J.Spin
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A link to a few images can be found at the bottom of the message
It had been another dry week in the Bitterroot, but a little moisture arrived just in time for the weekend. Although the temperature in town was well above freezing Friday night, we woke up to a skiff of snow on the ground. Lost Trail reported an inch of new snow and a temperature of 18 degrees F.
Last weekend, the delaminated tails of my Volants finally split so much that they were washing out on turns. It was definitely time to get some new skis. After a bit of research, I decided to check out the Salomon Scream 10 Pilot Hots (110/75/100) with the built in bindings. I stopped in at Bob Ward?s sports and the salesman suggested I demo before I bought anything. He didn?t have any Scream Pilots available for demo, but he did have the Scream Limited, the ?a la carte? version of the ski to which you can add your own bindings. Although they?re not exactly the same skis, he said they would give me a good feel for the Scream Hots because they are very similar. I picked up the skis (170 cm) on Friday, and brought them to the hill on Saturday for some test runs.
Even though it was just an inch of new snow, it was great to see people making tracks on South Face when I arrived at the hill. I naturally started out going groomed, hoping to catch a few runs with the new untracked snow over a nice flat surface. As Meadow Run started to get steeper, I got my first real feel for the Limiteds. Being shorter, they naturally felt turnier than my Volants, but they also had more snap in them. This wasn?t surprising, since the Volants tend to have more smoothness than snap in my experience. I worked a few runs on Far Out and Southern Comfort. Some high traffic areas were getting worked down to the hard base, but I was still able to get fresh snow each run by heading to the sides. I ventured into the ungroomed terrain off to the right of Upper Far Out, and this is where I first felt the length of the skis. They skied fine, but they were thrown around a little more by the terrain changes than my longer pairs of skis.
I wanted to use the skis in as many conditions as possible while I had them for demo, so I next headed over to Slides, a steep (35-40 degrees) tree-lined chute on the north side of the main area. Typically, I?d avoid it on a day like this with only an inch of new snow over a firm base, but I wanted to see how the Limiteds would handle such conditions. With their nice sharp edges, they of course stuck to any firm patches well. There were a few bumps in the chute, and I was easily able to maneuver like I wanted through the troughs. Overall they did a nice job on what was some pretty challenging terrain. I did notice their short size when I got towards the bottom of the chute and picked up speed in more irregular terrain, but they were still manageable.
At the bottom of Slides I cut right to head toward Femur Ridge. I wanted to see how the skis handled a landing off a jump. With the firm conditions, I didn?t want to drop more than a few feet, but the skis felt normal on the landing. I was pleasantly surprised to find the bowl below Femur Ridge virtually untracked and quite smooth. It would have been fun to do a couple more runs in there, but I knew I could find better snow in other places, and I had to continue my test.
I kept heading north, this time taking North Bowl to get to Chair 5. On the steeper section of North Bowl, I decided to see how the skis handled in and out of the trees along the skier?s right of the trail. The snow was actually the best I?d encountered so far, with a few inches of powder along much of the trail edge. Nobody had skied it in who knows how long, probably in more than a week. The skis felt very nimble, so I brought them through some of the tighter spots to see how it went. They performed great, which was good, since this is something they?ll probably used for a lot.
A next took a couple runs on Chair 5, first heading down Lynx (Bobcat had a race course set up, although it didn?t seem to be closed). The skier?s right of Lynx was ungroomed and untracked. I hit my deepest snow of the day, about 3-4 inches, over a base of sun-protected snow. The Limiteds loved this terrain, and made quick work of it. On the next run, I headed to the other side of the lift and took the bottom of the Bear Claw Ridge trail. I found a similar consistency of untracked snow, but a more irregular base, probably since they don?t groom it as often. As I?d found before, I had to work a little harder to keep the skis on track with the terrain changes, but it was still a blast.
I continued my tour by heading to the Chair 3 area. I cut through the trees from Main Street to Side Street, and found firmer conditions due to the more southern exposure. The only powder available was the latest inch, possibly because the other few inches had been baked by the sun at some point. Cutting to the right of Side Street, I found deeper snow, and proceeded to slice it up with the Limiteds. I hit a slick patch under the powder at one point, which was the first time that the edge grip of the skis really failed me. It caught me by surprise, but fortunately I was able to stay up.
Finally it was time for some long runs off Chair 4. Most of the terrain is open to skiers, except for the middle of the top face and the Hollywood Bowl area. While riding the chair, I noticed that there was a lot of untracked snow in the Two Dot/Odyssey area so I planned to head there. I also got to check out the new mid station. From what I?ve heard, the mid station (which is about 400 vertical feet shy of the summit) is for unloading only at this point. It will hopefully allow the mountain to open up Chair 4 earlier in the season, before the steep open areas at the top have had time to fill in with snow. It will also allow people to unload and ski only the lower intermediate slopes of Saddle Mountain if the steep stuff up top is over their head. Actually, I know many people who would like to see the mid station as a loading area, which would let you lap the steep upper slopes of the mountain. This would be great on deep days, when the lower mountain terrain is just too slow because of its milder pitch. For my run, I headed down the top of Sacajewea, which was steep and groomed. I was again pleased with the edge hold of Limiteds. After the first pitch, I cut right and was able to ski some trees, which had great snow. The good snow continued all the way down onto the trails and I really let the skis ride.
Although it wasn?t really a powder day, I figured the best shot at testing the Limiteds in powder would be to head over to the north-facing terrain of Elk Basin. With Chair 4 running, this area was actually lift-serviced, so I figured it would be more tracked than usual. Still, it was the best option for lengthy powder lines in which to test the skis. The trip over on Oreo even provided some fresh turns outside of the main groomed area. I arrived at the top of Elk Basin, and couldn?t believe my eyes. It was well after noon, and there were only two tracks on the slope. Heck, they could have been from the patrol for all I knew. Fortunately, with Elk Basin?s sheltered northern exposure, there was a nice 3-4 inch layer of powder, which was on top of a much softer base than most other areas. Somewhere further down the trail, in the region of Dog Leg, I found myself flying through the powder with a silly grin on my face. I think I may have even laughed out loud at one point.
I did a couple more runs off Chair 4, one of them on Super G, for some good high speed cruising. The snow was excellent until the trail turned to the south, where it became quite firm. Actually the very bottom pitch was roped off and traffic was forced onto Bob?s Run. It?s a little hard to imagine that the issue was a total lack of coverage, but maybe there were some dangerous objects sticking out of the snowpack due to southern exposure. For my last run, I had to return to Elk Basin for powder. Believe it or not, there had been no tracks since my earlier run.
On my way back to the base on Chair 3, I noticed a couple of snowboarders walking up the Sneaker trail, and I wondered what was going on. To my surprise, I saw some rails set up on the trail, and as I looked up the trail further, I could see that there were several rails and hits scattered around. There was no other way to explain it? Lost Trail had built a terrain park. I know that?s something that the local kids have been wanting for years, so I?m sure they?re quite happy about the situation, even if there isn?t a dedicated lift and they have to walk for the quickest laps.
So, overall it was a surprisingly good day on the hill, and I?m very happy with the test of the Salomon Scream Limiteds.
A few pictures from the day can be seen at:
http://www.JandEproductions.com/2005/05FEB05.html
A current Lost Trail map can be found at:
http://JandEproductions.com/2005/LTmap0405.jpg
J.Spin
It had been another dry week in the Bitterroot, but a little moisture arrived just in time for the weekend. Although the temperature in town was well above freezing Friday night, we woke up to a skiff of snow on the ground. Lost Trail reported an inch of new snow and a temperature of 18 degrees F.
Last weekend, the delaminated tails of my Volants finally split so much that they were washing out on turns. It was definitely time to get some new skis. After a bit of research, I decided to check out the Salomon Scream 10 Pilot Hots (110/75/100) with the built in bindings. I stopped in at Bob Ward?s sports and the salesman suggested I demo before I bought anything. He didn?t have any Scream Pilots available for demo, but he did have the Scream Limited, the ?a la carte? version of the ski to which you can add your own bindings. Although they?re not exactly the same skis, he said they would give me a good feel for the Scream Hots because they are very similar. I picked up the skis (170 cm) on Friday, and brought them to the hill on Saturday for some test runs.
Even though it was just an inch of new snow, it was great to see people making tracks on South Face when I arrived at the hill. I naturally started out going groomed, hoping to catch a few runs with the new untracked snow over a nice flat surface. As Meadow Run started to get steeper, I got my first real feel for the Limiteds. Being shorter, they naturally felt turnier than my Volants, but they also had more snap in them. This wasn?t surprising, since the Volants tend to have more smoothness than snap in my experience. I worked a few runs on Far Out and Southern Comfort. Some high traffic areas were getting worked down to the hard base, but I was still able to get fresh snow each run by heading to the sides. I ventured into the ungroomed terrain off to the right of Upper Far Out, and this is where I first felt the length of the skis. They skied fine, but they were thrown around a little more by the terrain changes than my longer pairs of skis.
I wanted to use the skis in as many conditions as possible while I had them for demo, so I next headed over to Slides, a steep (35-40 degrees) tree-lined chute on the north side of the main area. Typically, I?d avoid it on a day like this with only an inch of new snow over a firm base, but I wanted to see how the Limiteds would handle such conditions. With their nice sharp edges, they of course stuck to any firm patches well. There were a few bumps in the chute, and I was easily able to maneuver like I wanted through the troughs. Overall they did a nice job on what was some pretty challenging terrain. I did notice their short size when I got towards the bottom of the chute and picked up speed in more irregular terrain, but they were still manageable.
At the bottom of Slides I cut right to head toward Femur Ridge. I wanted to see how the skis handled a landing off a jump. With the firm conditions, I didn?t want to drop more than a few feet, but the skis felt normal on the landing. I was pleasantly surprised to find the bowl below Femur Ridge virtually untracked and quite smooth. It would have been fun to do a couple more runs in there, but I knew I could find better snow in other places, and I had to continue my test.
I kept heading north, this time taking North Bowl to get to Chair 5. On the steeper section of North Bowl, I decided to see how the skis handled in and out of the trees along the skier?s right of the trail. The snow was actually the best I?d encountered so far, with a few inches of powder along much of the trail edge. Nobody had skied it in who knows how long, probably in more than a week. The skis felt very nimble, so I brought them through some of the tighter spots to see how it went. They performed great, which was good, since this is something they?ll probably used for a lot.
A next took a couple runs on Chair 5, first heading down Lynx (Bobcat had a race course set up, although it didn?t seem to be closed). The skier?s right of Lynx was ungroomed and untracked. I hit my deepest snow of the day, about 3-4 inches, over a base of sun-protected snow. The Limiteds loved this terrain, and made quick work of it. On the next run, I headed to the other side of the lift and took the bottom of the Bear Claw Ridge trail. I found a similar consistency of untracked snow, but a more irregular base, probably since they don?t groom it as often. As I?d found before, I had to work a little harder to keep the skis on track with the terrain changes, but it was still a blast.
I continued my tour by heading to the Chair 3 area. I cut through the trees from Main Street to Side Street, and found firmer conditions due to the more southern exposure. The only powder available was the latest inch, possibly because the other few inches had been baked by the sun at some point. Cutting to the right of Side Street, I found deeper snow, and proceeded to slice it up with the Limiteds. I hit a slick patch under the powder at one point, which was the first time that the edge grip of the skis really failed me. It caught me by surprise, but fortunately I was able to stay up.
Finally it was time for some long runs off Chair 4. Most of the terrain is open to skiers, except for the middle of the top face and the Hollywood Bowl area. While riding the chair, I noticed that there was a lot of untracked snow in the Two Dot/Odyssey area so I planned to head there. I also got to check out the new mid station. From what I?ve heard, the mid station (which is about 400 vertical feet shy of the summit) is for unloading only at this point. It will hopefully allow the mountain to open up Chair 4 earlier in the season, before the steep open areas at the top have had time to fill in with snow. It will also allow people to unload and ski only the lower intermediate slopes of Saddle Mountain if the steep stuff up top is over their head. Actually, I know many people who would like to see the mid station as a loading area, which would let you lap the steep upper slopes of the mountain. This would be great on deep days, when the lower mountain terrain is just too slow because of its milder pitch. For my run, I headed down the top of Sacajewea, which was steep and groomed. I was again pleased with the edge hold of Limiteds. After the first pitch, I cut right and was able to ski some trees, which had great snow. The good snow continued all the way down onto the trails and I really let the skis ride.
Although it wasn?t really a powder day, I figured the best shot at testing the Limiteds in powder would be to head over to the north-facing terrain of Elk Basin. With Chair 4 running, this area was actually lift-serviced, so I figured it would be more tracked than usual. Still, it was the best option for lengthy powder lines in which to test the skis. The trip over on Oreo even provided some fresh turns outside of the main groomed area. I arrived at the top of Elk Basin, and couldn?t believe my eyes. It was well after noon, and there were only two tracks on the slope. Heck, they could have been from the patrol for all I knew. Fortunately, with Elk Basin?s sheltered northern exposure, there was a nice 3-4 inch layer of powder, which was on top of a much softer base than most other areas. Somewhere further down the trail, in the region of Dog Leg, I found myself flying through the powder with a silly grin on my face. I think I may have even laughed out loud at one point.
I did a couple more runs off Chair 4, one of them on Super G, for some good high speed cruising. The snow was excellent until the trail turned to the south, where it became quite firm. Actually the very bottom pitch was roped off and traffic was forced onto Bob?s Run. It?s a little hard to imagine that the issue was a total lack of coverage, but maybe there were some dangerous objects sticking out of the snowpack due to southern exposure. For my last run, I had to return to Elk Basin for powder. Believe it or not, there had been no tracks since my earlier run.
On my way back to the base on Chair 3, I noticed a couple of snowboarders walking up the Sneaker trail, and I wondered what was going on. To my surprise, I saw some rails set up on the trail, and as I looked up the trail further, I could see that there were several rails and hits scattered around. There was no other way to explain it? Lost Trail had built a terrain park. I know that?s something that the local kids have been wanting for years, so I?m sure they?re quite happy about the situation, even if there isn?t a dedicated lift and they have to walk for the quickest laps.
So, overall it was a surprisingly good day on the hill, and I?m very happy with the test of the Salomon Scream Limiteds.
A few pictures from the day can be seen at:
http://www.JandEproductions.com/2005/05FEB05.html
A current Lost Trail map can be found at:
http://JandEproductions.com/2005/LTmap0405.jpg
J.Spin