WOOT WOOT! Nukin' in Missoula

[creaky fossil]

you're welcome. You seem to have spent several years defending the bowl in this thread. It's a nice little place, to be sure. I had a good season here, but missoula's not a ski town and I've recognized that.

Awww. Did someone key your Hummer in the bowl parking lot when you took up 4 spaces to "protect its paint"?

[stuckathuntermtn]

step away from the computer.

[RootSkier]

Yet you think posts on the Internet define someone's personality.

**************

You want real-life aggro? Hang out with Sue Neff.

In a small town like Missoula where we all ski at the same mountain, I would say that yes, internet posts do reflect on someone's real personality. Would you say shit like that mtskier's face? I seriously doubt it. While you are bagging on his shop, maybe you should do the same to your beloved Bike Doctor...or maybe the Red Barn. Talk about pretentious shops that sell shit to yuppies (and yes, I have patronized both and will continue to do so).

That said, I'd ride the lift with Sue or Jim 100 times rather than with you once.

You got problems, buddy.

[senior researcher]

Congrats, Greg, Ian, Adam>>>>>>

[Rasputin]

That said, I'd ride the lift with Sue or Jim 100 times rather than with you once.

To be honest, Sue is great company on a lift, but Jim tends to be a drag (I really want to like the guy, but dang, does he have to one up or correct everything a person says?), and I have rode the chair with him somewhere approaching 100 times, probably more than a dozen first chairs, and he surely can be a buzzkill on a big powder day. Not so with CF.

I don't understand why CF presents so contentious on the internet, while being good company in person, or why he has such an extreme hard on to characterize MTskier so harshly, who is an extremely mild guy.

BTW, Rootski, you aren't exactly the poster child for not saying things on TGR that you wouldn't say in person. I expect you'd have your ass handed to you regularly if you spouted in person like you do online.

Oh and hats off to the Vert Callengers who hauled ass over frozen coral reef and chicken heads all day, at speed, logging up to 50k in a day, you guys are amazing.......idiots!

[Rasputin]

Oh yeah, the skiing was brutal today, a drifted inch on coral reef, classic variable Snowbowl conditions.

[yeahman]

I don't understand why CF presents so contentious on the internet, while being good company in person, or why he has such an extreme hard on to characterize MTskier so harshly, who is an extremely mild guy.

The fact that you don't understand it should tell you all you need to know about CF.

[mtskier]

To set the record straight, I have never threatened anyone, ever. That is the truth. I have the PMs to prove it.

[Buster Highmen]

We stopped in at Doc and Sara's house in Missoula, up
Missoula Avenue below Mt. Jumbo. Doc and Sara's was a
warm cubby of a house, brimming with good will and home
cooking. Oddly sprawling, it was a stitched sequence of small
blocks jumbled together. Doc and Sara were a refugee couple
from a commune around Deer Lodge, abundant people busy
with building their own lives. We drank coffee and ate a bit,
chatting about music, gardens and our respective roads ahead.

In a short while, we piled back into the car and trundled
down along Rattlesnake creek to grind back onto
I-90 headed East. Doc remained on the porch, articulating
Django tunes on his acoustic, Jumbo glowing amber in the
afternoon autumn light.

The Saab was an unusual car, iconic in some regards.
It had a three on the tree manual transmission with
which Jon, who steered the boat out of Missoula, had
no experience. This was to be a demise which opened a
Pandora's box of woe and wonder.

I sat in the back seat with Dean, the car owner. Dean
was a hot head and we were all tired. As Jon rowed
around trying to find the gearing paths, Dean reached
forward, grabbed the shifter and jammed it down into
third. A primordial grinding noise ensued followed by
lurching and more prehistoric clunking noises, like
some early industrial triceratops grating towards
fossilhood. We jerked to a stop on the shoulder.

Dean flew out of the backseat, smashing Jon against
the steering wheel and tore into a petulant rage. Snot
and spit splattered in every direction as he alternately
connipted beyond modern dance in his rage or tried
to kill Jon.

Jon was a quiet, burled type, seething with cynicism
and reticent to a t. But his cynicism belied a gentle
and quiet soul who adored spending time buried in
obscure fasntasy novels by J.B. Cabell or Lord
Dunsany. Nonetheless, Jon was tough and ducked
the punches and kicks, inured to the insults and
epithets. He always reminded me of a twisted alpine
fir, lithe, thin and gnarled. Here he bore simply
another storm.

Rob stood haughtily off to the side, sporting a new
studded blue jeans jacket, tinted eyeglasses and
thinly veiled arrogance. His body belied a ghostly
emptiness gilded with shallow insouciance. We
hoped he would be of no consequence as he headed
to see his girlfriend in Minneapolis.

While Dean's rage subsided, Jon and I jumped the chain
link fence walked to a house in East Missoula and
called a tow truck. Rather than deal with Dean, we
walked back to Doc and Sara's, smoked some of Jon's
good weed and spaced out in the pages of our
respective dog eared paperbacked fantasy novels.
__________________
Ex mathematician, now mythemagician.



Stuck in Missoula

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the time, Saab had never been a widely distributed
marque within the borders of the United States. We
scoured around town looking for someone who wouldn't
laugh or spit snoos juice at us when we inquired about
Saab transmission parts. In that regard, Missoula was
in the heart of the American West, despite the Butterfly
Shop and the Adult Toy Store with the rolling paper
dispenser on it's stoop.

Dean snarled off to the airport, charging us with the
care of his car and winged his way to see his girl in
the Twin Cities. Rob pined and whined around, being of
little help, lurking in self absorbed peevishness in
the back shed at Doc and Sara's. Jon and I being of
more feeble financial means intended to get to Madison
to score some hash and then sell it at a decent profit.
Given the time of year, I hoped for some snow and early
season fresh turns along the way.

Finally, Jon called and found a shop that would order
the parts and look into getting it repaired. They
asked us to come and prepay for the parts, so we
ankled over to the shop. Rob decided to come
along, another factor that would be of regret.

The three of us walked across town to the auto shop,
cut by the rising wind. Clouds blew in from the west
with the sulpherous stink of the Frenchtown mill and
it began to spit snow and sleet.

We rounded the block to the open corrugated metal
gate of the shop. Inside the compound, a variety of
bulbous, black cars from the '40s and early '50
squatted on their dark haunches. We knocked and an
older, chunky woman came out to greet us dressed in a torn
sweatshirt and ripped jeans with a copse of wild hair.
She led us into the garage and then an ante room full
of parts catalogues, paint rags and oily atmosphere.

As Jon and I specified part numbers and bent over
catalogues, Rob airily wafted about and parked his
studded butt on one of the cars. A rending screech
echoed around the garage.

The woman lost it, shoved us aside and headed for Rob
with a tire iron. Rob leapt off the car and darted out of
the lot, leaving Jon and I to deal with the raging aged
Medusa.

After her vipers stopped spitting, Jon and I paid her
off $50 to repair a 6 inch long scratch Rob's studded
butt had put into the car. We left, dismayed.

Carving back across town in the sleet and snow, Jon
glowered. I rejoiced. Snow came down in tankerloads.

That night, I got Tom's phone number from Sara. Tom
was a recluse who lived up along the Blackfoot River out of
East Missoula, tinkering away on his fleet of old blown out
trucks and cars.

But Tom is a raging skier.

Snowbowl was set to open.

[Buster Highmen]

__________________
Ex mathematician, now mythemagician.


Snow Bowl

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I sat, fuzzy headed, smelling Sara's good coffee,
knots of steam purling off the thick porcelain cup
when Tom pulled up in an old, army green '56 Chevy
truck. I grabbed my vintage 1970 Trappeur boots,
Kerma poles and Dynastar S730s and went out the
door. We tossed the skis and poles in the back and drove
the old beast up to the Grant Creek turnoff and on up
to Montana Snowbowl for opening day.

The old, slow bullwheel squeaked and cranked while the
double Riblet chair scooped us up, hauling us through
the lodgepoled slopes. Snow down low was decent and
thick, but some twigs poked through here and there. As
we got higher, less and less vegetation was evident and
the snow lighter. Tom and I grinned at each other. Tom
didn't talk much either. As we hung over Grizzly, our eyes
scanned for debris. None showed. This was going to be
good.

Tom and I were among the first ten people down Grizzly,
a decently steep bowl that had a funny sidehill to it.
Snow blew up everywhere in our turns, riming out
smiles and creating hazy sparkling auras around
everything. The little fir glades at the side of the
bowl held even better pow that shot up over our
heads.

Hoots came from everywhere as the local hardcore
stretched out their summer kinks and rejoiced in the
first turns of the season: deep pow turns to boot!

Lower Grizzly is a steep chute, prone to lousy cover,
but even down in it, nothing but soft, sweet powder
and not even the occasional SKRACK of a rock. For
early season, it was supreme. We looped in and
around the spars in the glades before spilling out
into the gut of the runout.

We took more laps up the lower mountain since the
upper t-bar wasn't open. Everywhere was fresh snow,
even on the race hill. By 2:00, I was thrashed.

Tom and I bumped down the access road and back down to
town. As he dropped me at Doc and Sara's, we agreed to
iterate tomorrow. It was snowing.

Jon had been evaluating options and our best bet was
to send the car back to Portland on a train for $100.
Doc, Jon and I wrestled the Saab down to the trainyard
in the dark and left it for pickup.

Thew next day brought an agreement with Jon that we
had to head east on our quest. So Tom and I barreled
up to Snowbowl and got in line for first chair.

About 8 inches of new crisp snow had fallen, leaving
only dimpled hints of the previous days action. Again,
we ripped down Grizzly multiple times, rejoicing in the
glades and thigh deep snow that smoked up into our faces.

Then they opened the upper t-bar.

The t-bar served not only an open, easy slope up at
the top, but also gave access to the Bowls and a
long looping run called Longhorn. The Bowls held
steep, spire studded runs with cliffs and classic
hidden draws and Longhorn opened stashes
of secret tree skiing.

The long drag up was cold and saturated with
anticipation. We could see the East Bowls from the
Grizzly chairlift untracked and loaded with pow.

Off the t-bar, we cruised down Longhorn, headed for
the easy entrance into the East Bowls. It was early
season and the rock lined chutes at the head of the
bowls were not ready for prime time and very likley to
slide.

Unfortunately, the patrol thought so too: the entrance
was roped off.

So we headed further down Longhorn and ducked into the
big Doug fir glades, slicing around the fat monarchs
in waist deep snow, yelling and amazed at the early
season cover.

We lapped that all day, getting run after run of
blissful deep snow in the glades of huge trees,
perfectly spaced for railing honking huge turns.

By 2:00 we were again wasted, but went up for one
more. As Tom and I glided past the rope across the
entrance to the West Bowl, we simultaneously stopped.

One look at each other and we dove in.

The entrance is a steep gully with rocky spires
sparsely placed along it's ribs. The snow was virgin and
at least 4 feet deep. I couldn't see Tom at all, just a
swirl of snow with the occasional hat or pole poking
out in some primitive polyrhythm. I couldn't see. I
choked. I skied like a maniac, hanging to
skiers right while Tom stuck on the skiers left.

Halfway down he stopped and I skied over. We heralded
the day and the season of pow with the clacking of
poles overhead. Then we headed on down for more face
deep turns, sneaking out of the place with no
admonition from the patrol.

Now it was time to head east. By thumb.

[Rasputin]

Tom is still a raging skier, but he has some trouble walking these days.

[Headier]

Snowbowl was off-the-charts good today. All day. Required very big skis for deep (enough), heavy snow. Shocked there were so few folks up there. Hopefully it doesn't stiffen up too much overnight, though I have doubts about tomorrow.

[Rasputin]

Snowbowl was off-the-charts good today. All day. Required very big skis for deep (enough), heavy snow. Shocked there were so few folks up there. Hopefully it doesn't stiffen up too much overnight, though I have doubts about tomorrow.

Oh, it will stiffen up quite a bit I expect, it will likely be one of those days where the top half is good, and the bottom half sucks, classic variable conditions. The Bowl!

[Headier]

didn't stiffen up to bad yesterday. The whole mountain was rather enjoyable on big skis.

Anyone up there today? I figured it would have to be rough. pray for 6-10 tonight . woot.

[FreakofSnow]

Thanks for the great words Buster, tell us more about it? Just some creative stories from when you lived here?

Today was a sleeper day, 4" easy up top, low-med density that bonded well. The trees were surprisingly boot top soft in many places.

Big boards indeed, was on the Big Dumps today and couldn't have picked a better ski.

[Rasputin]

Well I figured it would be pretty good today (Monday), since I had CPR, and First Aid re-certification classes this morning, and afternoon (before working my usual 4-12 Monday shift).

Wednesday will, of course, rain heavily and be complete crap.

[creaky fossil]

I have the PMs to prove it.

Like a ticket stub from an REO Speedwagon show, which will prove Kevin Cronin was singing to you personally!

It sure sucked yesterday. Rasputimus, I think we can bank on valley rain, mtn snow on Wed.

And I wish we had T-bars instead of chairs. Maybe even something like Roca Jack!

[Rasputin]

From the Snowbowl events calendar on the website:

April 8, 2012: Last Day of Skiing??? Last day of skiing for the 2011-12 season. Free Barbecue for skiers on the last day! (Unless of course, we have enough snow to stay open one more weekend-then April 15 will be the last day-keep your fingers crossed.)

[stuckathuntermtn]

I like the question marks. See you Thursday.
CF = the new iskibc? abusive and strange online personality, self effacing, nice guy in real life?

[tetzen]

That was the best 3 inches I ever had.

*Cue "That's what she said" jokes.

[stuckathuntermtn]

Stuart Mountain Snotel shows 6. oh boy oh boy oh boy.

[Rasputin]

Heh, I forgot about spring hours this morning, so I got up there a half hour sooner than I thought would be the case, but it got me first chair. It was the right day to be there early.

It was pure awesomeness all day with not very many skiers. There were untracked turns all day long, and it skied well all the way to the bottom, but it is likely to rain tomorrow (when I said it would rain and suck Wednesday, I knew it would be awesome, anyone who checks Stuart snotel and can read the NWS weather report link on Snowbowl's website could easily deduce as much).

It was getting warm by the time I left, and lower elevations will likely crust up a bit overnight, unless it rains. In either case, it won't be like it was today.

[stuckathuntermtn]

I went out to late. Almost got in a fight with some muscle brain at bodega.
Hanging out with friends till 5 is not conducive to skiing.

Sent from my DROID2

[gimpy]

word from non skiing folks i know in kali is that they are getting lotsa snow and seems like y'all in mizzu are doing well also. i have also gathered that this thread is mostly a snowbowl thread but can anyone shed some light on the bc snowpack, particularly in the missions???

[stuckathuntermtn]

Missoulaavalanche.org

Sent from my DROID2