Latest Project: A Poor Man's Winter
Welcome to the bad colonies' website.This site is dedicated to the exploits of those individuals that find humor and adventure on the open road. You'll find detailed information on the 2006 Mongol Rally and extensive posts from our adventures. We are already planning the next catastrophe, which will be glorious. In the mean time we will continue to update this site with different gnarly tales of gnarly stuff.
What is the bad colonies motoring coooperative?
Way back in 2005, Dominic and I decided to participate in the 2006 Mongol Rally. We created the bad colonies motoring cooperative as catch all organization for like minded idiots that want to participate in a whole bunch of really stupid activities involving cars in the name of charity and free poorly written online literature (i.e. run on sentences). Keep your ears open cause the BCMC has just started to roll.
Life is like a Ford Fiesta on the Mongol Rally, once started it will stall if left to idle. - Seth
contributing writers
we would love to have more entries,if you would like to contribute, please contact me at nathaniel@badcolonies.org
The Official Minstrel of the BCMC - Sven Curth
Sven is good people and makes better than average music that does not suck. Want proof, the team consistently played his solo release "Me and Jim" while driving on the Mongol Rally. In fact, the convoy has since requested copies to play on the radio in London. The real question here is why haven't you bought your copy yet. Available here.
Stop by www.hot-fat.com, say hi and buy a cd or two.
PMW Day 1: Thanksgiving
Represent
On Friday, the family and I rolled over the big hill to Waitsborough for a rail jam at the Big Picture. My buddy JJ helped organized and managed to pull off a really chill set-up. I’m old, so I don’t know who won or anything. I can tell you that the Harman brothers are real good. This was as close as I got to an action photo the whole weekend. The new rails and such that Superparx built for Sugarbush look really tight. Props to Pure Snowboard, The Buzz, Sugarbush and the Big Picture for putting on a great contest. Hopefully it becomes an annual gig.
Warmth, beer, frontrow seats, not too bad of an evening. The daughter got a “Snowboarding is not a crime” (anti-Mad River Glen) t-shirt and promptly dumped a cup of hot chocolate on it. Being a father rules.
Yesterday, I decided that spending $29 for a half day ticket at Sugarbush was a better idea than sitting on my butt. It certainly seemed questionable once I hit the parking lot. I met up with my sister and shredded gnar for awhile until my legs felt like manure. There’s a tiny speck of white up there somewhere.
Couldn’t complain about the liftlines.
Jibbonks
I could go on a big rant about how bad the conditions were, but in the end it was a ton of fun. However, I will say this is the worst Thanksgiving conditions I can remember. Lil Sister on the hill, first day is good regardless of the conditions
Okay, the greatest brainwashing of all time is the fact that skiers actually think bumps are a good thing. I have a theory, back in the early 80s, Regan was prez and ski equipment was much improved. All of sudden people started to question conditions. The ski areas were scared so they hired Karl Rove. Karl spun the story and got bump skiing into the olympics. All of a sudden, all the skiers were like, “yeah those bumps are killer, I hear they are as big as cars on Outer Limits.” I don’t buy the bumps are good bs and I didn’t vote for bush.
We all hung at my mother’s farm for turkey day. The daughter likes chasing animals and the scary Emus like chasing daughter
Tranquilty and Bob, inverses
The Waiting Game
The essential ingredient to any winter downhill activity is snow. We don’t have any. While it is still early in the season, this is quietly building as the worst early season in recent memory. This is a big deal for the ski areas of the Northeast, Thanksgiving is an important weekend for the big boys, it sets the tone for the entire year. Right now, no one can even make snow. Fret not kids, Coles Pond Weathercam and the NOAA are predicting snow from Friday through Monday.
In the meantime without any snow, the coach has us training hard. We braved the big hill behind our house on Saturday and got these shots. More later…Seth
This week marked the biggest day of a father’s life, a child’s first unprompted Lebowski quote. Yesterday when the phone rang, an unprompted, “Phone’s ringing, dude” was uttered.
Press Release: Three Days for $69 at Mountain Creek
Vernon, NJ (November 13, 2006) – Winter is coming fast and it’s not too soon to start thinking about holiday shopping or hitting the slopes. Mountain Creek’s “Triple Play” card offers three full-day lift tickets for just $69 (a $177 value), making the Triple Play one of the best winter deals and a great holiday gift. This amazing offer lets you, or someone you love, enjoy three full days riding or skiing for just $10 more than a full-day lift ticket!
This year Triple Play cards are available at Mountain Creek, on the web at mountaincreek.com, at 26 Kings Super Market locations in New Jersey and Long Island, and 31 Sports Authority stores in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
Give the gift that gives again and again and again. The only catch is that the Triple Play must be purchased by December 24th and is valid every day of the coming 2006-2007 season, except Martin Luther King Weekend, January 13-15. The Triple Play card is easy to use, just bring it to any ticket window, have it swiped and exchanged for a lift ticket and hit the slopes! It does not include admission to any special events, and it is non-refundable and non-transferable.
Mountain Creek’s combination of the best snowmaking in the East, a winter forecast calling for a snowier than normal season, a jam-packed event calendar, plus the outstanding value offered by the Triple Play card will allow skiers and riders to get out and enjoy themselves throughout this winter.
Mountain Creek offers other pass programs to fit your lifestyle, including Season Passes and Creek Cards which offer significant savings, and discounts on Season Passes are available through December 10, 2006. Find out more at mountaincreek.com.
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ABOUT MOUNTAIN CREEK
Located less than 50 miles from New York City and owned by Intrawest, Mountain Creek boasts state of the art snowmaking with skiing and riding on 46 trails over four peaks accessible by 11 lifts. A vertical of more than 1,040 feet combined with a huge network of terrain parks, the region’s only Superpipe, the single largest snowmaking installation in North America and world-class lodging facilities have quickly made Mountain Creek the premier resort in the region. A true four-season destination, Mountain Creek features summer family fun at Mountain Creek Waterpark and Diablo Freeride mountain bike park, as well as luxurious townhouse-style accommodations in Black Creek Sanctuary or in The Appalachian, the resort’s only ski-in-ski-out hotel, which also features meeting and conference space. www.mountaincreek.com
ABOUT INTRAWEST
Intrawest ULC is a world leader in destination resorts and adventure travel. The company has interests in 10 resorts at North America’s most popular mountain destinations, including Whistler Blackcomb, a host venue for the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. Intrawest owns Canadian Mountain Holidays, the largest heli-skiing operation in the world, and an interest in Abercrombie & Kent, the world leader in luxury adventure travel. The Intrawest network also includes Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort in Florida and Club Intrawest - a private resort club with nine locations throughout North America. Intrawest develops real estate at its resorts and at other locations across North America and in Europe. Intrawest is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. For more information, visit www.intrawest.com.
Coles Pond Weathercam
While bumping around the New England Lost Ski Area Project, I found this get weather site. The Coles Pond Weathercam page is constantly updating with the latest weather conditions from Walden Pond.
From the Coles Pond Weathercam, here’s an explanation of the technicals;
The heart of our weathercam page is now a wireless DAVIS VANTAGE PRO 2 weatherstation, which transmits current weather data to a console inside our house. The inside display is then hooked up through a Davis ‘Weatherlink’ to the serial port of a desktop computer. Then Ambient ‘Virtual Weather Station’ (or VWS) software is used to FTP the data to this website every ten minutes, where it is then displayed on the weathercam page. (By popular request, we have removed the auto-refresh from this page. To view the most current data you will need to refresh or reload the page manually) The Davis equipment, VWS software, and much more are available directly from the Ambient website.
Build your own snowboard or skis
I went into the clinic today for an HIV test for my year long Russian visa. Whilst waiting for the jabbing to commence, I flipped through the pages of a ski magazine. Pretty mundane stuff really, that is until I hit the pages describing the skibuilders.com website and how they are making their own skis. You really need to check this out.
From skibuilders.com
Always wanted your own pro model ski, but can’t ski like a pro? Why don’t you just build it yourself? It sounds crazy, but building a pair of skis (or a snowboard) is not out of reach if you’re the average garage tinkerer. The first step is you build the ski-making equipment, then you prepare the materials, and finally you put it all together to form a ski. In the end your hard work pays off, and there is no better feeling than skiing on a pair of skis that you designed and built yourself. This website is designed to show you how to build your own ride.
There are three of us involved in maintaining this website and it is dedicated to documenting our homemade rides and skiing adventures. The three of us share one common passion: telemark skiing, but the information we present is not limited to telemark. In fact, you can also build alpine skis or snowboards using the information contained herein. So please find descriptions about all of our projects, as well as notes about equipment, and ski design. There’s even a forum to share information with other SkiBuilders throughout the world. Please feel free to contribute to this unique community to help advance the art, science, and knowledge of skibuilding. Have fun! - Kam, Kam and Kelvin.
From Grafsnowboards.com, check them out.
There are many reasons people decide to build their own snowboard. Sometimes it’s a great way to combine your love of snowboarding with your need to create. Maybe it’s dissatisfaction with the generic boards out there on the market. Perhaps you have an educational project where you’d love to do something involving snowboarding.
This website is intended to demystify the processes involved in building snowboards, and to prove that not only is it possible - but you can actually build some amazing rides. We hope to create a place where people can share experiences, learn some new stuff, and build a knowledge base. We don’t claim our approach is perfect and do not consider ourselves ‘experts’. We’re just reporting what we did and what we have learned.
Weather Predictions
From Farmer’s Almanac
Snow, and lots of it, is also forecast for the nation’s midsection, parts of New England, and the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. “The Great Lakes and Ohio River Valley may be the only area spared the extreme cold,” reveals Sandi Duncan, Philom., Managing Editor, “but this is not to say this area won’t be without its cold spells and significant snowfalls.”
The Canadian Connection
Here are some options just over the border, added plus is the enjoyment that comes from laughing at not just French Canadian skiers, but the French Canuck skiers that go to the cheapest ski areas in the region. As far as I know, all the prices are in Canucky. There is a decent Google map at this link. You could always go curling and really make a day of it. Some of the lodging and ticket deals are really good.
Mont Gleason - their website is not in English so its tough to get a good read. I believe an all day ticket is $24 of funny money. It just outside of Sherbrooke.
Owls Head - not a bad website, some really crazy deals, $37 typical, $15 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and a card for deals there and Mont Sutton.
Mont Orford - Regular ticket price is $45, there are some deals available, terrain looks good,
Others to check out
Mont Sutton - $48, but it may be less for 2W and III, whatever those are.
Ski Bromont - $52
On the Cheap 2006-07 Calendar
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Calendar of Deals - to be updated through-out the year
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Sunday, 11/26 - Okemo - Food Bank Day 3 cans and $25
Sunday, 12/3 - Stowe - Food Bank Day - 2 cans of food and $TBD
Sunday, 12/10 - Mt. Sunapee - “Cares and Shares” day - 5 non-perishable food items and $25
Friday, 12/15 - Attitash - Free
Friday, 12/22 - Sugarbush - $5.50
Thursday, 2/1 - Stowe - Groundhog’s day - $TBD
Sunday, 4/1 - Bromley - 2 for 1
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The Weekly Deals
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Killington - $36 any Tuesday or Wednesday for NH/VT
Jay Peak - $39 any day for Vermonters
Okemo - $29 half day on Sundays for NH/VT
Smuggs - half price on Fridays $29
Snowbowl - $25 midweek, $39 weekends
Bromley - $25 midweek
Burke - $39 any day for Vermonters
Cochran Ski Area - $18 any day
Bolton Valley - $26 any Monday or Tuesday for Vermonters
Ascutney - $25 half day Sunday, $29 - Snowboarders on Wednesday
PMW: Happiness is a Sharp Chain
big and dull times two
The Coach (formerly “The Mechanic”) and I rolled up north to Jennifer’s Mountain on Sunday afternoon to help with some trail maintenance. Upon arrival, the Coach said “Oof Oof” and poached a spot in our hosts’ bed. I wandered outside to get my sawr on, knowing full well that the Coach would probably steal their towels.
cutting twigs and wearing flannel, its a poor man’s winter
Matt and I went in the garage and acted like men for awhile; cranking on this, cussing at that, and talking about sawrs. I knew it was time to throw fire to the sawr when discussions of rolling benches arose. I started yanking on the pull cord and just as I was almost out of breath, with a big cloud of white smoke, she cranked to life. Now don’t fret you wusses, the Earth needs all the 2 stroke pollution she can get, haven’t you read our administration’s latest studies?
We stumbled up the hill and started cutting anything, everything, and some fluffy furry creatures, just kidding… sort of. I fell a couple of times, clipped every rock on the hill side, and nearly tore my nipple off dragging brush. I will have you know that’s a painful deal, but I am a man so I couldn’t say anything other than “Yeah I will have another beer” while trying not to grimace. My chain got so dull that I was cutting based solely on friction and the oversized “chainsaw shop lady talked me into it” motor. Matt’s sawr ran like a champ with only a few repairs needed, kind of amazing considering that it runs on a coal fired steam engine from 1878. I could be wrong on some of the details.
We were done and the first trail of Jennifer’s mountain was cut. All rejoiced with beer and Five Alive. Matt stated, “There’s no co-pay on that therapy session.” We truly are yuppie scum. The Coach woke up and said, “Oof Oof”, ate some crackers, and then said, “Go Home.” We went home and left the trail waiting for some of the fluffy kitty. Thanks Matt and the namesake of Jennifer’s Mountain, hopefully the Coach didn’t leave too many crackers in the couch and we will be back soon. ciao Seth
more ponies than the Seat
A Poor Man’s Winter
Have you looked at the cost of a lift ticket these days, Killington $72, Stowe $70, Sugarbush $66, the list goes on and on. I’ll tell you what, that’s a gang of coin for your average Joe to spit out, let alone some hoser that spent all his cash in Kazakhstan chasing a Mongol of a dream. No sir, its enough to discourage a person from even pursuing the finer arts of downhill descent. Enough to shame a person into cross country skiing or worse yet snowshoeing (of note: sledding will always be the finest and most admired method of wintery descent). Well friends, I won’t lie, the beast almost got me, I was looking at the skinny pink and white slivers of wood in the garage, thinking it won’t be so bad I will go explore the countryside. Yeah I am old, I need something safe, cross country skiing, that’s where its at for me. Then I took a moment to smack myself back to my twindling senses, I am not a cross country skier, I am a snowboarder. The situation seemed mighty desparate, I was broke, missed my opportunity for a cheap pass, and had established that I was not going to be skating in spandex sipping on soup with the hippies.
It was then that I started to question the logic of this whole ski “resort” deal. Maybe there’s a bit of smoke and mirrors here, does a person really need to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company to get more than 6 days in while retaining a “real” job? So I set out, with some fellow poor folks, to see just how many days on the hill a person can get on the cheap. A Poor Man’s Winter was born. We will be welcoming some new folks to the bad colonies’ family and catching up with a few of the usual suspects. This will all unfold as it should. The basic guidelines are as follows:
Each participant will have a budget of $200 to get as many days on the mountain as possible between Nov. 1st and May 1st. A day will be made up of either 3 or more hours lift accessed or 2 or more hours of hiking. Cross country skiing will not be counted. Expenses will be any cash spent from the time a participant leaves their house until they returned home. Gas expenses will not count towards the budget. No illegal means will be utilized. Days will count upon submission and approval of expense report. Talking your way into tickets is allowed. Winner will be known through-out the land as a hero and a champion.
Now you are saying to yourself, “What a bunch of gomars, they’ll get no more than 5 days, hosers.” Here’s the thing, there’s a bunch of options out there if you look. Here’s a few examples
We are aiming to produce really low budget short films for our more featured trips. However, due to the unfortunate demise of a certain video camera that went rallying this sumer, it may not be as often as we like. The gang will update the site with photos, stories, and interesting info about the places we visit through-out the season. To learn more, check out the bang up home of the Poor Man’s Winter, here.
keep it real,
Seth
Coming Soon…
Winter Cometh…
Headquarters saw its first snow of the year over the weekend. I awoke to the mechanic yelling, “Snow dadda, snow, go outside and play.” That just about sums up what winter has always meant to me and with that in mind, I am hoping to announce a new bad colonies’ mini project by the end of the week.
On another note, you will find a few new things on the site. First, just below this post is a fine piece of literature submitted by RD (James) of the Fiat team. You will also find his ugly mug holding down space in the contributing writers section in the left column. Second, new exciting and fresh info has been rolling in from Charlie of the Dukes. This info has been added to the mongol rally cars’ page in the rally repairs and team sections with an excerpt shown below. Have a good week and keep checking back, we are defnitely going to continue to grow the site.
From “Our Favorite Rally Repairs”, Blown Micra Suspension by Charlie Duke,
“This probably wasn’t a surprising thing to happen to a 20 year old car, which should only be driven down to the hairdressers on beautiful british tarmaced roads . However, as 1) i wasn’t in britain, 2) i certainly wasn’t on any kind of “road” and 3) i didn’t need my haircut, we spectacularly drove into some of the biggest holes know to man and bust our front right suspension spring into 5 pieces. We managed to get a bung bodged on before we made it to bishkek and into a nissan main dealer. He didn’t have the part, but said he could find one and to come back the next day. When we came back the car was so high on one side, and suddenly so low on the rear left. Upon closer inspection, we found that had gone as well. Off to a more friendly garage - where they don’t charge $80 - and instead (with the help of a little audi-driving guardian angel) to a local one who raised the car up, told us that the rest of the springs had gone, and to go off to a massive flea market and buy springs that faintly resemble the ones that broke. We came back with 3 meaty lada ones, which he subsequently bodged on without any regard for his own safety, charged us $15 and sent us on our way. So with brand new springs raising our car, we sailed over pot-holes like they weren’t even there.”
coming soon...
summer 2008
links
- the mongol rally
- engineers without borders
- we know snow - backcountry blog
- WMUD
- Sven Curth
- snowboard mag
- harbinger media
- casino life magazine - these guys are a large reason why we were taken care of in Bishkek
- send a cow charity
- mercy corps charity
- how cheap can you get?
- trip prep
- US dept of state country info
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