Hand and Feet then Knees and ...

Holly cold on the Hill last night.  Heading across Beaver valley enroute to Blue it dipped as low as -24C and it was breezy.   Much to our delight when we arrived at the top of the Southern Chair it was a balmy -20C and snowing heavily.   I love it when the only place its snowing is on the Ski Hill!     Had Noah and Blake the 13 year olds with me again.  These two are hard core eat , breath sleep boarding!   Now we started out heading to the Terrain Park.   I headed that way with Frozen Fingers from fumbling around getting ready at the car!   Wiggled the hands all the way up the lift and things improved greatly and was reasonable comfortable.   Did a half dozen runs,   Happy Valley ,  Calamity  then my toes were just too cold so I headed to the Terrain Parks and told the boys to come in  for dinner!   I had two pairs of socks on ,  the Injinjii Toes socks with Marks Work Warehouse wool thermal!   The Toes were numb and took a good 10-15 minutes to warm up.  Having the toes separated wasn't very bright.  I took off the Toe Socks and went to the single thermal sock and was much better … will not do toe socks again ,  that’s for sure.   After dinner the boys headed to the Orchard and I followed.   Did a few runs down Cruiser ,  loved it.  The few cm of fresh snow was on top of machine groomed powder and it was about as good as it gets ,  95% anyway just as good as before our January Thaw.    Meet up with the boys around 8:30 at the Orchard.    Did one run down Butternut which was fantastic.  I was comfortable going down the hills but the ride up was brutally cold.   Now my Knees felt like someone was beating on them with a meat tenderizer…YIKEs!  So I headed down the Ski out taking a second warming break in the Southern Lodge.   After consoling myself with a Creemore Logger I headed back up the Southern Chair and called it a night.    At 09:30 pm I drove down the Hill to the base of the Orchard lift and waited for Blake and Noah to close down the hill at 10:00 pm.  

It was a pretty amazing night ,  no one on the hill.   When I headed to the Orchard I was the only one on Waterfall the entire way …I owned the Hill.   I wished I could handle the extreme cold like the boys ..must be an age thing.  

Just for the record I was wearing at the start ….

Helmet over  Nylon Hoody ( attached to coat ) over Balaclava over Running Compression Cap over Buff that  covered neck….yup  5 things on head!!!!  I had to adjust my Helmet so it would fit.     I had two long sleeve Mizuno Compression Shorts with a Columbia Sweat Shirt topped with my very warm Columbia 3 in 1!    Down below was my Sugoi Running Tights topped with my  new Ski Pants and of course the Toe Socks under the Wool Socks.  

No plans to head out this weekend or early next week.  A week from today all the Kids are off so I booked the day off to head to the Hill.  Told Noah and Blake next week its Fri/Sat/Sun ,  they were very pleased!   

Impromptu Eve

Working days this week with the Frosty 6 Hour Ultra looming on Saturday.  Good week to rest up or so I thought.   Noah called me at work at 3:40pm " Ron can we go to Blue tonight"...how could I sat no.   Ran a couple of errands on the way home.   Made dinner for the Boys,  took care of the Dog'd ,  Fire,   post dinner clean up then off to Blue arriving at 6:30 pm.    After the "January Thaw" I expected Ice and wasn't dissapointed.... it sport of sucked.   Headed from the Orchard to Happy Valley in search of the "Corduroy Trail" but came up blank heading back to the Orchard.    Of all the areas I found the Orchard to have the best conditions.     Found my grove one Butternut.   The trail is pretty flat for the first 1/2K but the "machine groomed granular made for some good speed.   Just where Butternut deviates from the Chair there is a sudden steep drop.   Hitting this would be easy to get air but I managed to keep it on the ground enjoying a brief moment of weightlessness every time I dropped in.   The remainder to the drop was fast fast fast ,  hard but not too ice.  I enjoyed carving hard pilling a G or 2 on the way back to the lift.    I was so dialed in I pushed back my departure time from the planned 08:30 pm until 09:30 .... could have gone longer but I need some sleep too!

Repeat but warmer

Hit the slopes again with Noah and Blake again.  Temps near freezing or a little above made for a great night.  First time in a long time that I wasnt the least bit cold!   Shut down the Southern Comfort Chair skiing "Cruiser" for the last hour of the night.  Yup it was that good!  

Did a little video Patrick invites one and all to Blue ...

Fun Night

Temps moderated a bit ,  now around -13C.   Hit the hill with Blake and Noah and met up with Lisa and Patrick.    Boys had a blast in the Orchard ...trails ,  trails and more trails.    Shut it down near closing!   Returning again this eve with Blake and Noah!

Cold Night

Headed to Blue again last night.  -17C made for a rather chilly eve however the conditions more then made up for the bitter cold.  I had Noah and his friend Blake with me.    Intended on starting at 4:30 but we didn't arrive until 5:00 pm.      Parked at the top of Southern Comfort and headed directly to the Orchard.  With  the exception of heading to the South Lodge for dinner the boys spent all there time exploring the Orchard terrain.   The cold must have scared everyone off because there were no line ups and at times we were the only ones on the Hill.  I grabbed the Car around 9pm and headed down top the parking lot at the Orchard lift and waited for the boys to close down the Hill.   The finished up at 9:45 pm spending more then 4 hours boarding ...they weren't the least bit cold ....I was!  

New Years Day 2014

Headed to Blue with Mason and his Girlfriend Nicole yesterday.   We arrived at 4:15 just enough

time to make the first run at the start of night Skiing ... 4:30 pm.   Nicole has only boarded once before so we suited her up with Noahs old gear and got her a "beginner" lift ticket.    She and Mason tuck to the Carpet by South Lodge then hit Big Baby.  The story of the night was by far the cold.  It was -17C with ice fog when we arrived.   I was pretty comfortable but the feet were a bit cold after 90 minutes on the Hill.   Took  break for dinner and met Robin in the South Lodge.     I pretty much spent the entire night at the Orchard.  It was completely open for night Skiing so I explored.   The frigid weather must have kept the crowds away because it was another night of Up/Down repeat repeat repeat ...sweet!