Okay, I’m off to Niseko tomorrow morning for some snow ripping and onsen dipping. I hope this time the stars are in alignment and I get snow, no wind, and cold temperatures. There better be some payoff for surviving the end of the world. Dammit!
(0)Archive for the 'Snow' Category
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Okay, temperature around 0 to -2C, windspeed around 3 m/s, TAD Ranger fleece with Stealth LT uninsulated softshell was fine over just a tee-shirt on 20-minute walks. It did get hot inside heated stores, and my tee-shirt did get sweaty where my pack was against my back, but the highly breathable materials did allow for a decent amount of moisture transport, so I didn’t chill out once outside again. I’d probably have been a little wetter with the eVent jacket. Could probably take this combination down to about -10 to -15C before adding more layers underneath. A technical baselayer and midlayer would easily extend the temperature down another 10-degrees, or extend exposure time.
For S&G, I tried wearing a Patagonia Capilene 3 half-zip long sleeve top over the same tee-shirt, and put a Patagonia Nano Puff vest and TAD Stealth LT softshell over that. The temperature and wind were still about the same, but it was night, so no warming effects of sunlight. Fail. Cold. Colder than the heavyweight Polartec Wind Pro TAD Ranger hoodie alone. The Cap3 and Primaloft are pretty good insulators, but I guess nowadays I’m not pumping out as much heat as I used to. After a moderate amount of activity, my core did warm up, but my arms were still cold.
Okay, the conditions this afternoon were -3 to -4C with winds between 5 and 7 m/s. I had on my TAD Ranger fleece (heavyweight Polartec Wind Pro) over a tee-shirt, and TAD Covert pants (50/50 NYCO ripstop) over Patagonia Capilene 1 underwear. The wind was what killed this setup. I would have been otherwise about right if it wasn’t for the wind cutting through the outer layers. Capilene 3 long underwear and a shell layer would have fixed things, but that would have made it hot when transitioning into interior spaces, and the resulting sweat would have made returning to the outside even colder. Had to put on gloves. Wished I had hat. Had keffiyah, but didn’t bust it out, as I looked suspicious enough as is.
170cm of base at Sapporo Kokusai and a forecast of continuing snow and below-freezing temperatures through the New Year means using up those last vacation days, packing up the Hovercraft, and getting a flight up to Hokkaido! I’ll probably hit Niseko over the weekend, and maybe try and get to the “under new management” Onze sometime during the week if I get a late start, or it isn’t off the hook at Kokusai.
I noticed a crack on the front edge of the gas pedals of my 08/09 Burton Doom bindings on the first day of riding this Thanksgiving weekend at Solitude. I figured the plastic was getting old and just ignored it. At the end of the second riding day, the left gas pedal actually fell off when I unstrapped my boot. This was moments after performing a field-expedient repair on Fabio’s binding strap. I kind of jammed it back in in hopes it would stay in place from the toestrap pressure, but by the bottom of the hill, it was gone to parts unknown. It was the end of the day, my board had taken some major hits, and I was tired, so I didn’t think too much of it. We spun by REI to look for replacement bits on the way home. Fabio found a replacement strap segment, but there were no gas pedals as parts. That ended up being the last riding day of the trip, so I figured I would try to resurrect the bindings with donor parts, or get new bindings when I got home. Continue reading ‘Brittle Bindings’
Friday took another day off and visited Antelope island. If your in Salt Lake City with nothing to do for a day and like outdoors & wildlife it’s worth checking out. It’s an island in the Great Salt Lake about an hours drive. Filled with geography and animals we don’t see in Hawaii. Arid, rocky, funky salt water. The shores awash with the dried up bodies of brine fly larvae. In our drive and the couple short hikes we did we managed to see the buffalo, which are hard to miss, mid sized bird of prey, some kind of field rodent, coyotes, antelope, deer, bunny, chukkers, seagulls. Continue reading ‘Antelope island’
Wednesday decided to take a break, or rather bodies decided for us. Visited Cabellas, REI, Salty Peaks, Hobby Lobby.
Yesterday we headed out to Powder Moutain again to pound the few more inches of snow they got. Not epic powder conditions, but way fun and nice stuff. There was still unridden lines to be found throughout the day. Snow showers through the day broke into sunny periods in the afternoon. maybe not so great for snow conditions, but made for pleasant & photogenic riding!
Looks like today maybe another rest day, our bodies cant keep up quite so well anymore, and there was no significant additional snow to make worth it.
Yesterday was a excellent day at Powder Mountain. Snowing, can’t see anything, but full of fluffy snow!
I think our karma from stopping in the morning to help extricate the civic that had run off the road payed off. The girl driver was unhurt & the car looked to be fine, but we did our good citizen deed.
Forgot to add the when we finally made it to Salt Lake & picked up our luggage at SLC airport, the top pocket zipper on my Dakine bag was blown open. Gone was my little first aid kit, packet of quick clog, and my tent & goretex patching kit. My board bag also blew out a section of the main zipper but luckily did not fully open, nothing lost from that.
Despite all this, we did make it to Solitude resort & had a good half day of riding. Not the best of conditions, but it was fun. We shall see today!