Saturday April 12th, 2008 Lutsen

Date & Location: Saturday April 12th, 2008 Lutsen

Snow & Weather: 36 degrees FRESHIES

Vertical feet & runs: 20,570 feet 31 runs

Season total: 357,670 feet 516 runs

Comments: Rode with Greg! Holy crap I talked Greg into going to Lutsen. We get one last weekend for the season. All the weather people said stay home last night and don't drive because it is scary blizzard. They were crazy, rodes were fine. Greg and I got up early and took Moose Access for the first lift on Moose Mountain. Holy crap we had a full on powder day as Lutsen received 13" in last couple days. We got first tracks not on just the first run but the first two because we were smart and did Moose Access instead of Gondola. Did you know in flat powder runs that snowboarders travel in single file to hide their numbers. We giggled like schoolgirls the whole day because we couldn't believe we were getting a powder day on April 12th. We eventually made it over to Timberwolf run where we were destroying the run until the Timberwolf decided to make us both it's bitches. We were a little overconfident and the Timberwolf was incahoots with the snow snakes. First I saw Greg get taken down by a snow snake it went: BOARD POOF BOARD POOF! He was a tumble weed. I thought no way the snow snakes would get me but I was wrong. ...OMG there is HOT NEAL!... Anyways I was riding and a snow snake popped up on my toeside, it came out of the snow looked at me and hissed then went over my board and dove into the snow on my heel side. It must have coiled with it's tail like a hoop because the nose of my board dove straight down under the snow and I tumbled. F*CK that hurt! After that we were going to take a break but our Moms always told us to clean our plates so we ate up the rest of the FRESHIES. We did my 500th run with a top to bottom bump run down Grizzly which was completely bumped out after we had done that run first tracks in the morning. We went over the 350,000 mark on Bridge Run a little later. We finished out the day and it was AWESOME! Went to Papa Charlies and watched some sucky live bands. What a great day. We ran into Tele Mike and his crew at Papa Charlies.

Greg: First off, thanks needs to go to Matt for making me go on this trip. I was completely done with the 07-08 snowboard season. Matt knows my weaknesses and can probably talk me into almost anything. Also I need to give a shout out to Angela Lowther who is graciously working for me on Sunday. Without her none of this would be possible. So that being said let's get down to the nitty gritty. I've been sick for 2 1/2 weeks the crud. We made great drive time, roads were supposed to be horrible but turned out to be clear. We listened to the Wild game since Matt gave up his playoff ticket to go snowboarding with me. Now that is hardcore. Wild win 3-2 in OT. After a lame continental breakfast we hit the slopes. We had first tracks on 2 runs. Sweet groomers and 10" of Pow on the edges. FUN FUN FUN! I peetered out at 18,800 vert so Matt went on alone to hit a Lutsen record 20,570. That's sa-weet!! Now we're chillin in Papa Chubbies having beer & water. Oh Matt turned beet red when he saw "hot Neal" sitting behind us. Anywho Peace out!!

Tele Mike: The Mountain Meltdown is going down as it should. Fresh powder, sun and the North Shore views...Later