Busier Blue

Hit the Hill with Noah and Blake last night.   We made it for the 4:30 start of Night Skiing.    It was clear and sunny just below freezing with a rather gusty West Wind.    It as really pleasant skiing for the first 2 hours in daylight.   I was expecting it to be really icy but it wasn't all that bad ,   machine groomed granular.   Closed down the Hill waiting at the base of the Orchard life .... Noah and Blake made the last ride up at 9:58 pm.   They are so poky goofing off they didn't come off the Hill until 10:15pm.    Great night ...felt a bit tired towards the end but that probably had something to do with the 50k Run I did yesterday.

Shot some video as the day changed to night.   Will be putting it together soon,  here is a screen cap....

Back at Blue

Didnt get out for just a little over 2 weeks so it was really pleasant to get back on the hill last night.   Mason headed out with me hitting the slopes around 6pm skiing until 9pm.  We were treated to some pretty awesome conditions again ,  machine groomed powder ,  not much ice ,  not too many on the hill and best of all it was only just a little below freezing.   Highlight of the night was Mason's request to do a double black diamond.   Not too many runs at Blue have this designation and the only one that came to mind was "Calamity" ,  appropriately named.   Mason sat on the edge tightening his snow board bindings and before he was finished he was headed down the hill on his but sliding  and picking up speed all the way to the bottom.... very funny.   In the winter time we refer to this hill as a double black diamond ,  in the summer we call it a cliff.  

Love Blue

Loved Blue,  and this video... will be on the slopes tonight!

Sat/Sun

Two eves on the Hill with Noah and Blake this weekend.    The boys went on Friday too and in spite of all that time I still had to pull them off the Hill at 9:30 pm tonight.  

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 ...