Snow Sports and/or Surfing

The rental boards at Waikiki are beat to Sh!t and they get $20 an hour. I rented from Koa Board shop a couple of blocks away and got great boards for $20 a DAY. 10’ Robert August epoxy for me and 9’ Becker for daughter. One session in the books today. Crowded but that’s Waikiki. Everyone’s friendly. Intermittent rain to cool us off in the 80 degree air and 78 degree water. Drinking a Lahaina Town Brown at the moment. Heading out on a catamaran ride soon. Winter is harsh!
 
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herzalot said:
The rental boards at Waikiki are beat to Sh!t and they get $20 an hour. I rented from Koa Board shop a couple of blocks away and got great boards for $20 a DAY. 10’ Robert August epoxy for me and 9’ Becker for daughter. One session in the books today. Crowded but that’s Waikiki. Everyone’s friendly. Intermittent rain to cool us off in the 80 degree air and 78 degree water. Drinking a Lahaina Downtown Brown at the moment. Heading out on a catamaran ride soon. Winter is harsh!
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I need to hit you up about Oahu, starting to plan my trip for the summer.
 
First day on snow this season, and not a bad one at that! Easy drive to Mt. High. Left my house at 6:20, parked at 7:50. No traffic. Quick delicious egg, cheese and bacon croissant sandwich - consumed indoors this year (so far). Then suit up and boot up for some runs. About 30° sunny, and a little breezy.

Ten runs on skis making use of 5 different runs (Chisholm, Vertigo, Calamity, Wyatt and Catch Ya Later). All in great shape with a nice packed powder surface. Then a quick change to the snowboard and - crap - fog. Whiteout conditions with fog (not snowing) for my first two runs on the snowboard. Cautious - near vertigo at times. Went to car to change my goggle lens to something lighter. That helped. Three more runs on the snowboard, but on my last two, my left quad was beginning to cramp, so it was time to call it a day. 15 runs. 15,000 vertical feet. By noon. It was spitting snow as I left. Home by 2:20 with a stop at Village Grinds for a dirty chai, followed by a stop for gas.

The East Ski Area with its 1600 vertical foot high speed quad is opening tomorrow. :thumbsup: :cool:

So Cal sucks. Get me out of this hell-hole!

Oh - forgot to mention. My brother in Truckee is snowbound in his house. Neighborhood streets not plowed. I-80 closed in both directions. All Tahoe Ski Areas closed for too much snow and wind, and no access. Glad I didn't make the trip up there!
 
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12-18” fresh and puking snow all day. Snow wasn’t exactly fluffy powder, but I’ll take it! Unfortunately, I tweaked my back on my second run and was foolish enough to take 4 more on skis and 4 on snowboard. I am paying for that today.

76AC4C9B-0F90-4E80-BD35-9A3E558D93D0.jpeg

Interesting drive up there as there was a chain law, but Google Maps sent me around the chain check station.
 
herzalot said:
The rental boards at Waikiki are beat to Sh!t and they get $20 an hour. I rented from Koa Board shop a couple of blocks away and got great boards for $20 a DAY. 10’ Robert August epoxy for me and 9’ Becker for daughter. One session in the books today. Crowded but that’s Waikiki. Everyone’s friendly. Intermittent rain to cool us off in the 80 degree air and 78 degree water. Drinking a Lahaina Town Brown at the moment. Heading out on a catamaran ride soon. Winter is harsh!
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A friend at work heads for Costco and buys a Wavestorm immediately after arriving, and finds someone to hand it off to before leaving. Cheaper than renting, less nerve wracking than checking boards at the airport.
 
tick said:
A friend at work heads for Costco and buys a Wavestorm immediately after arriving, and finds someone to hand it off to before leaving. Cheaper than renting, less nerve wracking than checking boards at the airport.
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That's not a bad idea but I didn't have a car, and Wavestorms are now $200 (and I think the max length is 8') if you can find one. My one-week rental of the 10' Robert August was $120, and helped keep the lights on for a local shop with a lot of soul and deep local roots (Koa Board Sports). Win win win!
 
herzalot said:
That's not a bad idea but I didn't have a car, and Wavestorms are now $200 (and I think the max length is 8') if you can find one. My one-week rental of the 10' Robert August was $120, and helped keep the lights on for a local shop with a lot of soul and deep local roots (Koa Board Sports). Win win win!
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I am surprised that every condo in the state doesn’t have a stack of lightly used wavestorms on the balcony.
 
My buddy Taylor (who used to post here - lots of videos of T and A) decided he wanted to get back into snowboarding after an 18 year hiatus. He bought all new gear and has been jonesin to see if he remembers how to ride.

Well, I haven't been cleared to do anything as foolish as athletic activities, BUT, I can drive up there and slide alongside, right?

Three turns in and my back said "you've got this" so I called on my substantial skiing background and pounded out some decent turns while Taylor went from timid to "oh yeah, I remember how to do this." We took 4 runs at Mt High West and 2 at Mt. High East (the longer hill). Burger and beer on the deck. Home by 2.

Given that I haven't done any athletic activity since Dec. 30 (see above), my legs were toast after only 7200' of descending. But DAYUMM it felt good to be out there doing something. Could a bike ride be next?

Taylor met his objective, and although the snow was a bit firm for his liking, he put down some confident turns and gave the thumbs up to his new board, bindings, boots, pants, gloves and goggles. Not so much for his new helmet, but that can be easily remedied.

Taylor at Mr Hi 2-26-22.jpg


Sunny, upper 30s. Moderate crowd at West and empty at East. Beeeyoootifulllll!
 
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herzalot said:
My buddy Taylor (who used to post here - lots of videos of T and A) decided he wanted to get back into snowboarding after an 18 year hiatus. He bought all new gear and has been jonesin to see if he remembers how to ride.

Well, I haven't been cleared to do anything as foolish as athletic activities, BUT, I can drive up there and slide alongside, right?

Three turns in and my back said "you've got this" so I called on my substantial skiing background and pounded out some decent turns while Taylor went from timid to "oh yeah, I remember how to do this." We took 4 runs at Mt High West and 2 at Mt. High East (the longer hill). Home by 2.

Given that I haven't done any athletic activity since Dec. 30 (see above), my legs were toast after only 7200' of descending. But DAYUMM it felt good to be out there doing something. Could a bike ride be next?

Taylor met his objective, and although the snow was a bit firm for his liking, he put down some confident turns and gave the thumbs up to his new board, bindings, boots, pants and goggles. Not so much for his new helmet, but that can be easily remedied.

View attachment 80875

Sunny, upper 30s. Moderate crowd at West and empty at East. Beeeyoootifulllll!
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Rad, good to see you getting back to normal. :thumbsup:
Well Sh!t, time to get back on the bike. Aliso tomorrow ... you can follow me, which should guarantee your safety at my pace. Earlyish.
 
Obsidian said:
Rad, good to see you getting back to normal. :thumbsup:
Well Sh!t, time to get back on the bike. Aliso tomorrow ... you can follow me, which should guarantee your safety at my pace. Earlyish.
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I'm pretty sure I am going to be paying for today's indulgences with a sore back and legs. That and my wife and daughter return tonight from a week-long trip, so skipping out for a ride may be contraindicated. :confused: . Appreciate the offer and the encouragement. I think I will attempt to ride my bike in my neighborhood first.
 
herzalot said:
I'm pretty sure I am going to be paying for today's indulgences with a sore back and legs. That and my wife and daughter return tonight from a week-long trip, so skipping out for a ride may be contraindicated. :confused: . Appreciate the offer and the encouragement. I think I will attempt to ride my bike in my neighborhood first.
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Oh, so when the wife is away the dude will play!
Hopefully you will feel good tomorrow.
Heal up
 
Holy Frijoles - my left leg is so filled with lactic acid that I can't climb stairs today. I hope it recovers by tomorrow. I don't want to be limping around work inviting questions.

Since skiing is essentially repeated squats, I probably should have guessed that doing nothing for two months, then doing 3000 squats might not go so well. :eek:

Still - very glad I did it! :thumbsup: :cool:
 
Day 1 at Copper Mtn with the wife. I-70 closed between here and Vail right after we got in yesterday. The ~7” we got was fun for a minute, but the icy hard pack right below was coming out by the end of the day. No pics, there wasn’t much to see most of the day.

We were thinking about uphilling tomorrow morning but the 1F low tonight is going to keep us inside until the lifts open.

California license plates are rare here. Lots of midwesterners on top of the base of Texans. We were watching UCLA vs TX baseball at the bar last night. My Bruins won, I kept quiet.
 
tick said:
Day 1 at Copper Mtn with the wife. I-70 closed between here and Vail right after we got in yesterday. The ~7” we got was fun for a minute, but the icy hard pack right below was coming out by the end of the day. No pics, there wasn’t much to see most of the day.

We were thinking about uphilling tomorrow morning but the 1F low tonight is going to keep us inside until the lifts open.

California license plates are rare here. Lots of midwesterners on top of the base of Texans. We were watching UCLA vs TX baseball at the bar last night. My Bruins won, I kept quiet.
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Copper was my go-to ski area for most of my CO life. Easy to get to with a nice variety of terrain neatly organized east to west. However, they don't get much powder. 7" is a banner day there! And yes - Texans love CO!

Have fun out there! :thumbsup:
 
herzalot said:
Copper was my go-to ski area for most of my CO life. Easy to get to with a nice variety of terrain neatly organized east to west. However, they don't get much powder. 7" is a banner day there! And yes - Texans love CO!

Have fun out there! :thumbsup:
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Did you spend any time at Ski Cooper? Kinda flat and mellow, but I had a really awesome powder day there, and loved the vibe. Kind of the June Mountain of CO I thought.
 
buggravy said:
Did you spend any time at Ski Cooper? Kinda flat and mellow, but I had a really awesome powder day there, and loved the vibe. Kind of the June Mountain of CO I thought.
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That's where I took my daughter for her first ski experience when she was 3. Still to this day the very best beginner area and lesson she has had. I better dig up the photo.
Ruby at Ski Cooper.jpg

But Ski Cooper is not easy to get too - at the summit of Tennessee Pass between Minturn (Vail) and Leadville.

I had a Super G race there in Masters. Waaaaaay too flat. It was purely a wax race, and I missed the wax that day (that means I selected the wrong blend for the temperature, texture and humidity of the snow). I think I just now finished that run. :confused:
 
herzalot said:
WHYYYY!! Please tell me you had some epic descents for your efforts.
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Because that’s what the wife wanted to do today. :thumbsup:Some lovely blue groomers were our reward.

We had a few flurries last night but not enough to mask the hockey rink underneath. I have to thank my SoCal upbringing for knowing how to tolerate those conditions. But tonight it’s a Hallmark Channel Christmas movie out there, looking forward to some fluffy stuff before aiming the car towards home tomorrow.
 
Here’s a shot from the drive out last Saturday, Bryce in winter:
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Thursday is Copper’s $99 lift ticket day. And it was a pow day. So we encountered the first real lift line of the trip. Since it was our getaway day, and I was not excited about white knuckling it over mountain passes in night/snow, we packed up at the first sign that the reasonably accessible pow was getting tracked out, and the lines started growing.

My review: As a mountain, Copper is solid. Our condo was 50 yards from a nearly new 6-person chair with a wind bubble. The bubble seemed kinda “soft” until you realize that you sit on that chair for 10 minutes and 2000’ of vert, in 5F plus wind chill. When the conditions were good they were very good, and having that much vert right outside the door was quite the luxury.

More snowboarders than I’m used to seeing outside of Big Bear. :thumbsup: But on the down side (for me), way more bump runs than I’d expect for such a board-friendly vibe. Whether it’s this year’s conditions, or the pandemic staffing shortages, or just the local expectations, i never determined.

Still, as a day on the snow, Copper is awesome. As a resort destination, I’m going to concur with what I’d read online: it’s dead after the chairs stop spinning. Many of the folks we met were with extended families from points east, and it was obvious that folks were eating in and enjoying board games together or something. We ended up driving in to Breck or Frisco when we didn’t want to cook or eat at the one pizza place that stays open past 4. On the plus side, the only noises we heard while trying to sleep were the groomers.

Happy wife…
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Breckenridge and Frisco for night life.

Is there still a bar called Farleys at Copper? Or maybe it was Barkley's. Over at the B-Lift base. Both were named after the dogs of owner Mike Meindl. Good food. Good dude.

Did some research. Looks like Farley's is still operating in Frisco, and Barkley's at Copper is gone.
 
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herzalot said:
Breck and Frisco for Night life.

Is there still a bar called Farleys at Copper? Or maybe it was Barkley's. Both were named after the dogs of owner Mike Meindl. Good food. Good dude.
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I don’t recall anything like that, though we never walked around the east village.

Ate at Silverheels in Frisco, and Gold Pan Saloon in Breck. The only place we ate at twice this trip was Sandi‘s Drive Inn in Richfield, Ut.
 
herzalot said:
Hitting Mt. High tomorrow with daughter and @tbarnesarc
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Sweet…

I’m debating what to do for next year. We’re planning a warm weather trip for next March, so the wife wants to skip a year on her pass and plan for a trip next April on the following year’s pass.

Pass renewal season hitting right as you get back from a 4 day trip is like when the dessert cart rolls by at Claim Jumper— Looks great but I’m full.

The math might work out for Wrightwood next season. I have 5 big bear days on this year’s pass. if I skipped Ikon for the season and went to Wrightwood, the pass would break even at 5 days…
 
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