billski
Active member
“Crunchy”.
I had a disappointing day at Ragged today.
It drizzled heavy last night (according to a local who lives just down the road) Which left pretty much everything quite crusty. Only the groomers could be skied and even then it was quite squirrely. When I got off the lift, I got about 100 yards down a groomer and “bam” down I went on my side. This happened three times within five minutes. This almost never happens to me on a groomer, except when I do stupid stuff. Anyways, I could not control my tips. They just wobbled as if I was doing a wheelie. I had weight full forward and carved as best I could, but “bam” again. So I stopped and clamped down my boot stiffer than I ever had before-to the max. Nearly no change at all.
Even the racers had problems – one guy even went back and got his edges sharpened (I was thinking I need it to). But he said it didn’t help at all. Even the course was bad he said. I took two laps on the training gates - he was absolutely right. They couldn't even make ruts. Very frustrating.
Imagine really scraped off snow, that has some other consistency, kind of like panel board. Think of when boarders and skiers side-slip their way down, without the noise. It wasn't boilerplate.
The only control I got was when I swapped out my boards with some much longer boards – 186 cm. That gave me stability, but the edging was still poor.
I hit some two natural trails – the bumps, the tracks in pow, everything was immoveable. It just grabbed me and took me wherever it wanted to. I hit a third one, last one – it softened up just a small amount. A lot of work, not much fun.
The snow on the groomers didn’t even soften until about 1:30pm. It was overcast the whole day. Natural trails were a disaster. Now, if young muscular people want to go down and break this stuff up, more power to them.
There was about 10" of fluff under about 1/8" of immoveable crust.
The only good snow was right at the summit, for about 1/5 (seriously) of the way down. Nice silky stuff, then like a switch, it turned to crunch.
I was ready to leave after an hour and a half, but decided to stick it out and concentrate on technique. Good place to drill.
The mountain company did the best they could. They groomed after close, but the rain came in after than, temps dropped and that was that. Only places like Okemo and Stratton will win this battle, before spring really comes. Or is it here already?
I was really looking forward to the woods skiing - always a blast for me. For me to express disappointment is a real shocker. Even when it rains I can have fun. This was different.
I had a disappointing day at Ragged today.
It drizzled heavy last night (according to a local who lives just down the road) Which left pretty much everything quite crusty. Only the groomers could be skied and even then it was quite squirrely. When I got off the lift, I got about 100 yards down a groomer and “bam” down I went on my side. This happened three times within five minutes. This almost never happens to me on a groomer, except when I do stupid stuff. Anyways, I could not control my tips. They just wobbled as if I was doing a wheelie. I had weight full forward and carved as best I could, but “bam” again. So I stopped and clamped down my boot stiffer than I ever had before-to the max. Nearly no change at all.
Even the racers had problems – one guy even went back and got his edges sharpened (I was thinking I need it to). But he said it didn’t help at all. Even the course was bad he said. I took two laps on the training gates - he was absolutely right. They couldn't even make ruts. Very frustrating.
Imagine really scraped off snow, that has some other consistency, kind of like panel board. Think of when boarders and skiers side-slip their way down, without the noise. It wasn't boilerplate.
The only control I got was when I swapped out my boards with some much longer boards – 186 cm. That gave me stability, but the edging was still poor.
I hit some two natural trails – the bumps, the tracks in pow, everything was immoveable. It just grabbed me and took me wherever it wanted to. I hit a third one, last one – it softened up just a small amount. A lot of work, not much fun.
The snow on the groomers didn’t even soften until about 1:30pm. It was overcast the whole day. Natural trails were a disaster. Now, if young muscular people want to go down and break this stuff up, more power to them.
There was about 10" of fluff under about 1/8" of immoveable crust.
The only good snow was right at the summit, for about 1/5 (seriously) of the way down. Nice silky stuff, then like a switch, it turned to crunch.
I was ready to leave after an hour and a half, but decided to stick it out and concentrate on technique. Good place to drill.
The mountain company did the best they could. They groomed after close, but the rain came in after than, temps dropped and that was that. Only places like Okemo and Stratton will win this battle, before spring really comes. Or is it here already?
I was really looking forward to the woods skiing - always a blast for me. For me to express disappointment is a real shocker. Even when it rains I can have fun. This was different.
I had wanted to go Thursday, but I was too pressed for time.
