WOOT WOOT! Nukin' in Missoula

[S_jenks]

We could always take a page out of the UDOT book and a stage a checkpoint at the mouth of the canyon...

[stuckathuntermtn]

Word on LaValle is that the new haul rope might be stretching a little and it's not an easy fix. Don't see how icing wasn't involved though with how wet it was today.

[drdirt]

Hopefully there will be more flaming wrecks tomorrow.

[drdirt]

https://www.artofmanliness.com/artic...sh-winter-war/

Best website name ever

[Rasputin]

I knew it was going to be bad when I saw a car with Minnesota plates coming down the road in MY lane, not down the middle, but fully in the uphill lane. They moved to the middle when they saw that I wasn't going to drive into the ditch.

There are many people in Missoula who won't buy snow tires because "It doesn't snow that much" or because their tires are "all season". Many of the women who are drawn to the mountain by the "For Women Only" program fall into this category. Add brake mashing, and a lack of understanding of why their automatic transmission has low gears, and the ditch is well populated every Friday when there's snow on the road. Last year on a FWO Friday, I saw five cars in the Permafrost ditch all at the same time.

[Iowagriz]

Headed over to Disco, ask for change - bright green jacket, black pants on Dynastar Protos

Will hit the Bowl on Sunday if my legs are good to go

[stuckathuntermtn]

It occurs to me that the reason the head-on was all the way to the side was probably brake mashing. But yeah, low gear. I can get away without snow tires because I make sure to buy good and sipey all seasons, not some "performance" or "mileage" garbage. Turns out the CVT is really good at holding a speed down a slight hill. Barely have to use the "gears" on the paddles. Hurray Subaru.

[jamal]

With a modern car "mashing" the brakes is generally the best option. ABS and VSC do a really good job at keeping a car straight and controllable and trying to moderate that yourself just adds one more thing to worry about and leaves stopping distance on the table. It really just comes down to not enough grip. A snow tire will generally have 50-100% more traction on snow and ice than an all season.

Here's some testing/math i rounded up awhile ago
https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...t=#post5510059

Long story short, I do not like driving on snow without real winter tires. And over the life of the tires it doesn't really cost that much more because each set lasts longer. And that assumes you don't slide into anything.

Anyway, cool to get some snow, I've just been riding bikes a lot. Think I'm going to wait for the weekdays to get up there.

[stuckathuntermtn]

I'm not saying mashing the brakes was a mistake, just that it happened because that's all you can do sometimes; like right before impact.

Yes, the traction control, vdc, torque vectoring, etc is very active on my 2014. It's great.

[Iowagriz]

What happened at the Bowl today? Seeing posts about the drive being stopped and backed up to the mailboxes. I don't think they are from yesterday.

I stopped in town on my way back from Disco, guy showed me a photo from his friend of the Griz line. Photo taken from a line stretching halfway up the rope tow, looking across at the other line going a hundred yards up Sunrise Bowl. Was Lavelle having problems again?

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[S_jenks]

What happened at the Bowl today? Seeing posts about the drive being stopped and backed up to the mailboxes. I don't think they are from yesterday.

I stopped in town on my way back from Disco, guy showed me a photo from his friend of the Griz line. Photo taken from a line stretching halfway up the rope tow, looking across at the other line going a hundred yards up Sunrise Bowl. Was Lavelle having problems again?

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Woke up a little later than planned. The last and I up, but the road hadn’t been sanded yet, especially the first section. This led to several people getting stuck at spots like the hairpin turn. After a short wait, we then decided to go have breakfast and coffee with some family instead.

Have it another go at noon, and had an easy-by-slow cruise up there. Easy to find parking, and on-mountain crowds were super mellow. Lot of parents and kids for ski lesson Saturdays, and plenty of good leftover snow.

Lavelle was loading 2 out of 3 chairs for a while, but they went back to normal loading operations around 2. Didn’t think lines were too crazy. Most of those photos show people pretty spaced out in lines, and never really waited for more than 5-10 minutes.

Waiting on the refresh tonight. How was Disco?

[Iowagriz]

Disco was decent. Rolled in near 9 and was in the lower end of the second parking lot. 30min line to buy tickets, but they were spinning both lifts to the top. 6 to 8 runs on the backside and lines got progressively longer each lap. Snow was good, but skied out quickly and I don't know any hidden or tree lines there. Left around 12:30. Cars were parked everywhere and well past the XC trailhead down the road.

Crowds are making me look forward to retirement and skiing Mon-Fri only.

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[RootSkier]

Significantly fewer people today (Saturday) compared to yesterday. Quite acceptable conditions. Everyone better stay at home to smoke their meat or whatever tomorrow.

[S_jenks]

Who else bailed early today?

I loaded on the first 20 or so chairs at griz, and was halfway up when the power cut out. Some kind of power surge (surprise, surprise). Snacked on leftover Bridge Pizza while we watched patrol braap up second thought to kickstart the diesel generator.

After it restarted, it quickly became apparent that something was amiss, as there were more people bombing down upper griz that usual.





Topping out confirmed our fears that a power surge (or something) downed the Lavelle and Snowpark chairs.

So booting up Lavelle it was.



Overall, the snow was fantastic. The wind had swept the open slopes a bit, but the trees yielded some of the best snow we’ve seen this season. East Bowl was simply divine, but it was my only run of the day.



As I reached the bottom, I was greeted by this sight, and then decided to call it a day.



Jesus wept.

[stuckathuntermtn]

Me.
With the crowds, I was already thinking one and done, but with the power failure it turned out to be 1 griz lap and done
I said to myself "if I'm gonna hike, I'll get my skins from the car." Watching the line not get any shorter while I ate my soup did it for me. And I don't need to get trapped on a lift again when it's 15 degrees. Might try to fight the cold Monday, idk. As Peter O'Toole said as Lawrence of Arabia: "the trick is not minding the pain." Or something like that.

[RootSkier]

Ultra classic bowl day. Two laps here and then Griz broke for good and they evac'd it because the diesel broke down. Or are still evac'ing it, no doubt. I would be surprised if it opens tomorrow.

10/10 would hike 2 ski again.

[Leshphilling77]

wow that is a bummer. those pictures look great tho, love seeing some snowbowl stoke.

[stuckathuntermtn]

So, losing power in the morning was on Northwest Energy. Might still be down. After that, diesel gen on Griz started over heating. Radiator no worky. Hopefully NWE fixes the power soon because we don't even have the Superb Owl on broadcast.

[stuckathuntermtn]

"there are 2 types of skiers at Snowbowl: those who have been evacuated [off the lifts] and those who will be"
Yay!

[RootSkier]

After it restarted, it quickly became apparent that something was amiss, as there were more people bombing down upper .

Yep, we were behind you. At first seeing all of the people skiing down griz with massive lines waiting we were like "amateurs" but then it became apparent that something was amiss. And then we saw the crowd hiking.

Oh Snowbowl, you deserve better.

[drdirt]

We evac’ed off to end another snowbowl adventure. Actually epic while it lasted. On the way down I passed cars parked further away than I’ve ever seen, way past bartenders corner. Think about the last people to get there in the morning. Imagine hiking for a half hour from the car to get in line to buy a ticket (by the way the cash ticket booth closed when the dude had to leave to get more tickets, on returning the lock jammed and he had to break in involving pry bars and clusterfuckery with Pat), get your ticket then you hike to the back of a line way back past the base of Go Big or up to the runout as seen in the Jesus weeping pic above, then wait in line forever, then you get on Griz lift and you are halfway up and the diesel engine burns out and you wait to get roped off. All in all today met and even exceeded the uniquely surprising customer experience Snowbowl is so well known for.

[RootSkier]

Drdirt = clear and undisputed winner of this thread.

[S_jenks]

My god... that’s getting the full shaft.

[yeahman]

Haha...fucking Snowbowl. If it didn't have such great terrain they could never get away with this mickey mouse shit.

Needs new owners. Nothing against the M's but the ski area and Missoula community has just outgrown them and their ownership style.

[Iowagriz]

Someone can correct me, but I understood that if power went out diesel was to evac the lift only. Not to run operations for the rest of the day.

Info from 30yrs ago working there. That was the old Griz lift, things change with the new lifts?

Hahaha (new lifts)

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