Am I really in Duluth?

This is the World Famous TelemarkTalk / TelemarkTips Forum, by far the most dynamic telemark and backcountry skiing discussion board on the world wide web. We have fun here, come on in and be a part of it.
Post Reply
User avatar
wabene
Posts: 716
Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2021 9:53 am
Location: Duluth Minnesota
Ski style: Stiff kneed and wide eyed.
Favorite Skis: Åsnes Gamme, Fischer SB98, Mashus M50, M78, Pano M62
Favorite boots: Crispi Svartsen 75mm, Scarpa T4
Occupation: Carpenter

Re: Am I really in Duluth?

Post by wabene » Wed Mar 01, 2023 1:50 pm

connyro wrote:
Wed Mar 01, 2023 12:32 pm
FourthCoast wrote:
Wed Mar 01, 2023 11:52 am
connyro wrote:
Wed Feb 15, 2023 3:47 pm
[...]It seems like this thread is supposed to be about a weirdly warm winter in the upper great lakes.[...]
It is pretty well crap down here in lower Michigan. There was maybe one week with good snow. I had some fun at the XC area but it was way too short. I just saw something like 'major winter storm' coming in the news. Looking at the forecast I see one day with 1.3 inches of snow. Major storm?
imo, the best part about living and skiing in the UP is the consistent cold and snowy weather we get from early January through mid March. Usually it never warms above freezing during that period. This season has been a roller coaster of cold and snowy to warm and rainy, rinse, repeat. Even the deer herd that usually head south of here for the winter never left this year. They are in my orchard eating rotten apples and rooting through the compost pile and occasionally getting hit by cars. Not a big fan of the weather this season although we have it a lot better than downstate...
Were in a similar boat @connyro . It's looking like a snowy March which is great as long as the above freezing days keep to a minimum. Today was forecasted for an inch or two, but so far I've got 8 or more of super fluffy! I love it when they under promise and over deliver.

The work schedule is very light the next few weeks, my friends, how did that happen BWAHAHAHA!

User avatar
JohnSKepler
Posts: 562
Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2022 6:31 pm
Location: Utahoming
Ski style: XCBCD
Favorite Skis: Voile Objective BC, Rossignol BC 80
Favorite boots: Scarpa F1 Bellows, Alpina Alaska XP
Occupation: Rocket Scientist

Re: Am I really in Duluth?

Post by JohnSKepler » Wed Mar 01, 2023 6:12 pm

Musk Ox wrote:
Tue Feb 28, 2023 4:03 am
Climate breakdown is extremely worrying. We had record-breaking snowfall up here a few seasons ago after the warmest December on record. It isn't a good sign in any way whatsoever.
"Climate Breakdown"? I don't know if not getting the snow amount you'd like can be called "breakdown." I know how that can feel because I've been there but climate can't "breakdown" it's just a physical process. These things are what they are and the fundamental reality of life is change. Planets with completely stable climates look like the Moon. The Moon has a climate and it NEVER changes because it is a dead planet. We shouldn't want a completely stable climate because it would mean the Earth is dead.

What has happened is that people have moved around and economies have emerged based on local climate. Without writing no one would even know things were changing. The people who lived on the exposed land between Alaska and Russia didn't know they were living on a "land bridge." And they didn't know the sea level was rising. It took 10,000 years and human life span is fleeting. I was at La Jolla around Thanksgiving and took pictures down at the beach. The surf is splashing against the same rocks is was a 100 years ago. You can prove this to yourself by looking at a 100 year old picture of La Jolla or New York City. There are a lot of predictions that the oceans are rising but pictures don't lie.

Economics have simply allowed people to overcrowd beaches with houses and overcrowd ski slopes with skiers. (Somebody is making money off of all of this.) With such overcrowding any twitch is going cause big ripples. A hurricane that once wiped out a fishing village now causes $100Bn in damage, not because it is more intense but because people put things in its way. A warm winter that results in a loss of tourism income leaving people fretting about the end of the world used to be a blessing to get crops in the ground early. It's economics we're worried about. "How's it going to affect me?"

Take Britain for instance. Is your home farther north than Britain? And yet, the Island of Britain stays quite warm compared to other places at that same latitude. It's relatively warm because a fascinating mechanism moves the heat there, and it isn't the Gulf Stream. Our oceans and the atmosphere are fluids and, as such, when they move they take the heat with them, often in very, very hidden and beautiful ways*. Sometimes these become established patterns, we call this climate. But these patterns experience constant flux. We call this weather. If we were good at predicting it there wouldn't be error bars (%) on the weather report.

I saw on the Weather Channel the other day a question asking how much warmer, on average, has Los Angeles become in the last 50 years. The answer was 7 degrees F. Man, that's some global warming! Or maybe it is just the elimination of all the green spaces and croplands people put in that desert using water that didn't fall there. They've turned it into a rock desert, like the Mojave. The Mojave is on the same parallel as the Southeast of the United States but the Southeast is a LOT cooler. Why? The water evaporating from plants keeps it cooler, and more humid. But we've been conditioned to think it's global warming.

So what you're calling Climate Breakdown, isn't climate breakdown at all. There may be economic breakdown, but economic systems aren't physical systems. They are man-mad systems driven by greed and need, in that order. Economic breakdown is very worrisome if it is your economy that is breaking down. Far worse is an emerging political class (nobility) that is taking from you the very means to build your own economic future and convincing you (peasant) that its for your own good (serf). This is almost the definition of feudalism and you can bet the people denying you resources to build your future are using them to build their future. Follow that trail and you'll find truth.

*See global thermohaline conveyor
Veni, Vidi, Viski



User avatar
connyro
needs to take stock of his life
needs to take stock of his life
Posts: 1233
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 11:46 am

Re: Am I really in Duluth?

Post by connyro » Wed Mar 01, 2023 7:08 pm

JohnSKepler wrote:
Wed Mar 01, 2023 6:12 pm
Musk Ox wrote:
Tue Feb 28, 2023 4:03 am
Climate breakdown is extremely worrying. We had record-breaking snowfall up here a few seasons ago after the warmest December on record. It isn't a good sign in any way whatsoever.
"Climate Breakdown"? I don't know if not getting the snow amount you'd like can be called "breakdown." I know how that can feel because I've been there but climate can't "breakdown" it's just a physical process. These things are what they are and the fundamental reality of life is change. Planets with completely stable climates look like the Moon. The Moon has a climate and it NEVER changes because it is a dead planet. We shouldn't want a completely stable climate because it would mean the Earth is dead.

What has happened is that people have moved around and economies have emerged based on local climate. Without writing no one would even know things were changing. The people who lived on the exposed land between Alaska and Russia didn't know they were living on a "land bridge." And they didn't know the sea level was rising. It took 10,000 years and human life span is fleeting. I was at La Jolla around Thanksgiving and took pictures down at the beach. The surf is splashing against the same rocks is was a 100 years ago. You can prove this to yourself by looking at a 100 year old picture of La Jolla or New York City. There are a lot of predictions that the oceans are rising but pictures don't lie.

Economics have simply allowed people to overcrowd beaches with houses and overcrowd ski slopes with skiers. (Somebody is making money off of all of this.) With such overcrowding any twitch is going cause big ripples. A hurricane that once wiped out a fishing village now causes $100Bn in damage, not because it is more intense but because people put things in its way. A warm winter that results in a loss of tourism income leaving people fretting about the end of the world used to be a blessing to get crops in the ground early. It's economics we're worried about. "How's it going to affect me?"

Take Britain for instance. Is your home farther north than Britain? And yet, the Island of Britain stays quite warm compared to other places at that same latitude. It's relatively warm because a fascinating mechanism moves the heat there, and it isn't the Gulf Stream. Our oceans and the atmosphere are fluids and, as such, when they move they take the heat with them, often in very, very hidden and beautiful ways*. Sometimes these become established patterns, we call this climate. But these patterns experience constant flux. We call this weather. If we were good at predicting it there wouldn't be error bars (%) on the weather report.

I saw on the Weather Channel the other day a question asking how much warmer, on average, has Los Angeles become in the last 50 years. The answer was 7 degrees F. Man, that's some global warming! Or maybe it is just the elimination of all the green spaces and croplands people put in that desert using water that didn't fall there. They've turned it into a rock desert, like the Mojave. The Mojave is on the same parallel as the Southeast of the United States but the Southeast is a LOT cooler. Why? The water evaporating from plants keeps it cooler, and more humid. But we've been conditioned to think it's global warming.

So what you're calling Climate Breakdown, isn't climate breakdown at all. There may be economic breakdown, but economic systems aren't physical systems. They are man-mad systems driven by greed and need, in that order. Economic breakdown is very worrisome if it is your economy that is breaking down. Far worse is an emerging political class (nobility) that is taking from you the very means to build your own economic future and convincing you (peasant) that its for your own good (serf). This is almost the definition of feudalism and you can bet the people denying you resources to build your future are using them to build their future. Follow that trail and you'll find truth.

*See global thermohaline conveyor
I'm not going to disagree with what you have to say, you make some good points. To keep things simple, please explain the role that ever increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and in the oceans plays in climate change. I notice that you've left that out of your lecture.



User avatar
wabene
Posts: 716
Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2021 9:53 am
Location: Duluth Minnesota
Ski style: Stiff kneed and wide eyed.
Favorite Skis: Åsnes Gamme, Fischer SB98, Mashus M50, M78, Pano M62
Favorite boots: Crispi Svartsen 75mm, Scarpa T4
Occupation: Carpenter

Re: Am I really in Duluth?

Post by wabene » Wed Mar 01, 2023 8:57 pm

Yeah and what about all that plastic in the ocean and micro plastic up my butt? Wait? Whaaa? Didn't we just get some pow pow up here??? Stay on topic please. I just skied my Guide/Annum/Panorblahblah for the first time in probably perfect conditions for that venerable old ski, about a foot of pow. This is the first time I have surfed a hillside, I get it now, thank you all so much!



User avatar
TallGrass
Posts: 442
Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2022 8:13 pm

Re: Am I really in Duluth?

Post by TallGrass » Wed Mar 01, 2023 9:38 pm

I had a skier on the lift point out what a good thing I was doing "for the environment" by (re-)using older gear (leather boots, 3-pin Karhus, ...).

In a flat, calm, non-judgmental way, I pointed out "the environment" doesn't care if it's hospitable to humans or not, just look at the "environment" on Venus, but I am happy to keep trash from where it doesn't belong (no fun skipping stones barefoot in a creek only to happen across a broken beer bottle), maintain clean drinking water, will buy used clothes sometimes (not socks nor undies though), and basically "keep my yard in order," though for ski gear it was mainly because I didn't see the need to waste money on "new" gear when there's plenty of life left in these skis before they go to the landfill or cut up into an Adirondack chair and I don't live in prime ski country.

I then asked if the "environment" was important to her "to use your phrasing," and she said, "Most definitely!" to which I asked, "then why aren't you doing it too?"

There was an awkward pause before she looked away, then looked off to the side and up towards the top of the lift, gently swinging her late-model skis, in silence the whole way.

I did say "have a good one," as I customarily do to strangers I share a chair with when getting off the lift. Can't remember if she replied.



User avatar
connyro
needs to take stock of his life
needs to take stock of his life
Posts: 1233
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 11:46 am

Re: Am I really in Duluth?

Post by connyro » Wed Mar 01, 2023 9:54 pm

TallGrass wrote:
Wed Mar 01, 2023 9:38 pm
I had a skier on the lift point out what a good thing I was doing "for the environment" by (re-)using older gear (leather boots, 3-pin Karhus, ...).

In a flat, calm, non-judgmental way, I pointed out "the environment" doesn't care if it's hospitable to humans or not, just look at the "environment" on Venus, but I am happy to keep trash from where it doesn't belong (no fun skipping stones barefoot in a creek only to happen across a broken beer bottle), maintain clean drinking water, will buy used clothes sometimes (not socks nor undies though), and basically "keep my yard in order," though for ski gear it was mainly because I didn't see the need to waste money on "new" gear when there's plenty of life left in these skis before they go to the landfill or cut up into an Adirondack chair and I don't live in prime ski country.

I then asked if the "environment" was important to her "to use your phrasing," and she said, "Most definitely!" to which I asked, "then why aren't you doing it too?"

There was an awkward pause before she looked away, then looked off to the side and up towards the top of the lift, gently swinging her late-model skis, in silence the whole way.

I did say "have a good one," as I customarily do to strangers I share a chair with when getting off the lift. Can't remember if she replied.
That sounds dreadful. Nothing quite like a condescending, smug chairmate to set the mood for a nice relaxing day on the slopes!



User avatar
TallGrass
Posts: 442
Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2022 8:13 pm

Re: Am I really in Duluth?

Post by TallGrass » Wed Mar 01, 2023 10:15 pm

connyro wrote:
Wed Mar 01, 2023 9:54 pm
That sounds dreadful. Nothing quite like a condescending, smug chairmate to set the mood for a nice relaxing day on the slopes!
The condescension* is all on your end.
She initiated, expressing her thoughts.
I clarified my gear, shared my thoughts, then inquired.
Ironic, sure, but condescending, no.
I demurred, which is antipodal to "smug."
It's like someone saying "it's good that you ordered a vegan dish," then asking, "If you think vegan is good, why did you order chicken strips?"

I guess the bigger question is why you both read *that into it despite explicit text to the opposite, while others do not, and then feel the need to then post such?
(^ rhetorical question)
Last edited by TallGrass on Wed Mar 01, 2023 10:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.



User avatar
connyro
needs to take stock of his life
needs to take stock of his life
Posts: 1233
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 11:46 am

Re: Am I really in Duluth?

Post by connyro » Wed Mar 01, 2023 10:22 pm

TallGrass wrote:
Wed Mar 01, 2023 10:15 pm
connyro wrote:
Wed Mar 01, 2023 9:54 pm
That sounds dreadful. Nothing quite like a condescending, smug chairmate to set the mood for a nice relaxing day on the slopes!
The condescension* is all on your end.
She expressed her thoughts.
I clarified, shared mine, then inquired.
Ironic, sure, but condescending, no.
It's like someone saying "it's good that you ordered a vegan dish," then asking, "If you think vegan is good, why did you order chicken strips?"

I guess the bigger question is why you read *that into it despite explicit text to the opposite, while others do not?
(^ rhetorical question)
Just because you called 'not condescending' doesn't make it so. Also, what's ironic about your response? It's just you being smug about your recycled gear. That's not irony. I ski mostly recycled gear too but I don't need to make skiers on new gear feel crappy because of it.



User avatar
TallGrass
Posts: 442
Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2022 8:13 pm

Re: Am I really in Duluth?

Post by TallGrass » Wed Mar 01, 2023 10:35 pm

connyro wrote:
Wed Mar 01, 2023 10:22 pm
Just because you called 'not condescending' doesn't make it so.
"Just because you called 'condescending' doesn't make it so."

Connyro, did you want to pay £1 for 5min, or £8 for a course of ten?

connyro wrote:
Wed Mar 01, 2023 10:22 pm
Also, what's ironic about your response? It's just you being smug about your recycled gear. That's not irony.
The irony was not in my response, and
smug /sməɡ/ adjective
having or showing an excessive pride in oneself or one's achievements.


0 for 3, connyro. Thank you for your patronage. Do you prefer to pay via Venmo or PayPal? :)



User avatar
wabene
Posts: 716
Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2021 9:53 am
Location: Duluth Minnesota
Ski style: Stiff kneed and wide eyed.
Favorite Skis: Åsnes Gamme, Fischer SB98, Mashus M50, M78, Pano M62
Favorite boots: Crispi Svartsen 75mm, Scarpa T4
Occupation: Carpenter

Re: Am I really in Duluth?

Post by wabene » Wed Mar 01, 2023 10:41 pm

Gads there is no escape

Edit: it was quiet on that hillside today



Post Reply