2019/2020 Midwest Stoke Thread

[Mustonen]

Gas, grass, or ass: nobody rides for free 🤡





Attachment 408527

Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

Hah

Well I don’t own pon2oons, but here is a pic of me skiing Renegades in the Midwest.

[Harry]

Now I know how to pick you out in the Big Sky liftline. [emoji3]

I will PM you my digits so we can communicate by text.

Funny that we only live 200 miles apart, but will travel 1200 miles to finally ski together.


Sent from my iPad using TGR Forums

[Mustonen]

Seriously conflicted about bringing those guys to Big Sky. I’m not worried about rocks or anything, just worried that weather doesn’t pan out and we don’t get any show.

And agreed. Says something about places worth traveling to…. Also funny that my work conference at a rotating resort happens to line up with BBI. Coincidences make the world go round…

[ill-advised strategy]

It was a great day today at boho. 3-4” of fresh snow, maybe a little more in some spots due to wind blow but a great day of skiing there. Doubtful that they’re going to get more snow tomorrow or in the near future but it’s still skiing really well.

It’s fucking raining.

Why would you post this? Are you the PR dept?


What’s happening with climate change, and everything else, all the other forms of deterioration and movement of people and culture, is that Kentucky is now a giant open air heroin ghetto, Ohio is the new Kentucky, the lower Peninsula is the new Ohio, and Upper Michigan is the new downstate. My hometown is the new Traverse City. The keweenaw is the new UP.

The GM at Ripley explained the major malfunction with the skiing up here in a fb comment a couple of years ago: all the systems here were set up decades ago to work in a wintery place where it’s consistently cold from early Nov to late March and there’s consistent, not huge but consistent, natural snow. That’s gone. We don’t have that expensive southern setup where they know it’s only going to be briefly cold and there’s a bunch of offseason farmers who know how to set up and keep irrigation and field machinery top notch, and are well-prepared, and understand exactly how to make a big urgent push to get a crop in at the right time….or get a ton of snow made during a few cold days. We don’t have those guys here, we don’t have those systems here.

People and systems up here are not set up that way and instead of getting angry when they fail, getting embarrassed about not getting their work done, and putting that energy into fixing shit and overcoming the challenge, the zeitgeist is “meh…get a fatbike”. Meh, let’s focus on the terrain park and “urban jibbing”…let’s do a “rail jam”. Meh, at least there’s something. Meh, you should try nordic, nordic is skiing, see it’s the same word! Lycra! Meh, fishing. Let’s stand around trying to catch fish, that’s the same thing as skiing. All that, plus a bunch of others trying so hard to convince everyone how great it is, like this guy upthread, who will look at 2 days of pouring rain in the middle of winter, or 2/3 of the lifts shut off, or whatever failing bullshit thing it is next, and just straight-out lie about how great it all is.

The two local guys who used to post here both benefit from skiing slowly dying…one sees his bike shop go from a small seasonal business to selling tons of expensive snow bikes to all the people who would have been skiers 30 years ago. He’s here selling bikes to all the southerners moving here now that downstate is Ohio and we’re downstate. He recruited this jackass wisconsin rich guy to buy the ski hill, and now he gets exactly what he wants: a empty failing ski area to go ski groomers and try out equipment for his vacations, while at the same time all the skiers are buying $5000 bikes from him because the skiing sucks, so he can afford to go be a midwest touron. The other one gets exactly what he wants: dying mismanaged ski hill lets him set a gs course for himself wherever he wants in between midwest touron vacations.

Meanwhile skiing here dies. Everybody involved is from the south, owner from Wisconsin, only ski shop in town from Wisconsin, manager from Chicago-Vail, Vailcago? ChiVail?…. those two former tgr posters both from detroit, or gross rapids or whatever down there. None of this is abnormal to them, they’re like shit-birds who just migrated north with the shit climate.

Looked up my house in Salt Lake the other day, estimate $400,000, and all the rest in the neighborhood $600,000, $800,000.

Can’t ever go back.


I think I’ve actually lived about 15 years too long at this point, and there’s literally no correct place for me in this time. There’s no way to win this. All those people who died around me in fires and truck crashes and helicopter crashes and avalanches and motorcycle wrecks, they win. They don’t have to watch everything deteriorate, watch everybody celebrating while it deteriorates. They never saw President Dipshit. They didn’t have to dress like a cartoon bandit at work for 2 years. Bob Seger turning into Kid Rock turning into Insane Clown Posse. All the roofs leaking, the mice moving in, rain all winter, idiots and sociopaths in charge of everything everywhere. Dead eyed opioid gamer kids forming odd social tsunamis with nihilistic fox news karens. It should have been me, there’s no possible way I’m meant to be alive for this haywire bullshit.. God had a plan…when I could ski well and fight fire I fell ass backwards into everything I needed, and it all fit like a glove. Good people just appeared in my life all around me, jobs, housing, it all just clicked into place like it was meant to be. But I outlived that plan, and now it’s some kind of purgatory of experiencing a slow motion soul-death over the course of a decade.

Yeah! An inch of Pow! Over Midwinter ReFrozen Soaking Rain! So Stoked! This Is Amazing! Get In Your 2” Lifted Sprintervans Right Now! Bring Your Pintech DPS Setup! OMG I Met This Girl Madison, She’s From Madison, Or Grand Rapids, Or Saint Paul. Wait, Maybe It Was Paula From Saint Wausau. Or Kayleigh From Kalamasomething? She Has The Dopest Silver Vanlife Van, License: UP NRTH. By The Way This Sustainably Sourced Rain Forest Blend Is Amazing! Legal Weed Is Amazing! And Her Dad Is Going To Build A Trader Joe’s In Calumet. They’re Going To Have Covered Overnight Parking So Influencers Can Tiktok Without Being Out In The Midwinter Rain! And There’s Going To Be A Food Truck That’s A Micrbrewery, It’s, Like, A Trader Joe’s MicroBus MicroBrewery, The Tacos Are Hand Made By Former XGames Snowboarders Totally Out Of Recycled Von Dutch Trucker Hats! That Is So Awesome! This Place Is Amazing! It Rains Like Seattle OMG, There’s Hobos, It’s Like A Cute Little Seattle! Give That Hobo A Clif Bar, Caleb! OMG A Mini Seattle So Adorable!

[naedward81]

Any Mags familiar with the so called Lutsen Sidecountry? They have it listed on snow reports on their website.

Are these just the spaceces in the trees between runs?

Headed up there this weekend and the wife isn't going to ski, just Apres ski.

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

[muted reborn]

Great rant IAS, sad but funny. Sugar coating things also drives me crazy. Some people just can't be real as if telling the truth is just being a Debbie Downer.

As for the van influencer/taco shop marketer/biz owner- it all reminds me of Point Three from Damone in Fast Times at Ridgemont High "Now three, act like wherever you are, that's the place to be."

[uglymoney]

Very thought provoking Yeti. I'm too tired to roll around in that too much right now, but interesting. And you throw some shade...ha! If none of that was directed at me, it should have been. I think most of my cheerleading is genuine though. I do like the analysis of ski areas in Yooperland. They do seem to be a bit of a relic, though I confess I have only skied Porcupine and Indianhead like 25 years ago. You don't have the population centers to support the expensive intensive snowmaking infrastructure. Although, Lutsen is certainly giving it a go on the long end of the I-35 corridor.

I try to live in the seams here as much as I can. Play the hand I've dealt myself and fully inhabit the corner I've backed myself into. It is my fault I am here and by misguided choices of my own making, but I guess I don't see it as all being negative. It's amazing how much fun I can have skiing total shit conditions though, especially when I'm able to compartmentalize the skiing and ignore the people around me. And it's a lot easier to ignore people here than say, the I-70 corridor, where everyone is in your face, and they all have mortgages on those 600k houses, and 60k 4R's. You can wear coveralls here and drive to the ski area in a Ford Fusion and nobody cares, unless you're a racer, in which case you still do need a 90k Yukon to be embraced.

I think the UP has done better than a lot of places temperature wise. Down here things are much worse that they used to be. Like 5 degrees warmer since I was born. But Iowa has always been a dump, with low expectations. So much north then south weather. That is what you see in the map below. Like Western Iowa through Nebraska, up through the Dakotas. The huge low pressures and the yoyo'ing jetstream pull the air along the front range north, then south. Incredibly rapid warming and huge warm ups every winter...70's, 80's. It is crazy.

The tornado that killed 6 people Saturday evening in central Iowa was the farthest north an F4 tornado has been in recorded history this early in the season.



https://twitter.com/Climatologist49/...jwq1F9SbFbtp8Q

[SmileyRiley]

/butthurt rant

Hey I’m not sure who shit in your coffee this morning but I thought this was the stoke thread… 4” of snow on top of a little crust is better than anything else out there at this point. They got almost a foot of snow last week and the little rain did saturate the snow here and there but it wasn’t anything bad. Still better than skiing at Granite, Mqt or anywhere else right now.

[Beach Bum]

I think many would agree it's been a pretty damn good season for skiing up in the Yoop. Starting around Jan 5 after a major storm pummeled much of the area with 15-30" the cold and NW flow ensued and there was fresh lake effect every week. Boho is up to 275".

Sux that this shit storm happened especially from a personal level as I was hoping to be there right not but cancelled. Looks like more cold in the forecast and more snow with that.

Now further south it's been an average year at best. Several years going with minimal impactful storms in the region. But can't complain about the temps, they remained pretty cold and there were good weekends of skiing around.

Back to the UP, places like Boho are 100"+ higher compared to many of the mega western resorts YTD, so it can't be all that bad.

[Harry]

Pouring rain here in Northern Wisconsin at 9:30pm

Showed up at Christie Mountain on Sunday expecting it to suck, and I was wrong. Wall-to-wall corduroy that was damp but surprisingly soft. I stopped by the business office afterwards and bought my pass for next year, price went up. $275 for an adult. [emoji3]


Sent from my iPad using TGR Forums

[Talisman]

Wow that season pass cost less than the window rate for a Big Sky day ticket with the tram.

Showed up at Christie Mountain on Sunday expecting it to suck, and I was wrong. Wall-to-wall corduroy that was damp but surprisingly soft. I stopped by the business office afterwards and bought my pass for next year, price went up. $275 for an adult. [emoji3]


Sent from my iPad using TGR Forums

[ill-advised strategy]

I think many would agree it's been a pretty damn good season

2 months of wrod, 3 weeks of finally building base in February, then a 2 day soaking midwinter rain takes a foot or more of that base and turns all surfaces into refrozen ice and raincrust. DAMN GOOD SEASON!

I know it’s uncool to be honest. You can unfollow me on tiktokgram, I don’t have any sponsors.

Here’s what I would write if I were full of shit:
Great Spring Skiing Right Now After Last Week’s Huge Storms! The Roads Are Clear, The Sun Is Shining, What A Great Day!

It’s not hard to write bullshit, it just means you’re a bullshit person.
Lots of people love bullshit, actually I reckon more people love bullshit than don’t. I’ve been stuck in bumper to bumper traffic because 50,000 people were getting on the highway after a Nickelback concert.

Post whatever you want, it’s a free country. Rain is powder! Refrozen corduroy is awesome! Is that Nickelback…turn it up!

[Trackhead]

It’s fucking raining.

Looked up my house in Salt Lake the other day, estimate $400,000, and all the rest in the neighborhood $600,000, $800,000.

I think I’ve actually lived about 15 years too long at this point, and there’s literally no correct place for me in this time. There’s no way to win this. All those people who died around me in fires and truck crashes and helicopter crashes and avalanches and motorcycle wrecks, they win. They don’t have to watch everything deteriorate, watch everybody celebrating while it deteriorates. They never saw President Dipshit. They didn’t have to dress like a cartoon bandit at work for 2 years. Bob Seger turning into Kid Rock turning into Insane Clown Posse. All the roofs leaking, the mice moving in, rain all winter, idiots and sociopaths in charge of everything everywhere. Dead eyed opioid gamer kids forming odd social tsunamis with nihilistic fox news karens. It should have been me, there’s no possible way I’m meant to be alive for this haywire bullshit.. God had a plan…when I could ski well and fight fire I fell ass backwards into everything I needed, and it all fit like a glove. Good people just appeared in my life all around me, jobs, housing, it all just clicked into place like it was meant to be. But I outlived that plan, and now it’s some kind of purgatory of experiencing a slow motion soul-death over the course of a decade.

Yeah! An inch of Pow! Over Midwinter ReFrozen Soaking Rain! So Stoked! This Is Amazing! Get In Your 2” Lifted Sprintervans Right Now! Bring Your Pintech DPS Setup! OMG I Met This Girl Madison, She’s From Madison, Or Grand Rapids, Or Saint Paul. Wait, Maybe It Was Paula From Saint Wausau. Or Kayleigh From Kalamasomething? She Has The Dopest Silver Vanlife Van, License: UP NRTH. By The Way This Sustainably Sourced Rain Forest Blend Is Amazing! Legal Weed Is Amazing! And Her Dad Is Going To Build A Trader Joe’s In Calumet. They’re Going To Have Covered Overnight Parking So Influencers Can Tiktok Without Being Out In The Midwinter Rain! And There’s Going To Be A Food Truck That’s A Micrbrewery, It’s, Like, A Trader Joe’s MicroBus MicroBrewery, The Tacos Are Hand Made By Former XGames Snowboarders Totally Out Of Recycled Von Dutch Trucker Hats! That Is So Awesome! This Place Is Amazing! It Rains Like Seattle OMG, There’s Hobos, It’s Like A Cute Little Seattle! Give That Hobo A Clif Bar, Caleb! OMG A Mini Seattle So Adorable!

Impressive tirade, but hard to not agree. I left SLC 2013, can't move back, wouldn't want to.

You likely have lived 15 years too long. Humans are of the animal kingdom, but we ignore that. Animals fight to breed, only the strong move on. They die when their usefulness runs out. Humans invent ways to keep living. Animals breed strength, evolve, or die. Humans are reverse. We breed weakness, over-populate, and this is what we have created.

It's kinda funny to watch humans cling to our posh way of life, then watch a salmon fight its way upstream, breed, and die. Or watch a couple male brown bears tear each other apart for a chance to breed. There is no recreation in the animal kingdom, only life purpose. Animal kingdom is perfection, creatures performing with purpose and grace. Humans are fat, lazy, stupid pigs who get winded when they have to get the mail. Humanity if flawed, as we assume it is our birth right to have cheap gas, endless recreation, and a harmonious life. Nope, none of that.

[yeahman]

Showed up at Christie Mountain on Sunday expecting it to suck, and I was wrong. Wall-to-wall corduroy that was damp but surprisingly soft. I stopped by the business office afterwards and bought my pass for next year, price went up. $275 for an adult. [emoji3]


Sent from my iPad using TGR Forums

No you're wrong Harry. It sucked. Life sucks. [emoji846] For some people anyway. Not for you.

[buttahflake]

“Is that Nickleback? Turn it up!” Is pure gold. Loving the honesty, best rants I’ve seen in years.

[Harry]

Wow that season pass cost less than the window rate for a Big Sky day ticket with the tram.

Yup !

It’s not GNAR by any means, but I have a shitload of fun there.

It’s not more fun than Big Sky, but it’s also not less fun either. I guess fun is fun. 🤠


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[Flyoverland Captive]

There is no recreation in the animal kingdom, only life purpose.

Have you never seen an otter in the wild? Those things are having fun.

And isn’t your avatar a smiling dog?

[Trackhead]

Have you never seen an otter in the wild? Those things are having fun.

And isn’t your avatar a smiling dog?

Well true, but a domesticated dog who gets fed by humans and wouldn't survive otherwise.

In all reality, animals > humans. Purpose oriented, goal directed behavior for the purpose of survival. Fitness, grace, no bullshit. Humans are opposite.

[yeahman]

Well true, but a domesticated dog who gets fed by humans and wouldn't survive otherwise.

In all reality, animals > humans. Purpose oriented, goal directed behavior for the purpose of survival. Fitness, grace, no bullshit. Humans are opposite.

Animals are not cursed with introspection. But they are also not blessed with a creative imagination.

Never been a better time to be alive in the history of humanity, by pretty much every measure.

[Mustonen]

I don’t know what the basis is for calling either greater or lesser. Also, we’re animals too. Also, I really like skiing, and I’m super sad that it’s more or less done in my area and I really wish the two ski areas that I patronize would spin until you can’t string together a run from top to bottom. I will take shitty refrozen skiing > no skiing at all.

But they will not do that.

[Jong Lafitte]

<snip> But they are also not blessed with a creative imagination...

This person has never battled wits with a bird feeder raiding squirrel.



Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[skiJ]

interesting tangent -
animals have their fun, but survival is always an underlying element -
Water, food, (shelter - as much from predators as from the weather ). reproduction.

my thanks to those who are trying to offer i-as encouragement. especially trackhead - Thank you.
some of us are not cut out for city living
( And I respect the experiences you are giving your son )

I remember years ago when someone else said she was "angry at the weather "
I suspect it was too hot for my mother's satisfaction.
There is an adage in the north country,
' wherever you are, you 're always warm an dry ' and the other one,
' there's no such thing as bad weather, just ( being badly dressed ) '


I empathize with i-as -
I remember when Winter along the south shore lasted from the beginning of November until the end of March, and there was skiing until late April...

times have changed -
a lot of people bike year 'round now.
a lot of people who might have skied 30years ago are into motorsports ( with a snow machine And a wheeled ride U.p. north ) --
adapt or get left behind...


as it was described to me,
it sounded like the VR operational plan -
buy a pass, take your chances ( there may only be one lift turning ,,, or
in March, it may be a limited schedule )

I understand the disappointment - And the dissatisfaction...

Nickelback ?
( how about The) E Street Band.


Peace, man. skiJ

[Trackhead]

I don’t know what the basis is for calling either greater or lesser. Also, we’re animals too. Also, I really like skiing, and I’m super sad that it’s more or less done in my area and I really wish the two ski areas that I patronize would spin until you can’t string together a run from top to bottom. I will take shitty refrozen skiing > no skiing at all.

But they will not do that.

We are animals, but self destructive with a bigger brain. I look at nature/wild kingdom for inspiration, not humanity.

[ill-advised strategy]

There’s such a thing as bad weather.

Find me somebody who likes 31 degree pouring rain in the middle of winter.

[Trackhead]

Never been a better time to be alive in the history of humanity, by pretty much every measure.

I've always wondered if post WW2 era wouldn't have been better. Yeah, long skinny wood skis and leather boots, but people seemed to have more pride/productivity/purpose than we do now. Or maybe not.