Not as Good as I Thought I Was..
Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 6:15 pm
I took my son north this weekend to snow and a bit larger hills. We had our first ski outing with our $100 weekend passes at Caberfae Ski Area in the northern lower peninsula of Michigan. The hill has about 450 feet of vertical, which is about what to expect in the northern LP. I like it because it is a dune, and has a little more character than just a glacial deposit.
My son is on the first year of his own skis, and really just getting going. I figured to ski easy terrain with him in leathers and the USGI skis. There was not much of a crowd, but everybody seemed to want to start at the easy chair, so there was a moderate crowd in the area. Temperatures were in the mid thirties. Our first couple runs went good. Both of us were finding our footing the first run, and the second run I was finding my turns and he was finding his. By our third run the snow deteriorated from a soft, moist, granular, to more of a mashed potato-like moist granular about 4" to 5" thick spread loosely over some hard yellow base. I was catching tips and tails all over the place, and showing my ability to roll over a couple of times and land on my skis. My son found it quite amusing, however he was not buying that it didn't count as falling if you land back on your skis. I must have hit the ground at least ten times in the next 4 or 5 runs. I finally threw in the towel, and put on the T-4's and the S-112's. It was not even the easiest day for those, as the base was really firm, and the granular required a softer touch, and I almost forgot, it was pretty foggy.
We had a great time, after he got in the groove a bit we would split at the top every other run or so and meet at the bottom. After a few runs he wanted to watch me ski something steeper, while he waited at a mid-way point. I watched him disappear in the fog and gave the appropriate time for him to get into position. My plan was to show of some fast cranking turns. It started pretty good. I was arcing them fast, and spotted him in the distance, I thought about an extra pole wave just to help him spot me in the fog. I caught a tip while initiating a turn and ended up on my back going headfirst downhill, so I spun around and popped up. When I saw him he was laughing, he told me correctly that I was the same age as Tim our host for the weekend. He was laughing and told me some day I might have to start acting my age!
If we get up there on a weekend with nice snow I will still try to arc those USGI's on the steeper terrain, I can be a slow learner sometimes!
On Sunday the groomers had compacted the snow a bit so the skiing was much easier for both of us. He really progressed over the weekend, and we both had a great time even without my skiing providing comic relief.
My son is on the first year of his own skis, and really just getting going. I figured to ski easy terrain with him in leathers and the USGI skis. There was not much of a crowd, but everybody seemed to want to start at the easy chair, so there was a moderate crowd in the area. Temperatures were in the mid thirties. Our first couple runs went good. Both of us were finding our footing the first run, and the second run I was finding my turns and he was finding his. By our third run the snow deteriorated from a soft, moist, granular, to more of a mashed potato-like moist granular about 4" to 5" thick spread loosely over some hard yellow base. I was catching tips and tails all over the place, and showing my ability to roll over a couple of times and land on my skis. My son found it quite amusing, however he was not buying that it didn't count as falling if you land back on your skis. I must have hit the ground at least ten times in the next 4 or 5 runs. I finally threw in the towel, and put on the T-4's and the S-112's. It was not even the easiest day for those, as the base was really firm, and the granular required a softer touch, and I almost forgot, it was pretty foggy.
We had a great time, after he got in the groove a bit we would split at the top every other run or so and meet at the bottom. After a few runs he wanted to watch me ski something steeper, while he waited at a mid-way point. I watched him disappear in the fog and gave the appropriate time for him to get into position. My plan was to show of some fast cranking turns. It started pretty good. I was arcing them fast, and spotted him in the distance, I thought about an extra pole wave just to help him spot me in the fog. I caught a tip while initiating a turn and ended up on my back going headfirst downhill, so I spun around and popped up. When I saw him he was laughing, he told me correctly that I was the same age as Tim our host for the weekend. He was laughing and told me some day I might have to start acting my age!
If we get up there on a weekend with nice snow I will still try to arc those USGI's on the steeper terrain, I can be a slow learner sometimes!
On Sunday the groomers had compacted the snow a bit so the skiing was much easier for both of us. He really progressed over the weekend, and we both had a great time even without my skiing providing comic relief.
