The Last Hurrah?

April 23, 2013.
Did I have my Last Hurrah skiing for the 2012-2013 snow season? I think I did and what a day it was!

The Last Hurrah? — Not Solo

I started the day solo, but when I parked at Ski Brule I parked next a vehicle I did not recognize, dude was in his car and I walked in to verify the scene. As I returned to my vehicle there is my buddy JP getting out of that car. He had a ticket, Ski Brule had good snow so he decided to drive up and ski instead of sit on his tail! Skiing is always fun but it is better when with friends!

The Last Hurrah? — Good Snow

Hard to believe we are at the end of April. There is plenty of snow left UpNorth and if you are planning a trip for the opening of fishing season, bring your ice auger. There is still 2’+ of solid ice on the lakes. Ski Brule’s snow was in great shape, Otter Slide was forming moguls at the top of the run but Big Bear and Log Jam were nearly untouched until later in the day.

The Last Hurrah? — Working on Technique

JP is a more experience and skilled skier than I am and he took the time to give me some pointers, demonstrations, and drills. This year I started to feel my K2s kick and last Saturday that was a regular event. What (and skilled skiers will know this) was happening was I have finally started to harvest the natural energy I put into the ski when turning, instead of slowly releasing that energy, it gets released quicker and converts into SPEED and it being new to me, I would find myself in the backseat. The other thing I started to work on at JP’s behest was to keep my knees together. Obviously, I will focus on keeping the knees together the summer and next winter, even if it means toning my ski aggression down (at least until I become used to the new posture).

The other drill he had me do was to reach down for the rear of my uphill boot as I was turning, let me tell you, I could really feel my turns tighten right up when doing that.

The Last Hurrah? — Lots of Skill On Display!

Not a lot of people present, and those that were are hardcore or the children of the hardcore. So most of the folks there were putting on a show.

Ski Brule was operating only one chair over by Otterslide and Sunrise, so you had to push uphill a bit to get to Bear and Logjam, but as I said before that just made those runs even more deserted than the rest and getting back to the chair was no problem, carry speed up tot he lodge and hit the bunny hill and back for your next ride up. The back and the Homestead were all shut down too.

Lorie and I will be back up in early May, if Ski Brule is open, I’m going! Who is with me?