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Who's up for continuing the tradition of resetting the ski season on sand? [Note there's a thread for Bruneau on here somewhere too.]
Well, September is kind of a mess, as always, and cesare has indicated he's unlikely to find the time this year. So I'll be heading there October 4 - 6, and I'll be skiing even if no one else is. Yes, it is common to have a mix of skiers and non-skiers on the sand trips. 10/4 is a new moon, BTW.
As usual, the plan is to camp at the Great Sand Dunes National Park campground and take things from there. There are no reservations at the CG in October - first come, first served, with two vehicles per site.
Since all the past info on TTips is now out of reach.... a quick summary...
You'll get some sucky views from the CG (from 2012):
The dunes are the tallest in N. America, but we usually ski a ~400' dune at the right edge of dunes in the above pic. The weather can be anything from relatively hot in the day to sub-freezing at night. Rain brings cold, but that's OK - you'll get something that is easiest to describe as corn sand that skis a lot faster.
You don't need (or want) skins. There's enough friction on the sand for a fairly quick climb, at least on teles. Snowboards and alpine skis work, but you'll have to carry them up the dunes, which results in a significant fun unit reduction. AT bindings work too, but I'd be wary of using AT or alpine bindings you care about.
The skin track, on corn sand (from 2009):
The pic below shows a nice selection of sand-appropriate skis from cesare's library (from 2010). They all have fairly simple tele bindings (nothing for sand to mess with), and hard sintered bases. Extruded bases (like those found on all modern K2s) are really slow on sand - the material is too soft and the sand digs in. Most of the colored (not clear over graphic) bases are sintered - common on older skis. On black skis, sintered bases are more difficult to identify but are noticably harder in a side-by-side comparison. Fat skis and sidecut are wasted on sand, so dig around in your local junk store. My setup is a pair of ex-rental Rossi Nepals that jarlybart was getting rid of ~1998, chili bindings, and rootbeer T3s. Sand is the only skiing that any of that gear sees these days. Note that a few runs on sand is not hard on your skis, but a lot of use will start to polish them - some of cesare's skis double as shaving mirrors.
About the wax - no, you don't want any. Get rid of ALL the wax. Just slows you down.
As you see, this is one of the few national parks that welcomes dogs (pic from 2010). Yes, you may crash, and next time you wipe out on the white ribbon of death, you may find yourself emptying half a pint of sand from your left boot. It's OK.
Cesare demonstrates correct landing technique approaching Medano Creek (from 2012).
UPDATE 9/15: Date no longer negotiable.
Well, September is kind of a mess, as always, and cesare has indicated he's unlikely to find the time this year. So I'll be heading there October 4 - 6, and I'll be skiing even if no one else is. Yes, it is common to have a mix of skiers and non-skiers on the sand trips. 10/4 is a new moon, BTW.
As usual, the plan is to camp at the Great Sand Dunes National Park campground and take things from there. There are no reservations at the CG in October - first come, first served, with two vehicles per site.
Since all the past info on TTips is now out of reach.... a quick summary...
You'll get some sucky views from the CG (from 2012):
The dunes are the tallest in N. America, but we usually ski a ~400' dune at the right edge of dunes in the above pic. The weather can be anything from relatively hot in the day to sub-freezing at night. Rain brings cold, but that's OK - you'll get something that is easiest to describe as corn sand that skis a lot faster.
You don't need (or want) skins. There's enough friction on the sand for a fairly quick climb, at least on teles. Snowboards and alpine skis work, but you'll have to carry them up the dunes, which results in a significant fun unit reduction. AT bindings work too, but I'd be wary of using AT or alpine bindings you care about.
The skin track, on corn sand (from 2009):
The pic below shows a nice selection of sand-appropriate skis from cesare's library (from 2010). They all have fairly simple tele bindings (nothing for sand to mess with), and hard sintered bases. Extruded bases (like those found on all modern K2s) are really slow on sand - the material is too soft and the sand digs in. Most of the colored (not clear over graphic) bases are sintered - common on older skis. On black skis, sintered bases are more difficult to identify but are noticably harder in a side-by-side comparison. Fat skis and sidecut are wasted on sand, so dig around in your local junk store. My setup is a pair of ex-rental Rossi Nepals that jarlybart was getting rid of ~1998, chili bindings, and rootbeer T3s. Sand is the only skiing that any of that gear sees these days. Note that a few runs on sand is not hard on your skis, but a lot of use will start to polish them - some of cesare's skis double as shaving mirrors.
About the wax - no, you don't want any. Get rid of ALL the wax. Just slows you down.
As you see, this is one of the few national parks that welcomes dogs (pic from 2010). Yes, you may crash, and next time you wipe out on the white ribbon of death, you may find yourself emptying half a pint of sand from your left boot. It's OK.
Cesare demonstrates correct landing technique approaching Medano Creek (from 2012).
UPDATE 9/15: Date no longer negotiable.
I'm on a short leash these days and can't get away overnight. Let me know when you're down for a marg sometime and I'll fill you in.
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