Loon - 11/24/11 Turkey day

[speden]

Well I dusted off the ski gear and started my season with a trip to Loon today. Took me quite a while to track down all my stuff, but I got on the road early enough make the 9am opening, almost... I had to wait in line for about 20 minutes to pick up my Boyne pass first.

Temps were in the upper 20's first thing in the morning, the sun was out and it warmed quickly to mid 30's, no wind. By the afternoon it was overcast. There were a few more people there than I expected, but not enough to be bothersome.

Coverage on the open trails was good. Most of the natural snow from yesterday was already packed down. The surface was fairly good up high, with some loose snow, then got more hardpack near the base. The snow didn't really soften up much during the day after the clouds rolled in.

I was planning on a short day since I'm breaking in some new boots and some old legs. These are the Fischer Soma vacuum boots. First run was hell, with no circulation in my little toes, so I went into the lodge and popped the boots off and waited for the tingling feeling to go away. But the liner started to pack out pretty quick and after a couple more runs, the blood started flowing a little. So far the boots look promising, but will take a while to break in.

They had a nice Thanksgiving special for lunch with a heaping plate of the usual Turkey day stuff. It looked good, but I wanted to ski some more after lunch, so I skipped it. But I soon regretted that since my legs only had about three runs left in them before my quads started giving out (the sartorious muscles to be specific). Somehow my workouts have been missing those. Overall a real nice day, but I'm more out of shape than I thought.

They were setting up tons of guns on Upper and Lower Flume, so I guess they will be blasting that soon.

I didn't have my camera with me, but here are a few crappy shots from my cellphone.

Upper Picked rock was pretty nice in the morning with not much traffic and some loose snow

There are lots of snow making whales on many of the trails that they haven't groomed out. That made for some nice variety.

Sunset was one of the few trails with a lot of loose snow, and they also had a couple of park features set up on it shortly after the steepest part shown here.

Here's a shot looking up at Upper Walking Boss. I had come across on Haulback and then found Lower Walking boss to be mostly scrapey hardpack, so I avoided this area after that. But Upper Walking Boss looked like it might be fun.

 

[o3jeff]

Looks good!

 

[hammer]

Thanks for the report. Heading up tomorrow, looking forward to it...

 

[powhunter]

Way to git sum!!

Steveo

 

[deadheadskier]

sweet. looks like a great day.

re: sartorius muscle

I'd recommend barbell step ups if you are not incorporating those into your workout. Conventional squatting, leg extension and press exercises do little to target that muscle. You need to be a bit out of balance and off centered to hit it. You can get that with barbell step ups. IMO, barbell step ups are the single best leg exercise for skiers because it hits everything. It's great for the core too. They're better than squats because they don't isolate certain muscles, but rather hit them all throughout the exercise motion.

If you're unfamiliar, here's a youtube. I think a 45 pound Olympic bar is no where near enough for most people (including the girl in the video) to get the most out of the exercise. You need to have at least some weight plates on the barbell because those weights on the outside really pull you out of balance and hit stablizer muscles like the sartorius hard.

I do each leg 5 times in a row X 3 sets. If you limit your rest between sets to 30 seconds, it will get your cardio going too.

 

[speden]

That's a good tip DHS. I've been doing leg extensions and squats, and just as you say, it's not hitting all the muscles I need for skiing. I'll give the barbell step-ups a shot, but I'll have to improvise something. I work out in my basement and I don't think I have enough headroom down there.

 

[Johnskiismore]

It was a great day to be out on Loon today!

 

[deadheadskier]

That's a good tip DHS. I've been doing leg extensions and squats, and just as you say, it's not hitting all the muscles I need for skiing. I'll give the barbell step-ups a shot, but I'll have to improvise something. I work out in my basement and I don't think I have enough headroom down there.

If headroom clearance is an issue, then I'd recommend barbell lunges. That will hit it as well, but IMO they don't do as much to put you off center and out of balance as the step ups do, which is really what you need to strengthen stabalizer muscles. Gravity and weight makes it fairly easy to drop straight down with the lunges. The bar naturally stays flatter. With the step up you have to fight more to keep the bar flat. That's why I think it's more effective.

 

[snowmonster]

Thanks for the report. I'll be up there on Saturday. Hope to see AZers on the trail!

 

[Nick]

Beautiful day and great tr - thanks for sharing!

 

[Abubob]

Nice report and exercise tips!

 

[Magog Fishy]

Nice day at Loon today. The open Loon Peak trails were real crowded, but North Peak was relatively quiet. Upper and Lower Walking Boss skied pretty well -- Boyne did a nice job leaving Upper whaled-up and ungroomed, and they left skiers right on Lower ungroomed; I have not skied Loon in years, but was talking to someone who says Upper is usually groomed. Grand Junction and Seven Brothers were getting thin in a few areas -- not sure how they will be late tomorrow and Sunday.

You can throw the Seven Brothers' chair conveyor loading system in the trash barrel -- did not like that at all! :uzi:

 

[hammer]

Nice day at Loon today. The open Loon Peak trails were real crowded, but North Peak was relatively quiet. Upper and Lower Walking Boss skied pretty well -- Boyne did a nice job leaving Upper whaled-up and ungroomed, and they left skiers right on Lower ungroomed; I have not skied Loon in years, but was talking to someone who says Upper is usually groomed. Grand Junction and Seven Brothers were getting thin in a few areas -- not sure how they will be late tomorrow and Sunday.

You can throw the Seven Brothers' chair conveyor loading system in the trash barrel -- did not like that at all! :uzi:

Was also there today...Seven Brothers was kinda nuts in the PM with all of the novice skiers on it. The warmer weather made for some real nice bumps on Upper Walking Boss. That trail has some decent pitch, it's a shame they don't keep at least part of it bumped up all the time.

I was surprised about the lack of lift lines with all of the company on the trails. I also wonder what they will be need to do to keep Seven Brothers open over the weekend.

Was the upper part of Sunset groomed the night before? Didn't seem like it today.