Had a great time at Wintergreen on Thursday. They opened some new terrain this week and I wanted to sample it before the big holiday weekend crowds. I thought I saw Skier219 at one point but we were going in different directions and that was that. Maybe next time.

They had just opened The Gap and Devil's Elbow in the Highlands which increased the variety in that area a little. They were making snow on everything else with the exception of Outer Limits. A woman I shared a lift ride with was a condo owner and told me it would be last because it does not hold snow well. She was also stuck on the Highlands lift for about 40 minutes in the morning while they worked out a problem with an ice jam.

Upper Cliffhanger did not have too many bumps (which was good for me) and they were blowing snow on Lower Wild Turkey so I stuck to Devils Elbow for the most part. Here is a view from near the top of Cliffhanger.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nygrk/3202218127

Tyro opened on Thursday as well and that was a lot of fun. The lower 2/3s was groomed and packed pretty hard so it was fast by my standards. With no one ever there I was able to let the skis run almost like I knew what I was doing. I think that is about as fast as I have ever gone in my brief skiing history and it was great.

Towards the end of the day, things were getting a little slick in spots and the light was changing so I bailed at about 4:30. Crowds were light then as they were all day.

I was fooling around holding a camera with my ski pole. Its not Warren Miller but you can get an idea of what a normally crowded rental shop area looked like, along with the Upper Cross Trail which is usually congested. Just myself, someone learning, and that guy at the end. (we saw each other).

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2856896

They will have a lot of open territory by this weekend but the base is not deep so here's hoping for a lot more cold weather.

I thought the snow was great on Thursday, first time this season I felt like I was skiing on real snow at Wintergreen. Even the stuff coming out of the guns was pretty good due to the cold temps (temp was 14F when I quit at the end of the day).

I did get a snowmobile ride up while they were fixing the Highlands lift, which was fun.

Here's one of the test videos I shot with my new helmet cam:

http://vimeo.com/2855680

Be sure to turn volume down, as the mic was not positioned right and I got a lot of static from the wind noise. I want to tweak the view up slightly (though it is cool to see pole plants). There was a nice line down skier's left of Devil's elbow which you can see towards the last 1/3 of the video.

Fun video Craig. Looks cool in full screen mode. Man, I want one of those things.

Glenn

First, much better quality than the low res video junk I post. Is that due more to the camera or use of vimeo?
All these are obvious, but I'll state anyway (mainly as notes to myself for future reference):
-aim up so that we get more of the whole trail in front rather than the patch of snow ten feet in front of you, although a pole plant or two was cool
-stop to pan the general scene once or twice during run, esp if there is a good view like top of cliffhanger.
-Got more interesting for the viewer when you followed behind those skiers in the second half, also liked going in and out of sun. it would be cool to use it following a super hot skier
-I guess a short intense run of 60 secs with bumps, trees, sun, shade, deep pow, a huck or two, a 360, a flip, and with beautiful scenery in background would be good for this; i.e. bring to Alta!
How sturdy on your head does if feel, any worries about it shaking loose? How expensive was camera and helmet rig? Can you use for quality regular shots, not mounted on helmet?

Vimeo definitely looks better than YouTube, no matter the camera. Vimeo compression is less severe, thus the quality is better.

I hope to break out the camera at Alta tomorrow!

The camera I bought (VIO POV.1) is super tough -- originally developed for military and law enforcement. Downside is the price, around $560 on Amazon, but I tried several less expensive cameras and there was no comparison. Among other things, the cheaper cameras generally had horrible battery life in cold weather, and would require expensive lithium batteries to get a reliable 2 hours of operation. Just the expense in batteries covers the price jump to the VIO! I got a good 5-6 hours of battery life with the VIO in ~ 15F temps at Wintergreen on regular Alkalines. I am using rechargeables at Alta.

The camera has a separate head and recording unit. You can use it anywhere you can mount the camera head, so it's not just a helmet cam. There are a variety of mounts available. I am still tweaking the mount on my helmet. Ran out of time for this trip, but I may machine something when I get back home. The challenge is my helmet (Leedom Scream) which has a vent lever right where I'd want to mount the camera...