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How does some someone ski more than 50 days per season

chuckstah

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I finally hit 50 days Tuesday at Killington. My first day was Oct 27 also at K.
The key for me is a long season. I work 5 days/week 50 hours or more per, and 6 days 60 plus hours in December. The only way for me to reach 50 is to ski almost every available day. I Start when the lifts open, and end near when they close. Sprinkle in a weeks vacation, a sick day or 3, and a personal day or two to make up for washouts and limited days available to me in December, and it ends up over 50. As others have said, a season's pass is also key to not bail on marginal days. Finally, do not cancel due to to weather forecasts. Some of the best days are when foul weather is forecast. Sunday should be day 52 at K.
 

180

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I have skied over 50 days every year since 1982. Most was 99. All with a full time job. The key is being in sales and now I own my own business. You also have to have an amazing ski partner, my wife, who is equally dedicated. Having a season pass also helps since a few runs on a crappy day still count. All vacations are skiing and early and late season at Killington is mandatory.
 

jimk

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Finally, do not cancel due to to weather forecasts. Some of the best days are when foul weather is forecast. Sunday should be day 52 at K.

I don't currently ski as much as you guys, but have probably averaged close to 20 per year for 47 consecutive seasons. No truer words spoken than those above. :thumbup:

I have skied over 50 days every year since 1982. Most was 99. All with a full time job. You also have to have an amazing ski partner, my wife, who is equally dedicated.
Winner. :flag:
 

dlague

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I finally hit 50 days Tuesday at Killington. My first day was Oct 27 also at K.
The key for me is a long season. I work 5 days/week 50 hours or more per, and 6 days 60 plus hours in December. The only way for me to reach 50 is to ski almost every available day. I Start when the lifts open, and end near when they close. Sprinkle in a weeks vacation, a sick day or 3, and a personal day or two to make up for washouts and limited days available to me in December, and it ends up over 50. As others have said, a season's pass is also key to not bail on marginal days. Finally, do not cancel due to to weather forecasts. Some of the best days are when foul weather is forecast. Sunday should be day 52 at K.

Good point on marginal days we had three days this season where we skied when others thought it would be bad apparently. Two of them were refreeze days after rain and though it was super hard Waterville and Sunday River both did a great job fixing things up! The other was this past Saturday at Cannon where it was overcast and rain and mixed precip happened for brief periods but the forecast kept people away. To your point - right on! I can not deal with full on rain though!


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MadMadWorld

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I did it in college when I was instructor. Loaded up all my classes on Tuesday and Wednesday. I remember picking my gen eds based solely on them fitting into my schedule. I ended up taking some weird classes because of it. I think the 2002-03 winter I spent probably 65+ days on the snow between working and skiing with friends. I skied 4 days a week while classes were going on and during holiday break I skied 20+ days.
 

AdironRider

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I did it in college when I was instructor. Loaded up all my classes on Tuesday and Wednesday. I remember picking my gen eds based solely on them fitting into my schedule. I ended up taking some weird classes because of it. I think the 2002-03 winter I spent probably 65+ days on the snow between working and skiing with friends. I skied 4 days a week while classes were going on and during holiday break I skied 20+ days.

I find it interesting how many folks really hit their peak years during college, I've been the total opposite. Having been in Jackson for 7 seasons now, I've averaged about 120 days a year outside of one where I blew my Achilles in early December. Only got 16 that year. The work excuse is just that, and excuse. I've worked 5 of these years in Accounting and Finance, so no 4pm starts to the workday making it easy. You get up early and hike for turns, night skiing, every weekend day, skiing in the rain, a run real quick before a meeting, it all counts. Obviously living here makes this mostly possible. I understand trading off living somewhere for work, but that means you value work more over skiing. I don't fit into that category.
 

dlague

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I find it interesting how many folks really hit their peak years during college, I've been the total opposite. Having been in Jackson for 7 seasons now, I've averaged about 120 days a year outside of one where I blew my Achilles in early December. Only got 16 that year. The work excuse is just that, and excuse. I've worked 5 of these years in Accounting and Finance, so no 4pm starts to the workday making it easy. You get up early and hike for turns, night skiing, every weekend day, skiing in the rain, a run real quick before a meeting, it all counts. Obviously living here makes this mostly possible. I understand trading off living somewhere for work, but that means you value work more over skiing. I don't fit into that category.

%0 seems quite manageable! It is the early season, night skinig commitment that I need to add! For example We got 2 days in November and only went night skiing twice. add 5-8 more night skiing trips, work on getting out 6 time in November and a few extra here and there and 50 is easy!
 

Domeskier

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If you are able to add dome skiing to the off season, there is no reason you shouldn't hit 300 days a year. In fact, anyone who doesn't immediately relocate to the nearest dome clearly does not value skiing as much as they say they do.
 

dlague

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If you are able to add dome skiing to the off season, there is no reason you shouldn't hit 300 days a year. In fact, anyone who doesn't immediately relocate to the nearest dome clearly does not value skiing as much as they say they do.

Good point! I guess I need to pack my shit up and head to Dubai! Then again skiing a 400-500 ft vert straight down could get old real fast going 300 times per year! Talked myself out of it already! Guess I hate skiing! :beer:
 

Domeskier

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Good point! I guess I need to pack my shit up and head to Dubai! Then again skiing a 400-500 ft vert straight down could get old real fast going 300 times per year! Talked myself out of it already! Guess I hate skiing! :beer:

The other alternative is to relocate to the southern hemisphere every May 1. Any skier who doesn't do at least that much is just some hipster poseur!
 

jimk

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I can't get fired up over that Liberty Univ summer ski complex even though I live only about two hours from it.
But for some reason I don't find it hard to believe living in Jackson, WY ups your motivation to crack 50 days. :) The non-ski pros that live in Ohio and log 50+ are the true diehards.
IIRC there is a guy in this video about the Dubai ski dome that possibly skis more vertical than anyone alive because he's in there almost every day of the year: http://vimeo.com/53106186#at=0
I think he falls in the quantity over quality side of the equation.
 

abc

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Good point on marginal days we had three days this season where we skied when others thought it would be bad apparently. Two of them were refreeze days after rain and though it was super hard Waterville and Sunday River both did a great job fixing things up! The other was this past Saturday at Cannon where it was overcast and rain and mixed precip happened for brief periods but the forecast kept people away. To your point - right on! I can not deal with full on rain though!
Also small things add up too:

With better clothing changes the definition of "freezing cold". I skied on a blizzard day at Copper. It was in the teens and snowing and blowing. The snow crystal hitting my face really hurts. So I pull up my face mask and suddenly it's toasty warm. Then I noticed enough snow had fallen it's becoming a powder day!

For the longest time, I hated hardpack slick groomers, worse if it got skied off. But a few pointers from better skiers, I started to manage icy hardpacks better so now even mild refrozen stuff are fair game.

All those changes one's view of "marginal condition". More and more condition are acceptable rather than marginal == more days out on the slope.
 
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