Learning

In my blog I have written about probably 15 different ski resorts. A professional runner with no legs, an interview with my day, and what I like about skiing. Why did I write about all this stuff? I wrote about what I like to do. I wrote about something that I am passionate about. Skiing is my favorite thing to do because there are nearly endless ski mountains.

I have been skiing since I was in first grade. I went up to Jiminy Peak with my family and my friends. I remember that day very well. It wasn't my favorite day then, but when I remember it, I know it was. I remember that I was in the same ski group as my brother who is three years older than me. I was skiing for a weekend so I had two days of skiing before my parents took me on a real trail. Before then I had just been learning how to get up and how to turn.

A few years later was possibly the most traumatizing day of my life. It too was at Jiminy Peak. I was in a ski lesson and my ski popped off near the top of the trail. I was at the back of my group so no one saw that my ski came off. I couldn't figure out how to get it back on. I could hear my dad's voice in my head, “Face sideways against the hill.” After a few minutes, my brother went by me in his ski lesson. I told him that I couldn't get my ski on. His instructor helped me get it on and I skied down the rest of the trail with them. At the bottom of the trail, I asked one of the people who work at the mountain if the knew where my lesson was. He said that my lesson was waiting for me while my instructor was trying to find me. I was reunited with my group and I kept skiing, at the front of the group.

Ski Equipment

Skis are probably the first thing you think of when you think about skiing, but are the the most important? I think that, as important as skis are, ski boots keep you safe. Without ski boots, a simple fall would break you leg or your ankle. Ski boots are definitely not very comfortable, but if you wear them long enough, you get used to them. Ski boots are hard to walk in, but, again, if you wear them enough, you get used to it.

Skis could be just as important as boots is you don't fall. Even if you don't fall, you should still wear ski boots because it only takes one fall to break your leg. Skis can be what save your life, especially if they are tuned. A pair of tuned skis can save your life because you will be able to turn faster and sharper with a good edge. If your skis aren't tuned, you could lose control and hit a tree or something. It depends how hard you hit something and how you hit it on how badly you will get hurt. One hit to a tree can definitely kill you, especially if you aren't wearing a helmet.

Helmets are also very important for skiing. If you don't wear a helmet, you could easily get major brain damage. Earlier this week Sarah Burke was practicing for the X-Games, she was skiing on a half-pipe when they landed funny and a ski shot out from under her. She hit their head on the side of the half-pipe and was rushed to the hospital. Unfortunately there was nothing that could be done and she died. All the X-Games athletes will be wearing a ribbon in remembrance of Sarah Burke. She was wearing a helmet which really shows how bad you can get hurt when you are skiing.  

School Ski Trips

My school has two ski trips every year, one to Big Boulder in the Poconos, and the other to Snö Mountain in Scranton, PA. I like both of them because I get to ski with my friends instead of my dad and my brother. If I had to pick a favorite mountain that we go to though, it would be Snö because we are there for a longer time and because it is a bigger mountain.

Big Boulder only has 15 trails so it is really easy to ski all of them. This year they were all open so that made is more fun. You can go up the lift in about 5 minutes and come down the mountain in about 2 minutes. That makes it kind of like you go up and come down and no time went by. That's was I don't like about Big Boulder. What I do like about Big Boulder is that there are some really good trails there. If you ski enough of them, you are bound o find one that you like.

Snö Mountain has 25 trails so it takes a little longer to ski all of them. What I really like about Snö is that the mountain in split up into two parts. The top part is easy to intermediate trails and the bottom is more for advanced and expert skiers. Snö Mountain has the steepest trail in Pennsylvania called White Lightening. I have skied White Lightening several times an I don't think that it is very difficult. I am considered an expert skier so that should be understood. The thing that I think makes White Lightening as easy as I know it is that there are moguls so you have something to turn on. It there were no moguls, it would practically be a cliff. 

Gore Mountain

There are 33 trails open at Gore right now. That is 62% of their trails, not including glades. It has snowed 6 inches in the past week. The primary surface is lose powder, my favorite surface, with a secondary layer of frozen of packed powder. There is a base depth of 14-29 inches. They have been making snow in the past 48 hours, trying to open more trails for the weekend. There are 6 lifts open on the main part of the mountain, out of the 12 that there are.

I went to Gore last year for a weekend. I think that the mountain is smaller than a lot of other mountains, but it takes a long time to ski everything. I could have been there for a week and still not be bored. The trails have such a variety that you can ski almost every different kind of trail at Gore. Gore is a good family mountain, but it is also good for a bunch of experienced skiers.

On the mountain, there is an area called “The Dark Side”. This area is in the shadow of the mountain, hence the name. That was my favorite part of the mountain because there are a lot of glades over there. I like skiing glades. The official name for The Dark Side is the High Peaks area, but everyone calls it The Dark Side. I also liked the top of the mountain because that is where the more challenging trails are. All in all though, the whole mountain is great.

Interview

I interviewed my dad, an experienced skier, about what he thinks about skiing. This is how it went:

Me: What is your favorite thing about skiing?

Dad: Being outdoors in the winter, getting good exercise, and good scenery. I like to spend time with my boys outside and doing something better than them.

Me: What is your favorite ski resort?

Dad:Aspen was a really great place. I've been to Vail as well, and that was really nice.

Me: What was the most challenging ski resort you've been to?

Dad: Probably Aspen.

Me: Where did you lean to ski?

Dad: I really learned to ski mostly at Mt. Snow in Vermont. I went on the ski strip in high school and they had really great lessons.

Me: How long have you been skiing?

Dad: I can remember skiing when I was pretty young, like 6 or 8. I remember going on family ski trips in when I was in middle school.

Me: Where would you like to go skiing?

Dad: I would like to go to the Alps. I want to ski in the Alps.

Me: Have you ever been to a different country to ski?

Dad: Canada.

Me: Have you ever wanted to go skiing on a mountain that isn't a ski resort?

Dad: No.

Me: How many states have you been skiing in?

Dad: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Colorado, and Quebec if it counts.

Me: What is your favorite company for skis?

Dad: I like Volkl's, but there are a lot of company that I like. I also like the new carving skis.

Jiminy Peak

At Jiminy Peak, there are 38 trails open. Jiminy Peak is a small mountain so that is actually a large percentage of their trails. If you look at the list of open trails and closed trails, you can tell that almost all of them are open. There is an average of 24-51” of snow for a base. That is a lot of snow, which tells me that they have had a really good season.

My Great Aunt used to live in East Chatham, NY; about half an hour away from Jiminy Peak. I would go there sometimes for a weekend to ski and visit with her. I learned to ski at Jiminy Peak so I always liked going up there. A few years ago they added a windmill and it has sort of become their logo. I liked their old logo better, a jumping dear. Technically the jumping dear is still their logo, but the windmill is oftentimes used on their shirts and stickers. I remember it was the last year that I took a lesson at Jiminy Peak because the ski instructor told us that the wind mill provides enough energy for the entire resort and hotel. That surprised me because I know that the ski lifts take a lot of energy to operate. Also, there is night skiing at Jiminy Peak so the lights would use a lot of energy.

The first year I learned learned how to use poles, we were eating lunch and the instructor told us that he thought we were ready for Jericho, a double black diamond. If he had told me this today, I would say no problem, but I was in fourth grade so I wasn't so sure I could do it. It took us about an hour to get down the whole trail because someone in my group had a panic attack at the top of the slope, unfortunately, it was after most of us had already gone down the first part of the trail. We had to wait until the instructor could reassure her that she could do it until we could continue. We went down the rest of the trail very slowly because it was the first time we had all done a double black. I keep this memory with me because I reminds me that sometimes people need reassurance of what they can and cannot do.  

Why I Ski

When the leaves change color and begin to fall off, I start getting ready. When the clouds cover the sky in that eery gray that tells me snow. When the ski club signs start showing up around school. When it starts getting colder outside, I uncover my skis. When it snows for the first time, I get my skis waxed and tuned. When there is measurable snow, I check the ski conditions at a local mountain. When I have time, I go skiing.

The first time I step into I bindings, I know I belonged in them the whole time. When I step into my bindings, I'm free. I work my way over to the lift. It doesn't matter who I'm skiing with. I ski what I ski. I ski the hardest trails. I ski the most fun trails. I ski the empty trails. I ski the trails with powder (fresh snow). I ski what I want to ski, and my friends follow me. I don't ski the popular trails because I know that there wont be much snow on them and they will be really crowded.

I slide over to a good lift. I wait for my turn to get on the lift, but when I'm up, I show everyone that I belong on that mountain. I get on the chair lift, tuck my poles under my arm. I bring the safety bar down and wait a few minutes until I'm at the top. I get off the lift and slide over to the trail map. I ask someone who works at the mountain what trails are open. They tell me where a good trail is, and I go in the other direction. I know that the same person has told about a hundred people already to go to that trail. It wont have much snow on it b the time I get there. I go over to a different trail, one that I've done before. It wont have anyone on it. Not today. Today I ski down that trail. It doesn't matter who else is there. When I ski, I block everyone else out. I ski by myself.

 http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=273852206015199&ref=notif&notif_t=video_processed

This is a link to a video that I recorded in Stratton this winter. 

Stratton

Stratton mountain is a great family ski resort. I was just recently there on a week-long ski trip. They have everything from little bunny hills, to double black diamonds (the most challenging). They have a great ski school for 3-year-old kids and for adults who want to learn skiing, or just want to refresh their memory on how to ski. There is a racing team at Stratton. It is a part of the Stratton Mountain School. The Stratton Mountain School is a school for grades 7-12. It is located near Stratton Mountain. While I was there, I saw the racing team practice. They looked pretty good, but people do come from all over the country to go to school there and be part of their ski team.

Currently at Stratton there are 58 trails open. There is a 19” base which is a mix between natural snow and man-made snow. The forecast for today is snow. This will help their number of trails open. A few weeks ago it was really warm at Stratton, and it rained. Te rain melted the snow. Luckily, it was after the holiday ski rush. They had to close a lot of their trails because there wasn't enough snow. There weren't many trails open before it rained so Stratton only had a few trails open.

I went there over the holidays, and I have to say, it was very good snow, even after it rained. It snowed for only a few hours over the four days I was there. It rained for a day, but I didn't go skiing that day. I thought that it would be either really icy or all the snow would melt. The next day, I went to the mountain and while I was on a lift, I was talking to someone who was skiing the day it was raining, and they said that the snow was actually pretty good. I realized that I was wrong, but I did enjoy a day off from skiing. On my last day, I managed to find a good double black diamond that wasn't too icy. I took a video of it (below) as I was skiing down. It was called Grizzly Bear. There are a lot of trails at Stratton that have “Bear” in them because their logo has a bear on it.

Stratton is celebrating its 50^th season. Started in 1961, it is probably the best mountain you will go to that has been operating for 50 years of more, aside from maybe Whiteface Mountain in New York, which held the winter olympics twice. Now back to Stratton. On New Years Eve, there is a “Torchlight Parade” where a bunch of people hold flares and ski down a trail on the mountain. I was staying in a house in walking distance from the mountain so I could see the skiers from the house. There is also a firework show. All this happens before 9 o'clock because Stratton is a family mountain.

Killington

Killington is referred to as “The Beast of the East” because it is the biggest ski area in the east. A few years ago I went there and I would not disagree with the nickname. The mountain is huge. Most mountains only have one gondola, if any, but Killington has two. Most mountains top out at about 100 trails, but Killington goes beyond that with 140 trails. It is 3,050 feet from the base to the summit. Most mountains have about 10 lifts, but Killington has 22 lifts. Right now, there are 39 miles of skiing.

There are 78 trails open, about half. 12 lifts are open. You have to understand that it really hasn't been a good year anywhere in the country. Vermont has taken it especially hard. There are six peaks at Killington, and they are all open except sunrise mountain. Sunrise mountain is nothing special. It is just a small little mountain off on the side where you can ski back to your hotel or condo. On Skye Peak, there is a natural-element terrain park called The Stash. The Stash is a partially groomed, partially natural snow area. About halfway through, The Stash splits of into two trails that will meet back again. One trail is open with wooden rails and boxes, but the other trail goes off in the woods. If you go into the woods, you are skiing, or snowboarding, on a gladded terrain park.

The one thing I don't like about Killington is that there really is no town. There is a road that is a few miles long with hotels along the side. When you think of a great ski town, you think of a village that is right next to the mountain. The reason why there is no town is because there are so many people at Killington so they have a bunch of hotels for all the vacationers to stay.

There was an article in the New York Times Magazine about Oscar Pistorius from South Africa who was born without a fibula. The fibula is the bone that runs from you knees to you ankles, alongside the tibia. The doctors told his parents that he would have to have his legs amputated. Now he is a world class runner and qualifying for the 2012 Olympics in London. Pistorius  was not aloud in the 2008 olympics in Beijing. Pistorius has special prosthetic legs that are made for running so one could say that he has an advantage, but you still have to remember that he doesn't have legs.

Reading this article reminds me of skiing because if you are skiing and you come to a steep part of a trail, you could either take it slowly, or you could bomb down the mountain. Oscar Pistorius is the one who bombs down the mountain. Not literally of course because he has no lower legs, but figuratively. Oscar Pistorius does not shy away from challenges. He wants to run with people who do not have anything wrong with them. Pistorius ran in the 2004 Paraolympics and shortly before that, he didn't even know that there were Paraolympics. I'm not saying that Oscar Pistorius is in denial of his disability, and I never will. All I'm saying is that he wants to be treated like everyone else.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/magazine/oscar-pistorius.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=the%20fast%20life&st=cse

Above is a link to the article on the New York Times website.

Whiteface

At Whiteface, there are 56 trails open out of the 85 that they have. There have been 7 inches of snow in the past week at Whiteface. That shouldn't turn you away though, because whiteface has been making snow almost all week, trying to open more trails for MLK weekend. There is snow in the forecast for Lake Placid every day next week.

This is a view of the mountain as you are
coming down the driveway

There are three peaks at Whiteface; Little Whiteface, Whiteface summit, and Lookout Mountain. I went to Whiteface a few years ago, and I remember going up the Summit Quad Lift that does to the top of Whiteface Summit. I think it was the end of the day so I was tired. It was really windy and cold that day. I was so close to the top of the lift. I was about to get off, and then it stopped. I must have been only ten feet away from the top. I had to wait, what seemed like ten minutes, with the freezing cold wind blowing across the mountain. I was waiting for the lift to start moving again. A few minutes went by, then it started moving again. I got of the lift to find that it was so windy that I could hardly stand. It was possibly the worst ten minutes of my life, but after I got used to the cold, I had an awesome run. Not so awesome that I would sit in the cold for ten minutes, but awesome enough that I would do the same run the next day.

Lake Placid hosted the olympics twice. Once in 1932 and again in 1980. There is an olympic museum in Lake Placid. It is in the old olympic center so as you walk through, you see areas where different countries would be stationed. There is a hotel across the street where all the athletes stayed. The mountain is not even fifteen minutes from the town. The ice skating oval was, and still is, on the front yard of the high school. During the 1980 olympics, a few of the class rooms were converted into broadcasting rooms. The school was shut down for a week or so, not that anyone was actually going to go to school, because the athletes used the gym and locker rooms of the High School for extra training facilities.

Lake Placid is a great town for more than just skiing. You can also experience the olympics. Lake Placid it truly living on the olympics in both 1980 and 1932. A lot of people go to Lake Placid because they remember the 1980 olympics and don't eve realize that there were also the 1932 olympics until they leave. People also go to Lake Placid because there is Whiteface Mountain right there. There are often time events on the mountain such as giant slalom or downhill skiing that might have take place during the olympics. These events are definitely competitive because there are sometimes championship events for skiing and snowboarding.

One could argue that Warren Miller is the king of extreme skiing movies. I would agree with that. After watching one of his videos for just ten minutes, I was convinced. His videos aren't just about the skiers, or just about the mountain. They are about the entire team; the pilot, the cameraman, and whoever you are skiing with. Warren Miller even makes a point that, of the team, the pilot is the craziest. Nosediving down to the bottom of the mountain, picking up the skiers when they get there, and going back up, only to do the same thing again.

Extreme skiing has been an admiration of mine, but not necessarily a dream. If I was given the opportunity to go extreme skiing, I would probably turn it down, but if I was given the opportunity to go to Alaska or Canada or anywhere else where people would be extreme skiing, just to watch them and decide later if I wanted to try it, you should bet I would go. I'm the kind of person that sees something and says, “I want to try that” or “That looks cool.” I don't shy away from a challenge, but risking my life, that's a little different. If I could do one thing as much as I wanted to, and not die, I would be an extreme skier. I would wake up in the morning, get my ski gear on, and get on the helicopter.

Heliskiing is another name for extreme skiing. You take a helicopter up to the top of a mountain and ski back down. Usually heliskiing is a commercial business and extreme skiing is a personal hobby. Heliskiing can be very expensive. For a 6-7 day trip (an average amount of time you would go) is upward of $75,000. Not many people have that kind of money to spend, even if it is a lifetime memory. If I had a spare $75,000, I would probably spend it on heliskiing. Heliskiing is usually on an easier mountain and has better safety rates. The companies that specialize is heliskiing usually try to avoid mountains with possible avalanches, in concern for their customers.

Sources:

www.canadianheli-skiing.com

www.youtube.com

Aspen Highlands

At Aspen Highlands in Colorado, there are 74 trails open. At the top of the mountain, there are 36” of snow for the base. In the middle of the mountain, there are 25” of snow. That gives you a solid base so you are almost guaranteed that you won't find any bare spots of tin cover. There is much more snow here than there is in most of New England, but it is still one of the worst seasons that they've had in Aspen.

There are four mountains in Aspen (Snowmass, Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands, and Buttermilk) and they are all part of one large group. You can but lift tickets for all four mountains or you can buy tickets for only Aspen Highlands. You can't buy a ticket for only one day, but that is because no one would want to go there for one day. It is too far from Vale, Colorado to drive for one day and go back, and if you live there, you would just buy a season pass. If you live too far to drive, you would fly there, stay in a hotel, ski, and leave after a few days.

It has always been a dream of mine to go to Aspen for a ski trip. My dad went a few years ago in mid-March. He has a friend who lives out there so he stayed with him for the week. He went to three of the four mountains (Snowmass, Aspen Highlands, and Buttermilk), and he said that Highlands and Snowmass were his favorite two places. He gave me a few reasons for this and I understood him completely. The one reason that made me want to go there is that there is a part of Highlands called “The Bowl”. It is basically an non-groomed, patrolled skiing area. You would take a lift up a certain amount of the way, then you would either take a snowcat or walk the rest of the way to the beginning of “The Bowl”. Once you were at the beginning of “The Bowl”, you walk to the area that you want to ski. I love skiing and I think that it would be fun to do something a little more challenging, and “The Bowl” would definitely be challenging.

Sources:

aspensnowmass.com

youtube.com

Stowe Mountain

This is the Gondola at Stowe

Currently (as of Friday, January 6) at Stowe there are 66 trails open out of the 116 that they have. The primary surface is packed powder or machine groomed. This is my favorite surface for skiing. I think that if the surface is too thin and not groomed, it is too hard to turn and you can easily lose control. I also like non-groomed surfaces with natural powder, but that usually only last for the morning until the trails are almost all groomed. At the base, there are 16”-26” of snow, but 8”-18” is natural snow. That is actually a lot of natural snow for this time of year. Usually, this early in the season, there isn’t much natural snow, and this year, in the Northeast, there haven’t been many snow storms this year. Stowe has been lucky and got a lot of natural snow.

Lift tickets at Stowe vary on what day of the week you go. A one day adult (13-64) ticket for Sunday-Friday is $88.00. On Saturdays, a one day adult ticket will cost you $92.00. If you are going to stay for multiple days, you can buy up to a ten day pass. I would recommend buying a pass for the amount of days you are staying. A season pass for an adult (19-64) cost $1,604.00. This would be a good deal if you own a house nearby and you plan on skiing/snowboarding at Stowe many times. If you plan on going for two weeks, get a ten day pass for the first ten days, then get a four day pass for the rest of the time.

I think that if you want to go skiing around this time of year, you should go to Stowe, but if you don't want to go now, you should keep looking. There are many ski mountains in Vermont and many of them are very good. Bolton Valley Resort has ski mountain and it is just 45 minutes from Stowe. If you are not willing to drive 45 minutes, you can go to Smugglers' Notch, which is 3 minutes away. Smugglers' Notch has a very good ski school and ski learning program. I went there for a long weekend in early February two years ago, and the snow was great. There is a lot of glade skiing (tree skiing) at Smuggler's Notch. They let you ski though the trees to get to another trail if you want to. It is “The granddaddy of all family ski resorts” (www.MSNBC.com). I have not been to Stowe so I can't say that it is better, but I can say that Smuggler's Notch is very good skiing. You can also ski down the back of Madonna Mountain (Smuggler's Notch) to get to Stowe. Yes, they are that close together. Vermont has a lot of ski resorts and you are most likely going to find one that sounds good to you.  

Sources:

www.stowe.com

www.smuggs.com

www.msnbc.com