Ciara and I drove down to Halifax last Saturday to shred the 'flex. It was hot, dry, and generally a bit poo.
Being there in the middle of the day when the sun is fully out is simply too much for the aged sprinkler system. They had some wax out, and I had my usual supply of washing up liquid, but neither availed. Dropping in from the ramp was fast enough, but by the time you hit the kicker it's simply too slow. Pretty much unusable.
The best I managed was a sketchy backside 3. No photos, no videos, nothing to cross off the list.
The lift stopped also, which seems to be a common occurrence. It doesn't bother me that much, but Ciara hates using the secondary lift!
So why then, am I looking forwards to going back? When it comes to a good Saturday afternoon session, am I being stupidly optimistic or are there other ways to unlock the potential of the slope?
I was talking to the guy who runs the place (I think); apparently the slope is totally different on evenings after the sun has gone down. I can believe that. The problem is that the opening times make it too costly for me to travel there, only to ride when the sun has gone in.
So I asked him about dousing the kicker with water. Apparently a solution of water and washing up liquid is best, which is what some of the regulars use. So next time I'm there, I'm gonna take a few buckets, plently of washing up liquid, and periodically lube the kicker.
I'm sure many people consider this to be a lot of effort. Especially considering that Cas' is marginally closer and doesn't suffer from a dry-slope... They may well be right - but I just really enjoy riding there. I like the kicker - when it's running smoothe it can be awesome. So for now, I'm placing my faith in the 'fax (and a handful of buckets).
4 comments:
Damn, glad to hear it's not just me who's being suffering from a very dry dry slope! I went to the permasnow slope in Plymouth a couple of weeks again and it was such a painful comedown from the lovely soft fresh snow in Chamonix a month or so ago...
Great blog by the way. Really cool to see your progression. Keep on blogging! :)
I know what you mean! When you've been riding on snow over the winter, it seems a long time since you were last on something artificial!
I'll post-up on how the next session goes, I think it's gonna be much faster. With a bit of luck, it might even rain... :)
I really want to try it, but it looks like Dallas will be my only choice, and thats not until 2009! If I go west its gonna be for lots of POW. You guys get the good stuff across the lake
I think I'd trade some of the terrain in America for a dry slope :) Although I guess depending on where you live out there you could have _miles_ to travel to get to any mountains...
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