Snowboarding at Frostfire

I did a day-trip with Joey and Dave down to Frostfire in North Dakota. The black fields and zero degree weather on the drive down didn't leave us too optimistic for decent snow, and yet everything was open except for the half pipe. This doesn't say much for snow quality though; the hard pack surface was closer to crushed ice than snow.

Left - regrouping and discussing whether it's better to take long slow runs, or to bomb down the steeper and shorter runs. In Frostfire, the long runs are all of about 4 minutes. It was strange to see all of the rails and jumps that the staff have built in the terrain park. I still remember when the ski patrol would take lift tickets away for building a 2 foot kicker on an unused run. Actually, I can even recall some of the very first times I showed up with a snowboard, and we were turned away because they didn't have insurance to cover us on their slopes. Hard to imagine, given that we saw about 15 boarders to every skier this time around.

Left - The hardest part of snowboarding - getting off the chair lift. I couldn't believe how badly the chairs had been maintained, and only 1 of 3 lifts was running. The seats had been replaced by loose pieces of plywood, with a hard edge that cut into the underside of your legs on the ride up, and splinters that ripped away at expensive snowboarding pants. Classic Frostfire.

Above - Joe getting some fast air on the "chicory run".