J.Spin
New member
Additional pictures are available through the link at the bottom of the report.
After almost a week, our inversion period of weather has finally ended. Of course it was rather hard to tell because it was a storm system that finally got the air moving, and the fog was simply replaced with slightly higher clouds. We got a burst of freezing rain in Hamilton (elevation 3,560?) and other parts of the Bitterroot Valley on Friday evening, which covered everything with a thick glaze of crystal clear ice, and then a pinch of snow came in overnight for good measure. Up at the pass (elevation 7,000?) Lost Trail said there were 4 inches of new snow at the early report, and it was still snowing. The Saddle Mountain SNOTEL at 7,900? also indicated a 4 inch accumulation overnight.
Ty?s skis were mounted Friday evening, and with bindings, they look even smaller than they did before. It?s as if the bindings occupy the entirety of the skis. I?ve seen other toddler?s skis look like this before, where there are just a few inches of open ski behind the binding, but it just hit home a little harder when I realized we owned a pair of the crazy-looking things. When we picked them up at the ski shop, Ty immediately took hold of them and didn?t want to let go, although he conceded them to me for a few moments while the ski technician confirmed the DIN settings (DIN = 0.75 front and rear, about as low as they go).
We headed up to Lost Trail on Saturday morning, and E went out for first tracks while I hung out in the lodge with boys. Ty was so excited about his new ski setup, that as he walked around the lodge with his ski boots on, he showed them to everyone he passed. People were impressed at how smoothly he walked around in them. Ty even insisted on walking around wearing his skis on the carpet for a bit, and although I wasn?t really excited about him messing up his newly-waxed skis, it was worth it if it allowed E to stay out a bit longer on the slopes.
Chair 1 wasn?t running, and while I figured it was simply to save money during the early season, I later heard that it might be having some issues. It was running as usual later in the afternoon when we left, so it looks like they?re taking care of it. E reported that the surface below the new powder was crusty on the trails she visited, which must be due to the warm mountain temperatures during the inversion. The Saddle Mountain SNOTEL reported highs in the 40s F from Monday through Friday, with a maximum of 46.1 degrees F on Wednesday. The low temperatures were still below freezing each night however, and the base depth reported by the SNOTEL only changed about 2 inches. E couldn?t resist a trip down the untracked Thunder trail after watching it below her on the Chair 2 lift ride, although she did contact the hard snow at times on the ungroomed surface. I probably would have gone with a groomed run like Southern Comfort, since I usually like the more consistent surface below the powder when it?s not too deep.
Ty was incredibly anxious to get out on his new skis, and apparently he has no respect for the skiing sacrifices Mom has made over the past few seasons in giving birth to and caring for him and his brother. Anyway, E came in after just a couple runs so I could take Ty out on the Bunny Hill with his new skis. Ty had no problem balancing on his new skis, since they are longer than his old ones. I figured I?d let him get used to them for a few runs before we tried working in a wedge. But, in parallel skiing mode, he is way too fast on these newly-waxed skis. One time, he accelerated away from me so fast that I had to skate really hard to keep up, and even then I almost didn?t stop him before he crashed into the folks at the bottom of the rope tow. From then on, I kept my hand lightly on his lifter harness so he couldn?t escape again. He actually even made a few parallel turns as he experimented with weighting, but he couldn?t do it consistently. I worked on getting him into a wedge position, and while he did get some wedging in, he so much enjoyed the enhanced speed of his new skis that it was hard to get him out of parallel mode. Finally, after I?m not sure how many runs, he got hungry enough that we could go in for lunch. Well, lunch for Ty at least. If Dad wanted to get in some skiing on his own, lunch would have to wait.
I didn?t expect to have too long before Ty was powered up and ready to go out again, so I decided to go for some high quality snow in Elk Basin. This was a mission that called for my CMH fats, so I grabbed them off the car and headed down to catch a ride up on Chair 2. The CMH fats are much slower edge to edge than my Pilot Hots, so I was wondering how they would feel out of the powder on their first time out for season. Surprisingly, they felt incredibly lively as I headed down the packed slope of Drifter, and I didn?t encounter any of the underlying hard stuff that E had reported, just beautiful packed powder all the way. It continued to snow lightly throughout the morning, accumulating to around a total of about 6 new inches, and then the sky started to break up and the sun came out at times. The new snow that fell was really light, I guessed in the 6% H2O range. The SNOTEL data suggests 7.3% H2O from the small sampling as of early morning Saturday, and an overall average of 4.9% H2O with the additional accumulation that fell after that.
A little while after my ride on Chair 2, I found myself atop the Bear Claw Ridge for the first time of the season. I could see a couple of tracks on Lower Oreo, and only one track in Elk Basin. Across the basin, I could see that Hollywood Bowl and the surrounding chutes were starting to fill in, although I bet some lines are still going to be rocky. After an energy bar and some photos, I dropped into Elk Basin along the skier?s left where I usually find the best snow. There was at least a food of fresh powder in there, and even as light as the snow was, I didn?t get anywhere near hitting bottom. The turns were fantastic, undoubtedly the best of the season for me so far. I definitely needed to get E to take a run in there. It was already midday, and I couldn?t believe I?d seen only one track in the Basin, so I basically had the pick of my favorite lines. Riding back up on Chair 3, I got the radio call that Ty was ready for more skiing, but unfortunately I dropped a glove liner during my conversation, and would have to make a quick run to pick it up. I couldn?t believe I dropped something from the lift; it was probably the first time since riding the main chairlift back at Middlebury Snow Bowl in the late 80s. I remember trudging up the closed part of the lift line to get to my lost item back then. Nowadays, I?d probably ski whatever it was (short of maybe some avalanche terrain) closed or not. Anyway, I plotted my course to my errant glove through some woods, and even managed to snag it on the run as I coasted through the powder. Glove recovery with style!
For Ty?s afternoon session, E came out with Dylan in the front pack, and we both worked on trying to get Ty into the wedge position. We used the Kid-Ski wedge lock device, which certainly helped. After a while, I took Dylan in the pack, and E did the close work with Ty. At times, he actually did use the wedge to slow himself down, and he even made some turns, but he still has a long way to go. He still has too much fun going fast, and he was even getting mad at me for slowing him down with his lifter harness. At one point, he was yelling at me to let go of him and let him go fast, so I did. I was hoping he would gently run into an older kid that had just pulled in front of us (to show him what happens when you go too fast) but instead he managed to swerve and just rode over the older kid?s skis. The older kid apologized for getting in our way, but I let him know it wasn?t a problem; I was trying to teach Ty a lesson about control. Ty definitely wants to turn (he makes the back and forth motion with his hands to show us) and wants to work on getting his skis into the pizza shape (wedge) but he just gets so excited when he?s moving that he often forgets about these things. I?m sure he?ll get there eventually, and it should be fun watching the process. At least he?s having a blast out on his new equipment.
A few pictures from the day can be found at:
http://www.JandEproductions.com/2005/26NOV05.html
J.Spin
After almost a week, our inversion period of weather has finally ended. Of course it was rather hard to tell because it was a storm system that finally got the air moving, and the fog was simply replaced with slightly higher clouds. We got a burst of freezing rain in Hamilton (elevation 3,560?) and other parts of the Bitterroot Valley on Friday evening, which covered everything with a thick glaze of crystal clear ice, and then a pinch of snow came in overnight for good measure. Up at the pass (elevation 7,000?) Lost Trail said there were 4 inches of new snow at the early report, and it was still snowing. The Saddle Mountain SNOTEL at 7,900? also indicated a 4 inch accumulation overnight.
Ty?s skis were mounted Friday evening, and with bindings, they look even smaller than they did before. It?s as if the bindings occupy the entirety of the skis. I?ve seen other toddler?s skis look like this before, where there are just a few inches of open ski behind the binding, but it just hit home a little harder when I realized we owned a pair of the crazy-looking things. When we picked them up at the ski shop, Ty immediately took hold of them and didn?t want to let go, although he conceded them to me for a few moments while the ski technician confirmed the DIN settings (DIN = 0.75 front and rear, about as low as they go).
We headed up to Lost Trail on Saturday morning, and E went out for first tracks while I hung out in the lodge with boys. Ty was so excited about his new ski setup, that as he walked around the lodge with his ski boots on, he showed them to everyone he passed. People were impressed at how smoothly he walked around in them. Ty even insisted on walking around wearing his skis on the carpet for a bit, and although I wasn?t really excited about him messing up his newly-waxed skis, it was worth it if it allowed E to stay out a bit longer on the slopes.
Chair 1 wasn?t running, and while I figured it was simply to save money during the early season, I later heard that it might be having some issues. It was running as usual later in the afternoon when we left, so it looks like they?re taking care of it. E reported that the surface below the new powder was crusty on the trails she visited, which must be due to the warm mountain temperatures during the inversion. The Saddle Mountain SNOTEL reported highs in the 40s F from Monday through Friday, with a maximum of 46.1 degrees F on Wednesday. The low temperatures were still below freezing each night however, and the base depth reported by the SNOTEL only changed about 2 inches. E couldn?t resist a trip down the untracked Thunder trail after watching it below her on the Chair 2 lift ride, although she did contact the hard snow at times on the ungroomed surface. I probably would have gone with a groomed run like Southern Comfort, since I usually like the more consistent surface below the powder when it?s not too deep.
Ty was incredibly anxious to get out on his new skis, and apparently he has no respect for the skiing sacrifices Mom has made over the past few seasons in giving birth to and caring for him and his brother. Anyway, E came in after just a couple runs so I could take Ty out on the Bunny Hill with his new skis. Ty had no problem balancing on his new skis, since they are longer than his old ones. I figured I?d let him get used to them for a few runs before we tried working in a wedge. But, in parallel skiing mode, he is way too fast on these newly-waxed skis. One time, he accelerated away from me so fast that I had to skate really hard to keep up, and even then I almost didn?t stop him before he crashed into the folks at the bottom of the rope tow. From then on, I kept my hand lightly on his lifter harness so he couldn?t escape again. He actually even made a few parallel turns as he experimented with weighting, but he couldn?t do it consistently. I worked on getting him into a wedge position, and while he did get some wedging in, he so much enjoyed the enhanced speed of his new skis that it was hard to get him out of parallel mode. Finally, after I?m not sure how many runs, he got hungry enough that we could go in for lunch. Well, lunch for Ty at least. If Dad wanted to get in some skiing on his own, lunch would have to wait.
I didn?t expect to have too long before Ty was powered up and ready to go out again, so I decided to go for some high quality snow in Elk Basin. This was a mission that called for my CMH fats, so I grabbed them off the car and headed down to catch a ride up on Chair 2. The CMH fats are much slower edge to edge than my Pilot Hots, so I was wondering how they would feel out of the powder on their first time out for season. Surprisingly, they felt incredibly lively as I headed down the packed slope of Drifter, and I didn?t encounter any of the underlying hard stuff that E had reported, just beautiful packed powder all the way. It continued to snow lightly throughout the morning, accumulating to around a total of about 6 new inches, and then the sky started to break up and the sun came out at times. The new snow that fell was really light, I guessed in the 6% H2O range. The SNOTEL data suggests 7.3% H2O from the small sampling as of early morning Saturday, and an overall average of 4.9% H2O with the additional accumulation that fell after that.
A little while after my ride on Chair 2, I found myself atop the Bear Claw Ridge for the first time of the season. I could see a couple of tracks on Lower Oreo, and only one track in Elk Basin. Across the basin, I could see that Hollywood Bowl and the surrounding chutes were starting to fill in, although I bet some lines are still going to be rocky. After an energy bar and some photos, I dropped into Elk Basin along the skier?s left where I usually find the best snow. There was at least a food of fresh powder in there, and even as light as the snow was, I didn?t get anywhere near hitting bottom. The turns were fantastic, undoubtedly the best of the season for me so far. I definitely needed to get E to take a run in there. It was already midday, and I couldn?t believe I?d seen only one track in the Basin, so I basically had the pick of my favorite lines. Riding back up on Chair 3, I got the radio call that Ty was ready for more skiing, but unfortunately I dropped a glove liner during my conversation, and would have to make a quick run to pick it up. I couldn?t believe I dropped something from the lift; it was probably the first time since riding the main chairlift back at Middlebury Snow Bowl in the late 80s. I remember trudging up the closed part of the lift line to get to my lost item back then. Nowadays, I?d probably ski whatever it was (short of maybe some avalanche terrain) closed or not. Anyway, I plotted my course to my errant glove through some woods, and even managed to snag it on the run as I coasted through the powder. Glove recovery with style!
For Ty?s afternoon session, E came out with Dylan in the front pack, and we both worked on trying to get Ty into the wedge position. We used the Kid-Ski wedge lock device, which certainly helped. After a while, I took Dylan in the pack, and E did the close work with Ty. At times, he actually did use the wedge to slow himself down, and he even made some turns, but he still has a long way to go. He still has too much fun going fast, and he was even getting mad at me for slowing him down with his lifter harness. At one point, he was yelling at me to let go of him and let him go fast, so I did. I was hoping he would gently run into an older kid that had just pulled in front of us (to show him what happens when you go too fast) but instead he managed to swerve and just rode over the older kid?s skis. The older kid apologized for getting in our way, but I let him know it wasn?t a problem; I was trying to teach Ty a lesson about control. Ty definitely wants to turn (he makes the back and forth motion with his hands to show us) and wants to work on getting his skis into the pizza shape (wedge) but he just gets so excited when he?s moving that he often forgets about these things. I?m sure he?ll get there eventually, and it should be fun watching the process. At least he?s having a blast out on his new equipment.
A few pictures from the day can be found at:
http://www.JandEproductions.com/2005/26NOV05.html
J.Spin
