Has anyone tried to dye their hills jumps?

Cyanicenine

Cyanicenine

Member
If so how did it go? I'm getting really frustrated with the flat light and fog we've been having. One of my local hills is really good about keeping their jumps painted, but the one closest to me just uses some flags on the lip (sometimes, they don't always even have those). Unfortunately that doesn't help you land when you can't tell the knuckle from the flat or even the sky from the ground. I know well enough not to use spray paint or some harsh chemical. How pissed do you think park crew would be if I came through and laid some blue food coloring down?

I'm probably just going to deal with it, but it made me wonder if anyone has tried to dye the ramps themselves out of frustration.
 
You may have very well already tried this, but if your hill has a park crew, bring it up with them! I think they would agree considering that the fog has been an issue - it's a safety concern, so I dont see why they wouldn't be all for it.
 
13615173:FrenchFry said:
Fuck hitting jumps when can't tell the ground from the sky...just go hit rails for the day.
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If I did that I'd never get to hit the jumps. We hardly ever see the sun or get good high contrast light in the PNW. Some days are worse than others, but the flat light thing is more often than not.

I posted on park crews facebook page about the jumps needing paint, but yeah I'll try talking to the guys directly next time I'm there before I do anything drastic.
 
13615211:Cyanicenine said:
If I did that I'd never get to hit the jumps. We hardly ever see the sun or get good high contrast light in the PNW. Some days are worse than others, but the flat light thing is more often than not.

I posted on park crews facebook page about the jumps needing paint, but yeah I'll try talking to the guys directly next time I'm there before I do anything drastic.
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Where you skiing in the PNW that has this issue?
 
13615264:Cyanicenine said:
Western Washington.
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Word, for some reason I thought you were talking Schweitz, and I was like "Just talk to Nick and Dan, they are usually super good about that" haha
 
If you think it's a problem, mention it to the park crew when you see them. Don't paint the jumps on your own though. Different places have different policies. Honestly, most places you don't need it. Just because a place near you has it, doesn't mean the other place needs it.

If the fog is really bad that changes things though. I've worked a couple places where we dyed our jump corners, and then one place where we dyed everything, jumps, rails, and jump knuckles. The clouds would move in sometimes there and get gnarly.

Idk, flat light is kind of just a part of skiing imo. For the most, part, I don't see any reason why any places should have to dye things. If places want to that's fine, but i feel the same about places that don't.

My $.02
 
13615211:Cyanicenine said:
If I did that I'd never get to hit the jumps. We hardly ever see the sun or get good high contrast light in the PNW. Some days are worse than others, but the flat light thing is more often than not.

I posted on park crews facebook page about the jumps needing paint, but yeah I'll try talking to the guys directly next time I'm there before I do anything drastic.
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do you ride at the skummit?

if so, park crew should be pretty easy to talk to about this
 
We use feild marking paint, the stuff that you use to paint lines in grass. I hate it everything looks like an orange blob when it warms up and all the paint runs everywhere
 
Tbf to OP, dropping in just hoping that your skis are pointing towards the jump and then only seeing the jump properly as you're about to go off it is one of the sketchier moments I've had on skis

So yeah, dye sounds like a plan
 
Just bring it up with the park crew, if they aren't chill enough to dye their jumps then thats another problem in itself
 
13615948:Jbresch said:
Just bring it up with the park crew, if they aren't chill enough to dye their jumps then thats another problem in itself
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Not really. A lot of places, don't and you really don't need to.
 
if they're are good park crew just mention it to them...or tell guest services whoever, its a pretty big safety issue if they have jumps open when they really need to be dyed...

food coloring and windshield washer fluid (so it doesnt freeze) in a pump sprayed is the best bet...
 
If there are coniferous trees in the area, a few handfuls of neetles usually does the tree. Used to do that all the time
 
Something like this
el462i.jpg
with water+food coloring would work, if someone complains, just say youre fixing a safety issue, which you actually are.
 
I went and asked the park crew supervisor a few days ago about painting the jumps in question here, and finally got a response today:

Apparently a couple years ago some gaper gaped his way across the paint on the knuckle and stained his jacket with the evil food coloring. The gaper then sued the mountain, apparently won, and now we can't ever have paint on any features again.

I have no words for the idea that some dudes jacket is more important than the safety of everyone that rides the park, but that's Snoqualmie for you I suppose.
 
Get some spruce/pine branches and smack them on the landing and kicker to dislodge the needles. Kind of a pain in the ass, but the little bits help a lot with depth perception. This is what is often done at aerials sites in flat light.
 
13619179:Cyanicenine said:
I went and asked the park crew supervisor a few days ago about painting the jumps in question here, and finally got a response today:

Apparently a couple years ago some gaper gaped his way across the paint on the knuckle and stained his jacket with the evil food coloring. The gaper then sued the mountain, apparently won, and now we can't ever have paint on any features again.

I have no words for the idea that some dudes jacket is more important than the safety of everyone that rides the park, but that's Snoqualmie for you I suppose.
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That right there is bullshit. The fact that one gaper fucked up and now everybody has to suffer is retarded.

As others have said, I reccomend using evergreen needles.
 
The saga continues. I sent an email to the resort and got a different response:

We were asked to stop using dye by Boyne's Director of Mountain Sports Development, a couple of years ago. The reason we were given was because we could not keep a consistent dye job when we were having a blizzard. We can accomplish consistency with flags. I will pass your email up the chain.
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The best part about this story is that Boyne owns another mountain nearby that does happen to paint their features.
 
Honestly from the first post it sounds like they just don't want to, which is made more clear in the second. Idk, they have flags on the takeoffs that's pretty decent and more than a lot of places.
 
13616291:Meap said:
Something like this
el462i.jpg
with water+food coloring would work, if someone complains, just say youre fixing a safety issue, which you actually are.
Click to expand...

"Don't worry guys, I'm just spraying weed killer on the jump. It makes it hold its shape and gives you more speed"

weed killer is life
 
Typical Boyne response right there, I work for Boyne back in Michigan and we have dyed our jumps before but not often because we never have a solid mixture and sprayer..always looks stupid. However at Cannonsburg, they do it often and looks great. They have these little tab things you put in water and it makes it look damn good. A lot of the time you wanna mix it with some window washer fluid you put in cars so it doesn't freeze up the nozzle while putting it down. Personally I think it looks way better than non dyed jumps. But stay away from food coloring because that will run on the snow and not look very good..
 
13621279:Cyanicenine said:
The saga continues. I sent an email to the resort and got a different response:

The best part about this story is that Boyne owns another mountain nearby that does happen to paint their features.
Click to expand...

You've just unraveled one of the greatest conspiracies of our time. If you dive any deeper, hire protection.

There's more to this story, I can smell it.
 
topic:Cyanicenine said:
If so how did it go? I'm getting really frustrated with the flat light and fog we've been having. One of my local hills is really good about keeping their jumps painted, but the one closest to me just uses some flags on the lip (sometimes, they don't always even have those). Unfortunately that doesn't help you land when you can't tell the knuckle from the flat or even the sky from the ground. I know well enough not to use spray paint or some harsh chemical. How pissed do you think park crew would be if I came through and laid some blue food coloring down?

I'm probably just going to deal with it, but it made me wonder if anyone has tried to dye the ramps themselves out of frustration.
Click to expand...

13616291:Meap said:
Something like this
el462i.jpg
with water+food coloring would work, if someone complains, just say youre fixing a safety issue, which you actually are.
Click to expand...

If you get one of those and mix in bulk carpenters chalk (in powder format) it works fantastically. From what I understand its not very toxic either - though someone would need to fact check that.

That's what we used in the park I used to work at.
 
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