Scraped with a sprinkling of death cookies – yikes!
I went over to 2 degrees side and 4 degrees side last year (previously 3 degrees side) on my 21m skis. I’m glad that I did. The extra bite helps on scrape. It’s interesting that such a small change in edge angle can make a noticable difference.
Friday night Youtube [del]ski[/del] scrape porn from the midwest, where scrape isn’t a flaw, it’s a feature! 
A 42 degrees pitch at Lutsen on Superior, with folks collecting in the ditch (I don’t know who they are, but I hope they were OK). Lutsen Snowboarding plunge fall! - YouTube
Same slope on teles with risers to avoid boot-out when angulating. Smooth controlled carving on the scrape, then settling into a solid tuck to carry speed into into the apex and coast uphill out of the gulley. Lutsen: The Plunge (quite nippy) - YouTube
Unfortunately, Lutsen plans to reverse the traffic flow on the exit trail, so that folks will no longer have to climb out, and instead will ski down to a new lift. That will increase traffic on pitches that most folks should not ski on, and will prevent skiing out along what is presently a lovely long trail through the woods. (Nothing special about this clip, but it is meaningful to me, for one of my buddies – the one at the top of the hill – passed away a couple of winters ago.) 150322 Lutsen - YouTube
Feb 15 was free sate park day in MN so I explored Beaver Creek Valley SP. It isn’t groomed , but the valley trail was packed down enough to ski. Very pretty spring fed creek.
Brian
Just got back from a week at Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia. Fantastic snow conditions the whole week, but only one day out of six with blue skies. Some days the visibility was so bad you could barely see the tips of your skis! However, because of the huge vertical range (~5K feet), you could usually find a band with decent visibility even if it was foggy above and below.
The vertical range also meant that even if it was raining at the base, at some point on the way up it would switch to snow.
On overcast days I frequently found myself on a trail that dropped into the fog. Once it got so bad on a crowded slope that I called out “Marco!” into the fog below (and got a reply). 
Overall, weather conditions seemed a little more hit-or-miss than Colorado and Utah. Nevertheless, the fantastic snow conditions and interesting terrain largely made up for this. They had over 100 inches of base, and it snowed almost every day. I would definitely go back.
I skied six days straight last week – now at 25 days for the season. My last overnight trip of the season is next weekend: 2-1/2 days at Sugarbush in Vermont.
Has a great weekend up at the AMC’s Joe Dodge Lodge in Pinkham Notch, NH. Did two laps of the Sherby trail on Saturday (1800’ of climbing in 2.4 miles each lap) in excellent snow conditions. It was pretty cold during the transition from skin to ski at Hojos, but the run down was worth it. The first run our legs were tired from the climb but still going strong. The second run was a bit sketchier, my legs were pretty much toast at the bottom. Sunday we did 6 mile backcountry tour on the Avalanche Brook trail from Pinkham down to the Dana Place Inn. The climb and upper sections were fantastic, the lower section had gotten rain and the Power Wedge ™ was essential.
Overall, a great time in the NH backcountry on (mostly) fantastic snow. Not like northern VT which got up to 30" of fresh but good enough for me.
Just got back from three days at Sugarbush in Vermont. Conditions were perfect on Sunday --blue skies and temps in the 30s. Monday was much warmer – conditions were good in the morning, but the snow got sticky in the afternoon due to high temperatures and direct sun. We thought Tuesday would be a washout, but the rain held off until the early afternoon, so got a good half-day in. Overall, it was a great trip! Now at 28 days of skiing for the season.
Spam reported.
Authorities here in Colorado are telling people to avoid the major ski areas due to coronavirus.
Joke’s on them, I visited most of them already this winter and will be holed up at Monarch, where the snow is great and the lines are nonexistent.
I’m currently signed up for a day bus trip up to Mount Snow in Vermont for this weekend. I’m debating whether to skip it or not.
I just got back from a ski bus trip on Tuesday and didn’t think much of it. I’m now thinking that any elective travel, especially on a bus, is probably a bad idea at this point. Even if I skip the bus and drive up, I’d still be in a lodge and on ski lifts with a lot of other people.
Confessions of a lifetime ski addict:
I’ve been on skis since I was 5 years old. I raced in college. Have never missed a winter skiing for over 45 years.
Have not been on skis for 3 winters now.
I live too far southeast to bother with the local bullshit hills and not enough snow. Getting up to my old New England haunts has seemed too much effort. Out west even more so.
I miss it though. Especially of late. Must be the \skiing subreddit. I’m thinking back to it next season. No excuses.
Is this true? We leave on Saturday for our once-yearly drive to Colorado (Breck) and would hate to spend two days in the car only to have the resorts shut down.
Their websites currently say the resorts are open, and it seems to me that skiing would be a relatively safe activity (especially since we are staying in a condo and likely won’t go out at all at night).
Berkshire East and Catamount both just shut down as a result of covid 19. But frankly the rain would have shut them down soon anyways. Many events have been canceled this weekend at ski areas although for the most part they seem to remain open.
Call the ski area and see what they’ve got planned for the weekend.
North American aprés ski is about to become more risky than skiing.
I expect to keep skiing, but I’ll be skiing out of my home or my vehicle rather than out of the clubhouse, which will suck, for the conversations are terrific.
Skiing involves gloves, goggles, and face masks. It’s gotta be safe, right?
My guess is safer rather than safe.
I usually ski with no skin exposed, so there will be no skin contact unless I inhale the virus or it remains on my clothes and I touch them. I’ll sit upwind on the chair, and will avoid physical contact by not fully loading the chair. Contamination in the line is unlikely because I just ski up and hop on – aside from the racers folks around here don’t grasp the concept that a fully loaded chair = less time in line = more runs over a day.
The Colorado Department of Public Health recommends maintaining a social distance of a large pair of skis.
Although I’m not in Colorado, I suppose I should play it safe by wearing my Dobermann GSR WCs to work tomorrow – just over six feet, [del]but I don’t know how my office building’s landlord would take it[/del] – scratch that – I do know how he would take it. I think I’d best forget about wearing them at the office.
I might go snowboarding tomorrow afternoon. While Seattle has a major downside as the covid capital, I can be on the lift less than 1 hour after leaving my house. Forecast is for some snow tomorrow during the day, so will probably go as we are getting late in the season. And a Friday afternoon should be pretty empty. Then again, several school districts had their last day today with a planned reopening on 24 April, so there might be some lines. I’ll watch the web cams and decide tomorrow.
So the bus trip was cancelled, but I will probably drive up to Vermont for the day with a friend one day this weekend.
I’m planning to stay as far apart from other people as possible.
Jay and Burke just closed for the season, so there goes our trip next weekend.
Wow. Nothing on Jay’s website yet, but Burke says they will close at the end of the day tomorrow.