Pahdz said:

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Got above the fog and rain to some surprising powder at Whitefish. Well, kinda, first run off the summit was dicey (the Ant Hill always is) but everything else on the backside was great.

A good reminder I suck in powder with my 82 waist Minnesota carvers

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I feel like the ant hill is the closest I'll get to D Day

"oh you want to access the best terrain? First you must pass through the mindfield that is the Ant Hill"

Pahdz said:

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What do you guys do to keep the inside of your goggles from fogging and otherwise getting to a point you can't see.

Another reason I hate skiing while it's actively snowing is I can never keep my goggles clear. I don't know if I have an unusually hot face or something. I've got Giro goggles and helmet so the fit is great and the helmet has the vent right above the goggles.

Any suggestions would be great.

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I'm kind of a contrarian. Unless it is snowing and you need full face covering, I always just used sunglasses of various shades - light/dark, green/yellow/black, etc. In my opinion googles are not for everyday skiing.

Ski faster. More air flow. Don't pull your buff or balaclava up as high and make sure the inside of your goggles are clean.

Ski faster….lol. This guy always delivers.

Heading to lake louise in the morning. Planning on skiing Tues-Thurs. Weather is looking like a good ol pow day for the end of the trip. We're super pumped to get back up there. The Canadian Rockies are an incredible back drop, the lines are short and the hill is just right for my middle school aged kids that are quickly progressing and looking for more of a challenge. Their first ski trip at all was last year. We moved over the summer and now luckily have a small local hill. Nothing impressive, but somewhere that you can work on your turns. I'm pumped to see how it goes back out west this year vs last given how much more practiced they are this year

Do you take your goggles off your eyes during the ski day? Meaning do you lift them up on the lift etc or do they stay on the whole time?

Some reasons it might be happening:

Since you arent wearing a buff/gaiter around the face it's obviously not that.

1. Check helmets vents and goggle side vent to make sure they arent iced/snowed up.

2. Don't take your goggles off your face. You want to keep as much dry hot air mixed w vented cooler air in and condensate/moisture out. Lifting up your goggles flash cools them and carry condensate back to your face when you move them back.

3. DONT "BLOW UP" - that's when you let out a BIG BREATH - think like a small gasp - like you just ripped a ****ing donkey punch line and survived and you pivot Out and Go ****" That kinda breath if pushed upwards is a guaranteed fog out because you're pushing hot breath through your vents and under them which are flowing cold are through. Think yoga - calm steady breaths. Don't try to blow the poor piggies houses down.

4. Stay moving - you want to maintain air flow through your vents. That doesn't mean you need to go fast or faster or fastest or even almost fast or approaching fast. It means You need to maintain the flow of air through the Vents. Thats your speed but it must be moving.

5. Body temps - you're cooking inside my guy and that air is pushing up into and under the goggles. (Open your jacket and pant vents - even if it's snowing - be cool/comfortable not hot or approaching sweating). If you're building up body heat, releasing it as you move will keep you from chimney stacking heat up your torso and under your Vents.

6. If everything else fails: Cut a notch at the temples

Not really recommended unless you don't mind risking your goggles! Truly a last resort, but if there's nothing else that's working, carefully cut through the foam at the temples down to the frame, under the straps, using a small scissors. Taking out a chunk that's approximately two centimetres wide (narrower than your strap) shouldn't comprise the fit or feel of the goggles, but should dramatically increase the amount of hot air that can escape. This isn't recommended unless you're prepared to drastically alter your goggles and potentially fubar them.

7. DEFOG spray - won't really help if you're blowing up or chimney stacking from the body.

8. NEVER DEICE OR DEFOG THE INSIDE OF YOUR GOGGLES W YOUR GLOVES ON. YOULL REMOVE/TARNISH THE ANTIFOG COATING.

Hope one of these solves it. Please lmk.

For foggy lenses i use this stuff for my regular glasses when I'm in the deer blind on cold days.

EK Cat Crap AntiFog Lens Cleaner - Sun & Ski Sports https://share.google/DrHWnE7JEumE8j93X

More ventilation might help.

That's what it's all about. Last 2 years I completely abandoned the idea of trying to ski hard myself and focused on trying to get the kids to love it and be competent. Paid off in spades this year as I'm sure it will for many years to come

How much of the mountain did you explore?

Our kids haven't been off Goldrush but we'll be there next weekend and plan to take them all the way up this time. Hoping conditions are a little better at the top. Although they do have a lesson book Saturday afternoon, which is looking hot.

My wife and I skied all over the mountain while the kids were in lessons. The only snow is under the blowers, bare ground elsewhere. The locations where they have been making snow was well groomed to start the day but areas in direct sun were getting slushy by late morning. The Emerald Chair was open but most of the green runs on the backside were out of commission. Our favorites/best shape this morning were Green Acres (blue), Upper Boomtown (blue), Kit Carson (blue). We admittedly spent the entire afternoon on Gold Rush with the first timers after lessons, but plan on taking them to the top tomorrow and trying the green trails that are open.

Headed to Breck next week. I am seeing highs in the upper 50s and lows in the upper 30s most of the week. I really hope there's some snow left for the kids to enjoy on Spring Break.

Thankfully it dumped this last week and the night temps will
Still be below freezing up until Monday. So we'll have snow but it'll be mashed tators. I'd be surprised if the ski season lasts until April this year.

65 and sunny on Wednesday in Beaver Creek is tanks and shorts weather. Hope it changes.

Thanks. Are they still making snow this late in the season?

Where do you guys like to stay? We do Riverside Lodge a lot but will be at Lifts West this time.

We are there now. It is WARM. Skiied Imperial bowl yesterday and it was rocky as soon as the fresh stuff got skiied up. The opened Intuition Bowl on 6 around 11 yesterday and it was rocky like core shot rocky all the way in

Groomers are fine and the kids will have a blast put it's chalk/ice in the AM transitioning to mashed potatoes

I'm getting one last dash up to WC/Purg 20-22. I'm expecting tough spring conditions but you take what you get when you arrive. Never know, a system could blow through in spring still.

I went 2 days ago and it's dust on crust. It's getting warmer and should shift to better spring skiing. There are many places where the ground it in the verge of being exposed on main runs. Have fun!

Ode to the Mountain

moguls are icy. trees are dicy.
groomers are great
if you follow the sun
and stay up high.

Which one of you is this in Pagosa Springs???

Let's meet up for a beer this week

First day of skiing at Snowbasin. I think about 6-7 lifts were closed. They said they were grooming some so many they open up later this week. Kids said it was firm in the morning and then turned to slush in the afternoon. Today was in the 50s but the next two days will be upper 30s for the highs. Kids had a great day on the mountain and that is all that counts.

Lotta Ags at Wolf Creek this week. Conditions are good.

I am not certain, but it looks like their mobile snow making equipment is sidelined at this point.

We are staying at Copper King Lodge which is SI/SO (serviced by blue runs). Unfortunately, there was an electrical issue that delayed opening until noon today but we made the most of it. The boys were able to ski from the top of the mountain to bottom 3x this afternoon. The top was still decent at quitting time but the bottom 500' of elevation was the consistency of a slurpee.

Questions for wessimo or any others with experience.

Looking at going to Banff for Christmas. Older kids that are all solid/experienced skiers…so no ski school needed. Thinking of staying in town and taking the shuttle up the mountain….but will also look into Sunshine Village ski in/ski out options.

Pros/Cons to the Big 3 resorts?

We have been to Banff once before in the spring, but did not ski. We stayed at the Moose Hotel and really enjoyed it. Pretty much everyone else staying there was skiing and using the shuttle.


Thanks!

A little aspen glow as the sun set on steamboat this evening

clinte234 said:

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Questions for wessimo or any others with experience.

Looking at going to Banff for Christmas. Older kids that are all solid/experienced skiers…so no ski school needed. Thinking of staying in town and taking the shuttle up the mountain….but will also look into Sunshine Village ski in/ski out options.

Pros/Cons to the Big 3 resorts?

We have been to Banff once before in the spring, but did not ski. We stayed at the Moose Hotel and really enjoyed it. Pretty much everyone else staying there was skiing and using the shuttle.


Thanks!

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Haven't skied Banff, but might this week. We are heading to lake louise today. This is our second trip with our kids (13,11,10). We stayed at lake louise inn last year and liked it enough to stay again this year. Nice rooms with a kitchen and living room and good dining options for reasonable pricing. The shuttle is a 10 min trip to the hill. We pick up our rentals in Banff and is definitely more in the hustle and bustle if you could call it that. Where lake louise is much smaller and you pretty much walk everywhere unless you want to go up to the lake

We prefer to stay in Canmore, which is ~25 minutes from Banff, ~35 minutes from Sunshine Village, and and hour from Lake Louise. Canmore is much less touristy than Banff and has a lot of AirBnb/VRBO options (vacation properties are not allowed in Banff due to the National Park restrictions). There are ski shuttles from Canmore but we rent a car to get around to the ski resorts, hiking trails, etc.

Norquay is a small hill (200 acres) compared to the other two that are 3000+ acres. We like Sunshine because it is a bit closer than LL and has a good variety of runs and terrain.

Texas spring break (mid March) is basically low season for the area resorts. There is rarely a lift line (especially midweek). (Haven't been over Christmas but presumably it will be busier then.) SV and LL offer spring passes (usually good after March 8) that offer unlimited skiing until the end of the season (May). This year we paid ~$1100 for the family pass which works out to $44 per person per day for five days of skiing for our family of five.

15-17 is looking better at Vail/BC with lows in the lower thirties but the next two days looks pretty warm with highs near 70*!!

Hopefully it snows on the 15th!

Oh I like that.

This could be on our list next year or soon thereafter.

Lift tickets for family skiing is outrageous. Can be easily dropping $800/day for some places.

If you book early for big3 it's cheap compared to anywhere in the US. I think we paid 110/adult and 85/kid

To everyone asking - no ski hill is making snow at at this point in the season. What there is whats there and when it melts, it's gone. Gonna be a short spring season for most of CO/NM/UT.

What happens if you pull your kids out of school for a week these days versus waiting on Spring Break? I remember the rich kids growing up would be gone for a week in the winter to go on their fancy ski trips. I don't remember anything ever happening to them.