Steve,

Could you possibly post some thoughts on those Kodiaks once you've played with them? They made my short list for new sticks.....

Thanks,
Tom

dayum! Things look pretty frickin' good then thar over yonder!

Go tear it up!

Oh we shall. Edges sharpened - Check, Base waxed - Check, Fingers and toes nice and toasty - Check and check, Total disreagrd for bodily safety - Check. Okay good to go.

I will probably be at Whitetail this afternoon. I'll be wearing the DCSki lapel pin on my jacket.

- Scott

The web site claims 8 inches of new snow and posted this nice photo on the site:

Allrighty then...

Drive up to Whitetail starting from Germantown at 9:30 was gravy..until off the freeway. The road (broadsomethigorrather) is flanked by farm fields on either side, heavy windblown across the road. Easy to drive though..simply don't touch the pedals and hold the steering wheel straight. Not much improved on the way home. The true hazard was the flaming A-HOLE that decided to park on my back bumper during the drive. I had traffic in front of me, traffic coming other other way, the truck they were driving was fishtailing all over the place but they just had this fetish about trying to see in my car via the back windshield. Sssooo glad they didn't park by me in the parking lot. Would have been awkward.

Anyways...It did indeed to appear to be around 8 inches of fresh, with wind blowing fairly stout. Scale of 1-10, I'd give the wind about a 6+. Partly cloudy skies with great visibility. Crowds non existant.

Stepped through the tunnel and kicked myself for not being there earlier. The beginner hill...I don't know names, forgive me, the first quad on lookers left...it still had untracked at 10:30. Ungroomed as well...yes folks...freshies to be picked through 2 hours after opening bell. Granted, it wasn't unblemished, but it was a far cry away from being skied off. The first run down in my new Kodiaks was something dreams are made of. I felt like I was the bee's knees. The skis were dreamy smooth, bindings like they were made for this, my bodyjust an extension of the gear. That was the first run...the mechanics of myself declined quickly after that, but the snow held nicely for a coupleafew hours. Especially along skier's right, just inside from the guns (not blowing on that trail). The wind kept fluff blown in so while it didn't erase tracks, it keep them filled in so it was buttery soft. The vast majority of the skiers were bombing down the center part to far left side of the run where things were more hard packed and East Coast predictable in consistency. That just kept kicking the fluff over towards me.

I really want to perfect my tele turn so I ambled over to the very bunny hill, far looker's left. At 11:30 there was still untouched cordoury under the lift and on skier's left. I was able to lay down my tracks, then evaluate my turns on the lift ride back up. Was sorta neat/helpful.

I ventured over to Angel to check things out. It sounded like gravel on my skis. It must have been throwing down that freezing rain while they were grooming last night. The run itself was fairly even, well distributed fast conditions, but heavily "grainy". Serious road rash for any skin that comes in contact with the snow during a fall. I busted only a couple of runs over the course of the day on that drop simply because I love the soft butter so much more than what Angel had to offer.

Snowboarders were out in force. While there were no crowds, no lines, slopes fairly empty...the boarders mass up at the top of the run to fasten bindings. It takes everyone about the same amount of time, give or take. As a result, they come down the hill in waves...huge waves. Locusts of biblical proportions came to mind. I would just pull over and watch them bomb past, hell bent for the terrain park. Skiers were outnumbered at least 10:1. I did see one other telemarker, but we were on opposite sides of our laps so I never ran into him.

For Tom...the Kodiaks are just awesome. The wind filled tracks gave a varying degree of consistency and the skis just busted through like it was nothing. Conditions were not quite manky but varied would apply. I would just drop a little lower in my stance and feel super stable. The skies are mounted with BD O2's, driving them with 2 buckle T-2's. I had the bindings set a bit soft today because if I took a bad tumble, I wanted them off my foot, not taking my knee out. When I had the skies over on the hard pack I found the edge really demanding some attention if you wanted it to carve. I was getting tired and my attention would wander. I'd come back into parallel turns as a result and the ski just ate it up for breakfast. Loved snapping back and forth in a parallel stance. I think the Kodiak is an awesome ski and very happy I bought it. Mounted with the active bindings that I have it really helped make the whole telemark thing much easier.

Steve