The Minnesota Thread

[Derp]

Lutsen and Granite Peak do indeed have the same owner. Chuck.

GP can definitely be expensive if you don't plan. Their website has pretty much everything you need though to order tickets, find packages, and even do lodging. I dig a site where you can do it all at one place.

If you compare GP to other places in the area, you can see why lift prices are pricey. More runs and more parks. They maintain the parks pretty good, even as bad as conditions have been this season. I myself usually only go on Wednesday and Saturday nights when it's 15 bucks from 4-9pm.

AFAIK they are done making snow for the year. I drive past the hill at 5a.m. on my to work and I haven't seen the lights on for a couple weeks now. Pretty icy up there now, camber is your friend.

Granite Peak Ski Area

[tAo77]

Originally Posted by metric

Yeah I usually hit Afton just because it's closest and has decent variety. I'm an utter noob in the park so it's nice having some smaller boxes too.

How steep are the Granite runs? Like Chicken at Welch or steeper?

Steeper, but like someone said in another post the first section of the runs are steep then they flatten out quite a bit. It is absolutely worth the drive. I also think its a bit better destination than Lutsen just for the night riding, but if you hit Lutsen then Giants the next day...well that would be a better weekend!

[metric]

Well I was at Afton this Saturday and could definitely tell that the snow has deteriorated compared to 2 weeks ago. Pretty crustified. Luckily it warmed up and melted a bit by lunch time, but we could really use some cold temps so they can make some new snow.

Any opinions on Wild Mountain? Was thinking of taking some friends there next weekend. None of them are very good so probably more of a cruiser day and practicing switch.

[Antigravity19]

How is the snow out there this year?

This is my first year away from MN. Frankly, I feel underprepared for western mts after MN's black diamonds(still a good problem to have). As I was telling my buddy all it takes is turning down hill to deal with s$@%^y conditions in MN, 1-2 minutes later it is over.

I do miss the crappy, fun Troll pipe, Spirit's park and the fun of boarding in -20 conditions. Not joking either some of my favorite times boarding.

[tAo77]

Originally Posted by Antigravity19

How is the snow out there this year?

Its about 99.98% man-made this year.... thats how. There hasn't been any good measureable snowfalls this year, it blows...

As for riding in -20 temps, not this year, I swear our avg temp this year has been 35 degrees. Its been much too warm and dry for me I love winter.

You should feel lucky to not be here this year.

[metric]

Yep this winter has sucked. The snow isn't THAT bad considering our total snowfall is like 10" but most days the dbag skiers have the decent man made stuff all scraped into moguls leaving icy patches. I'm looking forward to seeing what real snow looks like when I go to Mammoth & Big Sky in March and April

Do the ski racers hog all the good runs at Giants and Spirit like they do at Afton and Welch? Gets so annoying

[oefdevilvet]

For me the only places worth going are Granite Peak, Lutsen, Whitecap(occasionally) and Mount Bohemia. Outside of that list, unless someone asks me to go somewhere else, I don't. Granite Peak isn't all that special except for their parks, and I don't do parks. Lutsen is nice because they have some damn nice variety and for the midwest it's pretty big. Mount Bohemia is my favorite though, serious terrain(for WI, MI, MN) and usually can find some nice powder days especially when the LES machine gets crankin, timing is the key to good conditions there(I'm going this Wednesday and returning Saturday). Whitecap is only a sometimes option when I don't want crowds or can't get to Lutsen or Bohemia. Otherwise I'm looking for an excuse to go to Montana or Wyoming.

[metric]

Wow first time I've actually seen it puke snow this season. Awesome. Guess I'll be hitting Afton after work tomorrow

[oefdevilvet]

I just wish Granite Peak didn't groom everything, everyday. Obviously their parks are mainly why snowboarders go there, so those need to get handled daily. On days when they do get good snow and those are rare, they still groom the whole hill except the few half ass glades and a few things they call "chutes" they have, even the bottoms of the chutes are groomed. They should just do the parks and the lower half of the hill, and only groom 3-4 blacks on the eastern and western edges, and not go anywhere near the chutes or the glades. They just groom so damn much, they don't have an awful lot of ice problems, but it's around and their base is almost like concrete right now. Last Sunday it was really sketchy in the morning around 25, nice in the middle of the day it was like 31-33, and as it began to drop below freezing again it got kinda shitty again. Going to Mount Bohemia this weekend, I'm calling LES on thursday-saturday up there, could be the last chance for any real midwest "powder". Fingers crossed.

[Derp]

Granted this is only a forecast model for the next 7 days, it sure would be nice to at least get some of what they are predicting -