Popular Post theprogram4 Posted March 2 Popular Post Report Posted March 2 Whitefish Day 1 everything worked well yesterday in regards to travel. Ended up in a FWD RAV4. Rode from 9-3 today. Started with a top to bottom groomer off of chair 4. It was great to rip a long run. Pic from the top: The first two lift rides everyone was saying to head towards the back area so that’s what I did. Spent most of my day on the north side which had much more winter-esque conditions. Did pretty much every groomed run off of chair 7 and 11. Did a few woods runs between chair 11 and the resort boundary. Not the best conditions in the woods, but still fun. Headed over to hellroaring basin to check it out. Did a long run down hell fire, Chet’s statche which was super bumped, and 1000 turns which was a fun little run. Ended the day with a few top to bottom groomers on the front face, which was pretty slushy at this point. It was unseasonably warm and I only wore an under armor and jacket shell, no liner. Beautiful blue bird day though. Awesome first day to be back out west! 11 5 1
theprogram4 Posted March 2 Author Report Posted March 2 Whitefish day 2 Rode 9:30-4. My dad’s first ski day so I gave him a tour of the mountain…rode groomers from left to right, then hit north side for a few runs, then checked out chair 5 for a few runs as I hadn’t been there yet. Did a t2b to base lodge for lunch, then I went solo for some woods runs off chair 11. While not the best woods conditions, pretty decent coverage so nice to get off trail. I went to the boarder cross course and was mad I missed it yesterday…it was great. By far the best border cross I’ve ever ridden. It led right into George’s gorge which was essentially a natural border cross course. I took a few runs on these as they were great. Ended with a top to bottom down inspiration. Great bluebird day, spring conditions, especially on the front face. Top of chair 2: Idk if they didn’t groom Russ’s street or it went to shit, but a lot of people were struggling as the day went on as it is the main route to north side and they probably weren’t used to bumps. I hugged the right side and actually got some good turns 8
sibhusky Posted March 3 Report Posted March 3 (edited) 4 hours ago, theprogram4 said: Idk if they didn’t groom Russ’s street or it went to shit It went to shit I guess, I went down it a couple times in the AM and it was fine. But I think you mean the Ant Hill. Which also started out smooth as silk and it was getting bumped up by lunch time. It gets a ton of traffic, and faces the rising sun, so the combo with these conditions ... Edited March 3 by sibhusky 1
theprogram4 Posted March 4 Author Report Posted March 4 Whitefish Day 3 Rode 9-4 and I’m pretty tired lol. Great runs down big ravine and 1000 turns as well as a hellroaring basin run. Also good run from Russ parade down all the way to expressway. I did some obligatory woods runs off chair 11. Another inspiration run as well.A good time just like the past two days but it felt slightly colder and I wore a hoodie under my shell for the first time. I didn’t get any pics today until I realized too late so I took one of the summit lodge 4
theprogram4 Posted March 4 Author Report Posted March 4 1 hour ago, sibhusky said: Looks like you're leaving just as we get some snow lol that figures. No biggie, I had a great time. Glad you all are getting some snow, it’s time for a refill. What’s the deal with chair 4, the 6 pack? It’s seems like kind of a weird location for a lift I’m assuming is somewhat new. It doesn’t seem like alot of people ride it and it stops short of the summit. Maybe it’s more used during better snow conditions? 1
sibhusky Posted March 4 Report Posted March 4 It's the newest lift. Had a rough start, but now seems reliable. Supposedly it stops short of the summit due to traffic considerations, but why they didn't take it to where the old lift stopped (that structure up the hill a bit) is beyond me. It did help a lot to pull people out of the back side to the front side after it opened, and normally everyone wants to yo-yo on the front. That's how the vert king racked up some days with 130,000 vertical feet. Now that front run is fraught with rocks and stuff so not quite as conducive to high velocity laps..I was thrilled that it sucked people to the front as I like the better snow quality of the back. 1
Popular Post theprogram4 Posted March 5 Author Popular Post Report Posted March 5 Just completed the 8.5 hour drive from whitefish to sun valley. Both parts of the drive were beautiful, but Idaho was breathtakingly beautiful. Route 93 was like 80% of the trip and it was great, saw like 3 gas stations the whole time. It follows the salmon river almost exclusively. Saw 3 real life tumble weeds plus some mini deer that skips instead of runs, it looked goofy and I need to look up what it was 9 1
toast21602 Posted March 5 Report Posted March 5 Very interested in the Sun Valley experience! Idaho surprised me last year when I skied out there too. Beautiful state that gets forgotten often. 2 1
theprogram4 Posted March 5 Author Report Posted March 5 21 minutes ago, toast21602 said: Very interested in the Sun Valley experience! Idaho surprised me last year when I skied out there too. Beautiful state that gets forgotten often. I had been looking forward to the drive thru the rural rookies and Idaho did not disappoint! Definitely a drive where you make sure you have a full tank of fuel before getting into Idaho 4
GrilledSteezeSandwich Posted March 5 Report Posted March 5 35 minutes ago, toast21602 said: Very interested in the Sun Valley experience! Idaho surprised me last year when I skied out there too. Beautiful state that gets forgotten often. Who Dah Hoe..I Dah Hoe…Toast you’ve been extra cheery lately you find Jesus or something.
GrilledSteezeSandwich Posted March 5 Report Posted March 5 16 minutes ago, theprogram4 said: I had been looking forward to the drive thru the rural rookies and Idaho did not disappoint! Definitely a drive where you make sure you have a full tank of fuel before getting into Idaho Oh they don’t have gas stations in Idaho.
theprogram4 Posted March 5 Author Report Posted March 5 21 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said: Oh they don’t have gas stations in Idaho. Nope, only EV cars. Idahoans are very environmentally conscience. Luckily, we had a few gas cans we filled up in Montana 1
sibhusky Posted March 5 Report Posted March 5 1 hour ago, theprogram4 said: deer that skips instead of runs You mean kind of boingy? Like bouncing? Mule deer do that, but they are usually more muscular-looking than whitetail. Or could it be pronghorn antelope? I don't see many of them up here, but south of here I see them. But I don't think their gait is weird.
theprogram4 Posted March 5 Author Report Posted March 5 (edited) Sun Valley Day 1 rode from 9-3. Temps in the 20s with an inch of new snow overnight. Started with 3 top to bottom runs off challenger lift. The runs are crazy long here and very fun. My favorite was the groomed diamonds upper and mid limelight leading to lower limelight, then take your pick of a few blue runs to the bottom. met up with my father and lapped runs off Frenchman’s and lookout express lifts. Conditions were initially dust on somewhat crust but softened up fast as the sun came out in force around 11-12ish. Got a bit cloudy again and I went to the bowls next and did lookout bowl, mayday bowl, and sigi’s bowl. The first half of each run was surprisingly nice, but got a bit rowdy in the second half. Pics of bowls from opposite sides: made my way to Seattle ridge lift to check out the woods. Bit of a weird setup, the biggest area of beginner trails is at one of the most isolated parts of the mountain. I rode the area called numbers and got some nice turns, didn’t seem like a lot of people go in there but it certainly was open. The woods areas to the left of numbers were all closed. I’ll go back for another run tomorrow. So far this place is better than I expected. The long runs are great and there are nice sections of woods and bowls as well. I definitely recommend sun valley ALOT of snowmaking out here. For only getting their 101th inch of snow last night, a vast majority of trails are open with nice coverage Edited March 5 by theprogram4 9
theprogram4 Posted March 5 Author Report Posted March 5 23 hours ago, toast21602 said: Very interested in the Sun Valley experience! Idaho surprised me last year when I skied out there too. Beautiful state that gets forgotten often. You’d like it at sun valley! 2
GrilledSteezeSandwich Posted March 6 Report Posted March 6 Here’s a scene from Sun valley serenade and definitely a place I wanna visit. keep the reports coming..you eat anything especially good? I remember you used to carry sandwiches in a backpack on ski trips. 4
GrilledSteezeSandwich Posted March 6 Report Posted March 6 43 minutes ago, theprogram4 said: You’d like it at sun valley! As long as they have hot tubs..
PSUFrankenstein Posted March 6 Report Posted March 6 Looks great. I looked into going there last year but ended up in northern Idaho instead. Last year they had a really cheap spring deal 1
theprogram4 Posted March 6 Author Report Posted March 6 12 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said: Here’s a scene from Sun valley serenade and definitely a place I wanna visit. keep the reports coming..you eat anything especially good? I remember you used to carry sandwiches in a backpack on ski trips. Saturday dinner was at McDonald’s. I got a medium Big Mac meal with root beer, plus a spicy mccrispy sunday was a place called abruzzo kitchen, I got the wild boar ragu, very good monday was Jalisco cantina. I got barbocoa tacos tuesady was craggy range in whitefish. I got a bison burger Wednesday was wise guy pizza in sun valley. I got wings 3
theprogram4 Posted March 6 Author Report Posted March 6 Sun valley Day 2 rode 9:30-3:30. Temps started in the 20s but got into the 30s. Bluebird day. Snow started pretty slick but very soft as the day ended. Started top to bottoms off challenger lift again. I love groomed diamonds and limelight was great again. Did a few runs off Frenchman’s then I went to ride the woods. The 29 turns/numbers area was nice and has surprisingly good coverage. While closed, the cold springs chutes looked freaking gnarly from the lift, especially the lower half. “The glades” run on far left was closed but looked like a lot of trees had been cleared out, would be great with fresh snow. Towards the end of the day I started doing random top to bottoms off Christmas lift and lookout lift to two kind of weird areas…broadway lift and river run lift. Not challenging runs whatsoever but they were long. I stayed in the warm springs area so don’t really have a need to go to the main base area (river run plaza) in Ketchum, so figured I’d check it out. Sun valley reminds me of heavenly where a lot of the mountains’s lower front face isn’t even in bounds. here’s looking in both directions before heading to woods off Seattle lift, plus a random pic 8
toast21602 Posted March 7 Report Posted March 7 Looks beautiful there! Hope this trip is treating you well after everything you’ve been through recently. Pics make me super jelly and excited to get out west soon. 1
theprogram4 Posted March 7 Author Report Posted March 7 14 hours ago, sibhusky said: How is Dad liking the trip? He is having a good time. He liked whitefish more than sun valley as he thought it was easier to navigate for his skill level 1
theprogram4 Posted Sunday at 05:42 AM Author Report Posted Sunday at 05:42 AM Sun Valley Day 3 rode from 9:40-3:45. Temps in 20s and 30s. Spent a lot of the morning doing top to bottom runs off challenger lift. Mid day did some some bowls off mayday lift and rode down to the gondola a few times for the heck of it. Did an obligatory woods run and then ended with some more top to bottoms. I love these long runs. after riding drove the 4 hours to Jackson. Again, the drive through Idaho was great. There is nothing between Ketchum and Idaho falls except the run down town of arco. Unexpectedly drive through The Craters of the Moon National Reserve. Essentially you are driving through an old lava field. After this was the Idaho National Laboratory which I think is the country’s largest nuclear energy testing site. Buildings are in top left of pic other pics from the drive 6
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