New Member Introductions Thread

[Trekchick]

I'd say all of the above.

Breadlyness..................Welcome!

[Breadlyness]

WOW, There are people out there! Thanks Trekchick

[sledhaulingmedic]

Originally Posted by PREMIUMWHISTLER

I'm going to go with images 1-3. Maybe even 4.

Nice Pics.

1: Tuckerman Bowl

2: Gulf of Slides

3: Left Gully

4: Airplane Gully - Great Gulf

[bvibert]

Welcome Breadlyness. There's a few Cannon regulars on this forum, is that where you normally ski?

[polski]

Hello. I:

-- grew up in NYC and first skied in 7th grade ('74-'75) on the rope tow at Vernon Valley, NJ, followed the next few years by a fair amount of night skiing at nearby Hidden Valley when it was newly opened and semi-private; a member was the guy who introduced me to skiing. Did some HS trips to Hunter too.

-- had my skis stepped on by Franz Klammer in 1979 as he cut to the front of a lift line at Little Whiteface to hook up with a lady friend (our overnight HS trip to Gore and Whiteface coincided with time trials for the 1980 Olympics). His Team Austria jumpsuit and the paparazzi were the giveaways. Skied pow for the first time that day too, making new tracks in shin-deep late in the afternoon after the teachers who were our chaperones urged us to duck a rope with them from the top of Big Whiteface. (Can't blame that on peer pressure! Thank you Mr. Malinowski and Mr. Arnold.) Fun fun fun once I figured out I needed to lean back on my skis a bit ... oh and there was the part of the trail that was newly cut so we had to dodge buried tree stumps ... At the end of that closed trail (I haven't had a chance to go back since but judging from the trail map I figure this must have been Lower Skyward) a liftie chased after us with a broom and yelled at us that we weren't allowed to ski Whiteface the next day. So sorry. We were going home that night anway

-- spent my last semester in college in 1984 in (what then was West) Germany. Skied another Olympic downhill run, at Garmisch-Partenkirchen; also made a couple trips to Interlaken/Kleine Scheidegg in Switzerland and one to Chamonix, France (including an unbelievable run from the top of the Aiguille du Midi, but that's a story unto itself).

-- somehow have never skied out West. Yet.

-- lived in NH in the mid- to late '80s, grew to love Wildcat and Cannon. Bought a season pass for Ragged Mountain when they first opened circa 1988, just $40! However at the time they had snowmaking on a grand total of one trail and it was a warm winter and they got just about no natural ... I wound up skiing there once that season.

-- moved back to NYC area during the '90s, hardly skied at all for various reasons, none of which in retrospect is remotely defensible. Did get back to Hidden Valley once circa 1996 though.

-- moved to NE Mass in 2000. Have gotten lots of turns in at Ski Bradford, which is only 200' vertical but is 15 minutes from me and has night skiing -- they do a fine job with what they've got. Had a couple great spring trips to Saddleback in 2001 and 2002. Completely re-caught the bug last winter -- sometimes I have flexibility to take weekdays off on short notice and I'm obsessively attentive to weather forecasts (gotta love the Web) so I managed five powder days, plus one powder night at Bradford. Couple excellent family trips to Bretton Woods, skied Cannon in 26" of fresh albeit wind-packed the day after the Valentine's Day blizzard, skied with my older son until 2 a.m. one night at Crotched, made it to Jay for the first time (one of two powder days I notched in April). But most notably I skied MRG for the first time, and second, and third .. and fell so utterly in love with it that I'm now a shareholder. Hope my investment doesn't cause a "Ragged Mountain Curse" though

-- am married to a woman who doesn't really alpine ski but I haven't given up hope (I've been reading the fear-of-falling thread with great interest). Two sons, ages 10 and 7; both started skiing at age 3 and can be just about as obsessive about it as I am.

-- skied Sunday River 2.5 weeks ago on my birthday, earliest first turns ever.

-- am currently plateaued at what I'd consider low advanced level. Plan to take some private lessons this winter to kick it up a notch, including to be able to venture more into glades and feel comfortable trying BC. Let's put it this way: At MRG in good conditions I can have a lot of fun on Catamount Bowl and Lower Antelope, get my dupa kicked on Fall Line, and haven't dared to check out Paradise. Yet.

-- have nothing against boarders, actually am happy they help keep places like Ski Bradford in business, but doubt I'll ever try it myself. Old dog new tricks and all that.

-- work. Wish I didn't have to.

That's about it.

[MRGisevil]

Welcome Polski, nice to meet ya!

And sorry for the late welcome Bread, glad to have you on board!

[Greg]

Welcome polski!

[andyzee]

Hey polski, like your name! That was one of my choices for vanity plates, another was skipoles.Welcome!

[polski]

Originally Posted by andyzee

Hey polski, like your name! That was one of my choices for vanity plates, another was skipoles.Welcome!

Dziękują, brat! (For those who don't know that "polski" is Polish for "Polish," that translates to "thanks bro.") (and with that I pretty much exhaust my own Polish vocabulary.)

Frankly I'm surprised the handle was still available.

I'm not going to divulge my surname here but let's just say I had an uncle whose nickname was "Ski," and he wasn't a skier.

[bvibert]

Welcome polski, thanks for the in depth intro! Maybe I'll see you at MRG this season.