3/28/09

Day 40

Conditions: 32 degrees and corn snow
Location: Boyne Mountain, MI

Another weekend of punching the clock on our way to fifty days. We woke up at 5 am and made the drive to Boyne Mountain. Boyne lost a lot of snow in the past weeks, and Superbowl was closed for a snowmobile motor-cross type race. As a result, there was not much a rideable base left. To our absolute amazement, Boyne actually discounted lift tickets to just $30 each – with our punch cards that made it only $15 a person to ride. It was one of the cheapest weekends yet.

After a weekend of Nubs Nob and Boyne Highlands, Boyne Mountain fit like an old pair of jeans. The runs seemed longer and the chairs smoother. Duane was as chipper as ever, and we even ran into our old lift buddie John. I never thought I would say it, but it was good to be back.

Even though it was freezing, the Spring conditions had created dry, corn snow that broke up early in the morning. It was nice to avoid the incessant scraping of the past few weeks.

We hit everything on the mountain – well, everything that was open. We spent most of the time working on our switch riding, and doing lame little wheelies and ground spins.


Highlights:

- The price – Dirk calculated that it actually cost less to ride than it did to drive up and back.
- Busting through the boarder-cross course on soft snow

Lowlights:

- It was a short day, and we haven’t had a good, long day since Tahoe. We are ready for something epic. And, from the 10-day Colorado forecast, it looks like we might be in for just that.

Après Ski:

We ate lunch at Pearson’s. Even though it was just Saturday, we still drove home. We both had a lot of things to get done Sunday in preparation for a short week and then a drive out to Colorado.

Days to go: 10

3/22/09

Day 39

Conditions: 40 degrees and hard as a rock
Location: Boyne Highlands, MI

We woke up to a harsh reality: it was cold last night and things would not be softening up any time soon. To top it off, we were heading to the flattest place this side of Nebraska: Boyne Highlands. But this was no time to be picky; we need every lame day to get to 50 at this point, and we’re not about to slack in the fourth quarter.

We trudged up to the window with the echoing scrapes of insane people trying to ride on the frozen ice rebounding through the various lodges. We exchanged glances pregnant with the desire to quit, but neither of us wanted to be the one to initiate that conversation.

When we got to the window, the ticket guy informed us it would be $51 each. Dirk immediately turned to me and started lamenting. “$51-$15 from our cards…that’s $36 each for a day like today,” he said in a tone loud enough for anyone to hear. At that point the attendant piped in to inform us that today, of all days, was one of the four days when punch card holders get to ride for free. We were thrilled. Never in my life have I received anything for free at Boyne Mountain - except for maybe a generous pour on a rum and coke at Pearson’s.

We rode for three hours as if it was the best three hours of our lives. We hit almost every chair as we toured the cold, hard terrain as if it were a powder day at Whistler.

Highlights:

- Racing Dirk through the boarder-cross course. I won, of course. He claimed he was trying to take it east to avoid injury.

Lowlights:

- It was Boyne Highlands. Even if it was free, it was hardly epic.

Après Ski:

We drove back to Williamston and got ready for the week.

Days to go: 11

3/21/09

Day 38

Conditions: 40 degrees with a chance of crazy
Location: Nubs Nob, MI

The sun wasn’t out. It wasn’t warm. The conditions weren’t anything that resembled fun. But, apparently when Nubs Nob declares that it’s Mardi Gras day people feel compelled to act as if they are college students on Spring Break.

We ventured to Nubs to break up the Boyne Mountain monotony. Little did we know that it was some kind of party weekend, complete with 12-piece, steel-drum band. A few things in the parking lot should have tipped ups off: a 50 year old woman with her hair spray-painted blue, an assortment of bead necklaces, and a teenager in a full-sized Winnie the Pooh costume. Things only got worse from there.

The craziest things was that the conditions were not very good. There were two inches of very sticky, new snow on top of ice that wouldn’t melt because it wasn’t warm. We did our best to have fun, but we longed for Boyne. I guess Lonnie’s theory was true: we would only appreciate Boyne if we went to other resorts once in a while.

We rode for two hours and just couldn’t get into it. Then came the real fun.

Highlights:

- People watching. And leaving for the day.

Lowlights:

- Nubs doesn’t have a high-speed chair, and all their chairs swing violently for the first half of the ride. At one point, Dirk compared it to a county fair ride, which was pretty accurate.

Après Ski:

The previous night, Dirk decided to book a hotel in Petoskey via Hotels.com. I am very picky when it comes to hotels. In general, I hate them. The only ones I can stand are Marriotts or other hotels where they change the comforters every day (the kind with washable, white duvets instead of crusty pillow shams.

Despite my apprehension, Dirk booked a Days Inn that got good reviews and cost less than $70 per night. Since we finished early, we had the whole day to spend in the room. I planned to watch basketball and Dirk was going to study for the GRE. When we keyed into the room, I started to tear up. Warning sign one was that the hotel had no hallways – it was the kind where we drove right up to our room and keyed in. The room looked like something out of a mob movie where the bosses take people to beat them up and leave them for dead. Yes, it did seem clean…for a place with one of those paisley, grimy comforters. There was no way I was going to spend 18 hours in that room.

We discussed several options that included just driving home. But, we wanted to board the next day, so I paid for a room at a nicer hotel. We spent the day watching HD TV in our wonderful room. We also had a great dinner at the City Park Grille.

Days to go: 12

3/15/09

Day 37

Conditions: Rock hard at open, then gradually softer. High of 45 degrees.
Location: Mount Bohemia, MI

It was over 40 degrees yesterday, and very cold at night, so when we woke up, we knew that things would be rock hard at open. Unfortunately, we only had a few hours to ride before it was time to head down state. So, we headed out at 9:30 like good little soldiers.

At first, things were as we expected. Turning was dangerous. We did more heel-side sliding than actual riding. Our attempt at Shivering Timbers was particularly straining on our hamstrings.

We took it slow, giving us time to come up with a great idea: rename The Bear Den with a “where” theme. Run names would include the following: Somewhere, Nowhere, Elsewhere, Anywhere, Everywhere, and (drum roll…) Underwear. Get it? Yes, we are hilarious. Unfortunately, Lindsey didn’t seem to think it was a million-dollar idea.

She did, however, get out and ride with us as things started to soften up. We hit the bear den…many times… and a few others. In no time, it was after noon and time to pack it up.

Highlights:

- That moment when things were suddenly soft enough to ride fast through the moguls.
- Getting in a few runs with Lindsey
- On the way home, we saw a video crew (the same one that filmed Steep) on the side of the road, creating a monster jump. They looked hot and tired. It looked like the jump would take several more hours. For once, I was glad I was just a tourist, and didn’t make snowboard videos for a living.

Lowlights:

- No snow was predicted in the forecast for the next week, and we plan to come back next weekend. So, we’re keeping our fingers crossed for a freak winter storm.

Après Ski: We loaded into the Tribeca and drove 9 hours home.

Days to go: 13

3/14/09

Day 36

Conditions: Like the Madonna song: sticky and sweet
Location: Mount Bohemia, MI

Everyone in lower Michigan seems utterly convinced that winter is over. I was asked several times on Friday what I was going to do now that I couldn’t snowboard on the weekends. Apparently some people think that when there is no snow in Lansing, there is no snow anywhere. Luckily for us, this very thinking keeps crowds down during March and April.

Our last weekend at Boyne stunk, so we decided to make the long drive to Mount Bohemia, even if it was just for two days. The further North we drove, the more snow we saw.

We got in late and ended up sleeping in until around 10:00. By the time we made it to the mountain, it was getting warm. Conditions were okay – certainly not the best we have had this year at Bohemia, but not bad. The Bear Den was nice in the morning; Claim Jumper was nice in the afternoon.


Someone built a snow fort outside of Cabin 8.

Things really softened up after lunch. The Spring conditions were great, but by late afternoon things got a little too soft. It became sticky and slow, so there was a constant battle between gravity and the snow that was slowing our boards down.

Highlights:

- There was a St. Patrick’s Day contest at the mountain, so we saw a few interesting outfits. Unfortunately, it looked like a few kids would win the contest because they were handing out free, green M&Ms from a beer mug. Later, we found out that the only adult in the contest won, something I considered a victory for rational people everywhere.

Lowlights:

- None, it was a good day.

Après Ski: I finished Breaking Dawn while Dirk studied for the GMAT; then we made dinner and watched Invasion.

Days to go: 14

3/7/09

Day 35

Conditions: Slush on ice.
Location: Boyne Mountain, MI

If our last day at Boyne was a 1/10, then today was a 2/10. It’s hard to believe just two weeks ago we were floating through knee-deep Sierra powder under a blue, California sky.

When Dirk woke me up this morning, I thought it was a school day. When I remembered we were driving up to Boyne, I thought one thing: we should just skip it. I lay in bed thinking of all the sleep I was giving up, and wondering why we do this to ourselves every weekend. For some reason, I dragged myself out of bed and got ready. “It will be better than you think,” I told myself, “just get up and get there.”

We expected spring conditions today, with maybe a little rain. Spring conditions can be fun. Unfortunately, it didn’t warm up enough to turn the icy base into slush. The conditions were awful, and dangerous.

We rode for two hours; that was all we could take.

Highlights:

- We logged a day, and then it ended.

Lowlights:

- Well, you know.

Après Ski: We were done by noon, so we hung out at the condo and watched a horror movie marathon on the SciFi channel. Then, we went to the good old Red Mesa for dinner.

Days to go: 15