Almost ending the winter, and not being able to go snowboarding even once on this winter season, I knew this weekend on mid march was my last chance since temps were going up very soon. I have been to the Iowa resorts before but they were not having much snow, so I looked online for other resorts even norther. I found a few of them in Wisconsin, which looked the obvious choice, taking in account hours of driving. The one that picked my attention after reading some reviews, comparing number of trails, base snow, and distance from St Louis, was Cascade Mountain. So friday morning I left St Louis about 8:45 am, with an estimated time of driving of 6hs 20 mins according to Mapquest. I did 3 stops, and only because of the stops the trip took exactly what was estimated. Even going just myself it did not feel that long, but it never feels bad when going, the problem is the return. After checking in on the local Days Inn, I decided to take a rest before hitting the slopes. It was around 4pm, and at 5:30pm the ticket cost was reduced to only 24+tax. So at 5:15 I was already on line, but the computer did not let them sell the discount tickets until the computer clock marked the time. I started the session feeling lack of balance and confidence after 1 exact year not boarding, it took me about 3 runs to feel like I was in control of the board.
After that I was felling great, I think the 5-hour energy helped me to boost my energy and not feel tired at all. Regarding the trails, all the left side of the mountain was closed because there was no light posts on that side, so I would say a third of the resort was closed. I was
trying to avoid the black diamonds, since I don't get much fun by running on those. I really enjoy blues and greens for cruising. And that is why I enjoyed this mountain. I really liked the setup of the trails, I would break them down in 2 sections, the upper and the bottom section. The upper section was flatter, and the bottom was steeper and longer where I was really picking up speed. On this section all the blue trails were a lot of fun: Badger Bowl, J.J.,
Ptarminga, Manitou.
The staff were friendly, most of them latin americans working thru university programs, same thing I saw in Colorado, so I could even speak in my mother tongue with some of them. Regarding the waiting on the lines, it started from a couple of minutes to no waiting time after a couple of hours. I left the place at 9:30, even the lifts were closing at 10pm, I wanted to save energy for the next day.
Second day started at 7 am checking my possibilities, temps were going to be on mid 40s, and the night before got directions to Granite Peak. As I was not feeling as tired, decided it was good opportunity to go to a bigger resort, and left around 8:30 am. It took a little less than 2 hs to get to Wausau. I checked the resort's website online the night before, and it was claiming to be the biggest resort on the area, and it was. This place is very reminiscent to Colorado, on a smaller size. It really was a lot of fun, except the long lines taking a few minutes sometime , and I started to feel extremely tired and sore on my feet, since this was the first trip with my new
snowboots and I was still packing them out. I purchased the ticket to be used up to 4 pm for around $60 but could not keep up and preferred to stop at 2 pm, after visiting the double diamond trails on the left section of the mountain, at that time I already started to think how the return was going to be.
On Granite I was able to snowboard the 3
different sections. Started on the easy one which is the middle section having mostly greens. Then switched to the right section having mostly blues, and finally the left section having single and double black diamonds. Here is where I felt it was enough, after 2 day sessions of 4 hs. each.
Finally, the return on the next day, was long as hell as I expected, but at least I had fresh on my mind the moments of adrenaline cruising on the slopes. It took around 6 hs, and I had peaks driving at 110 mph, to not get so bored.
To sum up, I think the experience was excellent, and I would go again to Wisconsin to check out these or maybe other resorts , but based on the research I did, the ones I visited seem to be the best on the south-mid section of the state. Of course it would be much nicer to go during high season to snowboard on some fresh powder. I am already looking forward to next winter !!!
Sorry but no pics, did not have the camera with me, but I am posting the trails map so all this bla bla makes a little sense if anyone is interested on a similar trip.
After that I was felling great, I think the 5-hour energy helped me to boost my energy and not feel tired at all. Regarding the trails, all the left side of the mountain was closed because there was no light posts on that side, so I would say a third of the resort was closed. I wastrying to avoid the black diamonds, since I don't get much fun by running on those. I really enjoy blues and greens for cruising. And that is why I enjoyed this mountain. I really liked the setup of the trails, I would break them down in 2 sections, the upper and the bottom section. The upper section was flatter, and the bottom was steeper and longer where I was really picking up speed. On this section all the blue trails were a lot of fun: Badger Bowl, J.J.,
Ptarminga, Manitou.
The staff were friendly, most of them latin americans working thru university programs, same thing I saw in Colorado, so I could even speak in my mother tongue with some of them. Regarding the waiting on the lines, it started from a couple of minutes to no waiting time after a couple of hours. I left the place at 9:30, even the lifts were closing at 10pm, I wanted to save energy for the next day.
Second day started at 7 am checking my possibilities, temps were going to be on mid 40s, and the night before got directions to Granite Peak. As I was not feeling as tired, decided it was good opportunity to go to a bigger resort, and left around 8:30 am. It took a little less than 2 hs to get to Wausau. I checked the resort's website online the night before, and it was claiming to be the biggest resort on the area, and it was. This place is very reminiscent to Colorado, on a smaller size. It really was a lot of fun, except the long lines taking a few minutes sometime , and I started to feel extremely tired and sore on my feet, since this was the first trip with my new
snowboots and I was still packing them out. I purchased the ticket to be used up to 4 pm for around $60 but could not keep up and preferred to stop at 2 pm, after visiting the double diamond trails on the left section of the mountain, at that time I already started to think how the return was going to be.
On Granite I was able to snowboard the 3different sections. Started on the easy one which is the middle section having mostly greens. Then switched to the right section having mostly blues, and finally the left section having single and double black diamonds. Here is where I felt it was enough, after 2 day sessions of 4 hs. each.
Finally, the return on the next day, was long as hell as I expected, but at least I had fresh on my mind the moments of adrenaline cruising on the slopes. It took around 6 hs, and I had peaks driving at 110 mph, to not get so bored.
To sum up, I think the experience was excellent, and I would go again to Wisconsin to check out these or maybe other resorts , but based on the research I did, the ones I visited seem to be the best on the south-mid section of the state. Of course it would be much nicer to go during high season to snowboard on some fresh powder. I am already looking forward to next winter !!!
Sorry but no pics, did not have the camera with me, but I am posting the trails map so all this bla bla makes a little sense if anyone is interested on a similar trip.
