TR: The Bohemia Sessions- 4/13 & 4/14
Another small and not photo-heavy trip report from your Midwest spot-to-be, Mount Bohemia.
It's April, and in the Midwest, skiing right now is the farthest thing from many peoples' minds. All the shops have their bikes on the floors where shiny new skis and boots were sitting just a month or two prior. All the resorts--save for one--have closed. And then, it piss-pounds Michigan's upper peninsula (dah "you-pee" for the uninitiated), and Bohemia re-opens for the rarest of rare: the April 13th ski trip.
We got there that night and only had one neighbor in the cabin: a few snowboarders filming. If you guys read this, sorry for being so loud and sorry we didn't get you that Coors Light we promised you.
We spent that night drinking gin and Coors, and setting up a little jump to play around on:
http://img462.imageshack.us/img462/959/p4130008ce7.jpg
We then spent the time drinking more and hitting our little jump. Me practicing safety first when drinking and jumping:
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My friend Dave doing a backflip:
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We got really drunk, and went to bed, with the intent to sleep in until about 10 when the snow should have been softening up. Of course, 10am came and went under the haze of gin and Coors, and we finally were riding by 11:30am that morning.
The week before, the snow was apparently waist-deep after the fresh hit. The storm swept over the lake, picked up the moisture there, and then nuked Bohemia with 4 feet in two days. Of course, I had other obligations that weekend and couldn't go, so I got boned there, but wasn't about to let the opportunity slip away. So one other skier friend, and two drinking-only friends headed up 6 days later (the 13th) and were the only ones to stay slope-side at Bohemia the entire weekend.
That next morning (the 14th), there were only 8 cars in the parking lot, and for sure some of them were employees' vehicles. We kept an eye peeled, and could only count 8-10 other people at the resort. We had the run of the place. Unfortunately, that fact would later become a problem for us.
The only lift that was running was the main lift at the base of Bohemia. The Bear Den lift sat motionless all day. The backcountry bus, however, was running. We asked the owner where the best snow was, and he reported that the Bear Den area had the best cover, with the Extreme Backcountry area still holding some great snow.
My friend had just picked up some Prophet 130s (on left), and decided to try them out:
http://img462.imageshack.us/img462/738/dsc02389qf1.jpg
Unfortunately, the one lap we took through the Bear Den area proved that the snow was too sticky and the skis just too big to get any speed with, so they were retired for the duration of the trip. This stop screwed us, and the aforementioned fact that the place was dead reared it's ugly head: they stopped the backcountry bus. This meant that the Bear Den and Extreme Backcountry were closed. We wanted to try the short hike to the Outer Limits area, where we had found amazing snow only two months ago. It was an easy hike in to these locations, but a hellish hike out. On top of that, we were hung over and it was pushing 50 degrees out. So we opted to stick to the front side were the lift-accessible stuff was.
The snowpack on the frontside was definitely lacking, but turns in the Midwest on April 14th are nothing to be nit-picky about.
Bohemia's front-side, heading up the main lift:
http://img394.imageshack.us/img394/9884/dsc02413fc6.jpg
On top of Bohemia, right above the Bear Den area:
http://img394.imageshack.us/img394/1285/dsc02397ot2.jpg
Again at the top of Bohemia, right above Widowmaker (to skier's left of Prospector):
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Me on top of Bohemia, enjoying the day. The lifties didn't even give a shit that were were carrying around a six pack with us. We figured they wouldn't as long as we carried out our cans, which we did:
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Skiing in the Midwest in April?! I'm on top of the world!:
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We discovered that Prospector was one of the best covered and snowed runs on the front side, so we continually lapped this. Then we got brave and headed into the trees skier's left of Prospector, right below Widowmaker. We were rewarded with shin-deep corn snow and plenty of cover. No pictures of this, as we were having too much fun.
We rode until last chair on the front side. Then headed back for some rewarding Coors Light. We added a small log jib to our Bohemia Terrain Park that we started the night before, and as we were hitting it, the owner rolled up to our cabin to inform us that Bohemia would NOT be open the next day (Sunday). We were bummed out, but could understand...the snow pack was melting away visibly, and there was barely anyone at the resort on what should have been the busier-of-the-two-days Saturday. We thanked him for the info, and continued hitting our little jump and log jib.
180s were standard:
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/9920/p4140030na6.jpg
360s were preferred:
http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/7746/dsc02434lo9.jpg
Switch 180s were around:
http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/374/dsc02428ow2.jpg
Dave showing that he can swing around 186 130mm-wide skis:
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Then our drinking friends decided after numerous White Russians to try a new photo technique. Observe:
http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/2776/p4140025do8.jpg
The only picture of value, however, due to Kahlua and vodka-impaired picture-snapping was this, me flying over straight-air (to make sure I could clear him, *nervous laugh*):
http://img462.imageshack.us/img462/2919/dsc02454cu2.jpg
We continued to drink and ski our little Bohemia Terrain Park until sundown, enjoying the time on sticks for the season, and reminiscing about the last turns of the season. The sun warmed up the UP to 48 degrees, and the beer was cold. Life was good:
http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/2545/p4140036vc6.jpg
That night, we headed up to Copper Harbor (11 miles north of Bohemia) and ate at the Mariner North. For your information, they have *the best* pork shank in the Midwest. We drank pitchers of Keewanee Pick Axe Blonde until we could take no more, then had the designated driver take us back to our cabin, where we promptly fell asleep after a very memorable day on the slope.
That's it. No real skiing-action pictures, so I'm sorry about that. We opted not to hike Bohemia the next day (the 15th), and instead to get underway for the 5+ hour car ride back home early. We were satisfied with our day and the trip as a whole.
It's April 14th, and we were skiing in the Midwest. I've made up my mind, now, that the season can be done. I've thrown storage wax on all my sticks (save for the one pair I used this weekend) and have my golf clubs in my trunk now. I went out with a bang this season, so I'm OK with the warm temps. But man, will this season be one to top.
Thanks for reading, and as a reward, I give you a picture of myself with a sausage in my face and something in my nose, circa 3/4 of a bottle of Tanqueray and countless cans of beer:
http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/4092/p4140023wd7.jpg
