End of our skiing?

From:  Mel Magree
To: oldmanwinter@spiritmt.com
End of our skiing?

Hello,

The rumors have been flying about reduced hours for skiing.  One couple reported that the web site said that Spirit Mt. won't open until 1:00 on most weekdays.  I tried to find it on my iPhone without success this morning.  After much hunting on my laptop I found the tentative hours.  Sadly, the tentative plans are as they said.

From http://www.spiritmt.com/ski-board

2014/2015 Tentative Hours of Operation


Monday - Thursday  1pm to 8pm
Friday & Saturday  9am to 9pm
Sunday  9am to 5pm
Holidays  9am to 9pm (12/21 - 01/01, Jan. 17-18, Feb. 14-15)
Holiday Mondays 9am to 8pm (Jan. 19, Feb. 16)

If this is the case, we will not be renewing our season passes.  We are morning skiers as many other seniors are.  We like the less crowded conditions at 9:00 and even 10:00.  Many of those I spoke to feel the same.

As I left Spirit Mt. this morning, I noticed that all the near parking was filled and people were parking in the lower lot.  How many of these people will come at 1:00 instead?

You have probably considered many of the ramifications of this later opening.

Besides those who are morning skiers, will you be getting as many school groups?  Will they want to ski for an hour-and-a-half before they have to get on the bus to return to school?  Those same buses and drivers are going to have to be on routes at school closing.

How many people that would come up from the cities for a day will come for an afternoon of skiing?  It will be easier for them to go to Afton Alps.

What are the ramifications for the hospitality industry in Duluth?  Spirit Mt. is a "breeder reactor".  It's existence creates business for the city of Duluth that is not on Spirit Mt's books.

I hope you can come to a definite schedule for next year before April 15th, our last day to get the discounted season tickets.

My illustrious second-rate sports career

As long as I can remember, I’ve done quite a bit of physical activity – from riding on the back of somebody’s bicycle at 3 or 4 to lots of snow shoveling this winter.  The first-named led to a bleeding ankle; the last-named led to a sore back.  Not all my physical activity has led to injury, but there have been quite a few “incidents”.

In between I’ve climbed trees, sledded, rode bicycles, played pickup games of baseball, touch football, and basketball, canoed, hiked, and a few organized sports.

In the summer of 1952, nine or more of the boys I hung out with formed a Class F Baseball team.  I sometimes pitched, sometimes played third-base, and maybe sat on the bench.  The most memorable incident was that I pitched a 0-1 no-hitter.  The other team got their run by a combination of walks and stealing.  This “feat” made it to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, but they misspelled my name as Melvyn MacGree.

Class F baseball still exists in Cleveland and is still sponsored by the Cleveland Baseball Federation.

In my first year of high school gym, I ran a “mile” in 5:12 and 5:19.  The coach suggested I join cross-country team.  I never made the cut for the seven that counted, just part of the crowd that might push some in the other sevens down in finish ranking.  In one race I did slow down to help one of our seven who had been hit in some way by an opposing runner.

I also joined the cross-country team in my second year of college.  But I didn’t do so well as I developed “shin splints”.  I got some therapy for them, but they plagued me now and then.

I did take a fitness class at a Y in my forties.  That included gradually increasing running distance.  I was proud of myself when I ran a mile in about eight minutes.

Now it’s a big deal for me to walk from my house to UMD.

A high-school classmate recommended that I join the wrestling team.  I did and managed to be the 133 lb. wrestler for a couple of years.  There was no one else in that weight class.  If there was, I generally won the wrestle-off for a meet.  I had a miserable record.  I was often taken down in less than a minute.  The coach selected five or so wrestlers to go to state, none me, of course.  Every year at least one of those guys won a state title.  My last year I had a better record, I think 4-3.  It should have been 5-2, but being a January starter, I graduated the night before my last allowed match.  Guess what lots of high-school graduates do.  At least, I lost on points rather than by a takedown.

I practiced with the Case Institute of Technology wrestling team.  I wrestled in intramurals at 147 for a fraternity I didn’t join.  The first guy was a well-muscled rock.  That was how he behaved.  When he had the down position, I could not budge him.  I even sat back on my heels to give my opponent a chance to move.  He didn’t.  When I had the down position he gripped me tight but made no move to get better control.  The score: 0-0!  I won a referee’s decision for being more aggressive. My second was with another team freshman.  This was a much more interesting match: 4-4.  Again, I won on referee’s decision.  The last match should have been the hardest.  I won 7-2.  However, I never made the cut to wrestle in a team match.

After I flunked out of Case, I went to Ohio Wesleyan University.  I wrestled once in the intramurals at 154 as an independent.  I really don’t remember any of the matches, but I won all of them.  I had practiced with team, but I never made the cut for a match.

I took up skiing in the early sixties.  I took a week off work to learn at Buck Hill.  After the class I did snow-plows on my own.  On one run I was heading straight for the lift.  My best tactic was to fall.  One ski came off, windmilled, and hit me below the knee.  My four-dollar ski pants have a hole in them!  There’s blood in there!  I’ll spare you more details, but the doctor put extra-padding on the stitches.  I did learn enough that week to move beyond the snow plow.

I do have many more ski stories, but I’m running out of space.  In the spirit of my “second rate” career, let me tell a bit about my amateur racing.  At Spirit Mountain, I qualified for going to the NASTAR nationals.  Why?  The top three in each gender-age-speed category qualify.  Since there were never more than three male racers in my age and speed category, I qualified five times.  I went to Park City in 2004 where I was 21 out of 23 and to Steamboat Springs in 2007 where I was 14 out of 15.  My times were about twice those of the winners!

I still have a season pass at Spirit Mountain, but I’m getting wimpy about when I go.  If the temperature is not above ten degrees Fahrenheit, I’m not too interested.

So, other than sporadic visits to the Essentia Fitness Center, my exercise is some woodcutting, some lawn-mowing, and some snow-shoveling.  Now I have a sore back from all this season’s snow shoveling.

Hey, when my back doesn’t bother me, I can do over 30 pushups!

Spring skiing in December in Minnesota?

As I walk around Duluth and our cabin in Brimson, I'm amazed at the wet snow on the ground.  Hey, this is December; we're supposed to have white fluffy stuff at least six inches deep.  This snow is like March snow.

This is bad for the tourism industry because fewer people will come to Duluth to ski.  In fact, Spirit Mt. will not be open for a full daily schedule until Dec. 8.  It used to be that ski hills in Minnesota began full-time operation at Thanksgiving, even south of Minneapolis.  Forget "over the hill and through the woods to Grandmother's house…"

It's also bad for all the snowplow operators, public and private.  They will be called out less often.

Almost any change has winners and losers.  The big winners are those who get to spew lots of CO2 and other pollution in the air.  The losers are all those who depend on seasonal shifts, but they're little folk and I guess they don't count.

Am I getting to the age where the disappointment of fewer opportunities to ski are offset by the joy of shoveling less?

Did I or didn't I?

Yesterday I decided that I had enough skiing for the season; it was just too rainy. I drove to Spirit Mt. to take the rest of my gear out of our locker, leaving only our skis. We thought that leaving the skis in the locker would be better for them. It would be drier than in our basement.

On my way out I looked at our locker through the window and thought it looked locked. I thought about going back in to double-check, but I didn't want to get involved in conversation again.

When I got home I convinced myself that it would be OK. If I didn't lock the lock, somebody else would. Then in the middle of the night I started worrying about it again. I couldn't specifically remember closing the lock. I couldn't get the thought out of my head. I took some valerian to go back to sleep and it worked.

I still worried when I woke up in the morning. I didn't want to worry all summer about this. I decided I would leave at a time that would let me get there after the doors were open but before the near parking lot filled up. I did get there earlier than I normally would, but the near lot was already half-full. It is Saturday, but it is a drizzly, warm Saturday!

Sure enough, the lock was locked and both sets of skis and poles were still in the locker. I put the lock back on and pushed it closed.

As soon as I was outside again, I wondered if I did. Should I go back and double-check? Well, this time I had a clear memory of pushing the lock closed. Or was that a memory from another time?

For some, spring is a sad time

The snow is melting, the closing of Spirit Mountain is nearer, what will we skiers do when the snow is all gone?

My wife thinks the season is over. Rain is predicted for Wednesday and Thursday with highs in the mid-40s and lows above freezing all week. What will the snow be like on Friday?

Should we head north for Lutsen? Head back west for more Rocky Mountain skiing? Knowing us, we'll probably stay put.

Time to start at the fitness center with a full program to be ready for next season.

One of those days

We skied a lot today at Bridger Bowl. Not as much as many other people, but far more than we would have done at Spirit Mountain in Duluth. The sore thighs I was developing in the afternoon are no longer bothersome, but getting motivated to do anything is "bothersome".

I should answer my brother's email, I should practice singing, I should write some more meaningful blog entries, I should… Maybe I should go to bed, but 8:00 just seems too early.

One of the minor interesting things is mentally adjusting clocks. I reset my watch to Mountain Standard Time, but I didn't reset our car clock. I reset my iPod to MST but not my computer. Then my iPod's alarm goes off an hour early in the morning. It's back on Central Standard Time!!!

Ah ha! I synchronized my iPod with my Mac and that changed the iPod time again. So now I've set the Mac to automatically adjust the time to its location.

I suppose I should reset my camera clock also, but will the exact time matter on the photos?

Tomorrow is our last big day of skiing. I hope I have enough energy for the half-hour drive back to Bozeman. And enough energy to write emails, to sing, and to write a meaningful blog or two.

Avalanche!

We are now in Bozeman MT while skiing at Bridger Bowl as part of the annual Ski Hut trip.

This morning I had a lesson and my wife chose to stay in town. After the lesson I stopped at a mid=slope chalet for coffee and then went up for another run. I was so tired that I decided to ski back down to the base, have lunch, and then maybe go out again. This was about 11:30.

Some people in our group said that they had seen an avalanche from the lift and heard that people were in the area. Later Scott Neustel, owner of Ski Hut, came in looking distressed. He was on a nearby ridge when it happened and his group was told to stay put for a bit.

He had managed to take a picture of the avalanche and passed his camera around. Imagine the tree tops reaching to the bottom of an "e" in this text; the top of the avalanche cloud reached to the top of the "e". Some people said the snow was moving at 70-75 mph.

As of 4:43 MST, no one had been reported missing, but stories are circulating about close calls. The authorities are still checking by helicopter and snowmobile.

Anybody taking the lift to the high country is required to take a working transponder. But authorities never can be sure that somebody didn't take another route up.

When I drove back down, almost every turn out had people stopped and looking up at the mountains. I don't know what they could see other than a helicopter circling around.

Temperature: It's all relative!

When we went skiing today at Bridger Bowl, many people were complaining that it was cold. I think it was in the low twenties; I hardly noticed. As of 5:00 p.m. this afternoon, the snow report said it was 20 at the base and 15 mid-mountain. Since the slopes are east-facing, I would imagine that the temperature dropped quite a bit as the sun sank over the mountains.

My gosh! Temperatures in the 20s at Spirit Mountain in Duluth would be a warm winter day.

Our ski vacation is more than half over:(

The first two days at Bridger Bowl, a nonprofit community ski area, outside Bozeman , Montana, stretched our midwestern ski legs. And I didn't do any harm to my bum knee. See "Pain relieves pain?"

We spent almost of our time using one of the lower lifts. The drill was two runs, coffee, a few more runs, lunch, a few more runs, another break, a few more runs, and drinks. We ventured to a higher lift once, but for a variety of reasons we returned to the lower lift. My wife does prefer skiing the green (easy) runs. I timed a couple of these lower runs at about 15-20 minutes round trip, depending on the lift slow downs. At Spirit Mountain in Duluth a round trip is about seven to ten minutes. I also made a fast timed run, less than two-and-a-half minutes from top to bottom. We generally do about four to five minutes together. So, even though we aren't getting much in challenging skiing, we are getting in more than normal.

The weather has been nice, just below freezing, little wind, and a mix of clouds and sun. Yesterday was interesting in that I could see blue sky to my right as I rode up the lift, but it was never overhead. The mountains squeezed the clouds together as they moved through the valley. We also had different layers of clouds.


There was enough sun to burn my cheeks, despite a couple applications of sunscreen.

Today was a different story. When I checked the Bridger Bowl snow report at eight o'clock this morning there was already five inches of new snow, and none outside our hotel in the valley.

On our first run we skied mostly the narrow band of groomed snow. But as the morning wore on and the snow continued we had a few inches of fresh snow. Although we mostly use the extend one leg, retract the other method of turning, when we get in difficulty we try just pointing our feet (rotation). It doesn't work. We had to work more conscientiously to extend the outside leg and retract the inside leg. We got better at it as the snow deepened.

We stopped at a mid-mountain lodge for lunch and I decided that I would try the lift near it that had a couple of "blue runs", (more difficult or for moderately skilled skiers). My wife declined and chatted with some other people while I ventured out.

To my surprise, the lift hut had a big black diamond sign saying "Expert skiers only". I asked the lift operator about it and he said the slopes weren't for beginners. So, up I went. As I went up, the slope didn't look so bad, and the lesser skilled skiers seemed to be doing all right.

At the top I got a small indication of what was ahead. It was quite a drop from the end of the lift to the starting area. I went over to the edge and looked down. There was lots and lots of skied powder, maybe twelve inches deep. Hoo boy! Worse, I could make out the contours of the snow only a few feet away. How am I going to negotiate this? I did know that the start of the run was "black" (most difficult), but I didn't envision it as this difficult. Stupid midwestern skier of groomed runs.

I started to slide down diagonally and then stopped. Repeat. Repeat again. I have to turn sometime. I started a turn and immediately pitched forward and one ski came off. Boy, was the snow deep! The one ski was out of reach above me. I was lucky that it wasn't completely buried, the heel binding was showing. I don't know how long it took me to get my skis back on. I had to make sure that both my boots and skis were clear of snow.

I repeated my diagonal descent in the opposite direction. Again there came a point that I should make a turn. This time I made a single turn, pointed my skis slightly uphill and stopped. Catch my breath, repeat in the opposite direction. Eventually I could link two turns before stopping. Remember, I have narrow "bare" spots bordered by big mounds of snow. Zip on the troughs, crash into the mounds. Then I linked three. Sometimes I linked five turns.

But I was really getting out of breath. I was just below 7,000 feet and had my poor sunburned face covered with a Gator. This face wraparound combined with goggles does impede breathing. I pulled it off and stuck it in my pocket.

I was now in the Blue area but still could only link a few turns before stopping. Ah, there is the chalet. Which way do I go? On a diagonal to another path? Or straight down to a gap in the fence? Straight down looks easier. Straight on my face I went. I don't remember if a ski came off or not, but I was up and ready to go again in a short time.

I made it into the gap with a few turns, took off my skis, joined the others, and sat a long time drinking water and letting my legs rest. Hey, Arch! My knee was less of a problem than my thighs and calves.

Finally I was ready to go but we would call it quits for the day. Down we went on the Green (easier) run to the main chalet. I did make a point of skiing in the powder, but now it was only three to four inches deep.

Tomorrow will be sunny with no new snow. Should I check the grooming report tomorrow to see if that "experts only" run was groomed tonight?

I went to Wal-Mart today!

Here we sit in Bozeman MT ready to ski tomorrow as part of the annual Ski Hut trip. Tonight was the name tag party which was BYOB and BYOF, although there really was plenty of food.

So, we had to find somewhere to buy some drinks and food. From our hotel room we look out on a Wal-Mart and a huge parking lot. We checked at the front desk, and yes ,Wal-Mart sells beer and wine and can do so on Sunday.

What's the big deal about going to Wal-Mart? My regular readers know that I avoid going to big-box stores. I don't refuse to go to them, but if I can find a local store or restaurant, then I'll go there.

We walked out the front door of our hotel, through a gas station lot, down the street, and through the Wal-Mart parking lot. Inside was a humongous grocery store. We acknowledged the greeting of the big-box greeter and went on to get some of our usual super-fresh, super-nutritious stuff you can't get in a restaurant.

But I had no idea where the beer and wine was, and so I went back to the greeter. He graciously pointed out where they were. We added a six-pack of porter from a fifty-foot cooler with probably twice that many types of beer.

We pondered using the self-serve checkout but a neighboring cashier became free. She went on and on about having to put up with a smoker who just reeked of smoke even though he had no lit cigarette. We aided and abetted her with our sympathy.

The final indication of humanity in the midst of what many consider an impersonal monolith was the aforementioned greeter. He was busy helping some kids with a kid attraction by the door and thoroughly enjoying himself.

We probably will go back there a couple times this week. Not because Wal-Mart is a great place to shop, but because why should we drive all over town to learn where other shops are when we can just walk a few hundred feet?

See also "Why pick on McDonald's and Wal-Mart?"

How cold is it in Duluth?

Temperature range according to AccuWeather.com: -21 to 1. Other sources: lower at higher elevations.

That's not so bad on the high side. We went skiing this morning at Spirit Mountain. However, instead of six runs then coffee then six more runs, it was 3-coffee-3.

We were also up to heading to our cabin in Brimson to split some more wood. But when we got there it was so cold that our electricity didn't work. Well, we don't know why the electricity didn't work and every neighbor we called didn't answer the phone. But since it would be -20 or lower, we didn't want to stay overnight if we couldn't keep our truck plugged in.

Meanwhile, among our supplies in the back of the truck were two bottles of beer and a bottle of wine. When we got back to Duluth, I opened one of the bottles of beer. It wouldn't pour! The beer was so slushy that it wouldn't come out very fast.

Talk about having a cold one! This really was ice-cold beer. The head was a half a glass of slush.