The Official Michigan Winter Thread

[BlackBlue55]

Yeah, about that blizzard I said might happen earlier... Reading a bit closer, it said that was the likely forecast for the UP and that SE Michigan would get a lot of rain.

My bad for the misinformation

[david_z]

there is a beer & ski festival at Boyne on saturday. 100 microbrews or something... might be worth checking out.

I still want to do the meet-up but if conditions at Holly are shit, it would be worth the drive to go to Boyne super early (or Friday evening) ride for a few hours & check out the brews and crash there saturday night

Northern Michigan Vacations | Resorts Event Calendar | BOYNE

[boardaddicktd]

well im leaving saturday open so i could probably do either. if we're all just looking to ride terrain park then it'd prob be just as cheap to ride down here (if conditions are still decent). otherwise, i could drive up north for a day or two. going to mt holly tonight! their rail jam and big air comp went off yesterday. i didn't get to go but it sounded like it was going to be pretty sweet. we kinda lucked out with that few inches of snow overnight on saturday!

[david_z]

weather down here looks like shit with mixed rain/snow on Wednesday & Thursday but snow should be falling all week up at Boyne.

Who's interested in going to Boyne on Saturday?

[Leo]

I think my season is done. I highly suggest you guys do Crystal if weather permits rather than boyne. That mountain is sooo damn fun! They actually have plenty of good tree runs with tons of stuff to bonk and jib. We found this perfect log that was around 25"+ to jib. Other challenging logs too that the Forum reps were absolutely killing. Hurray for 36+ yo riders throwing down some serious business.

Needless to say, I am in complete love with crystal. I'm also very glad that my first time there was with those reps. They found stuff to do that I would never have thought of on my own. They even found gaps to clear. That was both fun and challenging.

[david_z]

I've spent a lot of time at Crystal - I think I know what log you're talking about, yes there are soem good natural hits and dirt gaps this time of year if you know where to look

I could do Crystal or Boyne or Schuss I really don't have a preference.

[Leo]

Oops, I meant to say the log is 25'+ lol. 25" would be nothing.

It's the one that looks cracked in the middle. Actually, it is cracked, but stays put because it collapses into itself. It's like in the middle of trees and you can see it from the lift. We were all jibbing it and making the short walk back up to hit it again rather than getting on the lift again.

There's another smooth log to the far left of a run. You have to get a lot of speed going to be able to hit it though because you lose a lot on the approach. Yea, those dirt gaps were fun. One we found was a good 15' drop.

Wish I could go back again. Hopefully that one log is still there next year for me to conquer.

By the way, those blue barrels... Ultra fun to bonk lol.

[david_z]

Originally Posted by Leo

There's another smooth log to the far left of a run. You have to get a lot of speed going to be able to hit it though because you lose a lot on the approach.

There's a massive log on the left of the run (Megan's Way/Tammy's Turn) going down to the North Face quad, it's basically at the bottom and very hard to hit because of the speed issue. This one? There is also a drop area there where you can shoot through the woods between these trails and come out on a small drop.

The other log I can think of in the trees you can see from The Ridge chair. It has been there for as long as I can remember, so, basically since they built that chairlift in the early 2000's. There are probably other logs scattered about especially in the gladed areas

Dirt gaps & transfers are usually found on Little Vincent trail, but again there area handful of places to find this sort of feature scattered about the mountain, but this is usually the most reliable because of the way the run is shaped. There are also some good natural tranny in a few places which is good for practicing blocks and spins & stuff

I just read their park setup it sounds good, about as good as it's been in years with a respectable jump line, beginner & advanced park areas.

[Leo]

Yea, I don't know any of the trail names except for Leo's Legacy for obvious reasons. The far left log you described sounds right. Definitely converges with other runs. Shortly after is the chair.

The log that you can spot to you left as you ride up the chair is pretty beat up. Couple of our guys definitely took some big chunks out after a few failed boardslide attempts.

The big gap we were hitting is between two runs towards the back of the mountain. It's right at the beginning too. You could ride up one gap to the higher run and drop down on the next gap.

We did see a beginner park with some easier rails. Honestly, we did minimal park runs. The forum guys did a few and they were obviously the best out there, but we all had way more fun hitting all the natural stuff.

Really wish you came David. Those Forum reps know how to pick shit out. Jenna and Ron frequent Crystal and said the reps were showing them new stuff to do.

Lots of cool pics coming soon. Ron and Hedricks got some really sick shots.

[boardaddicktd]

dave i'm not sure if i'd be able to make it up north this wknd. i'm planning on going up next wknd for boyne crazy days so i don't think i could afford two wknds in a row. i would love to get UN for a session but these frikken gas prices are getting way high (especially for an F150). when do you get back in MI? went to PK last night. their t-parks are getting a little sketchy. i had a good night but i think i'll be going to holly for the remainder of the season. PK had the same box setup in the Pinery (the short 2' box up high with the long 2' box down low, and the 6' mini rail). however, both of the boxes are all twisted to fukk. it was hard to get a full boardslide on either of them because they wanted to throw you off to the side. acutally focused on the fs boardslides because of the direction the twisting was throwing me. the rail and the hips were pretty fun.