Notag

Missed a couple potential snowboard days because the stomach flu hit the family and I was playing doctor.

Today, high of -10F, really unfun temp for snowboarding.

I’ll see if I can sneak in some time after the Viking game tomorrow.

Christmas and family this weekend. No snow report.

Leaf made his debut today. Good to board with my kid brother.

Really looking forward to having the -whole- crew back and on the slopes the same day!

Got there in the later afternoon and crowds where heavy. Like clockwork, 4pm rolled around, people just seem to leave.

I think only 2 runs are not open. Highland rabbit run and Tree Trip run. Rolllers in the Highland are there but way to close and rutted.

Leaf got some good pictures.

Bridge run had plenty of snow but large mount of snow down the middle of the run made switches on the hill tough. I think they need to run the snow-cat through the run and even things out.

Ended the night in the Meadows riding fakey.

Gonna miss next weekend cuz of the holidays. Will really look forward to the weekend after that to get back on the slopes.

Saturday temps hit mid-20s so I and kid#1 packed up our gear and headed out to Afton.

To my amazement a crew member from the past took time off of work and met us out there. Chief has returned.

Packed powered (of course) was the stable for most runs with the occasional “pillow” of snow made by the snow machines (not!).

We forgot kid#1’s goggles so it was an icy dagger run through the snow makers. Fun stuff.

It looked like all of the Meadow and Alps are open. Terrian park in the Meadows and the rabbit run in the Alps. The major runs in the highlands are open. Bridge was open, but full of snow makers. Highland rabbit run was closed. Atomic Drop was closed. Jump Park closed.

Funny story.

We took a run through the meadow’s terrain park so kid#1 could check it out. We stopped at one particularly long kinked-box-slide and watched. Everyone was having problems with it.

1 crew of teenage boys was filming and being a typical all-boy snowboard crew. One member came down and face planted hard. He got up and dusted himself off to the jeers and laughs of his crew. His response, he flipped them the bird.

Kid#1’s eyes got very large and she pulled on my sleeve and pointed for us to go down the hill.

On the chair-lift she leans over to me in a voice filled with exasperation and says, “Dad, did you see that boy give his friends the middle finger?!”

I tried to keep a straight face and just said, “Yep.”

She sat back into the chair-lift and talking to no one in particular said, “Why do teenage boys have to be so naughty!”

Well, isn’t that a question for the ages!

I treasure these times with my daughter. She’s old enough to have an adult conversation with but still young enough to want to be with her dad and thinks it’s cool.

I know many of the readers of this blog aren’t excited about the snow and potential blizzard that is coming, but as a snowboarder the snow makes me giddy!

On Sunday 13 runs are open at Afton, I expect even more this weekend.

First run of the year was great. Snow was packed powder. Imagine that! And already? Got there shortly after 4pm and the crowds were light. Was able to do turn-abouts.

Meadows has 2 runs open. Alps has 2 runs open. Bunny hill was open. The Bunny Hill was make-shift rail park.

Stuck to the meadows with kid #1. Coverage was pretty good and like every year the small base exposes lots of fun terrain! I had to exercise lots of parental restraint and set a good example for kid #1

Normal ride I felt right at home, almost like I never stopped boarding. Fakey was a little shaky but that only started feeling good the end of last year.

Got a couple comments on my carbonite board, which is always a good ego stroke

Kid #1 was right at home as well. Pizza and french fries are and I quote, “… for little kids …”, turns, stops, and control all looked good. The couple of inches in height from last year make the chair lift piece of cake this year.

Couple things I forgot.

Water, everyone was thirsty after riding.

Snack, everyone was hungry during the ride.

Change of hand gear, since kid #1 still doesn’t get that a snowball fight just gets you gloves wet and hands cold
Convince Mom glove = bad, mittens = good. Even a high quality glove is not a match for warmth that a mitten can provide.

Snowboard Season History

First run of the 2009-2010 season was December 5, 2009

Last run of the 2008-2009 season was March 15, 2009

First run of the 2008-2009 season was November 16, 2008

Last run of the 2007-2008 season was April 5, 2008

First run of the 2007-2008 season was November 30, 2007

Last run of the 2006-2007 season was April 3, 2007

First run of 2006-2007 was not tracked. Bummer!

I hoped this day won’t come, but it’s Dec 1st and no snow. Not even a hint of snow. The temps have been more like early fall then winter!

Doing my part to promote the Powerboard!

March 15, 2009 was the last turn of the 2008-2009 Snowboard season.

Reading last years blogs, March was awesome month for snowboarding (except for the Magnet head injury). Makes me feel cheated this year! Double-so, since I did not get a chance to go out to Colorado! I blogged on March 25, 2008 that it was 65F and 72F, so warm weather isn’t a stranger to the end of March here in Minnesota.

Won’t have any Colorado pictures up this year. Economic conditions (globally?) requires conservative spending. It’s “save for a raining day”. Tried to convince myself “save for a snowy day” but could not do it.

Plan was when I turn 30-10, we’d head to Mt. Hood and snowboard in the middle of the summer on glacier at 15,000+ feet. That plan is on hold (money thing again) and sadly with global climate change the resort and snowboard school are warning “no refunds” if there is no snow.

I called to ask about the “no snow” comment since the mountains have had snow on them for the last 10,000 years(!) and was politely told that global warming (their words, not mine) was effecting snowcap and glaciers all over the world. It’s sad we’ve messed up the enironment so bad.

Snowboard Season History

Last run of 2008-2009 season was March 15, 2009

First run of 2008-2009 season was November 16, 2008

Last run of 2007-2008 season was April 5, 2008

First run of 2007-2008 season was November 30, 2007

Last run of 2006-2007 season was April 3, 2007

First run of 2006-2007 was not tracked. Bummer!

Made it out to Afton today with temps around 53 to 55F according to various weather reports.  I was very tempted to use the AC during my drive out there.

I didn’t want to park on the other side of the ticket booths just in case the stream overflowed, I was afraid I wouldn’t make there in time to move my car.  So, I parked on the blacktop area on the other side of the Alps chalet.

First chairlift up was like a lake.  I stayed dry.  I tried to head back to the shaded area of the Highlands.  What normally takes me just a couple of minutes on good snow, took me almost 15 minutes as I did alot of skating.  By watching others try and make it down the hill and my own testing, I found that the run under the chairlift that takes you to the Highlands chalet was the best.  Just stay in the shade and it was fast enough for me to carve turns.  I stayed back there about 90mins before trying to make my way back to the Meadows.  I had to walk the PITA since it was so slow, sticky and wet.

No go in the Meadows.  All glue in there.

The Hill of Darkness and neighboring runs around the short & fast chair lift were usable.  I spent about 30mins riding on those hills.

I then went to the Alps for some riding in The Bowl.  Sadly, that run spent too much time in the sun or saw too much traffic as the slush was too deep.  I moved over to the Steep Black, which was great!  Numerous people had problems riding it, so they just tried once and moved on.  The Rabbit Run wasn’t steep enough to keep the speed up, so I just road that once.  I’m not sure how much time or how many runs I made on the Steep Black, but I ultimately called it a season on that hill.

There is a white area on the underside of my snowboard.  It looks brown now due to all the dirt that has been pressed in to the wax on my snowboard.  

The metal water bottle in my car - the water was quite warm when I drank from it.  I even had the windshield shades up.  The sun was that intense and hot today.

Counting all the lift ticket tags on my pants, I made it out 31 times this year.  I missed one weekend due to other plans and cold temps, another weekend for Con of the North, another weekend because of the flu, and one Sunday due to injury (lower back.)

Just checked, 7 months and 17 days (or 231) days until Nov-01-2009.