Hi,  Just wondering who has signed up to the downhill ski forum.  Lets talk about where you've been and how conditions were.

Kathy

I patrolled at Lab on Monday, and it was not a great experience.  However, looking at the forecast and the way they are making snow, next Monday should be good.

Monday the 8th of January 2024 M&I went down to Labrador Mountain to get our passes and to see if our legs remembered what they need to do when we click into the bindings on our alpine skis. The parking lot was surprisingly covered with quite a number of vehicles likely because this might have been the first day for some decent skiing locally.  Once unloaded and our equipment in the lodge and ski racks outside, off to get our passes, then back into the lodge where quite a few members of the club were just calling it a day. Now I should say M&I didn't get there when they opened at ten, so could understand why some skiers were ready to get on with their day.

Anyway, we fully got our skiing gear on and headed to the only lift open next to Jacobi. A lot of younger skiers were there, and we realized some education facilities were not open yet.  Well, up we went, got off at the top, poled over to the side, made sure we were locked in and had our poles securely  strapped to our hands, and headed off. Trusting in muscle memory being better than brain memory, we both soon found that signals from the skis/legs/knees/balance mechanism needed some time to get it together. Slowly the back and forth signals between everything started to work better, but it still was one of those days that going fast was not going to be a good option. Now the snow was heavy too, so while you as the skier might want to do something, the snow wasn't always cooperating. We took our time and made it down without the crash and 'burn' that sometimes occurs even with good snow and many runs already done. We went up again, and the second run was better, but once down again, we decided to forego any more as the signals from the various parts of our bodies were putting the deep yellow to red flag out. We didn't want to have any injuries what-so-ever as the season was just starting and we are onboard for lots of ski trips this year thanks to club members that have taken on the task as trip leaders.

Now, pray for snow.

I skied at Lab yesterday and it was surprisingly good.   It was intersting in that there was an obvious difference between the top and bottom of the mountain, but it was all very workable, and there was enough sun coming through the clouds to see the surface  Jacopie got scraped off by early afternoon, but Minipi Rapids had good snow at 3:45 and Badger was good all day long.   

It's time to start sharing what everyone is doing with the ski season starting up...