2019/2020 Midwest Stoke Thread

[Harry]

Post pics.

Ego Alley’s the bomb.

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[Harry]

Marquette continues struggling, but finally got some snow and got some non-flat, non-groomer, non-park terrain open today, which goes a long way.

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That snow looks like fun ! Great to see the UP Stoke.


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[gaijin]

That’s dope! Thanks for that. I appreciate it.

[axebiker]

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Remember though - just like when we would go up in the Headwaters, when we basically just peed into our boots and bailed - we were still able to find that “Easiest Way Down” sign…



The parking lot beers and conversation were enjoyable as usual, although DD's mom apparently got stuck in the instructor's shack (sprained knee) and never made it our way...

[gaijin]

I’m still trying to dig deep into my memories to figure out if those are the same signs from 30 years ago. Could be.

Also wondering if DD’s mom was the hooker in the back of the ski team bus that always skipped out the back door before the coaches got on.

And- did you order fries? That place had the best fries in the world.


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[axebiker]

They actually have done some nice work on the chalet recently, and built a nice lounge between the bar and the old racer's area.

As far as DD's mom - if you give it all away for free, are you really a hooker?

The fry line was long and moving slowly, so it was a bowl of chili and some beer. Never been one to attack a basket of fries, but a bowl of chili is pretty top notch on a cold day!

[Talisman]

Bonus points for dressing alike and riding a center pole double!

our mom’s dressed us the same today
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[Harry]

Bonus points for dressing alike and riding a center pole double!

Even better, a center pole quad !

Wild Mountain was a fun place, I will certainly go back.


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[skiJ]

Remember though - just like when we would go up in the Headwaters, when we basically just peed into our boots and bailed - we were still able to find that “Easiest Way Down” sign…

gaijin - my bet would be those signs go back a decade, but not thirty years -
I don't remember the terrain park designation before the mid-2000s.
Excepting that, I believe the signs are otherwise unchanged for a long time...

it ain't BigSky, and one of the nice things about midwest skiing is the places that have it dialed-in, have had it dialed-in for a long time.

' Glad you guys had a good day at Wild -
Thank you for your TRs and 'stoke' !
skiing is still skiing...

' hope your Mom is doing okay, Harry -


Thank you. skiJ

[abraham]

Even better, a center pole quad !

Wild Mountain was a fun place, I will certainly go back.


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I was going to comment on that, I've never seen one of those. Not sure how I feel about it.

[gaijin]

It’s a strange feeling that I often reflect on my Wild Mountain slalom racing days. They gave me my foundation. This was 30 years ago when we were “slarving” a slalom race course of rutted ice.

Free skiing was GS-ing those runs. Maybe airing side hits. Still drifting.

But today in my Zao forest where I rip these tree lines I am so grateful to have grown up there.

Timing. Reactions. Hip angles. Looking ahead. 80% of my tree skills in Japan come from Wild Mountain. The other 20% comes from learning how to surf pow.

I would love to ski there again.

[axebiker]

It’s a strange feeling that I often reflect on my Wild Mountain slalom racing days. They gave me my foundation. This was 30 years ago when we were “slarving” a slalom race course of rutted ice.

Free skiing was GS-ing those runs. Maybe airing side hits. Still drifting.

But today in my Zao forest where I rip these tree lines I am so grateful to have grown up there.

Timing. Reactions. Hip angles. Looking ahead. 80% of my tree skills in Japan come from Wild Mountain. The other 20% comes from learning how to surf pow.

I would love to ski there again.

Come on out if you get back here any time!

Harry and I were discussing the propensity for a fair number of racers - Olympic and World Cup level - coming out of the Midwest. We learn to ski in what most people from "real mountains" consider stay-at-home days, and even though we're talking 300' of "vert" here, when I patrolled at Buck Hill, the kids there would make upwards of 100 runs each practice session, using a fast rope tow back to the top. The "click-click-click" of ski poles against race gates was a constant background there. What I'm driving at is that these kids learn how to ski the difficult, icy, rutted-out junk early, and it sets them up for good stuff down the line.

The spirit of skiing is not in where you are, but in what you make of it. Some of my most memorable times were at my little home bump out here in flyover land.

[dgilligan02]

First time I ever went skiing was a 5th grade elementary school field trip @ Wild Mountain. Good times.

Speaking of Buck Hill, here is a damn good video about Erich Sailer and his program.

https://youtu.be/z3V1jZ6wkiY

[ill-advised strategy]

Part of the thing is also that if you ski where there’s lots of terrain, the focus is on finding good terrain and finding good snow. When you ski somewhere with no good terrain and no good snow to find, the focus turns more toward training and refining technique.

[gaijin]

That’s a good point that I can’t believe I have never heard before.

For me as a kid there it just seemed that if you skied, you raced. Or, at least wanted to. It was never really a fun thing— it was a fast thing. A serious thing.

I exclusively remember moving to Tahoe after HS and attending Heavenly’s Ski Instructor Training course for a week. It dumped the whole time. I had this epiphany go off “So this is why people ski. I grew up my whole life loving ice and I just discovered why skiing is fun.”

I couldn’t believe powder. It was so weird. I remember it took me a few days to figure it out. My legs were sore as fuck. It was a whole new sport. And just months prior, I was a HS all-state slalom stud. “Yeah, I can ski.” Ha. It’s almost funny now.

I then moved to Kirkwood and there is where I say learned how to ski. But Wild Mountain is where I learned how to turn. I recently reached out to my MN coach on Facebook. He remembered me. That’s cool as shit.

And then in Tahoe there was sunlight. I had never really even skied during the day in MN. It was always nights after school. I remember it being strange that I had never noticed that. I remember it being strange that daytime skiing was new to me. “Why is sunlight new?”

I’m 46 now and I still ski nights under the flood lights after work here in Japan 1-2 nights a week. Even if for just an hour. Something about those chairs, lights, and the cold speed.

Of course I shred the forests apart. But there was a solid five years in there where I became a powder snob— wouldn’t even go skiing if it wasn’t perfect. That snobbery quickly became boredom and now I’m back to skiing every chance I get.

The kids are finally skiing on their own. I’ll be buying them a pow quiver soon. I just don’t want to spoil them with good gear. I want them to ask me for it. I want them to discover that they need it. And then I want them to work for it. With a job. Because papa is broke. Haha.

I just want them to want it as much as I did.

When I moved to Tahoe I met all these kids who grew up there and then left. They had already “mastered it all.” Bored of skiing.

Japan is the same. I know heirs to resorts who don’t even ski. There is one Olympian from 1998 who is THE instructor for the Royal Family who only skis “for work.”

I don’t know anyone who grew up with it all who still wants it. I know you’re out there. But…. It’s tough raising kids in snow.

[paj]

Skied at Hidden Valley Sunday. It’s not a bad little place. Skiing near St. Louis?



Hit Tyrol Basin yesterday. I was really impressed with their offering. Great bar too.






Hitting Sundown today.

[Beakjones]

The high chair at whitecap. Still kind of scary.

[uglymoney]

A couple of my girl from Cascade's Wijara race last weekend. She was top 8 or higher in all four of her races. Not bad. Working on her skiing more than her gates right now, trying to undo some bad habits and that is tough when gates are coming at you fast. Snow was really, really good, I managed 15k on Saturday even with all the race garbage going on. This latest warm up sucks but the snow preservation has been amazing the last month and a half, plus no rain. I'll take it. Back at Chestnut tomorrow night and this weekend.

[skuff]

Skied at Hidden Valley Sunday. It’s not a bad little place. Skiing near St. Louis?



Hit Tyrol Basin yesterday. I was really impressed with their offering. Great bar too.






Hitting Sundown today.

Nice photos of Tyrol. Did you ski in the Ullr's Alley / Underwood Way area? It's new-ish terrain off the C chair that highlights the natural features




PM me if you pass through again and want to ski

[skuff]

A couple of my girl from Cascade's Wijara race last weekend. She was top 8 or higher in all four of her races. Not bad. Working on her skiing more than her gates right now, trying to undo some bad habits and that is tough when gates are coming at you fast. Snow was really, really good, I managed 15k on Saturday even with all the race garbage going on. This latest warm up sucks but the snow preservation has been amazing the last month and a half, plus no rain. I'll take it. Back at Chestnut tomorrow night and this weekend.

Congrats to your racer!

[uglymoney]

Thanks D!

Chestnut has the gearbox parts reassembled and was lifting it last night with a crane. Rebuild parts came via Swiss Air passenger jet cargo hold via Switzerland supplier. It is a Borvig lift. The GM saw me lurking and came over and told me who the parts came from, started with a Z. I think Leinter supplied the original gearbox to Borvig (now Partek) but it is all too murky and sloshed in beer for me to be sure.

Obviously they had rented the crane and weren't going to stop working till it was bolted in place. Would have stuck around but had to get to work.

Hopefully chair 2 is back up for the weekend. I don't ride it but it is the gaper grand central station of Chestnut. Keeps chair 3 on the up a day up.


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[Mustonen]

I keep lucking out on Thursdays.

[Mustonen]

[skuff]

^^^ that looks like fun ^^^

[Mustonen]

That’s some midwestern sidecountry. Nice steep little face that’s a short skate to get to.