Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Lutsen recap

Lutsen turned out to be bittersweet. We got up there at about 230 on Friday which was nice. We stopped in Duluth at Fitgers Brewhouse and had a nice lunch and picked up a couple growlers of beer. Then we finished the drive up to Lutsen and went straight to the hill to buy our lift tickets. We noticed right away that they had made some changes to the parking areas, which was nice and also and most importantly the new lift is FINALLY open and running! After buying tickets and checking into our hotel we relaxed and got ready for dinner. We had a nice meal at Moguls up at Caribou Highlands, we like that place. They have good food.

Saturday we woke to cloudy and warmer conditions it was about 30 when we got to the mountain and started skiing. The snow turned out to be very snow and it was actually in really nice shape. We took bridge chair up and came down KooKoo for our first run of the day. The snow was perfect on the north face of Eagle Mountain. Sweet. We headed right for the new chair. The new chair is great, it takes you right up to the upper chutes of the expert runs on eagle which is very nice, you no longer have to skate ski up hill to get there. Melissa and I did laps on the new chair for most of the morning. We lapped Cliff, Georges and Chris's Couloir most of the morning before heading over to Moose mountain. The wind was blowing from the East so Moose was very windy, infact to windy. We did a few of our favorite runs on Moose and headed back to the chalet before taking the tram back over to Eagle and Ullr mountains.

The weather was starting to turn about 2pm. A low level fog bank moved in and turned the visibilty to zero. It was to hard to ski so we called it a day. We had a fun day and got some good skiing in so that was all that mattered.

Saturday evening after a nice dinner at the Gunflint tavern in Grand Marais it started to rain! WTF weather. It rained all night and we awoke the next morning to a "wintry" mix that was mostly rain. We were bummed. We just can't check a break with the weather at Lutsen, I just don't understand why it just can't snow when we are there. Someone doesn't want us to ski fresh snow in Lutsen... Oh Well. We headed home. It was a bummer... But at least we had one great ski day.

On a positive note. I am down to one run left at Lutsen to ski and then I have skied every run there. the Plunge is the only one left. I am heading to do it this year, but with the lack of snow it is hard to say if it will even open this year. Ugh... Big Sky in 23 days!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Skiing and Re-do's

So I finally made it out skiing. Yes! And I still liked and was able to do it! I always get a little worried when I go to ski for the first time of the season that I will forget how or something stupid like that. But alas I did not and it was fun. We went down to Welch Village and everything was in good shape and the snow was pretty good, so it was pretty fun. Just made me want to get out to Big Sky right then and there but I have to wait 29 more days. I think I can make it.

Melissa and I are going to try for Lutsen again this weekend. We are going to leave tomorrow and head up. We plan on skiing all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday before heading back. We are staying at our favorite little hotel up there, the Cliff Dweller and we are both really looking forward to getting away for the weekend.

I have been in a real blah mood lately and I am not real sure why. It is kind of frustrating though. I think maybe it has to do with the fact that I haven't been out skiing much yet and that winter is almost over and it doesn't seem like I really have done anything. Christmas came and went and was kind of a non-event this year which made me kind of sad. I like Christmas a lot and this year didn't seem very Christmas-ie at all... I am hoping my funk will leave soon.

I am hoping for a week of fresh powder in Montana, I hear that clears all sorts of said funks. I am hoping so, but if nothing else the Tram ride to Liberty Bowl will be a good diversion...