My Retirement Year: An Ongoing Skiing TR

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Originally Posted by Djongo Unchained

Where were you coming from, down Logan way?
Driven that canyon plenty but never in a storm, how's that go?
I wonder how nice it'd be to live over by Bear lake and ski the Beav all winter...

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I lived in North Logan and later moved up to Cove to enjoy 11 acres of land for our Great Danes.
Storm driving up the canyon was never an issue. Just gotta take the drive slow or you’ll slide into the drink. You’ll likely see cars getting pulled out of the river when it gets cold and frozen in the low light parts of the canyon. Black ice is VERY real all winter.

Trackhead lived on the lake side. But he was never a lift guy. But man did he know that bc area really well. It’s just real cold out there in the winter.

Dry (and warm) spell is over. The EC got some plowable snow Friday/Saturday followed by a big blow. Didn't get out to harvest any pow but did get out for Day 3 today at Stratton. Just an update to my pass situation: when I started doing the math on what it was going to cost me to ski 5 days at Jackson in Feb/Mar and Big Sky for a couple of days for BBI/MT coupled with the fact that Ikon offers a pretty significant retired military discount, I broke down and got a Base+. To keep it simple, it would have cost me more to use my Targhee pass to get 50% of for those 7 days at Jackson and BS than to buy the Base+. And, the Base+ gives me unlimited at Stratton (20 minutes from my house) and Sugarbush (minutes from VT-Free's couch). Anyhow...

Met up with non-mag Les who is also the president of our Village HOA at Magic...comments on that should go in the appropriate thread in the Padded Room. It was a raw cold but virtually no wind so things looked promising. Les had to work this morning so he was good for just 5 runs.

We grabbed the 2nd Ganjala and headed up. Summit was a bit foggy but not as bad as the webcams made it look
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I've never been a fan of Stratton but my view was jaded by only having skied there on weekends or holidays. They have a good amount of terrain open including 4 ways down from the summit (although 2 of them end about 2/3 of the way down the mountain). Stratton will never make it onto any of those BS lists of the "scariest", "gnarliest", or "steepest" resorts but when the trails look like this
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you can make your own fun. The mountain has natural rolls and if you go fast, it's actually interesting.

Had an unplanned meetup with slatham. Dude always has a positive attitude and he's one of those guys you just like to ski with.

After Les left to go to work the trails looked like this
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Had to be back to Magic by 12:30 so wrapped it up with about 15K vert.

Thinking Okemo tomorrow (Tuesday) and then back to Stratton on Friday.

Jeezum - Epic, Ikonic, Independic, and Magic!

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Originally Posted by Peruvian

Jeezum - Epic, Ikonic, Independic, and Magic!

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And Targhee. Still spent way less than a $teaux pass cost prior to Vail buying them out. Had flashbacks of that hellish late April skin we did up and down Spruce when you crossed that creek and soaked your skins.
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Day 4: Okemo in Ludlow, VT. Epic Pass used.

Okemo and Stratton (and to a slightly lesser extent, Mt. Snow) all share the same malady for experienced skiers: they're flat. While they may advertise black diamond or even double black diamond trails, at least at Okemo and Stratton, those same trails would be green circles at Magic or Mad River. Mount Snow's North Face trails are legit but the main mountain is as flat or flatter than Okemo and Stratton.

But when your choices are limited, you have to make your own fun. Ripping down the rolling pastures of Okemo can be fun when you have a pair of groomer zoomers on your feet and thanks to iriponsnow, that's exactly what I had today. Laying trenches into the early morning corduroy can be fun too. Especially when there's really no other options within 100 miles.

Okemo has the most effed up lift system I've ever been exposed to (worse than Solitude). From the base area you have to ride up a deathly slow quad that caters to never-evers, then ski halfway back down to the base to get on the Sunburst 8-pack
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It was a brisk 11* when I left Magic this morning so the sun felt pretty nice. Add in no wind at all, and the weather was definitely favorable. Not gonna lie, the heated seats on the bubble chair were pretty sweet.
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Even though there weren't any clouds overhead, we were getting "humidity snow" from the start. In fact, by the time I got to the summit, it almost got cloudy and the snow was more steady.
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That trend continued all morning but the snow was neither a nuisance nor did it amount to anything. Just real nice crystals that even Snowflake Bentley would have been happy to study. Although there were slightly more people at Okemo than Stratton yesterday, ripping down the rolling 2 trails from the top did not cause any alarm from other skiers or the patrollers I saw (and passed).

Had hoped to link up with buttahflake but a text exchange confirmed he's only skiing Ikon mountains this year.

Ended up doing 10 laps of the 1,700' vert serviced by that chair with each lap being nonstop...gotta build the legs back up from the cycling hiatus I've been on since October. 4 down, 96 to go.

Nice. The only time I skied Okemo was the year I bought Max Passes. I agree with your take. The coolest part was a fire tower a few hundred yards back in the woods above one of the lifts on the other side of the hill. It’s probably not open over there yet. If you go back on a clear day, I recommend climbing the tower.

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Originally Posted by Brownski

Nice. The only time I skied Okemo was the year I bought Max Passes. I agree with your take. The coolest part was a fire tower a few hundred yards back in the woods above one of the lifts on the other side of the hill. It’s probably not open over there yet. If you go back on a clear day, I recommend climbing the tower.

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Climbed that tower (the first time) in 1977. Today would not have been a good day for it as the visibility went way down a couple of runs into my day.

stoked for you!

eta: glad you’re almost done with the shitty places :)

Day 5...Stratton, Vermont
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Forecast was for high winds early so I decided to wait until noon to venture out. hoping they would subside. Gondola (only lift to go top to bottom) was on wind hold so it was 2 detachable 6-packs to get to the top. Pic above is from the lower chair. Lift to the summit was well-protected from the wind so a pleasant ride. That was about the only pleasant thing about skiing today (except maybe the views)
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Sorry for the crappy cell phone pic but that's looking NE from Stratton. Mt. Moosilauke was clearly visible (not in the picture though) and I could just make out the Presidential Range on the distant horizon.

The skiing...if you can call it that. Yesterday's warm rain followed by a temperature crash overnight (we had thunderstorms last night) led to a surface that made it seem like Stratton traded in their Prinoths and Pistin Bullys for Zambonis.

Still nice to get outside even though I was solo.

The old joke that Stratton puts the Gondy on wind hold when someone at Bromley farts, is only partially a an exaggeration.

Day 6: Mount Sunapee, NH (Epic Pass).

I haven't skied at Sunapee since the Blizzard of '78 and hadn't been there at all since the mid-90s (when we hiked it with our kids). In a total Jong move, I obeyed the parking signs and ended up 1/2 mile from the lift. The stroll over did not look promising.
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Linked up with savemeasammy (he's going to be the assistant Freeride coach at Magic this year) and we got on the detachable quad to the summit. The views from the chair didn't build any stoke.
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Sunapee did an amazing job coping with the rain on Thursday followed by a temperature crash. The snow surface was actually enjoyable, especially before the hordes did their scraping thing. Using a new term coined by Goniff, Sunapee had 1.5 RODs today. It really only got dicey once the RODs joined for the trip back to the chair. For whatever reason, we seemed to be on the right cycle and managed to avoid most of the crowds until very near the bottom.

Sunapee may have the best views of any ski mountain around (except for that view of Smuggler's Notch and Mount Mansfield at Smuggs). From the lift we could see Mount Snow, Stratton, Timber Ridge (backside of Magic), Okemo, and Killington. On the east side of the river it served up great views of Mount Cardigan (a hut trip on that mountain is on my bucket list for next year), glimpses of the Presidential Range, and Franconia Notch.

Oh, and the lake that the mountain is named after (or vice versa?) is in plain view from the summit.
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So far, this year, I've skied with 3 different mags: Goniff, Vt-Freeheel, and savemeasammy. Good times!

That does look good, skiers left looks choice.

Day 7: Stratton, VT (Ikon).

Not a lot of pics today as most of the mountain resembled the inside of a ping-pong ball. Snow was surprisingly good after how bad it was here last Friday. They tilled all open trails (the number is pretty impressive) last night and it was firm but edgeable.

Was going to go to Okemo as I'm meeting my neighbor at Stratton tomorrow but Okemo placed all lifts but the beginner lift on wind hold at 7am. Not really sure if the winds were so much worse 15 miles to the north but Stratton had detachables to the summit operating. Somebody must have farted at Bromley though because the Stratton gondola was on wind hold. No big deal as it wasn't raining and the temps were mild.

Rode up with a guy from the Newburgh area on my first run and he was a good skier and great conversationalist so we skied together until 1. Sometimes I like skiing solo but sometimes it's good to have someone to talk to.

At about 11:00 we got a momentary break in the soup so I snapped this pic of the base area from about mid-mountain
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iPhone named this pic IMG 802 which is appropriate for the location.

Have had many great days skiing in marginal weather and this one, though not great, made me glad I ventured out.

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Originally Posted by MyNameIsAugustWest

Have had many great days skiing in marginal weather and this one, though not great, made me glad I ventured out.

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Always good to venture out in my opinion.

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Originally Posted by MyNameIsAugustWest

Not a lot of pics today as most of the mountain resembled the inside of a ping-pong ball.

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perfect training for skiing at Targhee [emoji3]

I just saw this thread for the first time. Bummer I didn’t know about it before or I would have taken a pic or 2 of you at Sunapee to contribute. Maybe the next day we get out will be more photo-worthy! I’ll be following along now that I’m **subscribed** [emoji106]


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Chiming in to say congrats August, and wishing you the best in pursuit of the century in your retirement year. I totally failed in my pursuit and ended up with 99. I know, right. Fucking Canukistanian loser. Oh, the self-loathing. :D
Go get em tiger!

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Originally Posted by garyfromterrace

Chiming in to say congrats August, and wishing you the best in pursuit of the century in your retirement year. I totally failed in my pursuit and ended up with 99. I know, right. Fucking Canukistanian loser. Oh, the self-loathing. :D
Go get em tiger!

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There's one thing I know with absolute certainty and that is that you're no loser in any part of life.

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Originally Posted by MyNameIsAugustWest

There's one thing I know with absolute certainty and that is that you're no loser in any part of life.

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Ha! Oh the stories of my incompetence I could regale you with!!
Hope to meet you again one day sir!

Day 8: Stratton, VT (Ikon)

To say my expectations were low for the day is an understatement. For those of you not from the northeast...yesterday and into last night we had a typical hot wind followed by hot rain followed by a temperature crash. Expected similar conditions to last Friday (Day 5).

Met up with my neighbor and non-mag Les and my new skiing buddy from Newburgh Chris and headed up (gondola was spinning but not loading). A mountain host at the top of the lower chair told us to stay on the bottom half as they were still grooming the upper mountain. We could see lots of snow guns blasting all around so we began to feel some hope.

As it turns out, Stratton's strategy was to blow a topcoat over the carnage that happened overnight and then till it in with their grooming fleet. While not TGR-GNAR, the groomer zoomers were actually quite delightful
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The morning was very pleasant weather-wise with temps in the low 20s, no wind to speak of, and bright sunshine. Took a few seconds to snap a pic of a mountain that Peruvian and I have been to a few times that is true backcountry. ML242 has been there with us at least once but he may not remember as he was wicked hungover that day.
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Although this pic shows the south-facing aspect (most of the skiing is on the other side) just to the looker's left of that saddle are a couple of slide paths...we definitely skied the one closer to the saddle that day ML was with us.

We seemed to have the best luck as we repeatedly arrived at the top just as patrol was dropping new ropes. Although not the same as getting a pow rope drop, given the weather and time of the season, the stoke was high. On one rope drop, they hadn't tilled in the manmade and it was almost 3D snow.

Not a car we see at Magic
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And...in true ECRC fashion, here's a pic of the Croation pork and cabbage soup that Mrs. MNIAW had prepared for me when I got home. As Goniff can attest, she has her soup game dialed in.
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Missed a link-up with nihiles but overall, a very good day.

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Originally Posted by MyNameIsAugustWest

<snip> the Croation pork and cabbage soup

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Originally Posted by MyNameIsAugustWest

The morning was very pleasant weather-wise with temps in the low 20s, no wind to speak of, and bright sunshine. Took a few seconds to snap a pic of a mountain that Peruvian and I have been to a few times that is true backcountry. ML242 has been there with us at least once but he may not remember as he was wicked hungover that day.

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I'll never forget that endless widely spaced birch glade on the way back to the car, thanks for including me!

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Originally Posted by MyNameIsAugustWest

Not a car we see at Magic
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4S awd. In my retirement ski year I am totally buying one of those and traveling to all the Western Ikon resorts. Like “Last of the Ski Bums” after hitting the Casino.

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Originally Posted by ml242

I'll never forget that endless widely spaced birch glade on the way back to the car, thanks for including me!

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Yes, but how much do you remember from the night before? And I'm pretty sure that it was Peruvian that talked you into joining. I was just following his lead.

Day 9: Okemo (Epic)

Despite the pass name, Okemo is not Epic. It's pretty flat but with a couple of interesting rolls to the terrain. There's actually a couple of decent trails there but they're not open yet. Goniff asked me which is less soul-sucking, Okemo or Stratton. As of today, my answer is resoundingly Stratton. Bottom line is that there's just a bunch of really poor skiers at Okemo (every day) and Stratton on weekdays has been SMS racing kids and a few decent free-skiers.

23* and snowing lightly when I arrived. I took the 2-lift shuffle for my first lap
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For my first couple of laps the trails looked like this
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I decided to close the bubble on lap 3 or 4 as the snow was settling on my legs and reminded me that I have not DWR'ed the pants I'm wearing. A bit claustrophobic and a strange choice of colors but I have to admit that along with the heated seats, this is a pleasant way to ride up the hill.
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Did a couple of laps on each of the open trails but the bad (and apparently late-rising) skiers started arriving at around 10:30; not enough to form any lift lines but certainly enough to start clogging the trails so that I didn't feel comfortable going Mach 1.2. Left a little after lunchtime and came home to leftover pork and cabbage soup. Today (after 4 days of pretty much non-stop T2B laps) I added a bit of this to ease the aches and pains.
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Not a bad day but also not great. I sure hope some other mountains start opening up some terrain so I don't have to come back to Okemo but buttahflake has offered a pro-deal on a base grind so I'll have to make at least a couple more trips through town.

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Originally Posted by MyNameIsAugustWest

Day 6: Mount Sunapee, NH (Epic Pass).


Sunapee may have the best views of any ski mountain around (except for that view of Smuggler's Notch and Mount Mansfield at Smuggs). From the lift we could see Mount Snow, Stratton, Timber Ridge (backside of Magic), Okemo, and Killington. On the east side of the river it served up great views of Mount Cardigan (a hut trip on that mountain is on my bucket list for next year), glimpses of the Presidential Range, and Franconia Notch.

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Thanks for linking this in ECRC!

But...I really think Gunrock (aka gunstock) and Kittycat (aka Wildcat) would like to have a word with you about views.

Ping me when you ski Cannon on your Indy. Just know it's blocked weekends and holidays.
Cardigan is a great tour when it's in. Day trip it.
Try arnica cream on the legs. Cheaper and I think more effective than that 21st century snake oil.

Congrats on retirement, MNIAW!

And this thread kicks ass, gives me something to aspire to for retirement!


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Originally Posted by jackstraw

Thanks for linking this in ECRC!

But...I really think Gunrock (aka gunstock) and Kittycat (aka Wildcat) would like to have a word with you about views.

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Definitely fair points. In an uninteresting piece of trivia, my parents once owned a house very close to where the new chair Gunrock is proposing will start. Not real steep back there but that's OK, the frontside isn't steep either.

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Originally Posted by jhyatt

Ping me when you ski Cannon on your Indy. Just know it's blocked weekends and holidays.
Cardigan is a great tour when it's in. Day trip it.
Try arnica cream on the legs. Cheaper and I think more effective than that 21st century snake oil.

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I'll definitely ping you and Jack Straw from Wichita when I'm headed to Cannon. I'm retired now so I generally don't ski on weekends or holidays. As for the CBD oil, I've been using it for about 6 months. All I know is the pain in my neck (likely from flying helicopters in the Army with a too-heavy rig on my head) is gone and the arthritis at the base of my spine (from too many parachute landings) is well in check.

I'll be off the TGR grid for a couple of days as Mrs. MNIAW has some medical shit to do in Bean-town; doing a drive-by linkup with Singlecross to drop off some skis while we're down there.

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Originally Posted by MyNameIsAugustWest

Definitely fair points. In an uninteresting piece of trivia, my parents once owned a house very close to where the new chair Gunrock is proposing will start. Not real steep back there but that's OK, the frontside isn't steep either.



I'll definitely ping you and Jack Straw from Wichita when I'm headed to Cannon. I'm retired now so I generally don't ski on weekends or holidays. As for the CBD oil, I've been using it for about 6 months. All I know is the pain in my neck (likely from flying helicopters in the Army with a too-heavy rig on my head) is gone and the arthritis at the base of my spine (from too many parachute landings) is well in check.

I'll be off the TGR grid for a couple of days as Mrs. MNIAW has some medical shit to do in Bean-town; doing a drive-by linkup with Singlecross to drop off some skis while we're down there.

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Right on! My first turns ever were on Alpine Ridge. Looks like Gunstock is expanding over there as well.

I'm not a Cannon passholder anymore. It's been a few years, but I'd gladly meet there for some turns! Mid week or ideally the NH day with fresh would be nice.

Neck...explore upper cervical chiropractic care, specifically the Blair technique. It's helped me a lot. My neck has arthritic and pinched nerve issues, but I've had tremendous gains with Blair. My neuro actually recommended it.

Love the ongoing TR!

Message me if you end up in Whistler in your travels (It's on the EPIC pass if you hadn't heard)

Congrats on the retirement and hoping for good snow for you in your travels.

Thanks for this thread MNIAW. Unfortunately I am relegated to Flat Island due to some family health issues, so I am skiing vicariously through these reports. Please keep them up. I imagine today was fun with this snow event being a little outperformer.

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Originally Posted by Clownshoe

Love the ongoing TR!

Message me if you end up in Whistler in your travels (It's on the EPIC pass if you hadn't heard)

Congrats on the retirement and hoping for good snow for you in your travels.

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Thanks for the offer. Whistler is on next year’s (2022/2023) list. I’ll hit you up then.


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Thank you for this thread !

it is adventures like this that brought me to the forums, and I have needed a thread like this !
Good luck with ( some of) your goals... !
unsolicited, I would just offer,
take care of your knees. (!) and drive Safe !
( it's way more important to be able to ski another day, than to get there today or tonight when travel conditions are hazardous )

like Gary says,
Go ! get 'em ! !!

skiJ

Thanks skiJ. I like the sig line:
" I think about it everyday. It is my reminder to live life to the fullest. I get up early, go to bed late, 'cuz I got shit to do. Like I said, I'm 61. Not going to wait till I'm 81 to do stuff, ..."
It would have made way more sense for me to wait and retire next May (federal government penalizes you for retiring before age 62). But I'm 61. Not going to wait 'til I'm 81 (or 62) to do stuff....

thanks -

That's from LittleBigLost's, 'A pic or two... ' thread.
If you are not familiar with it, I urge you to look it up -
Dj has mentioned LBL above, and I urge you to take a day from Driggs to ski with my friend ( who snowboards ) somewhere...
LBL is connected at KellyCanyon ( it's not far ) ( I don't know that he would go for the day rate at 'ghee )

Again, I wish you a great season !
the year I approached a hundred days, my knees were so sore by mid-March, I went in and got my 191cm Mantras canted
( my knees ached until September that year )

... wishing you a great season ! !!

skiJ

I have an Indy pass. Pomerelle, Soldier, LTP, Tamarack, Brundage, White Pine, Red Lodge, Beaver Mountain and Powder Mountain are on my list. Gimmie a holler, doesnt take much to get me to go snowboarding.

I'd go down to the Beaver.

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Originally Posted by Djongo Unchained

I'd go down to the Beaver.

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Deal. Tate and I both have Indy Passes this season. Hoping to use it somewhere this weekend. Looks like snow is coming.... Soldier looks like it's going to get pounded.

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Originally Posted by Djongo Unchained

I'd go down to the Beaver.

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I see what you did there...