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Ski Season 2019/2020


texasdago

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Thinking of taking fam to breck over spring break. Kids have never skied before, 7,6,6. And I really want to drive. Is this all a mistake?

Prepare for large crowds. Last week Breck had the longest lift lines I’ve experienced in over 45+ years of skiing. 30-40 minute waits at some lifts. The national economy is not hurting.
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14 minutes ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

wouldn't do it if they paid me whatever they're charging for a lift ticket these days. insanity.

That's why you don't ski at peak times.  We leave the mountains on Christmas Day and don't come back until after New Year's.  Same goes for Spring Break and Presidents/MLK weekends.

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4 hours ago, HouTex said:


Prepare for large crowds. Last week Breck had the longest lift lines I’ve experienced in over 45+ years of skiing. 30-40 minute waits at some lifts. The national economy is not hurting.

Christmas to New Year's is the busiest time of year at the CO resorts.  Plan accordingly for crowds.  Just before Christmas is much slower if you can do that instead.  I skied the 3 days before Christmas (Dec 22-24) and had zero lines at WP.  Skied on Jan 2 (because of powder) and it was a zoo.

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3 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

That's why you don't ski at peak times.  We leave the mountains on Christmas Day and don't come back until after New Year's.  Same goes for Spring Break and Presidents/MLK weekends.

90% of the people at breck or similar places would have just as much fun at a place like big sky, not wait in lines, and pay much less for lift tickets and rooms. 
All it would cost them is some social media cache. 

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2 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

90% of the people at breck or similar places would have just as much fun at a place like big sky, not wait in lines, and pay much less for lift tickets and rooms. 
All it would cost them is some social media cache. 

I wouldn't go that far.  There is a lot to do off the slopes in Breck, and there are good restaurants.  It's not my cup of tea, but I can see why people like it there.  And you guys don't have legal weed, which isn't an issue for me, but is for many who travel to CO.

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On 1/5/2020 at 9:02 PM, Chewbacca said:
On 1/5/2020 at 8:46 PM, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:
Only if you don’t put them in lessons

Este. Put them in lessons and they'll have a great time.

Suck it up and pay for the private lessons.  They can do it as a group of 3.  They'll get much more out of it than sticking them with 10 other people.

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6 hours ago, HoustonHorn said:

Any Whistler recommendations. I'll ski with the kids 9 and 12, and my wife won't ski.

Places/location to stay, much prefer a very short walk or ski-in/ski-out.

Place to rent skis?

Places to eat?

Might spend a couple days in Vancouver, so any suggestions there are welcome.

Thanks

just got back from Whistler.  crowded, but had a great time.  still need some snow, last I checked.

my wife made all the res's (that's her thing, I just get veto power).  she got some deal online through skirentals.com or somesuch that sent us to the Salomon shop for our rentals. very good service there, although if I had to do it again, I'd ask for a stiffer snowboard boot which I'm used to, over the flexy thing they gave me by default.  

eats:

The Keg was pretty good.

Earl's was waaaay overrated.  unless you like trendy shit served by Eurotrash-wannabes at all costs.

Gnarly Root was very good.

the indian place upstairs right by the Whistler Gondola was very good.  Masala something or other.  we got takeout.

Blacks Pub was meh.

did not eat on the mountain.  just energy bars.  big food just makes me too lethargic for snowboarding.  the food looked pretty good, though.  much much better than the burgers and dogs up top at Ski Apache or Red River.

we spent one night at the Westin downtown Vancouver on the back end (wife had points).  it's a block off the Whistler Connect shuttle route, so we had them drop us at the nearest stop on the way back.  very good location.  lots of shopping and ethnic food options nearby that looked good, but we ended up at Dunn's deli.  had smoked meat poutine.  it was ok.  they don't smoke meat like we do, I guess.   I think they used pine or someshit.  Lennox Pub was a good place to chill while the kids dove into their ipads back at the room.

canNOT recommend the Vancouver Art museum.  but my daughter's into art so we had to find out.  biggest one in western Canada, fwiw.  Bentonville fucking Arkansas's art museum blows it away, easily.

have fun, you hoser.

 

Edited by wd40
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4 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

Mammoth is like $185/day now.  Crazy.

Went to a buddy’a bachelor party in vail last year. Got in line for a single, lady at the counter tells a group in front of us it’s $212 for the day. Just laughed and told my buddies I’d be drunk in the hot tub when they got done and walked off.

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Suck it up and pay for the private lessons.  They can do it as a group of 3.  They'll get much more out of it than sticking them with 10 other people.

We did that with the kids this Xmas and they finished day two owning the greens at Breckenridge. No ski experience to begging to go back. Private for sure.
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I wouldn't go that far.  There is a lot to do off the slopes in Breck, and there are good restaurants.  It's not my cup of tea, but I can see why people like it there.  And you guys don't have legal weed, which isn't an issue for me, but is for many who travel to CO.

We took my mom too and chose breck so we had things to do. We went to the theatre, church for Xmas eve, the movies, silly shopping, the lights were great. My gf and I found a crazy awesome brewery and ice skating and I’m sure there was much more we didn’t find. I have no idea if it’s the cool place to go, I just looked for the best mountain ski towns for Xmas and it seemed legit and easy enough to make the trek in a suburban hauling Christmas presents and all of that up there. The week before and through 12/25 was really great and not that bad. We packed 12/26 and drove home 12/27. Heard 12/26-1/1 is horribly crowded from the hospitality folks.

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1 hour ago, ousuxndallas said:

If you have young kids, I highly recommend you skip skiing during holiday season and instead go between mid January and early March. Missing 4-5 days of school before 5th grade is no big deal, and you get uncrowded slopes and no lift lines.

Agree 100%.  We did this with our two kids two years ago and it was awesome.  Split a great house with friends and avoided the long lines.  We were at Breck, so it was still somewhat crowded, but way less than our previous trip there.  

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If you have young kids, I highly recommend you skip skiing during holiday season and instead go between mid January and early March. Missing 4-5 days of school before 5th grade is no big deal, and you get uncrowded slopes and no lift lines.

As soon as they are in school that’s almost impossible.
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7 hours ago, ousuxndallas said:

You guys that can get away, grab a ticket to SLC. Major storm cycle right now. 25" in 24 hrs at Alta, and most of the good stuff is closed. Next few days should be crazy good. 57788c2b8db31789daedf4c3a0cccb1e.jpgb415b873ad359280154a0ff881908cec.jpg

Yea I got here Thursday night and have had powder days every day since. Gonna have five powder days at five diff resorts here by the time I fly home Tuesday night. It’s damn good here right now. 

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On 1/10/2020 at 6:43 PM, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

Went to a buddy’a bachelor party in vail last year. Got in line for a single, lady at the counter tells a group in front of us it’s $212 for the day. Just laughed and told my buddies I’d be drunk in the hot tub when they got done and walked off.

Meanwhile in 2017 the walk-up price for lift tickets here was 53 Euro with a 6000 ft vertical

xlarge.jpg

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On ‎1‎/‎6‎/‎2020 at 12:46 PM, HouTex said:


Prepare for large crowds. Last week Breck had the longest lift lines I’ve experienced in over 45+ years of skiing. 30-40 minute waits at some lifts. The national economy is not hurting.

Is spring break really that bad at breck?  We have gone to keystone over spring break the last 3 years and it's never that bad.  If you can get up the mountain first thing there is usually never a long a line anywhere and even the base gondola goes pretty fast.  But I have not been to Breck in like 30 years, so can't compare the 2.

We are headed back to Keystone again this spring break and I am dying to try out a new board. I think I found the widest mf'er out there for my size 15 boots.  Libtech Skunk Ape 170UW.  Plus some new bindings and hopefully it will be night and day better than the rentals I am used to.

Kids (9 and 11)  are now at the point where they don't really need lessons anymore, but we normally put them in at least 1 day.  daughter wants to switch and learn snow boarding, so we'll see how that goes.

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Hit up Copper and Cooper this week, my two favorite places in Colorado. Copper wasn’t too bad during the week but it was packed Saturday. Cooper opened up TN Basin this year and for those that ski a lot of double blacks, it is well worth the visit. We paid $49 for a half day lift ticket ($62 for whole day) and never stopped. I can’t say enough good things about Cooper. You can’t beat the price, they don’t over groom, they have a much more open setup to ski the woods, etc. They also have one of the best beginner areas of the mountains I’ve been to and you can pay $25 just to do it. 

Drove down to Winter Park Sunday to snowmobile. It was a serious mistake to leave there at 5 pm but it is what it is.

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On 1/10/2020 at 6:20 PM, wd40 said:

just got back from Whistler.  crowded, but had a great time.  still need some snow, last I checked.

my wife made all the res's (that's her thing, I just get veto power).  she got some deal online through skirentals.com or somesuch that sent us to the Salomon shop for our rentals. very good service there, although if I had to do it again, I'd ask for a stiffer snowboard boot which I'm used to, over the flexy thing they gave me by default.  

eats:

The Keg was pretty good.

Earl's was waaaay overrated.  unless you like trendy shit served by Eurotrash-wannabes at all costs.

Gnarly Root was very good.

the indian place upstairs right by the Whistler Gondola was very good.  Masala something or other.  we got takeout.

Blacks Pub was meh.

did not eat on the mountain.  just energy bars.  big food just makes me too lethargic for snowboarding.  the food looked pretty good, though.  much much better than the burgers and dogs up top at Ski Apache or Red River.

we spent one night at the Westin downtown Vancouver on the back end (wife had points).  it's a block off the Whistler Connect shuttle route, so we had them drop us at the nearest stop on the way back.  very good location.  lots of shopping and ethnic food options nearby that looked good, but we ended up at Dunn's deli.  had smoked meat poutine.  it was ok.  they don't smoke meat like we do, I guess.   I think they used pine or someshit.  Lennox Pub was a good place to chill while the kids dove into their ipads back at the room.

canNOT recommend the Vancouver Art museum.  but my daughter's into art so we had to find out.  biggest one in western Canada, fwiw.  Bentonville fucking Arkansas's art museum blows it away, easily.

have fun, you hoser.

 

Thanks!

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On 1/10/2020 at 4:38 PM, Sbbruin said:

Mammoth is like $185/day now.  Crazy.

That must be the walk up price.  Just went last weekend, it was $136 if you buy 7 days in advance.  Which is still crazy but more digestible.  Planning a March trip with my cousin and his kid.  He's retired Army.  PX price is $83.  I would guess that deal is available at most if not all Mammoth-related (who owns them now?) resorts and probably many others.  Oh and the annual pass is < $600 which is good at a bunch of places.

The snow was OK.  Not great but not bad.  If it doesn't get a couple more dumps before March, it 's gonna be bleak then.

On 1/10/2020 at 4:43 PM, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

Went to a buddy’a bachelor party in vail last year. Got in line for a single, lady at the counter tells a group in front of us it’s $212 for the day. Just laughed and told my buddies I’d be drunk in the hot tub when they got done and walked off.

I always wondered who paid the walk up price.  Don't they have the internet where you are?  Oh wait...

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6 hours ago, shakahorn said:

That must be the walk up price.  Just went last weekend, it was $136 if you buy 7 days in advance.  Which is still crazy but more digestible.  Planning a March trip with my cousin and his kid.  He's retired Army.  PX price is $83.  I would guess that deal is available at most if not all Mammoth-related (who owns them now?) resorts and probably many others.  Oh and the annual pass is < $600 which is good at a bunch of places.

The snow was OK.  Not great but not bad.  If it doesn't get a couple more dumps before March, it 's gonna be bleak then.

I always wondered who paid the walk up price.  Don't they have the internet where you are?  Oh wait...

I’m at mammoth right now. Haven’t checked the walk up prices but yes they are absolutely insane and have been for at least 3-4 years. I think they got bought by KSL private equity partners and Aspen resorts. You really need to buy the ikon or epic pass if you plan on going more than say, 5 days in a season. Or plan ahead on liftopia.com for discount tickets. 
 

Regarding the snow at Mammoth right now, it’s not the best but I’ve boarded on worse here especially during the drought years. That being said it’s pretty firm and just thin enough off-piste to provide a pretty solid amount of obstacles. We got much luckier this past week in Salt Lake City but you can’t win em all. 

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Headed to Telluride tomorrow.  Apparently they have been dumped on the last couple of weeks so looking forward to great conditions. I've had my own boots for the last couple of years and can say that if you guys ski with any frequency at all, they are absolutely worth buying.  I only ski 8-10 days a year and it was quite easy to justify the expense for me.  This year though I've upped my game and just purchased skis for the first time at the conclusion of my Crested Butte trip over new years.  It was the first time that I rented skis and thought "I'd really like to own these."  Then after putting 5 days of turns on them, I had to have them and bought some on my way out.

These are them and they are awesome:

_1200x0_0A911400001_ENFORCER_FREE_104.pn

Also, whoever was talking about lessons for the kids, here's what we did.  We started taking them when they were 3&4 years old.  At that point, "ski lessons" are basically glorified babysitting and it would be very, very difficult to justify private lessons at those ages.  They did get a lot of fundamentals down though that process and I recommend it when they are young.  We switched them to private lessons when they were 6&7 and they have progressed very rapidly.  At this point they can basically ski the whole mountain.  Bump runs, steep groomers and tree runs are all favorites of theirs.

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25 minutes ago, BTW said:

Headed to Telluride tomorrow.  Apparently they have been dumped on the last couple of weeks so looking forward to great conditions. I've had my own boots for the last couple of years and can say that if you guys ski with any frequency at all, they are absolutely worth buying.  I only ski 8-10 days a year and it was quite easy to justify the expense for me.  This year though I've upped my game and just purchased skis for the first time at the conclusion of my Crested Butte trip over new years.  It was the first time that I rented skis and thought "I'd really like to own these."  Then after putting 5 days of turns on them, I had to have them and bought some on my way out.

These are them and they are awesome:

_1200x0_0A911400001_ENFORCER_FREE_104.pn

Also, whoever was talking about lessons for the kids, here's what we did.  We started taking them when they were 3&4 years old.  At that point, "ski lessons" are basically glorified babysitting and it would be very, very difficult to justify private lessons at those ages.  They did get a lot of fundamentals down though that process and I recommend it when they are young.  We switched them to private lessons when they were 6&7 and they have progressed very rapidly.  At this point they can basically ski the whole mountain.  Bump runs, steep groomers and tree runs are all favorites of theirs.

was in telluride 2 weeks ago...conditions are great. they've had a solid start to the season.

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On 1/19/2020 at 7:00 PM, Horns99 said:

Anyone have any thought to share on Angel Fire or Red River? Any suggestions on where to stay? Anyone ever stayed at the Angel Fire Resort? Taking 6 yrs old for their 1st time skiing.


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one kid?   not that it matters a lot, I'd still recommend ski school.  as mentioned by others, diy ski school is a beating for everyone.   I dropped my kids in ski school and everyone had more fun.  then there's the parents dealing with their non-skiing kids in the middle of the trail that everyone else gets to deal with, too.

anyway, I've been to RR several times (friends of my wife got married there, and they go back every year, so we joined the party off and on).  I've only mountainbiked AF, so I can't really compare them for you outside of the stats available online for each, as far as skiing.  for my skill level (blues and low-end blacks), RR is fine.   not that it matters much this year, but RR has the most snowmaking capacity in the area.  last time I went was 2 years ago, and it was packed with folks from AF and beyond because there was no snow except at RR, and very few runs open. fucking sucked.  my daughter got taken out by some other kid thought he was Shaunfuckingwhite.

I will say the town of RR has a lot more options for food and whatnot (although the grocery store in AF is bigger).  it's also a lot more walkable than AF. 

RR recs:

---Copper King Lodge.  not fancy, but clean and right at the bottom of the copper chair (double to mid and the top---NOT rec'd for getting to the school).  nice hot tub, very cool play area for kids (bring deer corn).  walkable to several restaurants

---Bull o' the Woods.  fun bar with bar food, TVs.  good beer selection.  good wings and pizza, a block from CK

---Texas Red's.  good steak place, across the street from botw

---Sundance.  good new mexican food

---Dairy Bar.  throwback burger and icecream joint.  good wings.  kid favorite.

Capo's Italian is pretty meh.  food's ok, but the service really sucks

AF recs:    really just El Jefe and Angel Fired Pizza for dinner.  both were good.  Angel Fire Bakery & Cafe had a good breakfast, but again, everything is spread out all over in AF, which was ok on dry ground with mtbs, I guess.  dunno about winter conditions.

no recs on where to stay in AF.  we got to crash for free at a friend's condo.  nice place, but can't speak to the value, per se.

Edited by wd40
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On 1/10/2020 at 10:06 AM, HoustonHorn said:

Any Whistler recommendations. I'll ski with the kids 9 and 12, and my wife won't ski.

Places/location to stay, much prefer a very short walk or ski-in/ski-out.

Place to rent skis?

Places to eat?

Might spend a couple days in Vancouver, so any suggestions there are welcome.

Thanks

We usually stay on the Blackcomb Gondola side of things. We VRBO a small place with a kitchen basically right across from the Fairmont. Not fancy at all, and still expensive but close. There are several nicer places at slopeside which are just out of what I'm willing to spend, frankly, but I prefer to spend my money on food. 

Spicy Sports (right next to it) is a good rental place, but there are several other options in the area I don't know as well. 

Food (again, on the Whistler/Blackcomb side of things - have no experience of the Creekside area):

Really good BBQ place inside the Fairmont. Casual, almost cafeteria-style but upscale. Fills up quickly. Sometimes has live music.

Harajuki Izakaya is great. 21 Steps is also a really nice spot. Splurge dinner at the Fairmont Chalet, fondue for everyone (the restaurant is the summer golf club - need to walk or shuttle to it from the main ski town area). 

Dubh Linn Gate is ok, nice to sit outside if it's a sunny day. Peaked Pies is good for grab and go. Pizzeria Antico is a nice spot, good pizza, but doesn't take reservations and can be a mess because of it unless you get there early. Pasta Lupino is also solid, but the spot is tiny, and sitting next to the door can be unpleasant. In that same area, Tandoori Grill is actually pretty good, though they seem to have an issue getting the food out if there is a ton of take-out also happening. High Mountain Brewing is ok - oddly small selection of beer for a Brewery, but there's plenty on the food menu to please almost anyone. I'm there over President's day next month and have reservations already lined up a month ago for almost every night. Otherwise, places get packed quickly.

The BC Liquor store is really decent - nice selection of wine and hooch. 

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Need to get some new goggles, gloves, and outerwear and have delivered within a couple of days.  any recs for best place on online to get quality stuff delivered quickly?  any recs on goggles and glove brands?  amazon has a bunch of goggles for very cheap but that makes me worry about quality.  thanks!

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1 hour ago, Gale Snoats said:

Need to get some new goggles, gloves, and outerwear and have delivered within a couple of days.  any recs for best place on online to get quality stuff delivered quickly?  any recs on goggles and glove brands?  amazon has a bunch of goggles for very cheap but that makes me worry about quality.  thanks!

Don’t use amazon. 
 

use evo.com or backcountry.com or steep and cheap.com

Or rock these bad boys

https://shop.tetongravity.com/collections/tgr-optics-1

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1 hour ago, Gale Snoats said:

Need to get some new goggles, gloves, and outerwear and have delivered within a couple of days.  any recs for best place on online to get quality stuff delivered quickly?  any recs on goggles and glove brands?  amazon has a bunch of goggles for very cheap but that makes me worry about quality.  thanks!

Goggles - Smith IO, pretty much a stand by for quality and durability. 
Gloves - black diamond or Hestra 

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32 minutes ago, Johnny Chimpo said:

Goggles - Smith IO, pretty much a stand by for quality and durability. 
Gloves - black diamond or Hestra 

thanks.  i might get some new pants too.  the pant prices vary wildly.  what is the difference between a $200 -- $250 pair of ski pants and a 4, 5, or even $600 pair?  that wide range doesn't make sense to me

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1 minute ago, Gale Snoats said:

thanks.  i might get some new pants too.  the pant prices vary wildly.  what is the difference between a $200 -- $250 pair of ski pants and a 4, 5, or even $600 pair?  that wide range doesn't make sense to me

I wouldn't be dropping $600 on the internet on a pair of ski pants.  I have a pair of Spider pants I've had for years, and the new stuff doesn't do much more than mine. 

$200-250 should be an easy find, waterproof (Gortex, or something similar), side leg zippers, zippered pockets, adjustable waist, padded/reinforced instep sides at the bottoms, protects the pants at your boots from rubbing together, and wearing thru the fabric.

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Yea, unless you want to go whole hog on a powder bib I wouldn’t pay more than Around $200 for a set of pants. I used a pair of lib tech pants I think I paid around $100 for on a Memorial Day sale for about four or five years. Before that I used a pair of rip curl or some other lesser known name for five years or so. The big thing is To make sure they’re water proof and breathable, gore tex if possible. 

one thing to keep in mind also is how much layering you plan on doing and whether or not they’re insulated. 

My old lib tech pants were insulated and recently I picked up the Patagonia Snowdrifter bib which is nice but not insulated. Now instead of just rocking some light thermals underneath I wear the bib, sweatpants, and thermals under the sweats. 

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32 minutes ago, Johnny Chimpo said:

Yea, unless you want to go whole hog on a powder bib I wouldn’t pay more than Around $200 for a set of pants. I used a pair of lib tech pants I think I paid around $100 for on a Memorial Day sale for about four or five years. Before that I used a pair of rip curl or some other lesser known name for five years or so. The big thing is To make sure they’re water proof and breathable, gore tex if possible. 

one thing to keep in mind also is how much layering you plan on doing and whether or not they’re insulated. 

My old lib tech pants were insulated and recently I picked up the Patagonia Snowdrifter bib which is nice but not insulated. Now instead of just rocking some light thermals underneath I wear the bib, sweatpants, and thermals under the sweats. 

Damn, sweats and thermals ?  That's some heavy insulator stuff. I like an un-insulated pant wIth a pair of Under Armor thermals.  I don't wanna sweat, that's very bad.

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59 minutes ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Damn, sweats and thermals ?  That's some heavy insulator stuff. I like an un-insulated pant wIth a pair of Under Armor thermals.  I don't wanna sweat, that's very bad.

Yea I wouldn’t wear it all on bluebird days but I do like storm riding and you need some oomph when you’re skiing in storms with 30 mph winds and 15 degree temps. 
 

The new Patagonia bib and upper shell I got I was blown away at how much more insulation I needed as compared to my old integrally insulated gear. 

Edited by Johnny Chimpo
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