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James’ option would not have worked this season. As of yesterday the Utah areas outside the Cottonwoods had less that half the snow from this storm, and more importantly were still only 60% open on low tide bases because of how bad the season has been. I’m occasionally annoyed with OpenSnow...

There are exactly two retrofitted Riblets in the entire West as Stuart told me, J1 at June Mt. and the one at Great Divide. I agree the western US attitude is parochial, but it is reinforced by there still being so many chairlifts out here with no bars.

Surely Copper's defense is that the bar is there and the rider chose not to use it. I'd guess that was Alterra's rationale in retrofitting those old chairs at Mammoth.

Excellent point. it may not have occurred to anyone at Leitner-Poma that the bar might not be used. I don't recall anything about that lift even though Liz and I skied two days at Copper last season. But with my daypack and EMSC's description, I'm sure I would have insisted upon lowering that...

No snow driving in eastern Washington like I had starting at Sandpoint?

The people who ski the areas ChrisC cites would :drool: over what snowave is getting at Brundage.

Gstaad and Megeve according to Fraser have the least reliable snow conditions among major areas in the NW Alps. That doesn’t mean don’t go there. It means don’t book far in advance. That makes them attractive short notice decisions if you are in the region at the right time as ChrisC was...

I agree with ChrisC not James on this issue. If you live in a region where 1/4 of lifts have no bar and it was more like 3/4 when you grew up, there will be no culture even suggesting mandatory use unless aggressively implemented by the resorts or the state. And it’s the mom and pop joints in...

Adam and I climbed Mt. Whitney Labor Day 1999 in two days using Trail Camp at 12,000. The people using the camp at 10,300 generally take 3 days. Hauling full camping gear from 10K-12K was more strenuous than summiting with a light day pack. Both were a walk in the park vs. climbing Shasta to...

California and the Cottonwoods get a total reset this week. It will be interesting to see if it's enough to get the rest of Utah to full operation.

Kicking Horse was busy today too. I've skied KH the Tuesday after President's/Family weekend maybe 5x (timing of Mustang tours) and never seen it like this before.

Worldskitraveller is wimpy compared to Tseeb. Worldskitraveller is riding maybe 10 chairs per day and doing more driving than skiing. Tseeb averages well over 20K per day with an objective of missing no ski days no matter how far apart the ski areas are. Tseeb is the only retiree I know who...

Margaret’s GPS at 18,500 today.

Even in my younger days I would not remotely consider getting up at 2AM, drive 522 miles and ski that same afternoon. Is there a masochism emoji? I was not pleased that my legs were still tired Sunday after the 550 mile drive day Saturday. Today will be a very short day at Kicking Horse if I...

Average speed in the rain on mostly freeway to Coeur d'Alene was close to 70. Coeur d'Alene to Sandpoint has a lot of stoplights. So average speed north of Coeur d'Alene had to be something like 45. The Cayenne excludes time stopped in calculating average speed. Its trip computer on a day...

On Saturday I drove 550 miles from Reno to Donnelly, Idaho. The rural Nevada part of that drive was quite efficient. View of Tamarack ski area just before sunset: I got on the hill at Brundage about 9:15. It snowed off and on but only about an inch total. The top was in fog most of the day...

A week ago was probably the overall low, but Feb. 14 was lower than Jan. 31. Modest snowfalls hit Oregon, Idaho and Wyoming the first week of February and California, Utah and Colorado the second week. But these storms totaled less than half normal for first half of February. Here's an...

10 minutes ago I got an e-mail from Monashee Powder, where I’ve been on a waitlist for awhile. I called them a month ago emphasizing that I had some flexibility to grab a cancellation this month. They offered skiing Feb. 20-22 for $3568.80CDN. Feb. 20 is my last day at Chatter Creek and Feb...

I’ve done one trek with an army of porters, the Inca Trail in 2007. The Quechua porters were short in stature but tough as nails. 3 of them tag teamed carrying 200+ pound Andrew for about an hour on the third day, which was fortunately not uphill. That was Andrew’s problem on day two...