J.Spin
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A link to more pictures and video is at the bottom of the message.
For the weekend, Lost Trail reported 17 inches of new snow, but most of that fell in the Nov 13th to 15th timeframe, and conditions have been dry since then. Still, there haven?t been any huge warm-ups, and with the lifts only running on Saturday and Sunday, we expected excellent ski conditions. The forecast near pass level (7,000?) was for sunshine, a high of around 40 degrees F, and south winds less than 10 MPH.
Ty?s ski boots had arrived at the local ski shop on Tuesday, and once we made sure they fit his feet, we looked into getting skis and bindings. Unfortunately, they didn?t have any skis small enough for him (he needs under 80 cm), so they had to order those too. They came in yesterday (76 cm K2s), and one of the younger ski technicians said they were the smallest skis he?d ever seen. They are supposed to be mounted on Friday, so hopefully he can ski on his new equipment this coming weekend.
Sunday was far too nice to waste inside anyway, so Ty would just have to use his old skis for some sliding. The nice weather also let us try an interesting new setup that would allow the whole family to ski together. E would carry Dylan in the front pack, and then all four of us could travel around the mountain. This meant that both Mom and Dad would be there to help Ty with his skiing.
The ski day had a rather rocky start. We almost forgot several items (Ty?s ski pants and jacket being the most critical) at the house, but I caught the omissions just as we were driving off when I went over our checklist. Then, once we had arrived at the ski area and suited the boys up, E started walking with them to take a run in the Chair 3 area, but Ty felt the call of nature. E took care of this (#1) along the side of the trail/road (I was still suiting up), and then I joined them. Then, we realized that we?d forgotten to put on Ty?s lifter harness, which we especially wanted for chairlift loading. So, back goes Dad to the car for that one. However, about 50 yards later, Ty said he was going to have a visit from #2. This required a big trip back to the car, and a rather long process of removing many ski layers, adding a diaper, removing the messy diaper, and reinstalling many ski layers. In the process of doing this all in the back of the car, Ty got cold and grumpy, and some serious warm-up time was needed in the front of the car with the heat on. All told, it was certainly over an hour before the family was reassembled and heading back towards Chair 3. But, that?s the way it goes; sometimes the process runs smoothly, sometimes you wonder if you?ll ever hit the slopes.
Once we did hit the slopes however, it was a lot of fun to have everyone together. Ty started out straight-lining a few little sections near the top of Chair 3 by himself, but soon he wanted to ski with assistance from me. We had chosen the Gunsmoke Trail, since it has got to be one of the flattest, longest, and most boring trails that Lost Trail has to offer. Still, it was too steep for Ty in most sections. Finding slopes that Ty can handle on his own gives one a REAL perspective on just how flat trails really are.
There was about a foot of powder along the edges of Gunsmoke where it hadn?t been groomed. I would bring Ty into the powder, sometimes between the legs, sometimes in my arms if he said he was too tired. He really liked it when I took him over jumps. We had the H-Bar on hand, but Ty was just being lazy and we barely used it. We rode back up on Chair 3, then connected over and took a ride up Chair 5. Ty still didn?t feel like trying to ski without support, so we figured we?d head to the lodge and give him a break.
We ran into Andy and Kena outside the lodge, and although they were just heading in for lunch, we planned to meet up later for some turns. I went and moved the car to a spot closer to the lodge, and brought in everything so E could hang out with the boys and have lunch. After a quick bite of food for myself, Andy called on the radio and I met up with him outside the lodge so we could take a couple of runs.
Chair 1 wasn?t running, so we had to head down to catch a ride on Chair 2. The trip down revealed nice packed powder, although there must have been a lot of traffic because the groomed snow on Drifter was already getting pushed around and lumpy. Andy and I hit the Meadow Run/Upper Far Out/Chicken Out/Southern Comfort combo, and the snow was excellent. It was my first day out for the Season on my Salomon Pilot Hots, and I?d forgotten had ridiculously fun they were for carving groomed slopes. Near the top of the next ride on Chair 2, E called on the radio and said that Ty was out on the Bunny Hill doing some skiing. She was out there with him, but had Dylan in her arms and would need some help. I had wanted to head over and do a run off the Bear Claw Ridge (I suspected there would be few tracks in the whole Elk Basin) but if Ty was enthusiastic about getting in some skiing, it was time to make hay while the sun shined. Andy was done for the day anyway, so I split off from him and headed down South Face to get to the Bunny Hill quickly. South Face was getting quite bumped up, but I took the usual skier?s right line and found more excellent packed powder. Bruce, who had skied on Saturday, said that some ungroomed areas had set up strangely with chunky snow, but it seemed that sufficient skier traffic had taken care of that.
Down on the Bunny Hill, Ty was about as eager as I?ve ever seen him to do some runs. And so we did: run after run after run on the Bunny Hill. With the rope tow actually running, it was easy to lap the slope, and with Ty taking off on his own for stretches that became longer and longer (and faster), we ticked off runs quickly. He is at the stage of learning to balance on moving skis, and we?re waiting to throw in snow plowing (wedge) until his new skis are set up. It seems a bit backwards to have him ski without a wedge, but it sounds like this is a typical short intervening stage between skiing with lots of support, and controlled skiing/turning in a wedge. When Ty gets going a little too fast and feels uncomfortable, he just lies down on the snow and he stops. This will suffice until he gets into the wedge, and I?m actually happy to have him work on falling. Personally, I think it?s an important skill that most people don?t practice enough. The video camera was out in the car, but since it was a huge video-op to get Ty?s long solo runs, we used the video function from our digital still camera that we had on hand. I haven?t used the video function on our still camera very much, since we usually go with a real camcorder when we have the choice, but it sure came in handy when we needed it. I?ll probably try it more in the future for quick web videos.
Down in the valley, we?ve been under ?inversion? conditions for several days now, and we?re sitting in freezing fog with temperatures in the 20s and low 30s F. This usually happens a time or two each winter season out here in Western Montana (sometimes it can actually last for weeks), but it?s something that didn?t seem to happen much when we were back in the Champlain Valley of Vermont. When the weather stagnates under the right conditions out here, the deep, lower-elevation valleys really seem to get hit hardest with the fog. It can be a bit tough to live with only the freezing fog for days (or even weeks) on end, but it does create beautiful ice formations on everything, and you can always go to the higher elevations where it?s completely sunny if you need a reprieve. Also, places just to the east of us like Bozeman and Great Falls etc., have had none of this fog, with bright sun and highs of 50 to 70 degrees F. I guess this inversion has really been messing with the passenger airline traffic at the Missoula airport as well, and many flights had to be re-routed to other airports. There?s hope that a storm system at the end of the week will mix wind down to the valleys and push out the fog, but one forecaster said that these inversions were so strong, he wasn?t even sure if this storm would push things out. Whatever the case, it will be fun to get up and out of the fog for some skiing at Lost Trail over the holiday weekend. I had mentioned to Bruce how great it was to have lift-served skiing so early in the season at Lost Trial, and he said that in 30 years of being out here, he could only remember a few times in which they had offered skiing by Thanksgiving. So, even with the gloom of an inversion down here in the valley, at least there?s plenty of early lift-served skiing up at the pass.
I?ve got a few more pictures and some unedited QuickTime video at:
http://www.JandEproductions.com/2005/20NOV05.html
J.Spin
For the weekend, Lost Trail reported 17 inches of new snow, but most of that fell in the Nov 13th to 15th timeframe, and conditions have been dry since then. Still, there haven?t been any huge warm-ups, and with the lifts only running on Saturday and Sunday, we expected excellent ski conditions. The forecast near pass level (7,000?) was for sunshine, a high of around 40 degrees F, and south winds less than 10 MPH.
Ty?s ski boots had arrived at the local ski shop on Tuesday, and once we made sure they fit his feet, we looked into getting skis and bindings. Unfortunately, they didn?t have any skis small enough for him (he needs under 80 cm), so they had to order those too. They came in yesterday (76 cm K2s), and one of the younger ski technicians said they were the smallest skis he?d ever seen. They are supposed to be mounted on Friday, so hopefully he can ski on his new equipment this coming weekend.
Sunday was far too nice to waste inside anyway, so Ty would just have to use his old skis for some sliding. The nice weather also let us try an interesting new setup that would allow the whole family to ski together. E would carry Dylan in the front pack, and then all four of us could travel around the mountain. This meant that both Mom and Dad would be there to help Ty with his skiing.
The ski day had a rather rocky start. We almost forgot several items (Ty?s ski pants and jacket being the most critical) at the house, but I caught the omissions just as we were driving off when I went over our checklist. Then, once we had arrived at the ski area and suited the boys up, E started walking with them to take a run in the Chair 3 area, but Ty felt the call of nature. E took care of this (#1) along the side of the trail/road (I was still suiting up), and then I joined them. Then, we realized that we?d forgotten to put on Ty?s lifter harness, which we especially wanted for chairlift loading. So, back goes Dad to the car for that one. However, about 50 yards later, Ty said he was going to have a visit from #2. This required a big trip back to the car, and a rather long process of removing many ski layers, adding a diaper, removing the messy diaper, and reinstalling many ski layers. In the process of doing this all in the back of the car, Ty got cold and grumpy, and some serious warm-up time was needed in the front of the car with the heat on. All told, it was certainly over an hour before the family was reassembled and heading back towards Chair 3. But, that?s the way it goes; sometimes the process runs smoothly, sometimes you wonder if you?ll ever hit the slopes.
Once we did hit the slopes however, it was a lot of fun to have everyone together. Ty started out straight-lining a few little sections near the top of Chair 3 by himself, but soon he wanted to ski with assistance from me. We had chosen the Gunsmoke Trail, since it has got to be one of the flattest, longest, and most boring trails that Lost Trail has to offer. Still, it was too steep for Ty in most sections. Finding slopes that Ty can handle on his own gives one a REAL perspective on just how flat trails really are.
There was about a foot of powder along the edges of Gunsmoke where it hadn?t been groomed. I would bring Ty into the powder, sometimes between the legs, sometimes in my arms if he said he was too tired. He really liked it when I took him over jumps. We had the H-Bar on hand, but Ty was just being lazy and we barely used it. We rode back up on Chair 3, then connected over and took a ride up Chair 5. Ty still didn?t feel like trying to ski without support, so we figured we?d head to the lodge and give him a break.
We ran into Andy and Kena outside the lodge, and although they were just heading in for lunch, we planned to meet up later for some turns. I went and moved the car to a spot closer to the lodge, and brought in everything so E could hang out with the boys and have lunch. After a quick bite of food for myself, Andy called on the radio and I met up with him outside the lodge so we could take a couple of runs.
Chair 1 wasn?t running, so we had to head down to catch a ride on Chair 2. The trip down revealed nice packed powder, although there must have been a lot of traffic because the groomed snow on Drifter was already getting pushed around and lumpy. Andy and I hit the Meadow Run/Upper Far Out/Chicken Out/Southern Comfort combo, and the snow was excellent. It was my first day out for the Season on my Salomon Pilot Hots, and I?d forgotten had ridiculously fun they were for carving groomed slopes. Near the top of the next ride on Chair 2, E called on the radio and said that Ty was out on the Bunny Hill doing some skiing. She was out there with him, but had Dylan in her arms and would need some help. I had wanted to head over and do a run off the Bear Claw Ridge (I suspected there would be few tracks in the whole Elk Basin) but if Ty was enthusiastic about getting in some skiing, it was time to make hay while the sun shined. Andy was done for the day anyway, so I split off from him and headed down South Face to get to the Bunny Hill quickly. South Face was getting quite bumped up, but I took the usual skier?s right line and found more excellent packed powder. Bruce, who had skied on Saturday, said that some ungroomed areas had set up strangely with chunky snow, but it seemed that sufficient skier traffic had taken care of that.
Down on the Bunny Hill, Ty was about as eager as I?ve ever seen him to do some runs. And so we did: run after run after run on the Bunny Hill. With the rope tow actually running, it was easy to lap the slope, and with Ty taking off on his own for stretches that became longer and longer (and faster), we ticked off runs quickly. He is at the stage of learning to balance on moving skis, and we?re waiting to throw in snow plowing (wedge) until his new skis are set up. It seems a bit backwards to have him ski without a wedge, but it sounds like this is a typical short intervening stage between skiing with lots of support, and controlled skiing/turning in a wedge. When Ty gets going a little too fast and feels uncomfortable, he just lies down on the snow and he stops. This will suffice until he gets into the wedge, and I?m actually happy to have him work on falling. Personally, I think it?s an important skill that most people don?t practice enough. The video camera was out in the car, but since it was a huge video-op to get Ty?s long solo runs, we used the video function from our digital still camera that we had on hand. I haven?t used the video function on our still camera very much, since we usually go with a real camcorder when we have the choice, but it sure came in handy when we needed it. I?ll probably try it more in the future for quick web videos.
Down in the valley, we?ve been under ?inversion? conditions for several days now, and we?re sitting in freezing fog with temperatures in the 20s and low 30s F. This usually happens a time or two each winter season out here in Western Montana (sometimes it can actually last for weeks), but it?s something that didn?t seem to happen much when we were back in the Champlain Valley of Vermont. When the weather stagnates under the right conditions out here, the deep, lower-elevation valleys really seem to get hit hardest with the fog. It can be a bit tough to live with only the freezing fog for days (or even weeks) on end, but it does create beautiful ice formations on everything, and you can always go to the higher elevations where it?s completely sunny if you need a reprieve. Also, places just to the east of us like Bozeman and Great Falls etc., have had none of this fog, with bright sun and highs of 50 to 70 degrees F. I guess this inversion has really been messing with the passenger airline traffic at the Missoula airport as well, and many flights had to be re-routed to other airports. There?s hope that a storm system at the end of the week will mix wind down to the valleys and push out the fog, but one forecaster said that these inversions were so strong, he wasn?t even sure if this storm would push things out. Whatever the case, it will be fun to get up and out of the fog for some skiing at Lost Trail over the holiday weekend. I had mentioned to Bruce how great it was to have lift-served skiing so early in the season at Lost Trial, and he said that in 30 years of being out here, he could only remember a few times in which they had offered skiing by Thanksgiving. So, even with the gloom of an inversion down here in the valley, at least there?s plenty of early lift-served skiing up at the pass.
I?ve got a few more pictures and some unedited QuickTime video at:
http://www.JandEproductions.com/2005/20NOV05.html
J.Spin
