Kind of a yucky day

[CMCM]

Well, today wasn't one of my better ski days. Snow was a thick layer of mush....big time mashed potato day. And the wind was horrible....such strong gusts that the chair lifts were swinging around, the cable car got put on hold although the funitel (can go up to 35 mph winds) was running. A bunch of the upper lifts were on hold too. A couple of times a gust hit that was incredible....I was skiing UP a bit of a slope and was losing speed...then the gust propelled me right up the slope, I couldn't stop it. Very strange! And several times when a gust hit I had to stop, crouch way down and wait it out...all while being pummeled with little snow marbles. ME NO LIKE MUCH!!!!

And I'm not nuts about my new Salomons in these conditions. I didn't fall, I didn't even nearly fall, but I was uncomfortable in these conditions. I'm wondering if different skis would be better in this stuff for turning...Burnin' Luvs perhaps? On the straight stuff, my skis plowed right thru the mush quite nicely, very stable, and I liked that part of it. On turns, my Salomons want to make bigger sweeping turns rather than the quick ones I often needed to do, and I felt uncertain in my edging (what edging!! ), and I'd get up speed, then lose it in a big mound of potatoes, and so on. Luckily the place was fairly empty, but it was HARD and exhausting skiing this stuff. Gosh, I hope things don't stay like this. My fingers are crossed for a new storm. Some flakes are predictetd to fall next week (Tuesday perhaps), but the forecast isn't for a big storm or anything. :(

 

[Gloria]

I hear ya! I rarely complain, but I have not skied one sunny day this year. We got a flash of sunlight last night and my DD and I went outside to play baseball, we had to go in because of lightening!?! Completely unusual for us this time of year. Called the ski report this am, it's 15 at the base. ARghhh, I just want some sunshine!

 

[MaineSkiLady]

This seems to be the time of year and type of snow in which modified powder skis (i.e., wider waist, less extreme sidecut) do much better. Also a slight modification in technique and more direct fall-line approach.

 

[Acrophobia]

I had a day that started off bad today, probably because I've been reading too many of the injury threads. It messed up the space between my ears.

Then I realized that what I needed was comfort zone skiing, so I did just that. Wound up having a great day in the end. The snow was a bit crap, but it reminded me of the man-made snow, Northeast skiing I learned on.

Today I did some research and reminded myself of what everybody knows: skiing and bicycling are pretty equivalent in terms of injury and death. And I don't get terrified on a bicycle.

 

[dloveski]

Late Season Conditions

I hear ya. The conditions this time of year are challenging. You have to be prepared for all sorts of conditions, weather and snow-wise.

Today, I thought it was a groomer day, so started out on my Sugar Mamas. Well, the conditions were so variable, from pow to crud. I ditched the Mamas and traded out for my all mountain SWEET FAT THANGS and had a great day.

We went from tree pow to under-crud to groomer butter all in one run. And wind and cold blasty stuff. And it's April.

WTF? Enjoy and embrace. Summer is coming.