Opening Day

This Saturday, Boston Mills started off the season of skiing and snowboarding in Ohio. Actually they kind of started the season. There were only 2 hills open and they had less than good snow coverage. The rest of the place was covered in grass because most of the man made snow melted.
This was one of the latest openings of the resort for quite some time. Usually they are fully operational by this time in December. The reason for this is the weather of course. Whenever it was cold enough to make snow, they tried and then a few days later temperatures would go well above freezing and melt all of the snow. I am predicting that Boston Mills and Brandywine will not be fully operational until early January.
Even with the poor snow conditions and limited open area it was still a good day of riding. It felt good to finally be out on the slopes and the snow again. I went with a friend, early so we could be there before the crowds. It was snowing pretty heavy on the way there and back and I saw a pretty serious car crash. The whole way there and back I  was debating if it was worth all of the fuel I used to get there. Finally, I decided it was because I finally went snowboarding for the 2011-2012 season.  

Snowboard blog 9

The month of December has finally come around. This means that snow is on the way and so are the icy temperatures needed for this great sport. In the last few weeks, snow has been seen but only in light flurries. The end part of this week is looking up with lows in the mid 20's and chances for snow.
I can't wait for this season to start. Good snow is expected this season and that means that the terrain parks will be up and running earlier. Since this is what all of my friends and I do I'm hoping these early season predictions are correct. Terrain parks are not just your basic slopes. They offer more of a challenge with jumps, boxes , and rails. In the terrain park the goal is to look steezy and do sick tricks with good friends.
Another type of riding is all mountain. This type of riding is mostly unavailable in Ohio due to the lack of vertical drop or height of the hills. With this style a large hill or mountain is needed or it gets boring quickly. In all mountain riding, the goal is to go fast down the mountain and just flow with the ride.

Another type of riding is racing. again, this is quite uncommon in Ohio because of the size of the hills. These race courses can consist of gates or a boarder x type course.
No matter what type of snowboarding people think is the best the main goal is to have fun. I think of snowboarding as one of the only ways to make the winter season fun.

Cold weather

Tonight's blog is going to be about the weather, snowboarding, and places that already have good snow. First off as all of you may have noticed the weather has been getting consistently cooler. We had our first taste of snow last Thursday, November 10th. Tomorrow, we are also expecting some wet snowflakes. Even though it might be mixed in with rain its still a step in the right direction. The snowboarding season around these parts usually starts mid December and continues until somewhere in March.
Next up is locations that already have snow ready for skiers and boarders. One location is Silverton Mountain Colorado. This is pretty much back country skiing and boarding. They have been operating since mid to late October. all of the snow there is fluffy powder that anyone would die for. Aspen is opening for the season on the 19Th. The aspen snowmass is home of Buttermilk mountain which hosts the winter x games.
Places that are going to be up and running before December are a bit more common. Holiday Valley has a predicted opening of November 25Th. Smuggler's notch in Vermont has the same expected opening date. This place is home to Olympic training runs and has the only triple black diamond in the east.

Finally everyone just needs to hope for snow.

snowboarding

Its a cool Saturday morning here in  Avon Lake Ohio. I woke up and went out to my truck and noticed it was covered in a thick frost. This was a great sign to me and all other snowboarders out there. It means that the weather is finally reaching the freezing point which means snow can be made. All that is needed for snow to be made is temps around 28 degrees. The only difficult part is that it needs to be that cold out for at least 6 hours at night.
In other news some friends and I are trying to decide where to go over the winter. Most are saying Vermont but i'm not really looking to drive that far. I guess that the search will have to continue for somewhere worth going that is a little closer than 10 hours away. We are probably going to look around on the internet for places within 400-500 miles.
As I am typing this I'm trying to find some good music to hit the slopes with. The search is going pretty successful    because i have found around 10 new songs in this short amount of time.

Well that's about all for this blog. Until the next one.

Latest blog news

On Today's edition of the blog, its going to be snowboarding related as usual. Finally, after a long wait the weather is starting to cool down with temperatures reaching the mid 30's overnight. Snow is even being predicted by the end of this month or early November. Predicted openings for the local ski resorts is somewhere around the beginning of December.
On another note all of my snowboarding gear has been acquired for the up and coming season. Due to me being extremely bored at home I decided to try on all of my gear. Surprisingly it all looked good together and i was happy with the purchases that I made. For now it appears that all I need to do is play the waiting game for cooler temps and snow.
For the end of this blog, I am going to list some good areas to ride that are not too far away. Holiday Valley and Peek n Peak are both located in New York and if I recall correctly there around 4 hours away. If your looking for somewhere a lot closer your option is probably BMBW. This place is fun but not very challenging or adventurous for the better riders.

open house 2011

Tonight this edition of my blog will be about the bmbw open house. Open house is when there are heavy discounts on anything you will ever need for snowboarding. A friend and I left avon lake around ten in the morning to go get some of these great deals. He got a sick pair of pants and I got my season pass. While in line waiting to get my pass a lady decided to mouth off to us about our language. My friend then told her that she was not his mother. She took offense to this comment and said I would be embarrassed if you were. Afterwards, we could not stop laughing about it. Finally it was my turn to get the picture and I got it and then we just decided to leave. Anyways, open house lasts all weekend and if your into snow sports you should head out and take advantage of the savings. It is really a good time to go get what you need and hang out with some friends at the same time.

Up And Coming Season Preperations

Today's blog is going to be about the up and coming season. Right around this time people start getting all of the new things they need as well as season passes. In Ohio one of the best places to do this is the Boston mills brandy-wine open house. It takes place next Friday through Sunday. At this event you can get heavily discounted gear such as snow pants, jackets, goggles, and even snowboards. The season pass to ride is also heavily discounted. I would say during open house you can easily save yourself 100 dollars on the pass alone. Next, to prepare for this season most will take their boards to get a hot wax and to fix any damage that has occurred to the base. Doing all of this in early to mid October may seem early but if you wait too long prices can rise and you might not even have your board back when the season starts up. This is also a good time to start planning a ski trip with some friends. Planning now will give everyone time to talk their parents into it and save up sufficient funds. As of now I am considering a trip out to holiday valley during winter break. The reason being snow quality is better and the runs are much steeper and longer. Overall, compared to Ohio it is a way better experience. Well that's all that I really have for the Pre-season preparations for today.