Ski Report: The Future of Skiing?

Yesterday, I went with Carl and Tyler to Mt High. I was greeted to a glimpse of the possible future of skiing. Judging from the number of people paying to ski in decidedly mediocre conditions, ski areas will definitely still be in business in 50 years. But they might not look anything like you remember them and I felt a bit uncomfortable. So what did I find so disconcerting? Well, you see, Mt High is the anti-Alta. Just as there are no snowboarders at Alta, there are almost no skiers at Mt High. Although only a rough estimate, I would venture that there were at least 100 snowboarders for every skier on the mountain. While Mt High doesn't discriminate against skiers, the mountain is clearly geared towards snowboarders. Unlike other mountains, which have a terrain park, Mt High is a terrain park that has a few traditional trails.

Currently, only the west half of the resort is open. They are reporting a 12-18” base with a cumulative total of 1-2” of natural snowfall this year. From what we saw, that appears to be pretty accurate. The only snow there is what they have made. I did remember to bring my rock skis. But surprisingly, the 12-18” base was much easier on my skis than I expected. In fact, they came out much better than they did after two days on Snowbird’s 50” base.

Overall, the mountain was pretty crowded. The wait on the Blue Ridge Express averaged about 10 minutes. (The Exhibition double chair on the other hand was empty) But getting from the slopes to the lift was treacherous. All the snowboarders decided that it would be a good idea to sit down and get out of their bindings between the end of the trail and the entrance to the lift. It never occurred to them that people might actually want to get to the lift. The mountain itself could have done a better job regulating that and educating them on proper etiquette. Once on the slopes, it was definitely crowded. So if you like making big fast GS turns without having to worry about cutting people off, you probably wouldn't like the place. I decided to make the best of it and to look at all the people as moving slalom gates. No I didn't crash any gates. But I do apologize to all the people I cut off!

The other big downside to the mountain was buying a ticket. Normally the mountains are pretty efficient at getting your money. But it actually took us a good half hour waiting in line to purchase our tickets. On the positive side, they do offer a good military discount. ($36 for an all day lift ticket)

At first, we weren't too psyched about the fact that the whole mountain was a terrain park. But after some prodding from Carl, Tyler and I gathered our courage and started hitting the jumps. What was it that made us so hesitant to jump at first? For me at least, the answer is very clear...fear. I admit that when I look at a jump and consider whether to really hit it with some speed, I think about what could go wrong. I see visions of wipeouts and torn ACL’s. Getting big air introduces a degree of uncertainty into skiing that you just don’t have to deal with when your skis are on the ground…no matter how steep the slope is or how fast you are going. If you ski with proper technique, you won’t fall. And if you do fall, it surely won’t be as bad as if you were twisting through the air before you fell. The funny thing is that after jumping a little and landing successfully, I realized that I had been psyching myself out the whole time. Yes, I could get hurt. But that was only one possibility. The more likely outcome is that I would launch off the jump and land it fine. In instances like this, peer pressure can be a good thing. It encourages you to try stuff, that although you are capable of, you wouldn’t try on your own. So hopefully Carl keeps giving me shit about not jumping and maybe by the end of the winter, I’ll be doing helicopters and inverted aerials. Okay, so maybe inverted aerials are going a bit far. But I'd be stoked to do a helicopter by the end of the year.

Besides getting us to give jumping a try, the best part of the terrain park was the entertainment. For any of you going there, I recommend carrying up a set of lawn chairs, a case of beer and setting up shop under the Exhibition double chair to watch the clown show taking place on Lower Chisholm. In this place, they have put together the wonderful combination of big jumps and morons who have no business hitting them. What you are treated to is a wonderful display of snowboarders destroying themselves that rivals the best crash scenes from your favorite ski porn. Most of the time, they walk away. But unfortunately, we did see one person being taken down the hill by the ski patrol. Note: I did see one skier pull a half twisting back flip.

Am I going to back? Probably not. The mountain is nothing compared to Mt Baldy. The sheer number of snowboarders annoys me a great deal. But if it doesn't start snowing down here by mid January and Baldy isn’t open, maybe I will go back to do a little jumping.

What the Hell Was I Thinking?

I was presented with the choice of spending New Year's Eve in San Diego going to a party or bar that probably didn't interest me too much or going to Vail with one of my buddies and 4 girls. At the end of my last entry, I was definitely leaning towards being the old cheap bastard (OCB) and staying around San Diego. But somewhere between now and then, I came to my senses and realized that I was being a complete idiot. Yes, I know that Vail is a complete rip-off and violates my ski ethic. But there are several arguments against being the OCB. One, apart from a trip to Alta last January, I pretty much missed the last 5 ski seasons due to Navy commitments or disappointing northeast winters. So I owe it to myself to splurge this year. Second and more importantly, I'd be passing on toasting in the New Year combining my two favorite things, women and skiing. So San Diego, you lose and I'm heading to Vail for New Years.

To Vail or Not to Vail? That is the Question?

I just received an invitation to spend New Year's in Vail. You might think I'd be jumping at the opportunity...especially when you hear that the group would be composed of 2 guys and 4 girls. But I'm very much on the fence. One, its Vail, which is not the type of resort I like going to. I prefer the mountains where the reason people are there is to go skiing...not to spend all night at all the chique restaurants/bars and then fit in a few hours of skiing after sleeping in. Second, Vail's lift tickets this year are $81. That's outrageous! There is no way that mountain is worth $81. For another $18, I could go to Silverton where I'd be skiing steep terrain, have a guide, and be guaranteed powder. Plus, the cost of this trip would cut into the rest of the trips I have planned for the winter...Alta, Tahoe, and possibly Silverton. But maybe I'm just being a cheap, elitist ski-snob and I should get off my high horse and have a little fun!

Ski Trip Report: Weekend at the 'Bird

I just got back to San Diego after spending the weekend skiing at the Bird (Snowbird). I met my buddy Carl (from LA) and his buddy Ross (NYC) there. After spending 10 hours driving to Mammoth last weekend, we decided to that it makes more sense just to fly to Salt Lake. Its a little bit more expensive. But the skiing is better and the hassle is a lot less. We were treated to two bluebirds. For those of you not familiar with the skier lingo, that means beautiful blue skies. The skiing was good. They advertised ~120" total snowfall and a 56" base. Despite this, the cover was thin on most of the mountain (as should be expected of early season conditions). When I look at the condition of my bases after the second day, I kick myself because I decided against bring my rock skis. Afterwards talking with one of the locals, we heard that they don't break out their good skis at either Alta or Snowbird until there's at least a 100" base.

As I said in my previous post, Saturday was supposed to be the first day with Mineral Basin open. I think they actually opened it Friday since it was pretty tracked up by the time we got there Saturday morning. The best snow in Mineral Basin was on Double Down and Chamonix Chutes in between the Mineral Basin Express and the Baldy Express.

We spent the entire second half of the day skiing the Gad 2 chairlift on the right side of the mountain. The snow was much dryer. Due to being out of the sun most of the time, it hadn't been exposed to the thaw/freeze cycles like the rest of the mountain. In particular, the chutes in Black Forest, Organ Grinder, and S.H. were great. They're steep, narrow, and the cover was better than the rest of the mountain. The highlight of the afternoon was Carl and I getting cat-called by some girls on the lift. That was a first for the both of us! Too bad they couldn't see us taking some great diggers the following run!

The downside to the day was my first run. After getting my bindings mounted a few weeks ago, I had never upped my DIN setting. So 10 turns into the first run, I hit a bump and came out of both skis. I lost everything...skis, poles, hat, goggles, and even my glasses. It was a beauty. Somewhere in there I hit my left thumb. I thought it was just a jam at first. I skied (and fell) on it the rest of the day. When I got back to the lodge that evening and took off my glove, I found that it was swollen and black and blue. I ended up going to the Alta Clinic Sunday morning. It ended up being broken. But Doctor Ken Libre did a great job and made me a cast that could go over my glove so I could still ski on it. So the weekend continued. When I think back to the whole DIN setting issue, it makes me mad. The ski shops try to be conservative and set it low. But in doing so, they expose us to easily avoidable injuries that take place when the bindings release for seemingly no reason. So we are stuck with adjusting them progressively tighter using only trial and error.

We stayed at the Alta Peruvian Lodge. That's my favorite up there. It was the first time Carl and Ross had ever been they became instant fans. Everything's great about the Peruvian. One, its a nice hotel that has a cheap option. There's a bunkroom for everyone who doesn't want to cough up the big bucks. Second, the food is awesome. The breakfast buffet in the morning is to die for...omelettes, French toast, oatmeal, fresh fruit etc. Normally, they have a menu at night. But on Saturdays they have a buffet. We stuffed ourselves. I went up for two helpings and fyi...they do allow seconds on desert. If they ever offer the oatmeal cookie ice cream sandwich, go for it. It’s awesome! But really the best thing about the hotel is the people. Its a place where people go who love skiing. It does have a bar. But its not posh. You go there to drink beer and talk about the day's skiing. The people who go there are repeat customers. On Saturday we ate dinner with Mark, an old dude in his 70's who's been going there for 40 years. He's just one of many. I hope to be able to sit there when I'm in my 70's and tell some young kids what skiing was like 40 years ago.

On Sunday, I missed the first half of the morning getting my thumb checked out. But at 11:15am, I got a text message from Carl: J'ai trouve la poudre! For those of you who don't speak French, it means I've found the powder! I soon met up with Carl at the Gad 2 lift. We found some untracked snow in between Election and Bassackwards. The powder was boot deep, but it was a bit flat and the pitches were too short. We soon spotted tracks opening up under Road to Provo. After 2 runs off the Gad 2 lift, we headed up the Little Cloud lift and spent the rest of the day on Shireen, Mark Malu Fork, and Last Choice. Those were my first real powder turns this year. If you were over there, you would have heard me yelling up a storm. The powder was a bit wind blown and crusty in areas, but it was still powder. The only downside was the traverse out to it. Saying that it was rocky would be an understatement. Each time going out, I could hear that grinding noise that makes you shudder. It felt like a part of me was dying. But like addicts, Carl and I had tasted the powder and couldn't restrain ourselves from coming back for more. After 2 hours over there, we headed down for lunch. We saw that we both had core shots along our edges and rather than risk destroying our skis, we decided to call it a day. But the POW POW was definitely worth it!

Initial Entry Etc

This is the inaugural entry for my ski blog. So before going into any details, I'll tell you all a little about myself. I'm 28 and have been skiing since I was 7. I grew up in upstate New York skiing at Swain, Bristol, and Holiday Valley. For those of you who aren't familiar with them, they range in vertical from 600-1200 ft and are covered with something known in northeastern ski reports as frozen granular. To most of you, that means boilerplate ice! When I was in grade school, I thought that Killington was the ultimate. I wanted nothing more than to become good enough so that I could tear it up on the bumps of Outer Limits. Family trips to Vail in 8th grade and Whistler in 10th grade showed me what real mountains were. After those trips, I kept on skiing in upstate NY, but it was only to stay in shape until the next trip west.

After high school, I had the good fortune to spend a year as an exchange student in Austria. I really lucked out. I lived in a region called the Vorarlberg, which lies right on the Swiss-Austrian border. That was a fantastic year for skiing. I got to go backcountry skiing a few times. Wonderful experience! During a weeklong vacation in Lech, my host family put me in a lesson. At first, I felt a bit insulted. I considered myself a pretty good skier and hadn't been in a lesson since 8th grade. But that was the way they did it there (they put all their kids in lessons) and it was the best thing that could have happened. During that week, for the first time, I learned to properly ski powder. Up until then, I had still adhered to the common east coast misconception of gaining flotation by leaning back on my skis. It was like night and day. It went from being endless work to utter bliss. More importantly, I learned that no matter how good I thought I was, I still had a lot to learn. After coming back to the states, I went to Tufts University where I was on the ski team my first two years. (42) I had never raced before and never really became a very good racer. I was mostly there just to go skiing every weekend. But again, it was a great learning experience. I realized just how technically strong you have to be to make it down an icy GS course. Those skills definitely improved my free skiing.

During my junior year, I spent the spring semester in Grenoble, France. If any of you are still in college and are looking for a place to study where you will maximize your skiing, Grenoble is the place to go. Meribel, Courchavel, Val Thorens, Tignes, Val D'Isere, Les Deux Alpes, and La Grave. They were all within 1.5 hours from Grenoble. For poor college students, the more important factor is that they are cheap for students. Day bus trips out there were $25 for most of the resorts. Lifts tickets to Les Deux Alpes were only $7. 7,000 vertical feet for $7. That was an incredible bargain. I remember a French ski magazine making fun of Aspen charging $70 for lift tickets to a place that was only a fraction of the size of Les Deux Alpes. That year (1999) was also an incredible winter for snow. Shortly after arriving there in January, a cycle started where it would snow Monday through Friday and then be sunny on the weekends. This continued for close to 2 months. Every weekend was thigh deep powder. I though I had died an gone to heaven. In fact, I was pretty lucky not to have died that winter. If you're not aware, European ski areas don't carry out any type of avalanche control off piste. You go off piste at you're own risk. In fact, they make you buy separate insurance to cover rescue costs if you get injured while skiing. Being stupid college students, we adopted the 4-track rule. If we saw 4 tracks going off piste, we figured that if the slope would have slid, it would have already slid. Luckily, we never got caught in an avalanche. But I now realize just how stupid that was.

After college, I joined the Navy and have spent the last 5 years in the submarine force. I spent most of the time stationed in Groton, CT on the USS Toledo. I got to do some skiing, but unfortunately never more than a few times per year. We were out to sea too much and when I was in port, the finicky northeastern weather never seemed to cooperate. Truth be told, two years ago, I got bored of skiing in the northeast. For one season, I did what I had earlier said I would never do. I took up snowboarding. The learning process was painful. Don't even ask me how badly my ass hurt. But it was a lot of fun. It was like being a kid again. I once again felt like I was on top of the world just because I could make it down without falling. I got just as much satisfaction at the little ski area an hour away (Watchussett MT) as I did if I drove 4 hours to ski at Sugarbush or Jay Peak.

Last Spring, I moved from Groton to San Diego where I'm on shore duty. Despite being in San Diego, I plan on doing a lot of skiing this winter. First, I want to take up backcountry skiing. I tried it a few times while I was in Austria. I had a great time and really liked the idea of having to work for your runs. Second, I hope to supplement that with the occasional trips to Tahoe and Salt Lake City. You might ask me what about Mammoth? Well I went there last weekend. It’s a pretty good mountain. But to get there, you have to drive through LA. That sucks. So I'll gladly spend $150-$200 to fly to Salt Lake or Reno than spend 10 hours battling traffic on my way to Mammoth. If any of you are in the military, Squaw Valley is offering free lift tickets to active duty for the entire winter excluding holiday weekends. Finally, if it’s a good season, I hope to hit Mt Baldy outside of LA quite a bit. Not many people in Southern California seem to know about it. Well I hope it stays that way. It’s a pretty bare bones mountain. It doesn't have much in the way of snowmaking. I'm not aware of any real beginner terrain. And the time I was there, it didn't look like they had put in a new lift in the last 40 years (I apologize if that is inaccurate). Basically, it’s a real skiers mountain. Those who go there love skiing. I've been working out quite a bit the last 3 months and I just got an AT setup and a new pair of Atomic MeX's. So I think its going to be a pretty good season. The weather just needs to start cooperating and giving SoCal some snow.

I'm actually writing from Salt Lake City where I'll be hitting Snowbird for two days of early season skiing. Just read that tomorrow will be the first day they're opening Mineral Basin, so maybe there will be a little POW POW left over from the last storm.