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The Official Michigan Winter Thread

490K views 8K replies 153 participants last post by  sabatoa 
#1 ·
Alright everyone since Summer is over, fall has just begun and we've already had our first rail jam of the year, it's time to start a new thread for the 10/11 winter.

Last year we had the "Southeast" michigan thread, but I think we should do all of Michigan. Sure, most of population lives in S/E michigan but we all ride the same resorts in the LP and even the UP if we get a chance, so we should have one thread to bring everyone together.

Cheers everyone we're probably only like 70 days from open resorts!
 
#7,799 · (Edited)
Hit up Highlands Saturday and Mountain Sunday for day 7/8 of the season (2/3 in MI). Highlands was bulletproof and anything ungroomed was virtually or literally ice before 2 on Saturday and way colder than I'd anticipated before the sun came out and it finally softened up. Anything The snow was 100% man-made and they even had the blowers running until 10 or so just to eek a bit more out. Got blasted by a blower and soaked on my right side on the Camelot lift- they were shutting them off as we rode up but for some reason decided to open the lift with one still pointed at it. I dried off quickly enough so it was mostly just funny FWIW. Not the end of the world, it kind of rode like spring corn once it finally softened up. They only had the Funland park open, with 4 of the ride on party boxes and 4 rollers. Sunday at Mountain was absolutely packed, with a high percentage of beginners. Some snotty park rat skier teens tried to snake us in line for Ramshead and got mad when we called them on it, but we did witness numerous amusing crashes including someone getting close-lined by a parent with their kid on a leash (no one was injured). Mountain's park was respectable considering the circumstances but the crowds put a bit of a damper on things. The Disciples lift is a trip; they seem to still be working out the kinks- it was stopped for 5+ minutes and we started hiking back up to Ramshead before it finally got moving again, only to get stuck for another 5 once we made it on. I took my first gnarly bail of the season when I got G'd out on the little side hit below Victor near the skating rink. I got launched forward in the air probably 6 feet onto my front side; my hip and shoulder are still aching. All things considered still a good time and it was nice to ride in the sun for a change, but this has to be the worst snow season in the past 5 years or so up north. Between lift maintenance and snowmaking, the workers must be struggling. I'll be headed back to Boyne Mountain this weekend. Hoping the forecast for snow pans out.
 
#7,803 ·
Hit Boyne Mountain on Saturday. Conditions were weirdly varied, everything from loose artificial in high traffic areas they'd been spraying, to ice, to a couple of inches of fresh (over dirt) on the sides/in trees. Once again very crowded; the bottleneck on Ramshead next to the park was again a demolition derby for Jerries. That part was super loose and gave the masses of beginners all kinds of trouble. Coverage wise things are trending in the right direction but they really need another foot or two to get back to proper mid-season conditions. Same park setup as last week. Looked like they were working on the bigger jump line.

We skipped Sunday because we were sore, it was misty and we want to preserve some Ikon days there for Crazy Days and the big air thing in a couple of weeks and we didn't want to backtrack all the way to Highlands.
 
#7,801 ·
Came back from a foggy, misty day at Caberfae. Snow is holding up really well. Obviously no back country but also no real bare spots inbounds save for one or two or those spaghetti bowl trails lower mountain. Aside from the rain and fog, it looked normal there.

But yeah this is easily the worst season I’ve experienced since I started riding.
 
#7,802 ·
Welp, I had high hopes for a bit more action and refresher from this storm in the northern lower, but seems like it didn't really materialize today for most spots from what I can tell so far. Probably gonna be a quick Cabby session over the weekend and that's it for now. Cheers all.

PS Happy to see you out ripping Sam! Thanks for the update.
 
#7,807 ·
So,.. with the warmup & potential for rain forecast this week @ Highlands,.. I cancelled my trip. No point in spending well over a grand for a room, gas, food, etc to ride warm & refrozen slush. Not in February anyway! 😢😫
 
#7,808 ·
And warm & refrozen slush it was at Boyne Mountain the past couple days. Regardless, had a great time between the snowboarding, dining and bourbon. Shout out to the photo-bombing younger female regular at the Boyne Taproom who asked the 4 old guys at the bar this tantalizing question: Which animated character would you most want to have sex with? Interesting, I gave Meg Griffin from Family Guy as my answer, she seemed to appreciate my taste in animated females.
 
#7,810 ·
Forgot to mention that Boyne hosted reps from the snowboard and ski industry to showcase the 2023-24 gear. I had a couple quick chats with reps from Rome, Union, Mervin, K2 and Salomon. The 2023-24 Rome Stale Fish has a pointier nose and is more centered, the rep said Rome wants it to be more twinnish. Hmmm, I thought the intention of the Stale Fish was a directional powder slayer. The 2023-24 Dancehaul basically got a new topsheet, the rep said nothing else has changed, although a guy hanging out in the Salomon tent said they added a new size but he didn't know what it is. Very helpful...
 
#7,816 ·
I was at Highlands Friday night - Sunday noon. Days 17-19 of my season. Pretty good coverage considering the season and all three parks are finally set up. Great spring conditions, especially the first half of Saturday before it got really sticky and wet. Broke out the Slush Slasher and put it to its eponymous usage. The storm downstate kept crowds away. We managed to get ahead of it on the road- heard from a guy on the chairlift Saturday that it took him 2 hours to get from Ann Arbor to Brighton before he pulled off and got a hotel.

Heading up north this weekend for Saturday, haven't settled on Highlands or Boyne Mountain, but probably the latter for the A Day for Jake event.
 
#7,818 ·
Highlands got 4-6" fresh Monday morning, took my Rome Stale Fish out that day. Early in the day the snow was lighter but as the day progressed and it warmed up, the snow became heavier. Regardless, it was a fun day considering 4-6" of Michigan fresh is like 2' of Utah fresh. Tuesday was crusty corduroy on a sunny bluebird day. Busted out my old T. Rice Pro for these conditions. Highlands did a nice job of grooming but both days they didn't open any chairs on the south side (Valley and MacGulley) but I still managed to get over to the southside runs, just made me work a little harder to get back to Heather Express.
 
#7,820 ·
It looks line it’s gunna stay cold and drop a little fresh for ya!
 
#7,821 ·
Just (most likely) finished my snowboarding season at Carnival Weekend at Boyne. Although I didn't get so many runs in between partying and the logistics of wrangling a crew, it was a great time. Saturday had a few inches of fresh with heavy snow throughout the day. It was super sticky at first but got better as it warmed up; count it as a MI pow day. I know people were skeptical about the "revamped" Carnival Weekend but the DJs they had going were surprisingly good. I was expecting a bunch of EDM or Top 40 but it was a lot of groovy house stuff that had people dancing in the lift line. And while the halfway house situation was slightly smaller than in previous years with the crowds split it was still going strong.

I got to try out a new setup I picked up on a heavy discount (Gnu Head Space with Union Ultras) that was a blast to butter and play around on after mainly using a more freeride oriented setup for the past few seasons. The Ultras are super comfortable and damp- I sent the 40'er in the Ramshead park deep into the landing a couple of times and it was like landing a small jump with my Atlses. My wife was able to demo skis Saturday and the shop let her take the ones she settled on out on Sunday at no additional charge (she'd lent hers to our friend so she didn't have to rent). She found a true all-mountain pair she loved that should handle way better than her skinny beginner skis out west and have already convinced her to get some advanced lessons next year to really start carving and skiing aggressively.

Got 23 days on my Ikon pass- (used 7/7 at mountain 6/7 at Highlands, plus 6 at Jackson Hole, and 4 in CO)- probably the most efficient use of the pass since WFH let us take a multi-week trip in 21. Stoked on snowboarding, and between getting over some hangups I had in the park after a few injuries that shook my confidence, finally convincing a few friends after constant evangelizing (gave an old board to my buddy who came out for his second day since he was 14), seeing events like Redbull Heavy Metal come here, and Ikon making 20+ day seasons feasible, I'm stoked on being a snowboarder in MI after a couple of years of thinking I'd made a huge mistake not moving out west before putting down roots. Bummed the season is over but already planning how I can make next season even better.
 
#7,822 ·
@Zero K , I agree with a lot of what you said regarding being a Michigan snowboarder. I sometimes think that if I had discovered snowboarding before marriage and kids I may have moved to a mountain town. We get a couple trips west each season, which helps when living in a state with 600' hills. Throw in a couple trips to northern MI and I'm fairly happy with the season.
 
#7,826 ·
We refer to the northern parts of the lower peninsula (where Petoskey is) as "Up North", so initially I tought you were referring to the hills in southeastern MI (Brighton, Alpine, Pine Knob, Holly), which are not worth a trip from Chicago. Up North can be hit or miss depending on the snow. Two of my favorites are Boyne Highlands and Caberfae Peaks. Both can be a lot of fun, especially if you avoid the weekends. Nubs Nob can be fun when the snow is good but no on-site lodging. Boyne Mountain is good, Shanty Creek\Schuss Mountain gets boring after a full day, I despise Crystal Mountain (won't even put a link in for that skier heaven). I haven't been to the Upper Peninsula for snowboarding but want to get up to Mt. Bohemia some day which is supposed to be the most challenging and adventurous snowboarding east of the Rockies.
 
#7,825 ·
hey there,… I thought I’d put this here for anyone interested. I just ran across this on Facebook in the dig my quiver group,….

Apparently some folks are putting together a day at Lutsen mountain Minnesota for Michael in remembrance. It’s supposed to be a family affair,… His wife, their kids and some other friends are going to be there. it’s planned to take place January 27. Here’s the link to the Facebook page. I don’t know if it’ll allow you to click through but if you’re interested here it is;


I never got a chance to ride with Deason, but I was hoping one day we would. If I can make it to this, I’m going.
 
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#7,828 ·
My Ikon pass arrived this week! (Part of my Boyne Platinum Pass pkg deal!) $$$$😳 😎. Got 2 trips to CO slated for late Feb, and into March!

I figured I’m saving somewhere between $400-$700 off over buying each pass separately.
 
#7,831 · (Edited)
Im doing Steamboat end of Feb,.. (i’m looking for flights that will take me right into Hayden airport as the drive up from Denver can be a little tricky if the passes get closed I don’t wanna lose any Ride time, especially since it’s probably good weather if the passes are down! 😎 ). 4 days later, Im BACK to CO for Copper & whatnot early in Mar.

Kinda screwed up my vacation timeline, but scheduling it was dependent on open availability of days @ work. (… we’re only allowed to have 4 drivers scheduled to be off on any given day. And they actively blackout others!) 🤬🤷‍♂️

Second trip is a 10 day stay in Summit Co. found me an AirBnB around Dillon for base camp. Might have to spring for a day ticket for places that aren’t included on the icon, like night riding at Keystone or something like that.

Plus I’m a decrepit old arthritic fart so I might need a day of recuperation here and there in between some of this. 🤣😫😉

I’m just hoping for some good weather I have yet to be out west for a real POW day. Barring that, cold with good rumors is always fun.

-edit-
*GROOMERS! Siri dictates like old ppl F*ck! 🤬. (…altho, I suppose Good RUMORS can be fun also!!) 🤣
 
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