Wish I’d checked the tgr before yesterday . I was up there with Benji who is 14 now. Remember when you gave him his first lesson at the basin ten years ago?Attachment 504182Quote:
Originally Posted by shera
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Wish I’d checked the tgr before yesterday . I was up there with Benji who is 14 now. Remember when you gave him his first lesson at the basin ten years ago?Attachment 504182Quote:
Originally Posted by shera
Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums
What a great looking boy! I bet you are bringing him along nicely. If you're skiing midweek at all, give me shout.
I'm teaching my grandson now, he's 6, and lives out of state. Last year spring break I got him through his carpet laps, over to green acres and finally up on his first green laps on the west side. This christmas break we're going to ski the green runs, I'm going to keep him flat and fast and Copper has great runs for that. Maybe spring break he'll be ready for easy blues and all the kid's fav, peace park.
Give me a shout, seriously.
Oh man today was good fun. Excelerator is really open. Soft snow, blue sky. Last year we were stuck for weeks on Eagle.
One thing I do not understand - Superbee is not spinning for ski training and that side is not even groomed yet. Wasn't it running even before the general public was in Center Village last year?
Skied Copper opener on Friday. Lines were pretty huge until after lunch, then everybody disappeared. Did 4 runs by 12:30, then chilled in the lodge until my mates showed up around 2:30 - we probably got 6-7 more runs in by 4pm.
Conditions were pretty crap, but decent for early November, I suppose. I'm not heading back up until they get significantly more terrain open.
I'm happy to be skiing some soft ungroomed snow. Looking forward to heading back tomorrow.
I'm trying out the Copper app to track my vert and it said that I skied Brennan's Grin. But that run is closed at the top. I wonder if I duck a rope (not saying that I would) am I in trouble?
great to run into you shera, hell of a day, WELL beyond expectations. Blue sky’s, no wind. Rippin
Hey same here, and your nice crew. The only other time I ever saw a maggot was when I brought Viva to ski, elusive like the scarlet pimpernel! :D
I chatted up a patroller trying to get a line on things. Told him we should have rope drops to compact all this snow or it would recrystallize. Get this, he tried to tell me that compacted snow would turn into hoar because it would be closer to the ground and there would be a strong temperature gradient. This kid was so confused but not my place to argue about it...
Yesterday was just sweet. PTSD from opening forgotten.
Yesterday was not as much fun and I guess this weekend will be more of the same. They roped off everything up high except Ptarmigan. Patroller said it was skied off to the dirt but I still would have happily skied around the ruts and saplings, no problem.
I got two laps on upper bittersweet Thursday afternoon before they closed it back up and it still seemed fine but I can see not letting the masses scrape it down to nothing. Things are really close but just not quite. The snow we have gotten is great and all but now I want more, always want more.Quote:
Originally Posted by shera
I guess storm king opens today, so that is something. Not sure I will bother getting back to copper again until after Thanksgiving when I will regularly be able to ski weekdays again. Hopefully we get back into the snow cycle by then.
I know nothing about ski area terrain management but that part is actually correct. All other things being equal, a shallower snowpack will exhibit a higher temp gradient and drive metamorphism. Whether that makes slopes at Copper more or less skiable early season is a different question.Quote:
it would be closer to the ground and there would be a strong temperature gradient
Yes, shallower packs have a stronger temp gradient. But compacted snow does not turn to sugar, I guess because it's a vaporization that needs airspace to occur. Now I feel like I need to go and look it up to see exactly why bootpacked and skied or otherwise compacted snow does not morph. You probably know this off the top of your head better than me.
I'm hoping they get flyer running soon. I can play around skiing switch and one legged and whatnot with a very peaceful vibe. Eagle just stresses me out.Quote:
Originally Posted by Leshphilling77
Sintering...but it doesn't matter.
Its not a wild snowpack. Are you talking about reduction in future avalanche hazard or ski ski area snow management?
I just call 'em as I see 'em for "Technical Bullshit". I think what you were trying to say is "If patrol let us ski it now it would be more fun for we and would compact the base making it better the next time it snows" but that is not now it reads.
On cold north-facing slopes, snow metamorphoses into "sugar snow" or faceted crystals due to a process called temperature gradient metamorphism. This occurs when there is a significant temperature difference between the warmer ground and the colder snow surface. This gradient causes water vapor to move upward through the snowpack, leading to the formation of angular, faceted crystals that don't bond well to each other, creating that loose, sugary texture.
However, when the snow is compacted—whether through bootpacking, skiing, or other forms of pressure—the structure of the snow changes. Compaction disrupts the formation of faceted crystals by reducing the air spaces within the snowpack, which are crucial for the movement of water vapor. This compression allows for more uniform temperature distribution and greater contact between snow particles, fostering stronger bonds between them. Consequently, the snow maintains a more stable, rounded structure, which prevents it from transforming into loose, sugary snow.
"If patrol let us ski it now it would be more fun for we and would compact the base making it better the next time it snows"
Yes I am absolutely saying that! But I also love to ski some sugar, that sweet sweet hiss. Last year I had some really great turns when they did rope drops on Sierra. Boot to knee deep sugar. And when I lived in Summit I would really enjoy hiking up north peak at Keystone before it opened, so nice.
Yesterday was fun and relaxed on the hill. Directed skiing on Bouncer and nice soft bumps up on Hallelujah. Bouncer was all natural snow and had pretty good coverage, imo.
Patrol seems to be working double time, lots of blasting on union peak, flyer and sierra both spinning (not for the public), snow guns going full blast at the top of flyer and machines pushing snow around up there. It's a good view from the top of storm king. Oh and superbee is running with the big course set up for race training.
We are setting up beautifully for the next storm system. I'm excited. And really grateful to patrol, they are on their game and also being super amiable. They were thanking us for skiing down the snow, hahhahahaha.
Heard timberline is supposed to open Thanksgiving so hopefully that’s all on track
I'm glad you're hearing about these openings. I missed i dropper but did get to ski lower enchanted forest so thank you for that!
nice. was it busy yesterday? trying to gauge how crowded it will be there this weekend now that people will be a bit more spread out with flyer open. thinking I'll not go there today but I'm hoping to tomorrow if it doesn't seem too bad. Into my last week as weekend warrior status til april or may.
It was not busy. But I feel like a lot of people went over to Coppertone and were just straight lining it at top speed - my guess is they weren't good enough to do that on main vein so they had to ruin a green run. I'm not going to mention their choice of equipment even though I can't help but have an opinion. I guess that's not very generous of me, but I was a little annoyed and disappointed because I was hoping to be able to just de-stress over there. But no, it's a fight for your life once again.
I guess it'll all be resolved once we get through this next storm cycle and holiday. This season has been a lot more fun than past ones, especially because of the earlier openings of excelerator terrain. The only people straight lining there are really good skiers and there's not that many of them and I think they're super cute.
I don't mean to sound like I had a bad time yesterday, it really was nice out! But also in enchanted forest, I felt like my skis were not fat enough or rockered enough so I had to work kinda hard and not ski as pretty as I would like. It faces west and the sun was on it and I hate to call it mank, but it was heavy, which I usually don't mind so much. I guess some days are just like that where you don't feel like you're in the zone and skiing the way you want to.
/whining
skied in lower forest today and it was real funky. New timberline opened yesterday, nothing groomed over there so there is also some funky skiing on that side but actually Copperfield was good fun. Upper part of hallelujah was actually really good, nice soft windload slashy turns. that's the stuff right there.Quote:
Originally Posted by shera
It was busy (LOTS of ski camps here for the week) but you could kinda almost get away from people now and I am glad they are letting all this terrain get skied to help pack it down, should come around nicely with more snow which appears to be here and tues/ wednesday look promising.
It’s too bad they didn’t build Timberline as a longer lift to the summit ridge and a mid-drop off at the current terminus for those looking to ski Solitude or an easy blue. It’s just such a short amount of vert that I hardly bother with that area. Oh well, at least it does help that busy pinch point and Sierra is usually empty so lapping that area is easy.
yeah I mean I think the lift serves its purpose, like if I have family or friends in town that are very intermediate skiers timerbline is my go to til we work up to eagle and super b blues. Its also referred to by patrol as tex for a reason. For me its a decent early season spot before it gets too busy. idk, vibe at copper honestly sucks these days and once pali is going at the basin I'm fairly good on copper aside from a day here or there to switch it up. but that's just me.Quote:
Originally Posted by The SnowShow
Yeah I'm excited for the next couple of days. I'm gonna go and get first chairs, on fatter boards.Quote:
Originally Posted by Leshphilling77
Things are setting up really well.