Mountain Creek 3/12/09

[RootDKJ]

Date(s) Skied: 3/12/2009

Resort or Ski Area: Mountain Creek

Conditions: Lunar. Actually a bit of everything. Sugar, hardpack, ice and some really weird ruts. Empty, perhaps a total of 25 cars in the lot.

Trip Report: I got out of work later than I though I would, and forgot some of my ski gear at home, so I run home real quick before I picked up Hardline. We hit some traffic on th GSP which also delayed us. Got up to MC, and it was significantly colder then we expected. I looked at the display in my car and it was 38 degrees out on arrival and when we had departed it was a solid 30. We both decided a fleece under a shell would be in order, this turned out to be a good idea. I purchased my evening ticket in the bar...gotta love that. As we were getting ready in the lodge at South Peak, I was zipping up my jacket when the zipper literally disintegrated in my hand. It was pretty funny.

Snow conditions were pretty good. We were able to get in 7 runs over on South Peak, and then we took a quick drive over to Vernon Peak for another 5 runs. Hardline was impressed by my ski boot driving skills, I told him I had the Blue Mountain Ski Patrol to thank for that

I thought the conditions were better over on South, but I was glad that we took the ride over to Vernon, as it's been a long time since I was over there. We had a fun time and skied until they closed. I pretty much only took pics from the lift, so we could get more runs in. Mountain Creek has some really cool scenery at night. Pics are kinda dark, not much I'm gonna do about that.

 

[hardline]

lunar was the only way to describe what was going on. it must have been some super nice mashed taters durring the day but has the sun went down it set up quick. however it was still fun. it amazing how much has melted since i was up on monday. granite looks to be closed for the season.

root jacket was giving him some issues. first the zipper fell apart then somehow between the time we left south and went to north his lift ticket went walk about. but the lifty at the cab didnt really care. there was no one there so in the 1:45 we where on the snow we got some good speed runs in. i was a little upset that all the bars where closed so i couldnt treat root to a beer. i have to work all weekend so i wont be back till monday. its a shame the season is wraping up at the MC but there are so few people going now i cant really blame them.

 

[RootDKJ]

Actually, we did 13 runs. When I was looking at my watch in the low light, it looked like an 8 but was really a 13.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

How is the terrain and snow coverage compared to Blue???

 

[RootDKJ]

How is the terrain and snow coverage compared to Blue???

I'd say the base is a good foot lower then Blue. The terrain was fun, but the lighting isn't as good as Blue. It got really cold, so that sweet hero snow we've been spoiled on since last Friday wasn't happening, but still edgable. For local skiing, it was fun.

 

[Glenn]

Cool TR. Those are some neat night shots Root.

 

[RootDKJ]

Cool TR. Those are some neat night shots Root.

Thanks. Love this little camera

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Thanks. Love this little camera

do you have any of the shots or audio from Sunday @ Blue??

 

[RootDKJ]

do you have any of the shots or audio from Sunday @ Blue??

yes, but I haven't had the time to look at them yet.

 

[RootDKJ]

ok I took a quick look at the video, I'm having trouble with playing it, because the camera ran out of memory, it never wrote the correct end of file marker on the avi stream. vlc can play it back, but can't strip off the audio. I tried using virtual dub to fix this, and it crashes when I try to open the file. I can put the video on a memory stick, and give it to you on Saturday, ok?

 

[Glenn]

What kind of camera root? Pulling vids of our Cannon is a royal PITA. I have to use some software that came with the camera. Why I can't just go go my computer, find the camera, and pull the images off that way is beyond me. If I do that, WinMedia won't recognize the file format and can't play the video.

 

[RootDKJ]

Canon SD790IS. I've done some test vids of me walking around the house, and it was super easy to use Canon's software to transfer everything on to my hard disk. It just dumps everything into a folder that is named the date the pic or video was taken. ex. My Pictures\2009_03_13. I used to use the windows camera and scanner software exclusively, but I like the way canon's software handles everything for me.

I can just as easily go into windows explorer, navigate to the camera and copy them off manually. I can play them right off the camera too. No issues.

I use VLC is my primary video player. Does everything, including igmp v2 and v3 or streaming IP video. Oh yeah, it's free.

 

[Glenn]

Once you get the hang of it, and set the destination folder, it does get easier. Still, prefer the drag n' drop method.

I picked up a 4 gig memory card at "Big Lots" a month ago for $10. I can shoot 30 minutes of vid or take some insane number of pics.

 

[ZYDECORICH]

Date(s) Skied: 3/12/2009

Resort or Ski Area: Mountain Creek

Conditions: Lunar. Actually a bit of everything. Sugar, hardpack, ice and some really weird ruts. Empty, perhaps a total of 25 cars in the lot.

Trip Report: I got out of work later than I though I would, and forgot some of my ski gear at home, so I run home real quick before I picked up Hardline. We hit some traffic on th GSP which also delayed us. Got up to MC, and it was significantly colder then we expected. I looked at the display in my car and it was 38 degrees out on arrival and when we had departed it was a solid 30. We both decided a fleece under a shell would be in order, this turned out to be a good idea. I purchased my evening ticket in the bar...gotta love that. As we were getting ready in the lodge at South Peak, I was zipping up my jacket when the zipper literally disintegrated in my hand. It was pretty funny.

Snow conditions were pretty good. We were able to get in 7 runs over on South Peak, and then we took a quick drive over to Vernon Peak for another 5 runs. Hardline was impressed by my ski boot driving skills, I told him I had the Blue Mountain Ski Patrol to thank for that

I thought the conditions were better over on South, but I was glad that we took the ride over to Vernon, as it's been a long time since I was over there. We had a fun time and skied until they closed. I pretty much only took pics from the lift, so we could get more runs in. Mountain Creek has some really cool scenery at night. Pics are kinda dark, not much I'm gonna do about that.

[I nice work guys. nice pics root. it is starting to look a little thin. i was going to write a report for friday 3/13 but it was pretty much the same as what you have described and shown here. i'll give you guys a quick report. i got first chair at south (12 noon) which is good during these spring conditions because you can rip it up before everyone else does. it was pretty firm until about 1:30 until people and warmth loosened it up a bit. did a bunch of laps on bear. i like to take that big bear run and carry some speed into gorge run. bear claw is also nice to kinda bomb and bounce. on the south side red tail and jumpin jack had the best snow. also like to do jumpin jack to flying fox and carry it through the bottom of big bear to gorge run. the other part of south was iffy. giant steps was ok but once you got down to bakersfield, tailspin and cloud nine the snow got mushy and almost puddle like it spots.exhibition was closed. i haven't seen it open all year. they were shaping the pipe for saturday's red bull nonsense. overall it was fun spring skiing. did about 18 runs from noon till 3:45.by the time i left the lift area was one large puddle. not to many more days (i think the 24th?) unless the voodoo lady waves the magic wand. if you guys are going to go up at all during the week daytime let me know. if not maybe we can hook up next season. enjoy.

 

[Warp Daddy]

Nice shots -- Trails there looks pretty dimly lit and wow i see what you guys mean about those fugly base lodges ---- looks like the work of a Mongolian cluster +++uck architectural firm

But in the end its all about the skiing -- so glad u guys had fun !!

 

[ZYDECORICH]

Nice shots -- Trails there looks pretty dimly lit and wow i see what you guys mean about those fugly base lodges ---- looks like the work of a Mongolian cluster +++uck architectural firm

But in the end its all about the skiing -- so glad u guys had fun !!

yeah those lodges are a joke. it's like being in the south pole with Sir Shackleton they were supposed to be for only a few years, yeah right! (goin on 8? maybe more?) they have this huge hotel that seems to be somewhat used but not fully. it would make a great lodge but i think they have other plans, just for rentals or ownership. the south lodge is cool except the restaurant and upper bar didn't seem open much this year. i think the economy had a bit to due with that. last year there used to be a huge amount of brazilian kids working the shops cafeteria and bars. this year they aren't around. they need to build a nice base lodge at vernon. intrawest needs to get their act together. we'll see.