After my last trip to Monarch, I decided that I needed to have someone take a look at my boots. I'm sure that's not the entire problem with my skiing this year, but something isn't right with my boots. So, off I went. Kevin is the "boot guru" at the shop, but Rick (the owner) is no slouch either. I have been told that Mondays and Tuesdays are the quiet days and, therefore, are the best days to get some serious attention. Of course, that wasn't the case when I showed up there.
Kevin wasn't working on Tuesday, but Rick took a look. I explained the problem as best I could, but what I'm feeling isn't easy to describe. I mean, its not as though there's a single problem. Sometimes, I feel like I'm sitting back, and other times, it feels like my weight is too far forward. Sometimes, it feels like there's not enough room in the front of my boots, other times, it feels like the back of my foot is cramped. Easy to diagnose? I think not.
Anyway, Rick put in some heel lifts, in an effort to keep my weight more consistent.
Off I went to Ski Cooper the next day. I haven't een there this year. Ski Cooper is a small area, and there's not a lot of difficult terrain. It is, however, very quiet during the week and a very good place to work on technique or try out equipment. You can easily keep skiing the same terrain, and make changes as you need to.
As it hadn't snowed in a few days, I decided to break out the Volkls. They're more of a "hard snow" ski, and that's what I found. In fact, I found generally "hard packed" snow. There's not a lot of ice at Colorado resorts, as the moisture contents of the snow isn't high enough. What you can get, though, is heavily compressed and packed snow. The skis edges can still get a good grip, but its not fluffy and soft. That's what there was at Cooper.
I spent most of the day lapping a number of Cooper's black runs, interspersed by blues. That might sound like a breakthrough, but there are blue runs at Monarch that are steeper and more difficult than the blacks at Cooper. Remember, the run designations are only relative to each other at a single area.
Were things any better with the boots? Not really. I felt a little more consistent with my weight distribution, but it was consistently too far forward. On top of that, I still can't find a way to adjust the boots to give me enough control over the skis, and still feel my feet after about 10 mins. Oh well.
Did I have fun? Yes, I did. I have fun every time I hit the slopes (well almost). Did I get the most out of the day? Probably not. Did I learn something? Yes. Did I work on some new techniques? I did.
I ended up working on larger radius turns. I seem to have gotten into the habit of making very quick, short turns and staying in the fall line an awful lot. That's a good way to ski, but it leads to high speeds. There are times, however, that I want to slow the pace. For instance, when I reach steeper terrain that I'm not comfortable with, its useful to widen out the turns a little, and spend a little more time traversing. I put in a couple of runs where I tried to use more of the slope in sections, and then tighten up the radius of the turns in other sections. Sometimes, you just need to mix things up a little.
On the subject of the boots, I still need to find out what the problem is. When I got back, I removed the heel lifts. They aren't answer. I guess that I need another trip back to the Ski Shop. I will say one thing, though. This is why I recommend using a good shop. I can go back there as many times as I need, and they will work out what the problem is. They have a 2 year boot fit guarantee. There is no problem with making adjustments, and they're as committed to getting this right as I am. Somehow, I can't see the assistants at somewhere like Sports Authority being anywhere near as interested.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Ski Trip Report 5 - Monarch 1/06/07
If it's a Saturday, it must be time to head to Monarch. Right?
Well, it seemed that way. So, off I went. I'd missed the real powder day, which was the Friday. The kids were off school, and Nikki had to work. Luckily, there wasn't a lot of snow in Woodland Park (a few inches), but Monarch got more than a foot. It was also the end of the Christmas holiday and I was hoping that most of the tourists would've headed home. No such luck.
For the first time, I only loaded one set of skis into the car. It took me an extra half hour to get to the ski area, as I got stuck behind slower traffic. Once I got there, things weren't so bad, I guess.
There was a good coverage of new snow in most places, but it had already been skied on quite a bit. There was nothing that looked like untracked powder. In fact, all of the green runs, and most of the blues had been groomed, which was still a little disappointing. I guess that it was still holiday season.
I did get some good runs in, but I'm still struggling. I still don't feel like I can effectively control both my weight and my skis, which is rather annoying. I'm also having problems keeping my feet warm, and stopping my toes from "going to sleep". I can't decide whether its a technique issue, or an equipment issue. I'm guessing that its a combination of both. In the end, I think that I need to o and see the folks at the Ski Shop to look at the boots, and probably book a lesson or two. Let's see where that takes us.
Anyway, there were no problems with getting up the driveway today, which is a good thing. It has to be said, the adventure last week was one of the more embarassing things that's happened since we've lived here. Oh well, everyone gets to screw up once in a while. I guess that I did it when everyone could see. I am still alive, though. In the end, there was no lasting damage.
Well, it seemed that way. So, off I went. I'd missed the real powder day, which was the Friday. The kids were off school, and Nikki had to work. Luckily, there wasn't a lot of snow in Woodland Park (a few inches), but Monarch got more than a foot. It was also the end of the Christmas holiday and I was hoping that most of the tourists would've headed home. No such luck.
For the first time, I only loaded one set of skis into the car. It took me an extra half hour to get to the ski area, as I got stuck behind slower traffic. Once I got there, things weren't so bad, I guess.
There was a good coverage of new snow in most places, but it had already been skied on quite a bit. There was nothing that looked like untracked powder. In fact, all of the green runs, and most of the blues had been groomed, which was still a little disappointing. I guess that it was still holiday season.
I did get some good runs in, but I'm still struggling. I still don't feel like I can effectively control both my weight and my skis, which is rather annoying. I'm also having problems keeping my feet warm, and stopping my toes from "going to sleep". I can't decide whether its a technique issue, or an equipment issue. I'm guessing that its a combination of both. In the end, I think that I need to o and see the folks at the Ski Shop to look at the boots, and probably book a lesson or two. Let's see where that takes us.
Anyway, there were no problems with getting up the driveway today, which is a good thing. It has to be said, the adventure last week was one of the more embarassing things that's happened since we've lived here. Oh well, everyone gets to screw up once in a while. I guess that I did it when everyone could see. I am still alive, though. In the end, there was no lasting damage.
Ski Trip Report 4 - Monarch 12/30/06
So, having almost recovered from the fun of the great "Holiday Blizzard of 06", as the news reports around here started calling it, we were hit with another big storm almost a week later. In the case of Woodland Park, that meant more snow than the first time around (about 2 feet) and more headaches. The storm rolled in on the Thursday night before New Years, and shut everything down on Friday. By late on Friday, the storm had passed and the road crews seemed to be getting on top of things. The fact is, though, that there's only so many places that you can push all the snow we'd had. There was a huge pile of snow at the bottom of our drive, which appeared to be almost as tall as I am (not that that's difficult), and the roads in the neighbourhood looked more like alleys. So, why is he talking about the roads? I'll get to that.
Given the road conditions (icy and snow packed - can you imagine that!), I "stole" Nikki's Lincoln Aviator, instead of taking my Audi. Not that the Audi is bad in the snow, but the Aviator has higher ground clearance. I thought that would make it easier to get to and from the ski area.
The day itself was a little disappointing. Monarch was reporting about 14 inches of new snow in 48 hours, and I was looking forward to playing in the powder. Unfortunately, there was also a lot of wind, blowing from the lodge, right up the mountain. In fact, it was blowing so hard that they closed one of the lifts (the Garfield) for a good part of the day. Given that the ski area was busy with holiday skiers, that created something of problem with uphill capacity. On top of that, the wind blew all the new snow off the mountain. All in all, it wasn't the best day that I've had on snow.
Anyway, I skied until the almost end of the day, but I wasn't happy. I still don't have complete control of my skis and my weight distribution doesn't feel right. I'll work out what is wrong, but I don't have it yet.
The funniest part of the day, at least if you're not me, was what happened when I got back. For some reason, I felt the need to make some Black Russians (Kahlua and Vodka with a little Coke/Pepsi added in for flavour), so I stopped and picked up some vodka. I will admit to being tired, but that's not really an excuse for what happened next.
As I said, the roads and the driveways were very narrow and snow packed. As I came up the road, I realised that I had to make a late turn into the drive. As I started to turn, I noticed that the snow plows had been around again and deposited a nice little snow bank across the bottom of the drive. It didn't even occur to me that I would high centre the truck on the compressed snow, but that's what I did.
Our drive runs up hill, and there's a slight slope from right to left as well. I got the truck high centred, and the wheels were just spinning. I was annoyed, mainly with myself. I have to admit to placing a rather terse phone call to Nikki, asking whether she could bring shovels down so that I could dig out the truck. At that point, the back end was stuck out in the road, and I'd managed to slide so that the driver's door was right against the huge snow bank. I had to climb out the passenger door. Grumble, grumble, grumble.
Just as I got out, one of the neighbours (Lee) showed up. I'm sure that he was laughing inside, but he did a good job of keeping it to himself. Instead, he helped me dig out enough that I could back out of the drive. Nikki and I completed the clear out of the snow, and I tried to get up the drive again.
Unfortunately, the drive was a great combination of ice covered with hard packed snow. In addition, there was no way for me to get enough momentum, given the tight turn that I had to make into the drive. The result was that I managed to get the truck onto the drive, but that was about it. We abandoned the vehicle there, and completed the job the next day.
All in all, not the best way to end not the best day.
Given the road conditions (icy and snow packed - can you imagine that!), I "stole" Nikki's Lincoln Aviator, instead of taking my Audi. Not that the Audi is bad in the snow, but the Aviator has higher ground clearance. I thought that would make it easier to get to and from the ski area.
The day itself was a little disappointing. Monarch was reporting about 14 inches of new snow in 48 hours, and I was looking forward to playing in the powder. Unfortunately, there was also a lot of wind, blowing from the lodge, right up the mountain. In fact, it was blowing so hard that they closed one of the lifts (the Garfield) for a good part of the day. Given that the ski area was busy with holiday skiers, that created something of problem with uphill capacity. On top of that, the wind blew all the new snow off the mountain. All in all, it wasn't the best day that I've had on snow.
Anyway, I skied until the almost end of the day, but I wasn't happy. I still don't have complete control of my skis and my weight distribution doesn't feel right. I'll work out what is wrong, but I don't have it yet.
The funniest part of the day, at least if you're not me, was what happened when I got back. For some reason, I felt the need to make some Black Russians (Kahlua and Vodka with a little Coke/Pepsi added in for flavour), so I stopped and picked up some vodka. I will admit to being tired, but that's not really an excuse for what happened next.
As I said, the roads and the driveways were very narrow and snow packed. As I came up the road, I realised that I had to make a late turn into the drive. As I started to turn, I noticed that the snow plows had been around again and deposited a nice little snow bank across the bottom of the drive. It didn't even occur to me that I would high centre the truck on the compressed snow, but that's what I did.
Our drive runs up hill, and there's a slight slope from right to left as well. I got the truck high centred, and the wheels were just spinning. I was annoyed, mainly with myself. I have to admit to placing a rather terse phone call to Nikki, asking whether she could bring shovels down so that I could dig out the truck. At that point, the back end was stuck out in the road, and I'd managed to slide so that the driver's door was right against the huge snow bank. I had to climb out the passenger door. Grumble, grumble, grumble.
Just as I got out, one of the neighbours (Lee) showed up. I'm sure that he was laughing inside, but he did a good job of keeping it to himself. Instead, he helped me dig out enough that I could back out of the drive. Nikki and I completed the clear out of the snow, and I tried to get up the drive again.
Unfortunately, the drive was a great combination of ice covered with hard packed snow. In addition, there was no way for me to get enough momentum, given the tight turn that I had to make into the drive. The result was that I managed to get the truck onto the drive, but that was about it. We abandoned the vehicle there, and completed the job the next day.
All in all, not the best way to end not the best day.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Ski Trip Report 3 - Monarch (again) Part 2 - The Actual Report
OK, so it's not the next day. In fact, its almost a week later. Sometimes, I guess, life gets in the way, especially when its Christmas. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it. As I explained in the last post, I went to Monarch after the weather and time conspired to rob me of the last free pass opportunity. Here's how the day went.
As I headed up Monarch Pass from Salida, I began to wonder whether I would even get a spot, and be able to ski. I needn't have worried, though, as I got a spot in the 2nd row of vehicles. Given that there had been a good amount of snow 2 days before, I was more than a little surprised. I wasn't uphappy, but I was surprised. Oh well! Stuff on, pass bought, and off we go.
Monarch has 5 lifts (if you ignore the magic carpet used in the new ski school area). Four of them head up from the base area. There are 3 lifts right in front of the lodge, and then one further to the skier's left and down a small hill. As per normal, I took that lift up to the top of some mixed terrain, and headed down. I was trying to improve my turning performance, using the Guns. To be honest, it wasn't working too well. I hit a number of blue runs, and I kept feeling like I was barely in control. I would love to blame the conditions, but that wasn't it. the packed out runs weren't ideal for the wider skis, but I wasn't skiing on ice, or anything close.
It turned out to be one of those situations where the complaint "I used to be better" was quite accurate. A couple of years ago, I could ski everything that I can now, plus more of the mountain. The biggest problem that I had was with moguls, which still seem to perplex me. So, I've somehow managed to give up the performance on the rest of the mountain, and gained nothing in the bumps. Why did that ever make sense to me?
So, what's the difference? Balance. Well, not exactly balance, but more weight distribution. For reasons that escape me, I seem to have more "centered" my weight over the skis. Instead of keeping more pressure on the fronts of my boots, I've been trying to stand on the middle of the ski. The result has been tired legs, and poorer skiing. So, that's the end of that little experiment.
The results of that realisation are dramatic, to say the least. All of a sudden, I own my skis and I can put them where I want to. I'm putting more pressure on the fronts of my boots and everything is good. I'm back to skiing where I want to, when I want to. I even took on a short black run, called Picante. I know, nothing to call the ski magazines about, but its a start. I was starting to look at the other blacks and it wasn't scaring me. I'm going to get there, and soon. Who knows, I might even start looking at the back side of the mountain a little more.
Oh, and there was another benefit. For the last few trips (this year and last), I've had to give up early. My legs have been done after about 4 hours. This time, I was able to ski from about 9.30 until about 3.30. Yes, I stopped for lunch, but that was about all. In fact, I could've gone longer, but things were starting to get silly. The ski area filled up as the day went on. By the time that I left, there were people everywhere, and they seemed to be "in the way" a lot.
So, what about moguls? Well, I still suck so no change there. I need to work on the technique. That's where the problem is. I don't know how to deal with moguls, from a technique point of view. I've been doing some online reading about moguls, and I have some new ideas to try. Maybe, I'll pick a day and spend it in the bumps. I will not let them beat me. They really are the last piece of the puzzle, in terms of skiing the whole mountain.
Oh, just as a note. It's snowing again. Hard. This is the first time that 2 major storms have blown through Colorado in December. The last storm dumped about 2 feet of snow on us, and this one looks to do about the same. I've already bought my lift ticket, and the equipment is ready to go. Now, I just need to hope that they clear the roads quickly. I guess that I picked the right year to buy wider, powder skis. You've got to love it. Well, I love it. I guess that the bump day will have to wait. Then again, its time to see how I do in the powder.
As I headed up Monarch Pass from Salida, I began to wonder whether I would even get a spot, and be able to ski. I needn't have worried, though, as I got a spot in the 2nd row of vehicles. Given that there had been a good amount of snow 2 days before, I was more than a little surprised. I wasn't uphappy, but I was surprised. Oh well! Stuff on, pass bought, and off we go.
Monarch has 5 lifts (if you ignore the magic carpet used in the new ski school area). Four of them head up from the base area. There are 3 lifts right in front of the lodge, and then one further to the skier's left and down a small hill. As per normal, I took that lift up to the top of some mixed terrain, and headed down. I was trying to improve my turning performance, using the Guns. To be honest, it wasn't working too well. I hit a number of blue runs, and I kept feeling like I was barely in control. I would love to blame the conditions, but that wasn't it. the packed out runs weren't ideal for the wider skis, but I wasn't skiing on ice, or anything close.
It turned out to be one of those situations where the complaint "I used to be better" was quite accurate. A couple of years ago, I could ski everything that I can now, plus more of the mountain. The biggest problem that I had was with moguls, which still seem to perplex me. So, I've somehow managed to give up the performance on the rest of the mountain, and gained nothing in the bumps. Why did that ever make sense to me?
So, what's the difference? Balance. Well, not exactly balance, but more weight distribution. For reasons that escape me, I seem to have more "centered" my weight over the skis. Instead of keeping more pressure on the fronts of my boots, I've been trying to stand on the middle of the ski. The result has been tired legs, and poorer skiing. So, that's the end of that little experiment.
The results of that realisation are dramatic, to say the least. All of a sudden, I own my skis and I can put them where I want to. I'm putting more pressure on the fronts of my boots and everything is good. I'm back to skiing where I want to, when I want to. I even took on a short black run, called Picante. I know, nothing to call the ski magazines about, but its a start. I was starting to look at the other blacks and it wasn't scaring me. I'm going to get there, and soon. Who knows, I might even start looking at the back side of the mountain a little more.
Oh, and there was another benefit. For the last few trips (this year and last), I've had to give up early. My legs have been done after about 4 hours. This time, I was able to ski from about 9.30 until about 3.30. Yes, I stopped for lunch, but that was about all. In fact, I could've gone longer, but things were starting to get silly. The ski area filled up as the day went on. By the time that I left, there were people everywhere, and they seemed to be "in the way" a lot.
So, what about moguls? Well, I still suck so no change there. I need to work on the technique. That's where the problem is. I don't know how to deal with moguls, from a technique point of view. I've been doing some online reading about moguls, and I have some new ideas to try. Maybe, I'll pick a day and spend it in the bumps. I will not let them beat me. They really are the last piece of the puzzle, in terms of skiing the whole mountain.
Oh, just as a note. It's snowing again. Hard. This is the first time that 2 major storms have blown through Colorado in December. The last storm dumped about 2 feet of snow on us, and this one looks to do about the same. I've already bought my lift ticket, and the equipment is ready to go. Now, I just need to hope that they clear the roads quickly. I guess that I picked the right year to buy wider, powder skis. You've got to love it. Well, I love it. I guess that the bump day will have to wait. Then again, its time to see how I do in the powder.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Ski Trip Report 3 - Monarch (again) Part 1 - The Back Story
Well, this could get interesting. I'm back from my third trip of the season, and I'm tired. In fact, I'm surviving on 4.5 hours of sleep, caffeine and sugar. Oh, and chocolate. You might need to excuse me at some points. I thought, however, that I would try something a little different and post a trip report on the day that the trip happened.
I was planning to go skiing this week, but not on a Saturday, and not to Monarch again. Not that there's anything wrong with Monarch. In fact, I love the place. The thing is, I had a free Gems card ticket, but it was for Ski Cooper. And, it had to be used mid-week before the end of this week. Oh, and Ski Cooper was only open during the week for this week. So, it was easy to use (really!).
I don't know whether anyone heard about the storm that blew through Colorado on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, but we got dumped on. That's the good news. The bad news is that we got dumped on, so the kids were off school for Wednesday and Thursday, and had a 2 hour delayed start on Friday. So, that blew out all my chances of going to Cooper. Oh well!
I talked to Nikki and we decided that Saturday looked open. So, I could go skiing. Given that there was no "free" option left, I decided that I wanted to go back to Monarch. Its a more challenging and interesting mountain for me. Cooper is a good place to take people to warm up (just ask Terri!), or to take the kids. Its reasonably flat and pretty safe, most of the time.
I hate these weeks for skiing, though. Colorado is invaded by visitors. That's a good thing, generally. However, I would prefer that they stick to big resorts like Keystone, Vail and Breckenridge. That sounds really bad, but I'm tired dammit! I'm tired of dodging people going every which way on runs, tired to looking out for "mommy and daddy" video taping junior as he skis to the lift, and tired of the peace and quiet of the trip up the lift being interrupted by teenage girls yelling to their friends down below. Most of all, I'm just tired.
The good news is, I made it back alive and in one piece. The bad news is, I'm not going to write the actual trip report tonight. I'm going to save that for tomorrow. Maybe that's good news. Who knows?
I'm going to let this stand, though, just to record my over-tired ramblings.
So there!
'Night
I was planning to go skiing this week, but not on a Saturday, and not to Monarch again. Not that there's anything wrong with Monarch. In fact, I love the place. The thing is, I had a free Gems card ticket, but it was for Ski Cooper. And, it had to be used mid-week before the end of this week. Oh, and Ski Cooper was only open during the week for this week. So, it was easy to use (really!).
I don't know whether anyone heard about the storm that blew through Colorado on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, but we got dumped on. That's the good news. The bad news is that we got dumped on, so the kids were off school for Wednesday and Thursday, and had a 2 hour delayed start on Friday. So, that blew out all my chances of going to Cooper. Oh well!
I talked to Nikki and we decided that Saturday looked open. So, I could go skiing. Given that there was no "free" option left, I decided that I wanted to go back to Monarch. Its a more challenging and interesting mountain for me. Cooper is a good place to take people to warm up (just ask Terri!), or to take the kids. Its reasonably flat and pretty safe, most of the time.
I hate these weeks for skiing, though. Colorado is invaded by visitors. That's a good thing, generally. However, I would prefer that they stick to big resorts like Keystone, Vail and Breckenridge. That sounds really bad, but I'm tired dammit! I'm tired of dodging people going every which way on runs, tired to looking out for "mommy and daddy" video taping junior as he skis to the lift, and tired of the peace and quiet of the trip up the lift being interrupted by teenage girls yelling to their friends down below. Most of all, I'm just tired.
The good news is, I made it back alive and in one piece. The bad news is, I'm not going to write the actual trip report tonight. I'm going to save that for tomorrow. Maybe that's good news. Who knows?
I'm going to let this stand, though, just to record my over-tired ramblings.
So there!
'Night
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Ski Trip Report 2 - First day at Monarch
Sometimes, you get involved in the perfect storm. An even better day is when the perfect early season storm is only part of the story. In this case, there was almost a foot of new snow, new skis and a free day of skiing. Here's how it went.
Monarch Ski Area was offering a free lift ticket on December 11. In return, they were asking for food donations to help out the local food bank. Luckily, it was 2 days after I picked up my new 1080 Guns, as mentioned in the last post. So, I was heading to Monarch to give them a try. I wasn't worried about the snow conditions, as I was planning on taking my Volkls along as well. That way, I could ski until I was done. Then, I looked at the weather forecast. The free day was a Monday, and there was supposed to be a storm passing through the area on Sunday. What more could I ask for?
My plan was to take my daughter to school on Morning, and then head west for almost 2 hours to the ski area. Then, I thought that I would be free to go whenever, as Jackie came down with a horrible cold. That was until I realised that I still needed to drop off one of the neighbour's kids at school. Oh well.
There was snow on the ground, and the skies were cloudy as I headed out of Woodland Park. It stayed that way until I passed over Wilkerson Pass. Then, the sun came out. I began to think that I was going to drive right into a rare post storm day. In the end, it was better than that.
When I got to Monarch Pass, the location of the ski area, the pass was completely snowed in. Not only did the ski area have 6" of snow overnight, but about another 5 fell during the day.
So, how was the skiing? In one word: phenomenal! I literally skiied myself into the ground. I don't know how many runs I made, but there more than a few. I had a ball, I stayed upright, and I think that I smiled all day. The new Guns are great in soft snow, whether its 6" of powder, cut up powder, or somewhat packed runs. I don't know how they do in harder snow conditions because there wasn't a hard packed slope to be found. I might find out at some point, but I might not. After all, that's what the Volkls are for. I do know this, the Volkls have some competition on groomed slopes, especially when I need to ski at a slower pace. All in all, I'm as happy as I can be.
I continue to think that this is going to be a great ski season. I'm looking at one more ski trip, this week. I have a free pass opportunity at Ski Cooper, but I have to use it before the 22nd of December. Guess what? Its going to snow again. In fact, there's the opportunity for 2 feet of snow in the next 2 days. What are the chances of that?
Monarch Ski Area was offering a free lift ticket on December 11. In return, they were asking for food donations to help out the local food bank. Luckily, it was 2 days after I picked up my new 1080 Guns, as mentioned in the last post. So, I was heading to Monarch to give them a try. I wasn't worried about the snow conditions, as I was planning on taking my Volkls along as well. That way, I could ski until I was done. Then, I looked at the weather forecast. The free day was a Monday, and there was supposed to be a storm passing through the area on Sunday. What more could I ask for?
My plan was to take my daughter to school on Morning, and then head west for almost 2 hours to the ski area. Then, I thought that I would be free to go whenever, as Jackie came down with a horrible cold. That was until I realised that I still needed to drop off one of the neighbour's kids at school. Oh well.
There was snow on the ground, and the skies were cloudy as I headed out of Woodland Park. It stayed that way until I passed over Wilkerson Pass. Then, the sun came out. I began to think that I was going to drive right into a rare post storm day. In the end, it was better than that.
When I got to Monarch Pass, the location of the ski area, the pass was completely snowed in. Not only did the ski area have 6" of snow overnight, but about another 5 fell during the day.
So, how was the skiing? In one word: phenomenal! I literally skiied myself into the ground. I don't know how many runs I made, but there more than a few. I had a ball, I stayed upright, and I think that I smiled all day. The new Guns are great in soft snow, whether its 6" of powder, cut up powder, or somewhat packed runs. I don't know how they do in harder snow conditions because there wasn't a hard packed slope to be found. I might find out at some point, but I might not. After all, that's what the Volkls are for. I do know this, the Volkls have some competition on groomed slopes, especially when I need to ski at a slower pace. All in all, I'm as happy as I can be.
I continue to think that this is going to be a great ski season. I'm looking at one more ski trip, this week. I have a free pass opportunity at Ski Cooper, but I have to use it before the 22nd of December. Guess what? Its going to snow again. In fact, there's the opportunity for 2 feet of snow in the next 2 days. What are the chances of that?
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Sometimes, you've just got to buy something
If you've read my equipment list, you might've thought something was missing. I thought there was something missing as well. My Volkls are great skis, but they aren't great at everything. When the new snow piles up (as we all love), they don't do as well as on groomed, firm or otherwise hard snow conditions. I love the idea of skiing powder, and I love the fact that I can be on the mountain when the snow is falling. The act of skiing in powder has, up 'til now, been more of a chore than it needed to be.
So, after buying my new boots this season, I started to eye a 2nd pair of skis. Actually, I thought about it at the end of last season, but didn't do anything. That's changed. After clearing out all the unused equipment in the house and deciding that I didn't need a season pass (I have the Gems Card and now I can ski where I want), I did a deal.
I went back to the Ski Shop and talked to Rick and Kevin numerous times. In the end, I settled on a pair of 05/05 Salomon 1080 Gun skis. They're a little longer than the Volkls (175 vs 167), but they're also twin tipped. They are, however, much wider in all aspects, which should help with skiing in powder and soft snow conditions. Oh, and they're light as well. They have a reputation for being very soft skis, but we'll see what that means. Oh, and at some point, I'll take a picture of all the ski stuff.
So, after buying my new boots this season, I started to eye a 2nd pair of skis. Actually, I thought about it at the end of last season, but didn't do anything. That's changed. After clearing out all the unused equipment in the house and deciding that I didn't need a season pass (I have the Gems Card and now I can ski where I want), I did a deal.
I went back to the Ski Shop and talked to Rick and Kevin numerous times. In the end, I settled on a pair of 05/05 Salomon 1080 Gun skis. They're a little longer than the Volkls (175 vs 167), but they're also twin tipped. They are, however, much wider in all aspects, which should help with skiing in powder and soft snow conditions. Oh, and they're light as well. They have a reputation for being very soft skis, but we'll see what that means. Oh, and at some point, I'll take a picture of all the ski stuff.
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