Timberline, Mt. Hood, OR - 6/23/06

[jasoncapecod]

1. Three or so boards at avg. $1200 each
2. Five or so sails at avg. $500 each
3. Two or so masts at avg. $350 each
4. Two or so booms at avg. $250 each
5. Mast bases, fins, etc. total approx. $600
6. Wetsuit, harness, booties, gloves, etc. total approx. $350

Holy crap, Did you just come from my basement.. That's my Quiver..
I have not bought a new piece in 10yrs.. The cost is out of site.

 

[Tony Crocker]

There's no way either Dave Fairhall or Adam's friend Manolis spent anywhere near that much on equipment. My guess is that they each have one "good" board with mast and boom, plus an older set. 3 or 4 sails that cover the range of winds on their home turf. You're renting gear if you travel to Maui or Margarita. There is little doubt in my mind that the average 30-day-a-year windsurfer spends less than the average 30-day-a-year skier.

This is certainly true in California where the windsurfing is mostly daytrips and the skiers are going to Mammoth or Tahoe. SLC is atypical as it has to be the cheapest quality of skiing per dollar place to live in North America.

One more question for you windsurfers. Is kiteboarding broadening the appeal any? Is it easier to learn? I've heard it's much better in low wind places like San Diego. But I first saw them in action at Cape Point in South Africa (an awesome destination for advanced windsurfers IMHO) at 20+ knots.

 

[Admin]

I have not bought a new piece in 10yrs.. The cost is out of site.

Ditto, although the fact that I've haven't really sailed in 10 years has a lot to do with it, too. My Astro Rock is in good shape and is a good mid-size board regardless of the new hulls. The Seatrend is my high-wind board, is ridiculously delicate, and has seen better days.

My NP 6.0 is the only sail I bought brand new and is in wonderful condition. I just adore that sail. My NP 4WD 5.0 is aging quickly but it's a great sheet, my North Sails 4.5 was in only fair shape to begin with but I seldom use it, and my Hatteras Product 6.5 was nearly brand new when I bought it and still is, but it's shifting draft always made me think it was a POS - no wonder the guy sold it to me.

One carbon (NP) mast (also bought new), one aluminum mast I never use, two sets of booms, a harness that no longer properly fits :roll: , booties, gloves, cold weather gloves, a helmet, a Rainbow 10.0 fin, a weed fin, a short carbon Windsurfing Hawaii fin, a POS Bic plastic fin, a shorty wetsuit, a farmer john/jacket, and a drysuit whose seals have aged too much round out my gear. I spent a fraction of the prices I quoted above for new gear, but at the time I bought it I practically needed to mortgage a farm to gradually assemble it all.

 

[Patrick]

Skiing and Windsurfing in the same Timberline skiing topic. :roll: :lol:

I remember a few excellent skiers when I raced in university in the late 80s were as fanatically about windsurfing (if not more) than skiing. A few of them would go to Cape Hatteras or the Gorge every year. Most of these guys were also amazing snowboarders as well as alpine skiers.

 

[Frankontour]

back on skiing, thanks for the infos about courses and competition reserved spaces. I'm not really surprised to see the pics, but I'm sure that like Marc said, the teams won't be on the hills everytime during the day, so we will surely have a chance to switch some times of trails...

I 100% agree with Marc that a ± 1500' high trail fully covered with snow will be way enough to get some fun... to prove it, here is the last place I've skied this season (may 27th), and even there, I got some little fun...

Leaving in 17 days... so eager !

 

[Jonny D]

here is the last place I've skied this season (may 27th), and even there, I got some little fun...

That's looking pretty good right about now...

(Humidex is pushing 40 Celcius [104 F] in Toronto today, Allergies in high gear too)

 

[Patrick]

here is the last place I've skied this season (may 27th), and even there, I got some little fun...

That's looking pretty good right about now...

(Humidex is pushing 40 Celcius [104 F] in Toronto today, Allergies in high gear too)

On July 4th, the last time I skied, I left Mammoth to sleep in Furnace Creek (Death Valley). Temperature at 10pm was 41c (105F), actual, no humidex here (there is fact no humidity also). So from skiing on snow to sleeping in the desert in less than 7 hours later.

 

[Tony Crocker]

April 30, 1994: skiing in a snowstorm and high winds at Mammoth at noon, swimming in the pool at Stovepipe Wells at 10PM at 80F.

 

[Anthony]

Hey Frank , Is your last day picture from Avila ? My last day was Alta April 14 . Very early for standards on this board but this is when I switch over to road biking. I tell you could use a lift or two when road biking up hills :lol:

 

[Frankontour]

here is the last place I've skied this season (may 27th), and even there, I got some little fun...

That's looking pretty good right about now...

(Humidex is pushing 40 Celcius [104 F] in Toronto today, Allergies in high gear too)

You tell it ! allergies, humidex... 40 celsius, very hot down here too (I'm sure it's 75-80 without humidity in Charlevoix... hmmmm)

Yes Anthony, this is Mt Avila. There was snow left up to extreme-late june (we almost got there on june 24th for some crazy carpet lol) Not a bad idea for the lift with bike

16 days left... can't wait... people out here think that I'm sick

 

[Admin]

This thread started off this way:

I was in Oregon today preparing for an upcoming FTO feature on the summer scene on Hood.

That feature is now published:
http://www.firsttracksonline.com/timber ... on2006.htm

 

[tirolerpeter]

Nice writeup in FirstTracksOnline on the OR trip Marc. However, when I looked in the Table of Contents I found your 1998 "Bubba & The Axe Murderer visit the Moromons." I'm sure I wasn't as proficient in the powder and the steeps on my first visit in 2000 as you were, but I had the same feelings about the snow and terrain my son and I experienced at Solitude, Snowbird, and Snowbasin. It is why I keep going back, and why I am moving there as soon as my house sells. But, the reason I was so amused by the introduction, was this experience. In the Fall of 2004 I was at a local Costco and stopped to look the wide-screen/HD TV displays as they were showing some "Warren Miller" type ski demo videos. I must have been salivating, when a voice said: "Pretty amazing isn't it?" I responded: "Not as great as actually being there" After watching and chatting a while, I gave the guy my email, and told him that if he ever wanted to make a run to VT some mid-week, to send me a note. I forgot about it until a few weeks later when he wrote me. Over the net, we set up a Tuesday evening departure for a run up to Mt. Snow. After I picked him up (he lives a couple of miles away) he commented that he was amused by his wife's amazement that he would take an over-night trip with someone he had met in a store for a few minutes. His wife had asked him: "What if the guy is an axe murderer?" We both laughed. After that trip, we made a couple of more that season, and then this past season I talked him into a UT run. He in turn recruited another friend, and I recruited my "regular" UT buddy, Bobby for the trip. Steve had never been out west anywhere, and spent the first two days with his jaw dropping at the views and the snow quality. His other friend, Paul had skied CO and BC and was resistant to going to UT, until he got there. He was also stunned, that his share of the whole trip (air, car, hotel, meals, lifts, fuel) came to about $700. He admitted that he couldn't have gotten close to that anywhere else. In fact, with the crappy Jan/Feb conditions beating us down here in the east this past season, my two new buddies talked me into another trip west (like I needed much pursuading) and are rooting for me to make the move so that they can visit!

 

[Admin]

Great tale, Peter!

 

[Patrick]

There is some fun on Mt. Hood, lift-serviced or not.

Marc talked about the lift-serviced.

Here is a TR about the not... Enjoy.

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/show ... hp?t=56942

 

[Frankontour]

I'm here at home in Montreal
and sunday morning, I'll be skiing at Timberline Lodge, while today marks my 2nd month without skiing... do you think I'm eager ?

Still looks good out there, although the top of Magic Mile is slowly dying and I guess there won't be anything interesting there to ski in 3 days

Anyway, we're there for Palmer

 

[Admin]

Have a great trip, Frank!

 

[Tony Crocker]

Looks a little different from admin's trip. It's been over 100 degrees in Portland much of the past week (much more unusual than here in SoCal), so the snow on Hood has to be taking a beating.

 

[Frankontour]

Looks a little different from admin's trip. It's been over 100 degrees in Portland much of the past week (much more unusual than here in SoCal), so the snow on Hood has to be taking a beating.

Yes, but today, we've been caught in a snowstorm on the mountain and it had to shut down the lifts around 9h this morning because of the storm. At least, we had the time to do 3 runs (1 T2B and 2 on Magic Mile only, as Palmer closed just after we reached the summit, early in the morning). They closed Magic Mile 2 runs after, cause of the rain at the bottom, ice around mid mtn of Magic Mile and on the top of Palmer...

Magic Mile is still T2B, except that snow ends at about 500' off the lodge. So it's just a short walk (5 minutes) to get back to the lift and the snow should stay there until the end of the week, we think. For most of people, it was just a run down to avoid unloading the lift, but for us, it was the best snow and best vertical and best fun that we got for something like 3½ months, so we would have continued all day long like that, if they had not closed ! lol

Anyway, we had some little trouble with our knees (not used to ski down soooooo long, 2600' high still covered and lifted) so as we got our money back, it was a great way to begin our ski week... but we seriously hope to not see these conditions until the end of the week...

Here are a couple pics of our short ski day :

In the Magic Mile

Me just above the bottom of Palmer

Going slow... huh... whoops... on the lower palmer

Still just above the bottom of Palmer

Soooo nice !

At the top of Palmer, a little bit of sun, but it's the only bit that we've seen during the day !

The best corduroy on earth is the one we can ski in july !

Ending Palmer...

The end of the snow, just beside the Lodge

Chris at the top of Palmer this morning

Note : for the other ski days (real ones), I will report in separate threads

 

[Admin]

Nice! Keep 'em coming.

Imagine, frozen precip at the end of July at 7,000 feet...go figger... :roll:

 

[tirolerpeter]

Mt. Washington, NH (6,288') has significant snow storms in every month of the year. But I don't suppose anyone wants to tangle with the wind gusts (231 mph (372 km/h), recorded on the afternoon of April 12, 1934) while that stuff is coming down :shock: