines. I found some nice ones, including a narrow chute between some trees. I had to ski straight through it without any turns, but there was plenty of open terrain below it to bleed off the accumulated speed.
So overall it was a pretty mellow day with nice snow. E mentioned that she was a little frustrated about the lack of terrain options for Ty at Lost Trail, but it can be tough to find long runs of consistent mild beginner pitch at many mountains. I?m sure Ty?s terrain options for skiing without the leash will grow as he gains speed control on slightly steeper terrain.
Larger versions of the pictures can be found at:
http://www.JandEproductions.com/2006/15JAN06.html
J.Spin
I?ll relay E?s comments on Ty?s skiing, since she was out there with him. They actually only did two runs, as Ty was pretty tired, but they were both the usual long Meadow Run/Meadow Trail combination. On the first run, Ty only skied without the leash when they finished off at the Bunny Hill slope, but on the second trip he went without it on the upper section of Meadow Run, up to the point where the trail splits into the groomed and ungroomed sections. When he did put the leash back on at that point, he actually chose to tackle the ungroomed option, which had about 6-8 inches of tracked up powder. E said Ty did well and had a good time. He kept the leash on for the rest of the trail, although E said she kept it fairly slack most of the time. He was tired and hungry enough by the end of the second run that they didn?t even hit the Bunny Hill, instead heading right to the lodge for food.
When Ty came into the lodge, I took the opportunity to head out for a couple of ?easy? runs. I say easy in terms of the physical effort required for me to ski them, which even for rather challenging runs is only a small fraction of what a run with Ty requires. The base depths at Lost Trail were in the 100-inch range at the summit, and since I had my Salomon Pilot Hots (which are great in tight trees) I figured I?d do a little tree run reconnaissance. My buddies were coming out for our annual ski trip in less than two weeks, and there were a couple of tree areas I suspected would be nice spots for them to visit.
The first area I visited was the large mass of trees between Southern Comfort and the Chair 2 lift line (Corkscrew). I dropped into the trees near the junction of Meadow Run and Meadow Trail, so I could get a feel for the lines in the upper sections of the woods. With the fantastic depth of the snow, almost all the logs and small undergrowth were covered, and there were a lot of nice, relatively open lines. The most unusual part of the exploration was the underlying snow. There were few if any tracks in the surface powder from other skiers, but there were a lot of irregularities underneath. The irregularities appeared to have arisen from huge globs of snow that had fallen from the trees. The fact that these globs were somewhat hard suggested that there had been some warming at some point in the past. There had been probably six inches of additional snow since that point, so for the most part it was like skiing powder with the old tracks of other skiers underneath. Still, although the bottomless powder had been ruined in some places due to some apparent warming, at leas the coverage was fantastic. This was further evident as I approached the lower part of the woods and entered into the main streambed. The streambed was in prime shape, so I was confident that the 311 boys would have a good time in there when they visited. The other area I explored was off to the skier?s left of North Face. There are a lot of pockets that remain untracked in the steep trees there, and I was looking for a few new lines. I found some nice ones, including a narrow chute between some trees. I had to ski straight through it without any turns, but there was plenty of open terrain below it to bleed off the accumulated speed.
So overall it was a pretty mellow day with nice snow. E mentioned that she was a little frustrated about the lack of terrain options for Ty at Lost Trail, but it can be tough to find long runs of consistent mild beginner pitch at many mountains. I?m sure Ty?s terrain options for skiing without the leash will grow as he gains speed control on slightly steeper terrain.
Larger versions of the pictures can be found at:
http://www.JandEproductions.com/2006/15JAN06.html
J.Spin
