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Rode fresh powder for the first time today, man that was sick. I also feel like i hit my stride and felt really comfortable on the board today. the side hits are really fun, there was some fun transition leading out of some pump track type shit, that was wild.
Powder is the reason.
Glad you got to experience it
Supposedly since snow is 90-95 percent air, riding on powder is like flying or floating. Kinda helps explain why it's addicting.
along those lines, is anyone buying next year's passes right now? i'm thinking i might switch to Indy Pass. A lot of smaller mountains, but still some really good ones sprinkled around, and I think I'm ready to beat the crowds even if it means smaller hills. It's certainly cheaper.
That's a cool looking pass. Small resorts usually equal small towns, which can also lead to some rad empty skateparks.
The Natural Selection Tour this year was at Revelstoke. I couldn't believe the way people were handling the terrain:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pikqub_4laQI recently ended up at Kirkwood for a small storm where I assumed avalanche risk would be minimal. The forecasters had it marked as "moderate", which is a 2 out of 5, with 5 being extreme danger. There were a few days of sunshine prior to the storm, which caused the base pack to harden. The storm system that came through dropped 8-10" (20-25cm) of heavier moist snow (still fluffy enough for face shots) which created the perfect setup for long slides, even on low angle terrain less than 30 degrees.
Inbounds terrain:


Ski patrol ended up setting off the most bombs I've ever heard. At times it sounded like a warzone as the explosions ricocheted across the valley. Watching the slides happen in real time first thing in the morning was humbling. They looked like slow motion waterfalls of terror. Shout outs to ski patrollers. I crossed paths with a crew of them as they were headed up the mountain in the dark at 6:30am. That's an intense job.
It was my first bluebird day in a long time, the storm systems have been tricky to navigate around.

I noticed a gear failure as I was clipping into my bindings at the top of the mountain after doing a pretty big traverse / hike. I was still inbounds, but it would have been a 20-30 minute journey back to the lift to download on it. My toe strap was dangling on by a thread of plastic, so it was useless. I must have stepped on it at some point.
Riding with just an ankle strap would have been doable with caution. This season I started riding with two voile straps (
https://www.voile.com/nylon-buckle-straps.html ) in my backpack. The 20" (50.8 cm) one saved the day. I was able to loop it through the binding and create a somewhat toe strap replacement. I highly recommend riding with one or two. The 25" (63.5 cm) would work around the ankle as well. If the ankle strap would have gone out and I didn't have a voile strap, getting down would not be fun. Maybe a boot lace could have been used in a pinch.
