Who's Skiing?

[jbotti]

It's been close to 80 degrees every day this pat week in Northern Ca. It's great for cycling (often this is our best cycling weather all year) but it feels like light years away from winter. Just so I and others can live vicariously, if you have been getting on snow let us know how it's been (conditions at Loveland and A-Basin) and how it has felt to arc some turns again.

In years past it has felt like I hit the ground running. last year it seemed like it took me 10 ski days to really get a solid feel back. Love to hear how it's been for anyone who is back on snow.

[CO_Steve]

Basin been good but crowded. Mostly soft snow last week as we had three small storms through.
Looks like the top will open sometime this week, should help with the crowding. There's a lot of snow up high for Oct.

[JMD]

Enjoyed skiing 5 short days last week at A-Basin. I skip the weekends early season because of insane crowds. Monday had 2" new on top of a good firm groomer with light crowds. Tuesday had 4" new snow and heavy crowds. Greeted Diana and Chris as we left. Wed and Thur saw firm groomers with light crowds. Friday had 5" new snow and very heavy crowds. Ramrod opened Fri and doubled the open runs to 2. Geoff-Steve-Pam-Steve2-and I enjoyed the seasons early start (dodging the straight-liners and boarders). The season is off to a great beginning with Keystone opening Nov 1st. Let it SNOW.

[h.harb]

Last day of snow for a week is today. Clear and cold at least, for a week.

[CO_Steve]

It's been a few years now of being a pmts skier and I'm starting to see a pattern the first week every year.
The first run everything feels odd. The simple skill of balancing over the stance ski seems difficult, requiring lots of muscular effort. This is very tiring.
Within a couple runs I've found my balance and the effort goes way down. Now I'm trying to get the tipping going so that the ski will work.
Soon the focus goes to other areas, flexing, CB, CA, more tipping. By the end of the third day I'm starting to make decent turns without having to think about everything.
Then I start remembering why I like this so much.

[geoffda]

Yep, cold and snowy here in CO. 5 days of skiing at the Basin so far with the "carving crew". It's been a great start. Loveland is now open and the rest of the resorts are blowing snow & will be opening up in the next few weeks. Race training is going on at Loveland Valley and if Copper isn't going already, they will be open for training by next weekend.

Arcing turns? Nothing compares to that feeling! Sorry you are still stuck on your bike John.

[h.harb]

Yes it's mazing how different the world is on this side of the mountains, from the California side.

[jbotti]

Thanks to all that have replied. I feel better already!!

Wow, you guys have been blessed with some great early season conditions. Sounds awfully sweet.

Temps dropped 8 degrees today but we still hit 70 or so. I really can't complain but I am jonesing to ski!

[h.harb]

We were climbing today, putting up a new route, bolting and cleaning, stuff like that and it started snowing on us.

[HighAngles]

I got in my first day of the season yesterday (Saturday). Loveland opened on Thursday and then got a nice dump of about 9" Thursday night. I was really impressed with the snow conditions and the amount of terrain already opened at LL. This was the earliest I've ever started my season (by about 10 days). I usually avoid the white ribbon of death, but this season is starting out better than it was after Thanksgiving last season (it looked like mid-Winter conditions up there). The snow on Mambo was quite soft, but Lower Richards was a bit sketchy with lots of golf balls that needed some grooming attention. Spillway actually improved as the morning went on.

Anyhow, my first day was definitely different than the past few seasons. My first two runs felt great - I know I said I would start slow, but the carving with "high angles" just naturally came out. But then my feet were killing me and my lack of fitness reared its ugly head. I'm not only fat around the middle - I'm pretty sure that my feet are fatter too. Of course I didn't do my normal month long foot preparation wearing my boots around the house. So I had to stop after 3 runs and go in the lodge and completely remove my boots. After about 10 mins. my feet were feeling fine again so I fought the battle to get them back in cold shells and went back out. Then at least my feet felt fine for another 9 or 10 runs, but my skiing felt like it completely fell apart. I honestly pin this on my complete lack of physical fitness. So kudos to all of you who have been diligent in your off-season preparation. Now I'm going to have to fight to get back to skiing weight and sufficient fitness so that I'm not dying out there.

[jbotti]

10 lbs can easily be lost in 6 -8 weeks. That only puts us early december with the bulk of the ski season in front of us. You should have sufficnet motivation now that there is snow on the ground.