The Official Skiing, Snow Sports and Slopes Thread

[lorenzoinoc]

Yesterday morning I awoke to see white covering Park City Mountain Resort. While all of it will melt over the next several days, atmospheric conditions point to a big snow year.

Yesterday I received my first issue of the season of Ski Magazine. When I had a cousin who worked there I avoided denigrating that rag but no longer. It's a commercial advertiser influenced sell out we locals use only for laughter and derision.

They did however list their top resorts and the two for which I've scored season passes came in #2 and #5. For little more than the cost of a blood transfusion for a dog, a season pass can be had at Deer Valley.

It's good to know our Chamber of Commerce is paying off the right people. But they are great and a third here in Park City, The Canyons, also scored in the top 20. One canyon over, Snowbird and Alta are listed in the top 20 as well.

So come to Utah where the skiing is spectacular and for the first five visitors I'll take care of the apres ski.

[lorenzoinoc]

Here is today's snow report: It's snowing.

[spanqdoggie]

Well, I love snowboarding; wish it snowed closer here but snow is just 3 1/2 hours away.

[lorenzoinoc]

You might want to get it waxed, Spank, this has all the signs of a huge snow year. The locals are buzzing about how it resembles 4 years ago when there were 15 powder days before Thanksgiving. Right now in Park City the cars have a layer of snow on them and there's a small accumulation at town level. Pretty good for October 3.

[lorenzoinoc]

A documentary on the life of Shane McConkey has begun making the rounds. McConkey was probably the most daring and accomplished extreme skier ever. He combined BASE jumping with extreme skiing and his skiing into a BASE jump off the Eiger is amongst the most chilling and incredible daredevil things ever done. He started as a racer, I met him one year when he was training. He died in 2009 after his chute didn't open in time because of problems removing his skis during a free-fall in a death defying jump in which he failed to defy death.

When I met him, I was most interested in his father. His father Jim is considered the, well, father of extreme skiing and McConkey's Bowl and Lift at Park City Mountain Resort were named after him long before anyone knew who Shane was. Shane was from California but ended up here in Park City. His mother still resides in PC and is a client of my gf.

I'll link the trailer or at least the website where you can find the trailer. If you don't like sweaty palms, don't watch it. It's only showing in the largest US cities and various top ski towns. I'll be seeing it here this Friday.

I very much understand adrenaline junkies because I am one except I have a better logical inner voice that would like to continue to live. Professional extreme skiers typically lack that inner voice.

http://mcconkeymovie.com/

Spank, it's playing in SF on Monday.

[Horseballs]

Age has removed many of my adrenaline junkie tendancies. When I was into mtb, I was the craziest ba$tard out there. I would just pound down any hill, hit blind curves hard, and take very aggressive lines. I crashed at least once per ride. Skiing to a lesser extent, but I still felt like I would push the limits of control. It has been a decade since I've done either of those activities with any regularity.
Spank, that is a great pic, but it pretty much screwed up this thread.

[mongrel]

Powder is for pussies. Nothing better than the glare ice you get in the eastern US. Of course my skiing days were mainly in the '60's into the early '70's so maybe its different now. Since ice was always there, my favorite ski rig was a set of Head Giant Slaloms around 6'9" with Nevada toes and some sort of cable rear bindings that I screwed down tight so there was no possibility of release. The only times I ever got hurt crashing was when the damn bindings released.

[lorenzoinoc]

Mongrel, skiing has changed a great deal from back then. I'm not sure I like this current era as much, but whether I do or not is irrelevant, I'm living in it. McConkey helped usher in fat skis in fact reverse camber, which helps make fatties skiable in all conditions, was his invention. Today, you steer with your inside ski, smear in heavy conditions, use a light touch etc. Even boot geometry has changed. The sport went through the blades/cavity back thing for awhile with the change in technology, but skiing was dying off to snowboarding. Wide skis brought in potential boarders through ease and the ability to enjoy many more conditions and terrain with less effort.

It still isn't cheap though. The boots I just bought cost $1,000 fitted. There are of course much cheaper solutions but for true comfort and performance taking advantage of advanced fit technologies that's the freight. Then there is the "quiver". You can certainly get by with one pair of skis but if you live up here you'll end up with a quiver of 3-5 pair for different places and conditions. With boots a lot of the cost is fitting but with skis and bindings locals typically get around a 50% discount, fortunately, through working at a hill or friends. If you think golf has gearheads, it's nothing compared to skiing and that is not an overstatement.

These days, younger guys who would have boarded often prefer skiing. You can approach more challenging stuff and it's more fun at all levels except rank beginner. I board too and it's the rare day or place where it's more fun.

The internet has really broadened the experience. Many of us put cameras on helmets, run somewhere adventurous and then post that night. We have buddies we've often met over the internet and each night you can check out conditions, terrain and experiences from around the world. Unlike golf where getting together can be a little awkward, skiers travel around and ski with each other. I ski with electronic friends much of the winter in fact I first met many of my ski friends that live here on-line. If you choose, you can easily preserve anonymity by keeping your goggles on.

[lorenzoinoc]

Age has removed many of my adrenaline junkie tendancies. When I was into mtb, I was the craziest ba$tard out there. I would just pound down any hill, hit blind curves hard, and take very aggressive lines. I crashed at least once per ride. Skiing to a lesser extent, but I still felt like I would push the limits of control. It has been a decade since I've done either of those activities with any regularity.
Spank, that is a great pic, but it pretty much screwed up this thread.

Age is part of it, having kids is part of it, but a lot has to do with the amount of time that's passed since your last rush. I ski almost every day the hills are open. If I ski 100+ days this winter I can only take so much risk or it will catch up with me. But if I ease my way through it with no adrenaline, I risk getting bored. It would be like staying on the driving range instead of playing. So there's a balance.

Years back I used to really push it too. Some of the things I did were stupid and I was lucky. If you break through crust over rocks you're preparing to jump you could die or worse become a cripple. Before that, I raced at speeds and in places where people get killed. I've helped pull bodies out of tree wells, rocks and from under slides where I'd just traveled and it could have been me.

The day I realized how bad an adrenaline junky I am was upon learning the death statistics for heliskiing weren't 1% up in Canada, they were around .1%. I was pretty disappointed and lost some interest in it. My family intervened after I became a father following an avalanche accident that took out another group. It's just that surviving those kinds of risks is so incredibly exhilarating. I can't think of any other way to get that. Nights at the bar following a death cheat were the best. I've never felt so alive.

Now I'm sorry I'm relieving these thrills and look forward to the movie on Friday to reign me in. I should mention if anyone comes for a vistit, I'm sane these days and part of the reason I like to ski with people is it changes my focus from rush to social activity. If you visit we'll stay mostly in your comfort zone and when out of it only by a little bit.

[Horseballs]

I still feel like I have the capacity, just don't put myself in a lot of scenarios. I did one of those "mud runs" (not the type Joel is into) and busted the last couple miles. Of course, I ended up hyperextenting my knee when I tried to pass a bunch of slow people trying to climb a rope at the bottom of a ravine. It was pretty fun in a parcour type of way.

[lorenzoinoc]

I still feel like I have the capacity, just don't put myself in a lot of scenarios. I did one of those "mud runs" (not the type Joel is into) and busted the last couple miles. Of course, I ended up hyperextenting my knee when I tried to pass a bunch of slow people trying to climb a rope at the bottom of a ravine. It was pretty fun in a parcour type of way.

It's good you do some stuff like that, human males have that need. It must be done to achieve mental balance, even if it's just hanging out in a bar in the tough part of town.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYz00UQfiPk

[mongrel]

Well, I love snowboarding; wish it snowed closer here but snow is just 3 1/2 hours away.

That's one of the best photos ever.

[lorenzoinoc]

Park City and I think the Canyons open on Saturday. The storm track hasn't done much for us yet so please, all of you, add snow in UT to your prayers.

[poe4soul]

Sure, the next time I pray, I'll pray for snow in UT.

[lorenzoinoc]

We had a very nice dump this week, really good consistency for base and plenty to justify skinning which I did both in Big Cottonwood Canyon and on the not yet opened slopes of Deer Valley. About 14 inches of fresh and the first sizeable storm of the year. I've been as confident all along as I've been in my Seahawks that this is going to be a big, big snow year. The early season track and incoming storm development supports that thus far.

Next week a friend and I head over to Snowbird where we'll spend the week, one canyon over from where I live. A friend from NY can't make it but already paid for the place. Sucks for him although now he'll kind of call the shots when he wants to come out and stay with me for free. A couple of storms are forecast so I'm pretty stoked. Life's better with stoke.

That's about it for now.

[lorenzoinoc]

We've been having a really nice early season, today a foot on top of a base that just reached a depth that allows off piste skiing with new dumps. And it dumped last night, all day and a new front is to reach us this evening with posibly more next week. But most importantly the pattern is strong and storms have been exceeding forecasts which is normally the sign of a good year.

I had 10-12 powder runs this morning and it was A OK.

[poe4soul]

Two good dumps in one week. I bet you and the snow was nice and light. I miss that type of skiing.

[lorenzoinoc]

Two good dumps in one week. I bet you and the snow was nice and light. I miss that type of skiing.

There was a lot of whooping and hollering out there. After these storms move through they'll be able to open most terrain. Since Xmas occurs mid week this year we figured we'd have to deal with crowds for two weeks. It turns out there's low occupancy next week, people will descend after that and New Years week is the one that will hurt. But DV limits ticket sales so it won't be that bad there.

Come on out!

[lorenzoinoc]

This has been the best pre-xmas season in years. Freshies the last two days. The capper was getting inside info on when DV was going to drop the ropes for the first time on four long fall line trails that hadn't been yet opened for the year. They opened them sequentially yesterday with little tiny gates barely marked so tourist gapers wouldn't wander in there. Us locals who had been tipped got 2-3 untracked runs on each of them, the first being open without tracks in the peripheral.

In a little bit the tourists will get here particularly during the holidays so it was really nice to get in something memorable.

[Kiwi Player]

Sounds awesome Zo.

It's the middle of summer downunder and I'm
on vacation on the Sunshine Coast Australia. It's so friggin hot it's really hard to imagine snow skiing right now. Haven't skiied much the past 4 years but it used to be the one thing I really looked forward to in winter.

[mongrel]

I don't ski anymore but appreciate how nice it is to have good conditions for it. Talking downhill here, not cross country. So I guess the upcoming winter olympics might have some fun viewing opportunities. Downhill is my favorite event. Since its in Russia in a town that sounds like a family of raw Japanese fish all sliced up real fine, it will be interesting from a socialogical perspective as well. Now Obama is dispatching a contingent of non-participant former olympians to provide moral support for our team and to brace up the leader of the host country. One of them is Brian Boitano, a figure skater. He just announced through The Media the other day that he is gay. Could have knocked me over with a feather.

[lorenzoinoc]

I don't ski anymore but appreciate how nice it is to have good conditions for it. Talking downhill here, not cross country. So I guess the upcoming winter olympics might have some fun viewing opportunities. Downhill is my favorite event. Since its in Russia in a town that sounds like a family of raw Japanese fish all sliced up real fine, it will be interesting from a socialogical perspective as well. Now Obama is dispatching a contingent of non-participant former olympians to provide moral support for our team and to brace up the leader of the host country. One of them is Brian Boitano, a figure skater. He just announced through The Media the other day that he is gay. Could have knocked me over with a feather.

Brian Boitano's gay? No way, it isn't possible. I mean, sure, jumping and twirling while spreading one's legs is a little bit of a giveaway but it's not like they're out there sucking c.ock. Maybe that's a future event, they're always adding new ones.

I think it's fine if an athlete's gay, except in wrestling. An erection might give the guy an unfair advantage. It's all about leverage.

Sounds awesome Zo.

It's the middle of summer downunder and I'm
on vacation on the Sunshine Coast Australia. It's so friggin hot it's really hard to imagine snow skiing right now. Haven't skiied much the past 4 years but it used to be the one thing I really looked forward to in winter.

Well, sports are a reward for taking care of yourself and staying in shape. You might want to get back out there, I won't live here forever....

[lorenzoinoc]

There are only so many ski jumping facilities in the US and since Olympic Park here is the newest, as far as I know, it provides rationale for having Winter Olympic qualifying for Sochi here. This weekend was the Nordic events including ski jumping. This Olympics will have women's ski jumping for the first time. Since women have superior anatomical aerodynamics it's possible at some point they'll surpass men. There's nothing aerodynamic about a schlong, certainly not mine.

This weekend I attended the qualifiers, at first because that's where my buds were going, but once there I was spellbound by the jumping particularly the women. Without testosterone why do it at all? It's an incredible thing to see for the first time. Chilling, beautiful and dramatic. A couple of the competitors are from here and for them the crowd went wild. Cross country skiing was less exciting.

Today I had to pick up the gf at the hospital where she works so I went a little early to watch a few minutes of speed skating practice next door for the upcoming qualifier. It was kind of dull so I started to leave when a bunch of screams let out. One of the male competitors had crashed on a straightaway and into a female competitor who had been standing there not looking at the skaters going around. They did the neck brace thing but turns out she's ok.

There's a whole lot of excitement here over the WO because so many competitors, coaches, etc. and their families reside here. Ted Ligety grew up here and his dad is a RE agent. I worked with his dad when finding a home because let's face it, none of them add any value and at least I got stories.

[lorenzoinoc]

I awoke this morning at 4 am and before I went back to sleep decided to turn on the deck light outside my BR and glance out the window. The forecast was for a trace but low and behold it's dumping and there already 5" maybe on the ground here in the Meadows. Not a huge dump but on the hill there's possibly 6-10". Even if I'm getting carried away with those totals, a worst case 4" on the hill is still heaven. 6"+ and the trees will come alive.

I can't sleep when I'm thinking about turns. Now in my 50-s I revert to being a 9 year old when it snows and I'm not the only one, the town's full of people like me. DV is the place to go on a day like today, not a big enough dump to justify the backcountry and since DV is loaded with rich, vacationing posers, the vast array of powder friendly acreage is left mostly for us pow pigs.

If I had a helmet cam I'd post what happens today but I don't. So instead picture an old, Italian a.sshole bombing down smoke filled runs and bowls, creaming his pants.

[lorenzoinoc]

The leftover Chinese had very little flavor but now I don't have to worry about fixing breakfast. Still another 2 hours to go. This is when you need a chick lying next to you.

[poe4soul]

[lorenzoinoc]

Cross country was one of the first sports to be overrun by PED-s as far as we know. Looks like he forgot to check his wax in case someone removed it. I try to wax my skis these days because we're always racing each other down the hill.

Three fronts anticipated, the first one hitting now. Woohoo.... You must be getting something there.

[poe4soul]

First good storm in over a month. We are at 26% of snow pack. Pretty pathetic.

I think someone shortened his poles.

[lorenzoinoc]

How would he not know that?

You're doing better than Cali. We've gotten enough to cover but it's been a sub-par year thus far. BC has been loaded with stoke all year, a friend in Fernie gives me the daily. I may go for a visit to remember what a 2 foot dump looks like. We get 4" here and it's grins. Yesterday sidecountry stupidity took a life. The whole backcountry community sending vibes. Victim Vail co-founder Pete Seibert's 26 year old grandson. That aspect ought to get it coverage.

They exited a gate for a frame photo in extreme breakaway conditions for a mere two to four turns then down to a road. Thing is seven had already died there over the years. They did everything wrong including taking off at same time, back country no no. Please if it ever happens to me I want a tree to crush me instead of a mere burial and suffocation. Although got the avalung right here. That said, it's the avalung and beacons leading to false security producing large death tolls over recent years.

My avatar pic is a reminder I can be stupid too. Photo op was great, bud with camera egging me on, 20 feet off a slab onto a top heavy layer on steep. Good thing is in bounds looking good in near term keeping even my dumber friends a little safer. You just hate sitting in the bar and having to listen to their stories about their lines at the end of the day and feel like grandma if having declined.

[poe4soul]

All true until someone dies. What a shiatty way to end it too. Almost as bad as ending it windsurfing in the Gorge. Which is usually run over by a tug boat. Probably similar filling of being sucked in and under but then you hear and feel the whop, whop of the prop. I'm sure it's quick but nothing like the final moment of panic trying to swim in cavitating water to no avail. The best part, if you survive the sharif will give you a ticket!

[lorenzoinoc]

Thing is, I can think of worse endings, involving drooling, bed pans and not recognizing anyone. Can't think about that this weekend though. At night I'm supposed to be helping with the moguls. They're keeping me away from the aerials.

[poe4soul]

I agree. I've told my wife and friends that if I get cancer and short life expectancy, I'm taking up hang gliding. I've always wanted to do it but couldn't rationalize the potential downside of being paralyzed for the rest of my life. Dead is OK with me, but not having ambulatory freedom is down right scary to me. But if I only had a few months to live, I could deal with it.

I don't understand why you can't do moguls and aerials. Is she fat?

[lorenzoinoc]

For 10 days in January every year the SFF descends on Park City. This began as a modest project piloted by Robert Redford to encourage non-commercial, art oriented film centered on Main Street but over the years morphed into overwhelming everything from restaurants and bars to you name it. Except the ski areas. Geeky Hollywood types I guess would rather stunt people move around for them, their specialty is pretending. This makes for very little activity on the hills.

Another reason for so little ski activity is locals have an easy time getting midnight tickets to the films but not the prime time slots. You drink until midnight and then head to the Egyptian followed by sleeping in the next day. Then there's the fact that Hollywood saps come in and pay $8-12,000 to rent your home from you for the 10 days. You might make additional income if they leave little packets behind as only the pros move that stuff in and out of Utah. However to get a piece of this action you've got to be walking distance to Main St. I'm a mile or two.

Last year my friends and I gained a story to tell. We were walking down Main at 9pm when one of the buds, not watching where he was going vigorously bumps directly into an actor you would know. Well this guy goes off with the name calling and down right nastiness. Without really intending, a circle of us forms around the guy and as he turns to leave he almost bumps into one of the buds who before impact pushes this guy who's half his size back into the center of the circle. He used a level of force similar to that of Anthony Munoz back in the glory days.

We then take turns telling him about how this is real life not make believe, not his specialty. We comment on him diminutive size, his sucky movies, pathetic acting, etc. and welcome him to take a swing but warn him our script calls for him to get his lights punched out. It was cool because everyone was working together and firing verbally on all cylinders putting him in his place in a way he deserved. He of course gave us the finger when he eventually was let go and at a safe distance except looking back at us he was almost hit by a car, which blew its horn maybe 5 feet from him, prompting a robust round of laughter from all of us.

Had we somehow had video we surmised ET might have paid us the $10,000 a head or so we'd have gotten with a close pad but sadly no one pulled out an I-Phone. Well, this post was really about dealing with this damn insomnia of mine, worsened by high altitude. Guess I'll try again.

[Horseballs]

Hilarious, Zo. Entitled people deserve to be brought down at regular intervals. I'm due for mine any day now.

[lorenzoinoc]

I'm due for mine too. Perhaps we should calendar something for convenience sake.

The thing I remember most vividly about the episode I described was when this guy was pushed back, to regain his balance he did about 10 quick steps inside two or three seconds. When the car almost hit him he did the exact same thing.

The last thing one of my friends said to him was: "By the way, thanks for the dance recital."

[Horseballs]

I think mine might be starting. Last night, my wife tells me our refrigerator broke and leaked all over the place overnight. I'm in Sh!thole, KY so I'm no help at the moment and can't get a read on the extent of water damage, if any. Also, the back left door in my car won't autolock/unlock. Not a huge deal, but this car is keyless entirely. If the hole thing breaks, I'm in a pretty big problem since there probably isn't anyone in the state of KY who would know how to fix it.
Now this is just a minor comeuppance and I'm really due for a major adjustment. Perhaps I'll be set straight if I can manage to get a speeding ticket and have something else break around the house.

[mongrel]

I think mine might be starting. Last night, my wife tells me our refrigerator broke and leaked all over the place overnight. I'm in Sh!thole, KY so I'm no help at the moment and can't get a read on the extent of water damage, if any. Also, the back left door in my car won't autolock/unlock. Not a huge deal, but this car is keyless entirely. If the hole thing breaks, I'm in a pretty big problem since there probably isn't anyone in the state of KY who would know how to fix it.
Now this is just a minor comeuppance and I'm really due for a major adjustment. Perhaps I'll be set straight if I can manage to get a speeding ticket and have something else break around the house.

Been there with that house and car problem crap. Have to tell you that sometimes Nature's Cleanser is the best thing that can happen in those situations. Fire.