Skiing/Snowboarding Thread

Eomer

Eomer

Trakanon Raider
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Thanks for the kind words Sutekh! If anyone out there is looking for the ultimate heli skiing experience and has a bit of money to spend, I would strongly urge you to check out Mica Heli Skiing:http://www.micaheli.com

Had three of the best ski days of my life there over the holidays. It was pretty goddamn awesome:

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Kovaks

Kovaks

Mr. Poopybutthole
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Fight_sl said:
Big Sky bought out Moonlight and it is one massive resort now. It is world class.

$99 lift tickets are steep for Montana, but still cheaper than the big resorts in Colorado. The best part is that every lift is high-speed. Plus, there are never crowds. You won't wait in any line more than 2 minutes the whole day. Early March is generally the best skiing of the year.

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Wow big sky looks awesome, i grew up sking big sky, Big Mountain and Showdown. Haven't been in like 15 years and it looks much better. Fuck i miss montana snow.
 
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darkko_sl

shitlord
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0
Unfortunately our Big Sky trip fell through this year due to some people having to back out. Now that I have another year to plan a trip, does anyone have experience with Jackson Hole? Probably be going with a group of six and most likely finding a cabin/condo through VRBO in the Teton Village.
 
Eomer

Eomer

Trakanon Raider
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Only been through Jackson in the summer on a motorcycle trip. A handful of friends have gone in the winter though, and they all said that the skiing/boarding/terrain there is pretty awesome. I'd like to make it down there one of these years.
 
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ThunderCougarFalconBird_sl

shitlord
547
1
Jackson Hole is amazing if you have the skill to ski it and there's at least an 85" base.

Big Sky, and heck all of MT sucks though. Flat, rocky, heavy wet terrible snow, foggy, slow lifts and stupid crowds. Avoid at all costs. Stick to tahoe, colorado and the wasatch.
 
opiate82

opiate82

Bronze Squire
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Until this last week or so Tahoe has had nothing but man made snow. Seriously, it has been a few runs of that then grass everywhere.

Point isn't that Tahoe isn't good (I have a family cabin there and I love it there) but that any ski resort is at the mercy of mother nature and even the best of places have shitty days and even seasons. From what I have heard MT has been the lone exception to the terrible season everyone on the western half of the country had been having. (Again, discounting this last week or two which have been excellent for everyone)
 
Eomer

Eomer

Trakanon Raider
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Went cat skiing at K3 Cat Skiing for three days last weekend. The snow was incredible, as it snowed 4-5 feet just before we got there and through our trip. The terrain was pretty mediocre, as the stability is horrendous right now. You could frequently feel/hear big "whumps" from weak layers collapsing in the snow pack. We also had a fucking awful lead guide the first two days. She was just so fucking bad it was mind boggling. It was frustrating as hell. She gave terribly unclear instructions, talked a huge amount yet gave little useful information when she did, did not know the terrain well, and obviously had no confidence in her abilities to keep the group together thus requiring a ridiculous amount of regrouping instead of letting us ski long pitches. Thankfully on the third day we were given a new guide who we'd had the previous year and who was awesome. "So, past these trees there's a line of cliffs. You're welcome to go off them, maybe just have someone scout them first. Tail guide, maybe hang back to manage the chaos. Have fun and see you at the bottom!" I'm sure not coincidentally the terrain got much, much better that day.

Here's a video of me eating shit:This one hurt a lot - YouTube

I was perhaps a little presumptuous with the "oh yeah!" on the way down.
 
Sutekh

Sutekh

Blackwing Lair Raider
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Oh man, saw you leaning back as you went off, knew it was coming.

fuckin skiiers.
 
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ThunderCougarFalconBird_sl

shitlord
547
1
Sounds like a nice trip, your little spill notwithstanding. The video said 'this one hurt', did you get injured any?

Interior BC is the best skiing in the world, IMO. You're a lucky SOB.
 
Eomer

Eomer

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I've got a fair amount of soreness in my chest, shoulders and arms from my arms being ripped back and up by the snow. But it's just sore muscles I think, nothing that should bother me long term I would hope. And yeah, it was a fun trip for sure.
 
opiate82

opiate82

Bronze Squire
3,078
5
Just got back from a great trip to Sun Peaks. Spent a little time in some of the side country there, got about 6"-8" of fresh on Wednesday at the condo, about twice that up top, was an awesome, bluebird powder day. I am always amazed at how great the snow is there in Sun Peaks.

I had a pair of Surface One Life skis that I got to use for the first time. I was a little bit hesitant about the amount of rocker on them but everything I read said they should suit my skiing style nicely (also helped that I got a hell of a deal on them from The Clymb). My father-in-law, who is an amazing skier even at 60, pretty much laughed them off as gimmicky skis, thinking I should have gone with something more along the lines of a Volkl Mantra. On the groomers, the One Life's were admittedly pretty terrible and he was pretty handedly out-skiing me on the groomers. Then we got that snow and as soon as I turned them lose down the powder I was smoking him to the point where he is looking to buy new powder skis.

In the mean time while I was gone the Pacific Northwest was hammered with over 100" the last 10 days, and more is on the way. Epic storm cycle, may try to get out this weekend if I can beat the crowds.

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Alex

Alex

Still a Music Elitist
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What's the best way to search and compare rates across multiple resorts? Planning a trip to Colorado in January and I don't particularly care which resort I go to, but I don't want to spend over $130/day for just lift tickets.

EDIT: Going to answer my own question. A friend just suggested Liftopia. Looks very legit.
 
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Springbok

Springbok

Karen
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Ya Liftopia is good - the problem is you'll be hard pressed to find tix under that price at most major resorts retail. Wife and I went to Aspen again last winter during X Games and I got sticker shock for the first time in my entire life, anywhere (and I'd been to Aspen before in college multiple times). My sister spent Thanksgiving at Breckenridge and even then it wasn't affordable by any normal measure. Colorado is great, but I'd honestly put Utah and BC above it if you're purely going to ski (not socialize etc).

That said, if you're going skiing in CO and you're not considering Telluride I'd recommend that way (WAY) before Vail, Aspen, Breck, etc as it still has a soul, the mountain is excellent, and the town itself is way fucking cooler than Aspen or any of the summit county towns, plus that part of Colorado is just prettier imo.
 
Alex

Alex

Still a Music Elitist
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Yeah me and the lady are thinking about Telluride because we want something that is more remote than many of the resorts outside of SLC or Denver.

Have to admit, it's surprising to me that so many CO resorts are more expensive than Tahoe (where I usually go).
 
Alex

Alex

Still a Music Elitist
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I went up to Tahoe last week and hit up Squaw. First time making it up there after this wild winter. Holy shit is there a ton of snow! Never seen it like this before. Squaw already announced that they're going to stay open until July 4. Some places aren't even going to open the mountain biking trails because it's going to remain too wet throughout summer before it gets cold again.
 
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