Royal Gorge???

Yes, Mark, personal preferences are fine, but when you come out and
state that "so the mushy snow conditions will be the norm" you are
just plain misinformed, and are spreading that misinformation to people
who are trusting that you know what you are talking about. Stating your
bias is fine and good, but telling people incorrect information about
conditions isn't fair to them or the ski areas that depend on their
business.

(And why anyone who cross country skis wouldn't enjoy flying over fast,
perfectly edgeable snow in weather that doesn't freeze your nose and
other body parts off is a mystery to me. If you prefer 15 degree
conditions, I can see why you avoid the Sierra as much as you do. You'd
have to ski with a headlamp all the time 8-)

Mark

Mark, does my claiming that Royal Gorge has had a "bad snow year"
qualify as misinformation?

By the way, you can rest easy Saturday night; I won't be at Tahoe
Nordic on Sunday. I will be in snowless Oregon this weekend.

bt

You are correct that when I commented that given the mild weather I expected
the conditions to be mushy.....I had not actually been there at that
moment...however I've skied the area from way back when they first opened.
I have noticed that for classical skiing......except in the early morning
hours.....the conditions of the track are very variable. Great in the shady
areas...but...I will use the word...soft or mushy in the sun exposed areas.
It can make for tricky waxing...which is why many people use waxless skis
for Sierra conditions. Maybe it has something to do with where one grows
up.....for me it was New England....of course we had icy conditions to deal
with...but also many days of good green and/or blue wax skiing. As I said
to each his own....my comments about the snow being mushy were based on
temps I looked up for snow conditions at that time...but as you say I wasn't
on the trails at the time. Just a prediction.....now I think that perhaps
more snow is falling which ought to change the conditions again...back to
"powder".
wrote in message
oups.com...
Yes, Mark, personal preferences are fine, but when you come out and
state that "so the mushy snow conditions will be the norm" you are
just plain misinformed, and are spreading that misinformation to people
who are trusting that you know what you are talking about. Stating your
bias is fine and good, but telling people incorrect information about
conditions isn't fair to them or the ski areas that depend on their
business.

(And why anyone who cross country skis wouldn't enjoy flying over fast,
perfectly edgeable snow in weather that doesn't freeze your nose and
other body parts off is a mystery to me. If you prefer 15 degree
conditions, I can see why you avoid the Sierra as much as you do. You'd
have to ski with a headlamp all the time 8-)

Mark

Mark Eastman wrote:
the conditions of the track are very variable. Great in the shady
areas...but...I will use the word...soft or mushy in the sun exposed
areas.
It can make for tricky waxing...which is why many people use waxless
skis
for Sierra conditions.

Swix Silver Universal klister works fine in current conditions. I was
striding ~1.5 hrs legs-only on Saturday AM and again on Monday closer
to noontime this past weekend @ Tahoe Donner & had consistent kick in
sun & shade. Some slippage on steeper hills but I'd attribute that to
weakness in my technique rather than snow conditions. Temps were going
down to 15 F or so overnight so even with the air at 40+ F during the
day the snow was cold & firm, nothing that I would call mushy (at least
before 2 PM -- wasn't out later).

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In article .com,
sknyski wrote:
Mark, does my claiming that Royal Gorge has had a "bad snow year"
qualify as misinformation?

_ If this is a "bad snow year", then there are no good ones. The
early storms have been large and cold with snow/rain levels as
low as 3000 ft. There has been well over 20 ft of snowfall in the
Norden area. If you're expecting crisp dry powder to last well
after the storm, then that just doesn't happen in the Sierra.
IMHO, skiing from early November to late May or longer is a
happy trade off. Royal Gorge closes due to lack of business,
hardly ever due to lack of snow.

_ Royal Gorge can suffer when the pineapple express storms come
through and the rain/snow line rises to above 7K feet.

_ Booker C. Bense





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Thanks for reminding me of the importance of cold night time temps at this
time of year in the Sierra for setting up firm morning tracks. I agree that
those colder temps can produce some fine skiing early in the day.

Mark
wrote in message
ups.com...

Mark Eastman wrote:
the conditions of the track are very variable. Great in the shady
areas...but...I will use the word...soft or mushy in the sun exposed
areas.
It can make for tricky waxing...which is why many people use waxless
skis
for Sierra conditions.

Swix Silver Universal klister works fine in current conditions. I was
striding ~1.5 hrs legs-only on Saturday AM and again on Monday closer
to noontime this past weekend @ Tahoe Donner & had consistent kick in
sun & shade. Some slippage on steeper hills but I'd attribute that to
weakness in my technique rather than snow conditions. Temps were going
down to 15 F or so overnight so even with the air at 40+ F during the
day the snow was cold & firm, nothing that I would call mushy (at least
before 2 PM -- wasn't out later).

i was at royal gorge today. conditions were perfect. there was some
cloud cover.
lots of snow. more coming tonight i understand.