Snow Sports and/or Surfing

Wow! Someone watches ski racing? I haven't even watched any this season and I have about 50 races from the last two seasons recorded.

Ryan was on the podium a week or so ago. In fact, I think he won Alta Badia GS. If only there were a way to find out.

Correction: Mt. Google told me he won a Super G at Bormio two weeks ago. And a second place at a DH prior to that. Not Alta Badia GS. Tommy Ford of the US got 5th in that one, but had a horrific crash at Adelboden and was airlifted out - three gates from the finish.

 

He won the Bormio DH and super g. He had a rough second run in the Alta Badia GS.

Impressive how gnar the GS courses have been, and how hard the racers charge.

How many times do the super g racers land way too far back on their skis, recover and podium? Everyone just so close to the edge.

 

What I’m noticing is how much speed the racers scrub coming into corners. It’s not as much about clean edging and maintaining momentum as it is just French fry to the next corner, brake check, and hope your skis hook up.

 

I just watched Adelboden. I disagree. The precision was impressive. Yes there were a few throw 'em-sideways-before-the-gate moments, but dayumm are they precise and athletic!

Pinturault schooled them all however by over a second. So quick from one turn to the next.

 

Agree with you about Pintauralt’s run. Meillard was all over the place and took 3rd.

it was nice having English commentary. The courses were set to be extra fast, the runs were 10 seconds faster than typical.

NBC put the women’s DH at St Anton over on their app, for a separate fee. But hey, 3 podia in 3 races for Breezy Johnson...

 

Well, if it's going to be 90° in January, might as well go skiing, right?

Mt. High. Ten runs with the daughter - 6, then early lunch, then 4 after. Done at 12:15. Home by 2:30 with two stops. I thought it would be uncomfortably warm up there, but the breeze kept it in the 50s - at least until noon. Not sure after that. The snow was really quite nice. Soft on top, firm underneath. Not too slushy And it was literally 90° on my car thermometer as I drove through Corona on the way home.

Plenty of time to go out for a surf, but my daughter is tired and doesn't have a wetsuit. I guess that's what we need to do this afternoon.

Getting ready to launch...

 

Aw come on, a day like today calls for the ski and surf and then a post to all your east coast relatives.

 

I was going to take Ruby to Doheny, but she was gassed from a week of water polo practice and then skiing today. She doesn't have a wetsuit, the water is 58° and it was CROWDED as hell on the Surfline cam. I didn't want to ditch her to claim my own bragging rights. There will be plenty of other Ski, Ride, Surf opportunities this year, especially in March when the snow is good, the evenings are extended and the crowds are less.

 

Not bikes, snow, or surfing. Just a rather impressive capsize.

 

Went to Bear mountain yesterday, first time in probably 25 years, and probably the last time. There’s just no way to avoid the zoo at the base. The lifties were extra stoned or something, because the lift line scrum for the high speed chair was bad by pre-covid standards.

it’s sad, because lapping chair 4 is really nice. Few people, and everyone who was there was there for the skiing, not for reenacting a scene from “Inside SoCal.”

I wanted to try chair 6 after the snow softened up a bit, but that would have required a trip to the base. So I didn’t.

 

I may try Mt High in the morning. If it's a clusterfuck, I'll go home. Thinking one plank rather than two, but I'll bring three.

I need to practice my switchfoot frontside turns towards my backside...

 

So yeah - did that. It was fun. Light dusting of snow overnight < 1" and skies that looked that they were clearing. But wait - I had read that we were going to experience snow showers after 10 am. Didn't look like it. it was clearing and getting warm.

7 quick runs on skis on 5 different slopes. Fantastic conditions for carving turns. Slightly soft over hardpack, but no ice. Then a change of equipment and exchange the jacket for a sweatshirt at the car and poof - off to snowboard land. Well guess what? After three runs on the SB, it started snowing. Back to the car for a snack, some water and my jacket. 8 runs total on snowboard before I found myself back at the bottom without the will to fight the crowd. Truth be told, it was only a 10 minute lift line, but I am spoiled. There was no lift line on the conquest lift, so I did about 6 runs on that.

15 total runs. 8;30-12:30. Home by 2:20 after a stop at Village Grind for a dirty chai.

Here's some proof:









It really was a lot of fun! Oh - and I love my car in snow.

 

Looks......cold.

 

28° at the coldest. No wind. And, I'm wearing ski clothes. Not like you who had the same temps, but were wearing something less than ski clothes.

 

Watching the Hahnenkamm right now. It’s the one race I remember from Wide World of Sports, Jim McKay and Bob Beattie would talk so much about how dangerous it was. And yep. 2 medevac flights after the first 17 racers. Including a broken vertebra for RCS .

 

Fark.... That really sucks for Ryan and others.

BTW, Bob Beattie was a terrible commentator, IMO. McKay on the other hand, was great.

 

Beattie was awesome compared to Lindsey Vonn, on now for the women’s race. Gonna cut her some slack, it’s her first day on the job.

 

I did not expect to see this report this morning. Guess where I am headed? I suspect the roads will be a clusterfuck so I am outta here ASAP.

Conditions
Woot Woot! It's a POWDER DAY! 12"-18" of fresh snow has fallen and now the skies are clearing so get up here for one of the best days of the season. The majority of the West Resort is open with plenty of untouched powder but please stay in bounds and obey all posted signs. With this much snow, the East Resort should be opening soon so keep in touch. Snowmaking will continue through the day on most of our beginner to intermediate runs. Afternoon and night tickets are still available so get yours now in the online store.

 

Yeah - did that. Got out early enough to avoid road problems. Chain law was enforced, but they let me through again. This time, the roads were more wet than snowy or icy, until turning into the ski area. No problems.

Indeed 12-18" of snow and damn close to being powder. Very soft. Not CO or UT snow, but probably the closest I've seen in SoCal (not including Mammoth). I took out the snowboard first and what a treat! But I'm still a much better skier. I was having some problems toe side once the snow got chopped up - the board got away from me at times and I felt like I was counter-rotating too much. Heel side was a blast - find a pile of snow and just lay into it - POOF! Like a big turn off the lip surfing.

10 runs then I switched to skis. I'm a better skier, did I mention that? The snow was so forgiving! I'll post up a few pics later. I have stuff to do.

Left South Laguna at 6:25, arrived at 8:15 with a line of traffic at the chain check and at the entrance. Left at 1:15. Two stops again - dirty chai and nearly flat tire. Home by 3:00.

Snow sliding is fun!

Oh, and I am guessing I saw 1000 cars on both sides of highway 2 from the ski area to the 138 on my way home - all with families playing in the snow. Don't they know there's playoff football happening?

 

As promised:
Bluebird skies, a foot of fresh snow and a short line of cars waiting to turn in to the ski area.

Fresh tracks under blues skies for run #3 (single plank)


Avoiding lift lines by taking the old double chair. A single snowboarder left some tracks.


Some fluff under my aptly named Never Summer snowboard:



Yes, I know. I should find a ski or snowboard forum to join and stop boring you all with this stuff. But hey, I consider you all my friends. So please validate my existence.

 

Not quite snow play or surfing.
But, some friends and I have been doing a lot of SUP.
Not waveriders, we are all in the harbors and bays.
Since late April, I have only missed paddling on two weekends- even more SUP than MTB.
Today was chilly, but not cold.
THIS.DOES.NOT.SUCK

 

Very nice! Looks like very hard to come by conditions in SoCal, presumably made all the better by current crowd control? It's almost comical how long it is taking me to finally get out on the snow, but it looks like I'm going to let the rugrat play hookie on Tuesday, and we're going to get our first days at Snow Summit. With no backup parent to allow me to grab a lap or two on my own it will be pretty mundane, but perhaps a good way to see how the knee is going to tolerate everything.

 

My ski days with my daughter are like that. Just simple sliding on green runs. But the smile on her face when she does a "jump" is all worth it. Jump is in quotes because her version is about 4" of air at this point. But who cares? I LOVE my daddy/daughter ski days.

 

When it comes to snow in SoCal, I can only recommend Baldy and Mt High.
Driving to the Big Bear areas can take far toooo long. Unless you are staying up there for a few days ( and if so, drive to Mammoth)
Even on a big snow weekend morning I can make it to Baldy in about an hour. Mt High less than 1 1/2 hours.

 

I woke up and decided not to go today. Just a 15 minute delay at 6:00 this morning, but by 6:05 it was a 20 minute delay. I figured by the time we we actually got to the bottleneck, it would be an hour...

We have plans to go up next Saturday, and google is saying over 3 hours on the 330 going home right now...so I’m feeling good about the decision.

 

@tick Is Snow Summit better than Mt. High? The vertical rise is roughly the same. 1000'. Mt. High will be opening the East Ski Area next weekend. 1600'.

 

Big Bear is on my pass, so that’s where I go.

I like the laid back vibe at Baldy and Waterman, but they’re open for a couple weekends every third or fourth year. Makes it hard to plan.

I’d go to mt. High if it was on my pass.

Which brings up: now that Disney has canned their pass, I wonder which mega-pass conglomerate will blink first and cut their program back? and how will they do it?

 

The Mt high facilities are a bit less fancy than Summit. I think Summit has the best setup for beginners and kids. In a normal year, the kids loved being able to ride to the top of the mountain, get lunch, and take a green run all the way down, and they have a decent size low intermediate area off chair 9, that’s separate from the yard sale beginner carnage on Summit run, and from the slope style park.

Mt High is on par for experienced skiers, the East resort has the long runs, and it’s geographically more desirable. Though I like being able to hide on chairs 6,7, and 10 all day at summit. Never a lift line on 6, and no more than a half dozen chairs on the other two.

 

Utah is talking about an 8 mile gondola from a parking lot in the SLC suburbs, with stops in Snowbird and Alta. I think it’s brilliant but doesn’t go far enough. Adding another 5 miles could connect Brighton, Solitude, and Park City.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.de...canyon-little-cottonwood-canyon-alta-snowbird

 

Agreed on all fronts re: Summit. I also think Summit shines in crappy snow years when Mt. High is too low to get decent coverage, and Mammoth isn't worth the drive. Usually ends up being spring conditions in Jan/Feb at Summit in those years, and nobody is there.

I haven't been to Mt. High in at least a decade. It always struck me as full of kids that drove their lowered Civics with fart can mufflers and wore Axe body spray. I saw on-slope fist fights in each of my last 2 visits there. I think Bear is basically the same crowd, just 5 years grown up and of drinking age. I'm sure I'm unfairly generalizing, but I was inspired not to go back to either. Summit is on my pass, and I feel is the best blend of family vibe and decent terrain locally, so that's pretty much exclusively where I go when not venturing up the 395. I suppose the drive sucks, but I never got accustomed to the Mt High drive, so it just feels like what has to be done.