Any Skiers on the Borg?

[brewnewb]

Hey gang,

Anyone one on here like to ski? Our group just booked a trip to Summit County, CO in mid Feb.

I've only been out west a few times. Skied in CO, UT and NM. Back east here I've skied in PA, WV, MD, NY and VT.

How about Y'all?

[mashani]

I don't do downhill, except for Telemark sometimes.

I mostly do Nordic (Cross Country) skiing. I do both freestyle (skate) and classic (in-line). For classic I will ski both in track and off the beaten path.

And sometimes I ski in my kilt. Just because I can. I'll ski anywhere from 5k to 50k any given day of the week, depending on my work schedule, what I feel like and how good the snow/trails are. And then I need to eat a ton of food and drink a large quantity of homebrew. Or else I vaporize.

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[brewnewb]

That's cool.

One member of our group puts together some nice video edits of our trips. I dont wear a kilt, but rather a bright jacket I stole off of Big Bird on Sesame Street

Here's a sample https://vimeo.com/117816202

[RickBeer]

Been skiing downhill for over 40 years. Skied Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Colorado, Utah, Montana, California, and Canada - Whistler Blackcomb.

Whistler by far is the best I have ever skied. It is huge, making other resorts seem tiny. We skied a bowl so big that people at the bottom were small dots. In the US, Utah wins for the selection within an hour of Salt Lake City where we stay. Love Colorado, but distance from Denver combined with less inexpensive lodging gives Utah the lead. We usually ski 3 or more areas over 6 or 7 days.

In Summit County, Keystone is great. Breckenridge very nice also. Arapahoe good for the experience.

[brewnewb]

That's awesome RB. We are trying to do a new location each year. I'm only about 10 yrs into it. Life got in the way after college but I found my way back.

Whistler is on our radar for one of my buddies 50th in a couple years. I hear that is the Mecca of skiing.

[RickBeer]

Once you do Colorado, you don't want to do the Northeast again. Once you do Utah (assuming you hit a good snow year), you see that the snow is much drier than Colorado. And yes, Whistler is amazing. It's also very expensive. Underline very. Luckily when we did Whistler I had "free night" certificates, not points, for the majority of the stay after spending months in a hotel (with weekends home) on a business assignment. Hotels there are a lot of money. And they force you to pay $25+ per day just to leave your car sit in the hotel garage. There is a lift deal (or was) with 7-Eleven stores in Canada buying Whistler tickets.

In Utah we buy lift tickets from ski shops or online. We are very economical skiers - we take pleasure in the skiing, not the lodging or restaurants. Skiing for a family of 4 is very expensive - with lifts approaching $100 a day at some areas. We brown bag our lunches every day and put the backpack in the woods to keep the drinks cold. We buy nothing on the mountain except for the occasional warm beverage on a very cold day. For the past decade or so, I've used hotel points to pay for most ski lodging, which restricts me to places with that chain's hotels nearby. Hence why Salt Lake City is great because lots of hotel choices and all those areas within an hour drive. We often cook in our room (we get room's with refrigerators and stove), and shop at Costco for bulk meals (like Jack Daniel's pre-made pulled chicken or pulled pork). Last February in Salt Lake our biggest expensive after lift tickets (hotel was on points) was craft beer due to my beer-guzzling 20 something sons.

[brewnewb]

I hear ya on the costs. Lucky for me, it's just me and my son and he has a good job.

[braukasper]

Unfortunately my skiing days are over. Raced collegiate back in the day. Had free skiing across the mid-west and east coast. Most events were held at Crystal MT , Boyne Mt MI, Hunter's MT NY, Stowe & Killington VT. Some of the best times of my life.

[RickBeer]

That's neat. I raced in High School in NJ, was always like the 4th of 6 on the team. Raced on ice basically. Not good enough for college.

FYI - skiing in Michigan is not skiing... Stowe is very nice.

[braukasper]

Try the western side of the U.P. Powderhorn, Pine MT. While at Pine MT you can try one of the ski jumps. I would start with the old one, one of the oldest in the country, and not so high. Skiing the western side of U.P. has reminded me of VT. The areas up by Traverse City are very nice with great views of Lake Michigan and the bays. Skiing our SE areas is a bit of a joke.

[bpgreen]

I live in Utah, but the only time I've ever skied was in Wisconsin (no mountains, only hills).

I didn't take any lessons, and didn't realize that it's not a good idea to go from bunny slope, to beginner to intermediate on the first day.

I learned that if you don't really know how to turn or slow down, you can use the hill at the bottom of the slope to slow down.

I also learned that if you do that and have to do a slight turn to avoid slamming into somebody, but you're still going really fast, if a tree is in the way, it's not going to move. And it's going to hurt.


A LOT.


And that night, the tree slam may occur again and again every time you fall asleep (and your friends may awaken to repeated screams).