Ontario maggotry 23 and two-four

Someone has to start this thread. Might as well be me after numerous outings.

Local hill opened on the 15th and got my butt out quite a few times so far. Yesterday was bueno with above freezing temps and firm snow. Today was frozen corduroy interspersed with dirt and one patch of ice. I'll take it considering the weather we have had.

Missed a chance at x-country at the start of November when we discovered the park we camped at got half a foot of dense the day before we arrived. Local conditions when we left home gave no indication of said bounty. Did get biking and canoeing that trip so we had that going for us.

Meanwhile, not aware of any resorts fully open yet. Moonstone appears to be close and with the forecasted cold showing up I think they and many others will get in good shape. Snowfall? From the sky? Dream on.

Anywho, hope we get back on the horse here in Dougland.

I'm amazed at how good MSLM has looked so far given the weather. Meanwhile BM has looked like late spring trash. They were even completely closed for the last two days, but reopened today with four runs. Haven't been out to either yet. Had one ok nordic day at Mono Nordic a few weeks back, but they've been closed since.

Can only get better I guess?!

It’s getting better!! We are close to a FOS (Full Ontario Send) Jan/Feb/Mar!
Glen Eden sent out my family’s passes but not mine for some reason, so the kid and I went to go pick it up and see how the slopes are shaping up. I told him to look stoked about the imminent opening (they confirm nothing but my guess is this Friday) and this is the best he could do:

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Also I learned that you can upload any photo you want for your pass and they’ll just print it. So I used an old picture of me having 2 beers with one hand - a classic sailor’s trick dubbed “the Silver Wraith.”

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I have new ski boots to try out and also got some Burton step-on boots and bindings for Xmas so I can try something new this year while the kids are in their lessons. Ontario can get… boring… so I figured I’d get back to the dark side here and there but I’ll be damned if I’m going to dick around with regular snowboard bindings for < 1000’ of vert.

Pretty bleak around Blue mountain these days…. Had a few runs this morning and it’s super thin with guns blasting on both open runs. Got busy around 9:30 so I scrounged a ticket over to Alpine. Better snow and much more of it. Not sure what’s up with the snowmaking at Blue but it seems to be lacking at the moment.

Alpine is strictly private no? How'd you swing a ticket?

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Originally Posted by paulster2626

Ontario can get… boring…

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Exactly what got me to start snowboarding in university - though we typically crossed into Quebec for our local skiing.

(My car being broken into and my ski boots stolen is what kept me snowboarding through college….)

Careful of those wrists.

And I see your son has the same natural modeling talent as mine.

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Originally Posted by Thaleia

Alpine is strictly private no? How'd you swing a ticket?

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Have a friend that works there.

Great to see the guns firing again on New Year's day. Trouble was that things got sticky as honey. Was behind a skier that performed a double eject with one ski sticking straight up. Had to stay on edge to get around that problem. When I saw the guns running yesterday I decided to do laundry and go shopping.

Freezing drizzle this morning? No guns running so looks like a run or six are in order. 10-15 mm of rain next Tuesday would indicate that winter is a wee bit shy this winter.

Is Blue hampered by the fact that Georgian Bay is right on its doorstep and not cold enough to blow? Sounds like Alpine doesn't have the same problem. Who owns Blue now? They have too many irons in the fire.

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Originally Posted by J. Barron DeJong

Careful of those wrists.

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Story time while we wait for snow.

Back in high school (oh shit that's what now, 30 years ago? yikes) there was a class trip to Horseshoe. On the 2nd day me and a few friends rented snowboards, what with it being the coolest thing around and all. Back then you had to have a snowboard to go in to the terrain-er, Snowboard park. Anyhow, near the end of the day we had gotten pretty good hang of it - I went over this jump in the park and got mayyyybe a foot of air. Landed on glistening ice, board slips out from under me and bam land on my wrist. Instant pain. Turns out I broke my radius and the gym teacher had to drive my ass 2 hours home to Credit Valley Hospital so my parents could meet me there haha.

Fast forward a week. My dad drops me off at school and I have to cross the road - step on to a patch of black ice and bam down on my ass. Go to stand up and nope not happening, I fall right down again. Some kid sees me struggling and his mom asks if I need help. I say yeah and she drives me home in her car - I cannot walk. Figure the best thing to do is for her to get my mom to call my dad to come take me back to the hospital again - but no answer at the front door. I know she's home so I tell this lady the garage code so she can go in and figure out what's happening. Lady goes upstairs calling my mom's name and then my mom comes out of the shower wearing a towel, and there's a stranger in her room and scares the living shit out of her.

Called my dad, he comes back "WTF??" and takes me to the hospital. Nurses there remembered me 'oh hello paul!' and thought the ankle was for sure broken. Turns out just a bad sprain but I could not walk for at least a week. Couldn't use crutches either because of the broken arm. Couldn't hop on one foot either because it would shake the bad ankle and hurt sooooo bad. So I'm at home on my ass all day and when I need to take a piss or get a drink or snack I need to drag myself along the floor with one arm like a conch which is very difficult.

I remember this girl Gill from school actually came to my house once to see how I was doing - so nice of her, not many other people did that. I probably smelled like ass.

So yeah, I know all about the wrists!

^ Good story. I did a three-year snowboard experiment back in the mid 2000s, it is super-fun except when you catch a heelside edge and smack your noggin like a human fly-swatter. I had the Burton step-ins of the day, they ruled for me, though hard-core boarders didn't like them (too loose, they said). Personally, I liked the the no-bending-over and/or sitting-on-your-ass aspect of getting the board off and on. Once you get the hang of it, the feeling of flow is unequaled by anything in skiing. I finally gave it up because I couldn't keep up with my brother and nephews on skis at Jay, and frankly was nervous to go in the woods. Beware of the huge blind spot on your heelside.

Pretty brutal start to winter up here in the Hinterlands, we've had several dumps of snow all followed quickly by rain and thaw. No bush skiing and the local bumps are barely open. Enough cold weather that small lakes are well frozen and those smart enough to keep their skates have enjoyed some excellent lake skating conditions, which is a rare treat.

I may get a few turns at Caledon Ski Club on Friday, as I'm heading there to do a presentation on WWHSTA for a Ski Telemark event. If you want to make small hills fun and drop some serious coin on boots and bindings, take up telemark skiing this winter!

See you in the woods.

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Originally Posted by petey_

Great to see the guns firing again on New Year's day. Trouble was that things got sticky as honey. Was behind a skier that performed a double eject with one ski sticking straight up. Had to stay on edge to get around that problem. When I saw the guns running yesterday I decided to do laundry and go shopping.

Freezing drizzle this morning? No guns running so looks like a run or six are in order. 10-15 mm of rain next Tuesday would indicate that winter is a wee bit shy this winter.

Is Blue hampered by the fact that Georgian Bay is right on its doorstep and not cold enough to blow? Sounds like Alpine doesn't have the same problem. Who owns Blue now? They have too many irons in the fire.

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Not sure what is up with snow making at Blue. I skied at Craigleith today and the snow was pretty good and they have a bunch more runs open.
Alterra owns Blue now and they are investing in the snowmaking system (1.5M) this year is the word on the street with more to come so hopefully they’ll get it sorted out.

There's an extremely cynical side of me wondering if Blue's priority is lodging and village traffic. That is to say, if they're going to be at or near capacity over the holiday season with or with out quality skiing, why bother with the expense of snowmaking.

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Originally Posted by Thaleia

There's an extremely cynical side of me wondering if Blue's priority is lodging and village traffic. That is to say, if they're going to be at or near capacity over the holiday season with or with out quality skiing, why bother with the expense of snowmaking.

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No way. They're trying to be the "best" Ontario tourist destination. Yes, stuff other than skiing is important but they know the value of the IKON pass sales and the fact that they have always been a ski hill and will continue to do so. I would bet if the snowmaking hasn't been up to par so far, it's due to some problem with the actual equipment or infrastructure, and not calculated malice.

Nobody drinks booze like skiers. That alone ensures focus on slope-quality to draw 'em in for those après bar tabs...

Ikon passes are already bought and paid for. The majority of users I see there are 5x7 passholders, again, would already bought and paid for.

It would obviously be a short sighted strategy but something is way off this year. Hopefully you're right and it's something else behind the scenes like some sort of infrastructure issue. I've been going to BM for ~20 years and have never seen it so outrageously behind the other hills in it's vicinity.

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Originally Posted by Thaleia

Ikon passes are already bought and paid for. The majority of users I see there are 5x7 passholders, again, would already bought and paid for.

It would obviously be a short sighted strategy but something is way off this year. Hopefully you're right and it's something else behind the scenes like some sort of infrastructure issue. I've been going to BM for ~20 years and have never seen it so outrageously behind the other hills in it's vicinity.

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Yeah they're bought and paid for this year, but next seasons' aren't! Blue is a corporate nightmare but I don't think they're really sitting in a boardroom saying to turn off the snowmaking taps to save money.

Looks like I'll be heading up there on the 18th with my dad - the 74 year old legend rides again for another season!

Nice! Hoping it will be vastly improved by then.

Full tilt boogy today at blue on the snowmaking side. They are even making snow at the North end.
I was talking with the head of maintenance this summer and I’d say that they aren’t skimping on snowmaking. I think they just have some catch up to do after some time not investing in new technology.

[QUOTE=paulster2626;6997324

when I need to take a piss or get a drink or snack I need to drag myself along the floor with one arm like a conch which is very difficult.

[/QUOTE]

Fucking hilarious.

My wrist story isn’t as good as paulster’s.

Last run of the last night of snowboarding my first season I was coming back to the main side of the hill on the cat track. Trying to keep the board flat to keep it sliding. Just nearing the end of the cat track the board started to drift/pivot. Caught my heel edge at about 5 mph, put my hands back to catch my fall and broke a wrist.

Probably less than 200m from getting through the season (relatively) unscathed. Definitely had a few of those head smacks, with no helmet.

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Originally Posted by J. Barron DeJong

Definitely had a few of those head smacks, with no helmet.

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My last head smack was without a helmet and resulted in my third concussion (1: skiing, 2: rock climbing. 3: snowboarding). Bought a helmet the next day and never leave home without it nowadays.

Damn Paulster, that is some nasty shite you went through with wrists and slips. Thanks for the advice on not going to the darkside. Skateboarding is as far as I will tread with regards to single planking. Saw a tele board for sale in Pinkham Notch many years ago and was interested for about ten seconds. Easy they said. Yah. No.

Wished I'd cottoned on to the Caledon thing earlier Jeff. Always wanted to ski there when they did their telemark get together. Next year? Is the event at Limberlost on the 15th worth a four hour drive? I know we have a forecasted 25mms of rain Tuesday. Maybe that translates to snow in your neck of the woods. We shall see.

Got out to the local this morning and after a couple of runs decided that flat light and questionable grooming were not my thing. Recent check of their webcam show a ton of people out. Appears that more runs will open this weekend and then next week there should be fewer people. Looking forward to that...except for the rain.

Go Blue!

If everyone behaves appropriately (ritualistic dancing, pouring one out for the homies, not speaking ill of the gods, etc) then we might be able to keep the air cold enough to keep the rain at bay on Tuesday. Otherwise it's not a huuuge deal as things get colder and snowier right after.

Glen Eden announces opening day for pass holders tomorrow! 1 lift. 1 run. Think I'll pass.

First day out today at BM. Was nice to get out but damn, was about as 'good' as expected lol. Will say lifties did a great job at traffic control getting perfect 6's on the chairs. Whoever the 50 something y'o employee with the hoser toque is was an absolute rock star.

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Can only get better, right?!

Heard folks that had recently been to Blue commenting on the superior conditions at Boler. That ain't right but it is what it is.

Forecast is getting better and better but it looks like 20-25mms of rain before the good stuff happens.

Flat light this morning but the grooming made up for it. Kudos to the worker bees here in London.

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Originally Posted by petey_

Heard folks that had recently been to Blue commenting on the superior conditions at Boler. That ain't right but it is what it is.

Forecast is getting better and better but it looks like 20-25mms of rain before the good stuff happens.

Flat light this morning but the grooming made up for it. Kudos to the worker bees here in London.

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Every storm that rolls through draws in more cold air from the arctic. One more rain event (maybe, think cold thoughts!) and then it looks like actual winter for at least a month.

I hope to sneak out to Glen Eden on my lunch break sometime this week for full epic ice report, if they’re still open after the Tuesday rains.