Thanks again, Tom. It's hard to imagine that another ski season is over. You really went out on a high note, so to speak, with this video. As always, thanks for the mini-vacation in my day.
You are doing your own soundtracks now? There is no end to your talent. Quite a variety of music! As for the skiing--I will never tire of these videos, even if you feel they get repetitive. It's always interesting to see recent snow and weather conditions, etc. I did what I believe was just about the same tour, a couple of years ago. I had the idea it was more or less along the CDT, and that snowmobiles were not permitted there...but there were plenty of tracks, anyway. I didn't notice any tracks in your video, so maybe that is an advantage of going later in the season. Sure looked nice! I hope you'll get out skiing a few more times, but have a good summer, too.
I was following the CDT route over Sublette Pass and it is used by snowmobiles. I won't ski this route mid winter for that reason. There were a few groups in the area and I was surprised to see them this late in the year. The fresh snow sure made everything look pristine, but it was very heavy and deep. Not ideal conditions, but a great outing none the less. Thanks for tuning in and have a great off season. :)
So when I thought I was hearing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir I surmised you were getting really nostalgic but reading that you did this with AI... I was astounded. Nice end of season production Maestro!
Great video Tom! Was curious why you weren’t on your AT skis, but then you mentioned that you probably should have been. Question, were you using the mini skins on your 98’s? Thanks for the cool ski videos!!
I did not use the mini skins on my SBound 98's on this tour, but I did have them along. The traction pattern on these skis works very well on warm wet snow and I just used a lower angle of attack with switchbacks across the slope for the climbs. This particular ski route is a route I used to ski in my youth, last century (1970's), with my brothers, and so I picked the 98's more for nostalgic reasons. It certainly is more of a challenge to ski with lightweight gear than with my plastic boot telemark setup. In hindsight, my Hypervector / Xplore / Alfa Free would have been a better choice for the downhill sections, as the snow was very deep and heavy. I checked the snotel site before I left home and I was expecting a few inches of heavy spring snow on top of a hard consolidated base, but instead there were sections of the trail (away from the snowmobile tracks) where I was sinking 24 inches, and I just couldn't power my turns in the heavy snow. I did make several downhill runs, but they were not very graceful. Just for fun, you might check out this video I posted several years ago, skiing the basic route as this video under June snow conditions, skiing SBound 98's and 3 pin soft leathers. The capability of this setup is similar to what I skied back in the 70's and is similar to the Xplore/Alfa Vista setup in this video. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-rT0YKf9_QDs.html
Both songs in this video were created with the AI software, Udio. It this instance, I provided the lyrics and some specific musical guidance and it was able to generate this song. It is simply amazing.
