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Ski Sundown 2/20/07 (night)

bvibert

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Date(s) Skied: Feb 20th 2007

Resort or Ski Area: Ski Sundown

Conditions: Partially re-frozen spring like snow with patches of hard-pack

Trip Report: I was able to get out for a couple of hours last night after work. I started with my standard warm-up of upper nor'easter to canyon then dipping into the rapidly dying exhibition bumps. They really could use some help, although the warm temperatures and sun from earlier in the day helped to soften them up a bit. My next run was down nor'easter, the bumps in there are still pretty much the same, but was some soft stuff on the tops of those too. After that I decided to check out some Nordica demo's they had setup in the base area. I could tell right away that the first skis they put me on, Speedmachine Mach3's, were not going to work for me in the bumps. I flailed in the upper section of the nor'easter bumps before bailing to temptor where the skis were more at home. I then cut across to the ex bumps for a few turns. I did the same run again with skis before exchanging the Mach3's for a pair of Hot Rod Modified's. These skis were more what I was looking for, much easier to swing around in the bumps yet still having good edge hold on the cruisers. I got 3 runs in on those before turning them in. What a difference it was when I got back onto the Head iM75's that I'd been using. They didn't feel nearly as solid on the flats, though they are probably in need of a tune. They were easier to throw around in the bumps, that might be attributed to the shorter length though (170 vs 178). I made a few more runs on nor'easter before packing it in for the night a bit before 10.

All in all a VERY nice night to be out skiing. I could have done without the ski patrol practicing pulling their sleds through the bumps every run though. It made it kind of hard to pick a line and stick to it when there were 3 separate groups of 3-4 patrollers with a sled in each group in various sections of the run. I know they have to practice, but I was kinda bummed they had to do it last night. ;) Better bumpers would probably be able to go right around them, but I lacked the confidence and ability to do so and ended up doing a lot of stopping, waiting, and side slipping past (hmmm.. maybe not so different from how I normally ski :lol: ).
 

Greg

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Cool! Thanks for the report. Glad you got some demo time in. Ask HPD about the Nordicas. Were the Nor'easter troughs hard and icey or starting to soften a bit? I have to imagine that after yesterday and today's warmth, they will be sweet tonight. Bummer about ski patrol. I ran into that one night there too.
 

bvibert

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Cool! Thanks for the report. Glad you got some demo time in. Ask HPD about the Nordicas. Were the Nor'easter troughs hard and icey or starting to soften a bit? I have to imagine that after yesterday and today's warmth, they will be sweet tonight. Bummer about ski patrol. I ran into that one night there too.

I was surprised to see Nordica there, especially at night. They showed up at like 6:30 or 7:00. It was the Tuesday night racers that they seemed to mostly be attracting. I asked them if they knew HPD, which they did.

There were still a few hard/icy troughs in nor'easter, but most of them had soft snow from earlier in the day pushed into them. I was mostly trying to stick the line far skiers right which was pretty good..
 

Greg

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How were the crowds? Typical weekday or more weekend like?
 

Grassi21

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The crowds were very light since there were no school groups.

Good point. Now you have me thinking about tonight.... I'm having lunch with wifey in Nrowalk today. I'll see what I can do....
 
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