J.Spin
New member
This report is out a bit later than normal; mostly due to being busy and trying to prepare an unusually long web video from the day (see the bottom of the report for a link). The video is made up of real-time helmet cam footage from a ski run with Ty, and since I thought it would be fun to include one of his full round trips, it comes in at about 24 minutes. I also attempted to translate all of his "Ty Speak" and include it as subtitles, so that required a lot of production time. Obviously, the video will be most interesting to family and friends who want to see what Ty is up to, but folks who are interested in the ski process with toddlers (especially the ski leash stage) might also find it interesting.
The week leading up to the 11th was the coldest of the season so far in the Bitterroot. Early in the week we had lows in the teens below zero F, with highs not too far above zero F. As the week progressed, it warmed by ~5 degrees F each day, so that by Friday/Saturday, things were pretty much back to normal. We decided to ski Sunday, since the warming trend was expected to continue, and it was likely to be the warmer day of the weekend. The forecast at pass level (7,000') called for temperatures in the mid to upper 20s F, and a south wind of 6 MPH. That weather was nice enough that we could even take Dylan out on the slopes if we wanted to.
Before we headed out to ski, I hit Ty's skis with a quick dose of rub-on fluoro wax. I figured it might give him that little extra glide he needed to reduce the amount of walking/shuffling required in the flat areas. With the very cold and clear weather, there hadn't been any major snowfalls since the previous weekend, so there was no need for the usual powder morning rush once we arrived at Lost Trail. With no first tracks for E, Ty got to go out first with Dad. We jumped right onto Chair 1 and skied the usual combination of Meadow Run/Meadow Trail with the leash, picking up where we'd left off from his previous session. The fluoro wax certainly did its thing. In fact, Ty was gliding almost too well on many of the steeper pitches, so the leash was especially important in those areas with regard to checking his speed. But as I'd hoped, getting through the flat areas required little effort. Ty essentially continued his work on balance, with some turning when he could manage it.
For the second run, I turned on the helmet cam so I could record Ty's skiing with the leash, and I just kept it running right through to the end of the third run. Unfortunately, I'd only charged the helmet cam battery for a couple of hours in the morning, so it lasted just through the second run, not the third. The battery has also had several years of extended use in cold temperatures over the past few seasons, and even with a full charge, it's already showing reduced output. So, it's probably time to have a backup battery on hand. But, at least I got a full run, which I converted into a QuickTime video (~24 min, 175 MB) and you can watch it from the link below. This was the first time out with the helmet cam this season, and with Ty anxious to get skiing, I didn't really have a chance to double check the roll, pitch and yaw of the cam as I usually do. I knew I'd used it with the same head gear last time (helmet instead of hat) so I figured it would be close. Vertically (pitch), I think it was in a pretty good position, but rotationally (roll) it was off about 20 degrees to the left. So, I just rotated and shrunk the image during editing. It was the first time I've tried to fix a tilted helmet cam image, and it seems to have worked pretty well. The only problem is that you get some black areas around the edges of the footage. I thought about cropping the image to remove the black areas left after rotating, but Ty was sometimes in the corner of the image and those shots would have been lost. So, I just used the black space to add some subtitles and other text to the video. I tried exporting the movie at a slightly larger size than normal to keep the actual video portion about the same size as usual, but the file was way too large (400-500 MB) for a typical download. As it is, the ~175 MB file is already pretty big, but I've cut down the frame rate and audio/video compressions about as far as I felt comfortable. It's basically just big because it's so long.
After three runs, I convinced Ty to go in for some lunch. Actually, my legs were starting to get cooked from three runs of constantly holding a wedge, so I was ready for lunch as well. I took a couple photos of the Chair 4/Hollywood Bowl area during lunch, but it's a pretty good distance away, and I couldn't discern much detail about the snow coverage until I got home and took a look at the telephoto images on the computer (see comments below). I wasn't sure if Ty was done for the day or not after lunch, but it turned out he was willing to go back out for more runs. E decided to stay in with Dylan, so it was Ty and Dad again. We did two more runs, and by the last one, Ty's legs looked like they were turning to Jelly, so I suggested we head inside. He must have been getting pretty tired, because it didn't take much convincing.
I could have been done for the day as well, after five runs of snowplowing and carrying Ty across the flats, but E asked if I was going to go out for some turns. I guess just her asking was enough incentive, because it sounded like a good idea. I cruised Meadow Run/Far Out/Southern Comfort and found the snow to be excellent. Even without any substantial snow for the week, everything was soft packed powder. I then decided to ski North Face for the first time this season, since I wanted to ski something steep and from the lift, I could see that coverage was perfect. I'd almost forgotten how steep the headwall was, it must be around 35 degrees or more at its steepest point. It actually felt good to let the skis fall away into a few steep turns for a change, and the snow was just as soft as everywhere else.
Examining my telephoto images on the computer later that evening, I could see that there were certainly more tracks over in the Chair 4/Hollywood Bowl area than the previous weekend. I bet the powder was still good down in the bowl, albeit a bit more settled. Above the bowl and in the Ripper area, it looked like the snow had been blasted by wind. I'm sure that right now, the turns up there won't be quite the same as what I experienced on the 4th of December. After two weeks without any major snow, it looks like some real moisture will finally be coming into western Montana this week to freshen up the snow surfaces. It doesn't look like any huge systems will reach us at this point, but at least we'll get something. We're actually heading to Vermont later this week for the holidays, where many of the northern ski areas just got more than a foot of fresh snow, and their upcoming pattern looks to remain cold and snowy. So, things look pretty good in either location. I'd like to get Ty out at least one day this weekend, but the highs are expected to be moderately cold (upper teens F) so maybe we'll just do a short afternoon session at some point.
For more pictures and helmet cam video, head to:
http://www.JandEproductions.com/2005/11DEC05.html
J.Spin
The week leading up to the 11th was the coldest of the season so far in the Bitterroot. Early in the week we had lows in the teens below zero F, with highs not too far above zero F. As the week progressed, it warmed by ~5 degrees F each day, so that by Friday/Saturday, things were pretty much back to normal. We decided to ski Sunday, since the warming trend was expected to continue, and it was likely to be the warmer day of the weekend. The forecast at pass level (7,000') called for temperatures in the mid to upper 20s F, and a south wind of 6 MPH. That weather was nice enough that we could even take Dylan out on the slopes if we wanted to.
Before we headed out to ski, I hit Ty's skis with a quick dose of rub-on fluoro wax. I figured it might give him that little extra glide he needed to reduce the amount of walking/shuffling required in the flat areas. With the very cold and clear weather, there hadn't been any major snowfalls since the previous weekend, so there was no need for the usual powder morning rush once we arrived at Lost Trail. With no first tracks for E, Ty got to go out first with Dad. We jumped right onto Chair 1 and skied the usual combination of Meadow Run/Meadow Trail with the leash, picking up where we'd left off from his previous session. The fluoro wax certainly did its thing. In fact, Ty was gliding almost too well on many of the steeper pitches, so the leash was especially important in those areas with regard to checking his speed. But as I'd hoped, getting through the flat areas required little effort. Ty essentially continued his work on balance, with some turning when he could manage it.
For the second run, I turned on the helmet cam so I could record Ty's skiing with the leash, and I just kept it running right through to the end of the third run. Unfortunately, I'd only charged the helmet cam battery for a couple of hours in the morning, so it lasted just through the second run, not the third. The battery has also had several years of extended use in cold temperatures over the past few seasons, and even with a full charge, it's already showing reduced output. So, it's probably time to have a backup battery on hand. But, at least I got a full run, which I converted into a QuickTime video (~24 min, 175 MB) and you can watch it from the link below. This was the first time out with the helmet cam this season, and with Ty anxious to get skiing, I didn't really have a chance to double check the roll, pitch and yaw of the cam as I usually do. I knew I'd used it with the same head gear last time (helmet instead of hat) so I figured it would be close. Vertically (pitch), I think it was in a pretty good position, but rotationally (roll) it was off about 20 degrees to the left. So, I just rotated and shrunk the image during editing. It was the first time I've tried to fix a tilted helmet cam image, and it seems to have worked pretty well. The only problem is that you get some black areas around the edges of the footage. I thought about cropping the image to remove the black areas left after rotating, but Ty was sometimes in the corner of the image and those shots would have been lost. So, I just used the black space to add some subtitles and other text to the video. I tried exporting the movie at a slightly larger size than normal to keep the actual video portion about the same size as usual, but the file was way too large (400-500 MB) for a typical download. As it is, the ~175 MB file is already pretty big, but I've cut down the frame rate and audio/video compressions about as far as I felt comfortable. It's basically just big because it's so long.
After three runs, I convinced Ty to go in for some lunch. Actually, my legs were starting to get cooked from three runs of constantly holding a wedge, so I was ready for lunch as well. I took a couple photos of the Chair 4/Hollywood Bowl area during lunch, but it's a pretty good distance away, and I couldn't discern much detail about the snow coverage until I got home and took a look at the telephoto images on the computer (see comments below). I wasn't sure if Ty was done for the day or not after lunch, but it turned out he was willing to go back out for more runs. E decided to stay in with Dylan, so it was Ty and Dad again. We did two more runs, and by the last one, Ty's legs looked like they were turning to Jelly, so I suggested we head inside. He must have been getting pretty tired, because it didn't take much convincing.
I could have been done for the day as well, after five runs of snowplowing and carrying Ty across the flats, but E asked if I was going to go out for some turns. I guess just her asking was enough incentive, because it sounded like a good idea. I cruised Meadow Run/Far Out/Southern Comfort and found the snow to be excellent. Even without any substantial snow for the week, everything was soft packed powder. I then decided to ski North Face for the first time this season, since I wanted to ski something steep and from the lift, I could see that coverage was perfect. I'd almost forgotten how steep the headwall was, it must be around 35 degrees or more at its steepest point. It actually felt good to let the skis fall away into a few steep turns for a change, and the snow was just as soft as everywhere else.
Examining my telephoto images on the computer later that evening, I could see that there were certainly more tracks over in the Chair 4/Hollywood Bowl area than the previous weekend. I bet the powder was still good down in the bowl, albeit a bit more settled. Above the bowl and in the Ripper area, it looked like the snow had been blasted by wind. I'm sure that right now, the turns up there won't be quite the same as what I experienced on the 4th of December. After two weeks without any major snow, it looks like some real moisture will finally be coming into western Montana this week to freshen up the snow surfaces. It doesn't look like any huge systems will reach us at this point, but at least we'll get something. We're actually heading to Vermont later this week for the holidays, where many of the northern ski areas just got more than a foot of fresh snow, and their upcoming pattern looks to remain cold and snowy. So, things look pretty good in either location. I'd like to get Ty out at least one day this weekend, but the highs are expected to be moderately cold (upper teens F) so maybe we'll just do a short afternoon session at some point.
For more pictures and helmet cam video, head to:
http://www.JandEproductions.com/2005/11DEC05.html
J.Spin
