Aggravation

jimk · Feb 12, 2018

I played poker last Saturday night with a guy who lives near me. He skis only two weeks per winter; that is, two week-long trips to the West. He has never skied at the small, but very popular local areas within 90 mins of Wash DC where most of us learned to ski. When my wife (the retired skier) heard this, she said words to this effect: no wonder he's still skiing into his 60's, he never deals with all the marginal crap. I shook my head in partial agreement, but didn't tell her the two western trips on the guy's schedule this winter are Taos (January) and Telluride (March). Both are suffering from exceptionally poor snow this winter. There are always wildcards, you have to make the best of the hand you're dealt.

Rowsdower · Feb 12, 2018

Hawk said:
There is a solution. Move to where it snows a lot more. Utah, the northwest, BC, etc. Take only work that puts you in close proximity to these areas. Get a place on the hill or very close to it. DO NOT HAVE KIDS....or an non-skiing wife for that matter. Sacrifice everything for that elusive Powder or at least combination of several of these things. I was successful with a few of these and my powder day yield has been a lot better. It's not for everybody. But it sure feels great to be the one that is there when it snows on a weekday.

Otherwise I do on let the bad weather frustrate me. Wasting time and energy on things you can't control is bad for you. Close your eyes and take a deep breath and say Fuk That! I just ride my mountain bike when the snow sucks and at least I am outside having fun.

Or... rather than remaining celibate and marrying your powder skis, choose a career with flexibility in where you can work?

bdfreetuna · Feb 12, 2018

AdironRider said:
I stopped paying attention to snow reports a few years back after falling down the rabbit hole. I was looking at infared NOAA maps and coming up with my own predictions by the end.

I just go ride now. I wake up and see snow, sweet. I was up and see sun, alright bluebird! I wake up and its cold, put on another layer. I wake up and its raining, I drink a beer.

Otherwise I'm just left thinking "oh it would be better if". I'd rather just keep thinking snowboarding is awesome.

We all fell in love with the sport as a beginner, on the bunny hill, most likely in rental gear. Those conditions and equipment are usually the worst available at any given ski hill. It didn't take a foot of fresh, or impeccable grooming, for you to fall in love with it. You did because its awesome and fun. Its still awesome and fun regardless of conditions.

That's a beautiful zen-like philosophy.

But I prefer to live on the edge. That includes the cutting edge of available weather model technology. The edge of webmastering 250 clientele and taking my laptop on the edge; getting their urgent updates done as I crack open a Heady Topper (or W/ETF beer), peeling off my ski socks in an $80 motel.

At least that's my plan this week.

drjeff · Feb 12, 2018

Doesn't really get to me after almost 40 seasons of being a Northeast skier.

I have a work schedule that typically gives me 50+ days a year, but not a ton of last minute flexibility to go last minute on an unplanned day.

I look at it this way, I love the sport enough that regardless of whether it's a powder day, a wet day, a dust on crust day, nice temps, ugly temps, multi face mask day or a sunscreen day, I've got the gear to get out on the hill, on my set days, regardless of the conditions, and I'm very, very, very likely to always have fun while out there

Sent from my XT1254 using AlpineZone mobile app

kingslug · Feb 12, 2018

Im at least glad last season made up for many crappy ones..skied more powder in 40 days than in 120..even ended up in Chile..where it dumped but melted and froze the rest if the week..felt just like...home..

slatham · Feb 12, 2018

Sorry to admit my mood is greatly influenced by the weather, or least really bad weather (aka The MLK Flood) or a dump (aka Merry Christmas Powder Day). I try to take Dr Jeff's road, and yes I almost always end up having fun on the mountain even if the conditions aren't great. But looking at the current forecast for the next week or so is depressing and it bums me out.

VTKilarney · Feb 12, 2018

I’m seriously thinking about buying a fat tire bike. I’ve been told that they are the most fun in hardpack. I see it as a good insurance policy that will allow me to enjoy crappy skiing days.

VTKilarney · Feb 12, 2018

slatham said:
Sorry to admit my mood is greatly influenced by the weather.

If you love this sport you HAVE to be impacted by the weather. The people claiming to be completely Zen about the weather are either incapable of feeling or are lying.

JimG. · Feb 12, 2018

A lot like last season.

cdskier · Feb 12, 2018

VTKilarney said:
If you love this sport you HAVE to be impacted by the weather. The people claiming to be completely Zen about the weather are either incapable of feeling or are lying.

I tend to agree with this. Sure I can still have fun in somewhat crappy conditions (almost anything with the exception of outright ice), but that doesn't mean I'm not disappointed by the weather or conditions. Lapping groomers is better than sitting home or in the office, but I'd still prefer if the natural terrain is in play and skiing well.

tnt1234 · Feb 12, 2018

cdskier said:
I tend to agree with this. Sure I can still have fun in somewhat crappy conditions (almost anything with the exception of outright ice), but that doesn't mean I'm not disappointed by the weather or conditions. Lapping groomers is better than sitting home or in the office, but I'd still prefer if the natural terrain is in play and skiing well.

Yeah, and it just sucks when you only have a couple of weekends to get there...

Day trips to the pokes or catskills...doesn't bum me out if it's marginal. It's the trips up north that hurt.

ss20 · Feb 12, 2018

JimG. said:
A lot like last season.

Agreed. Slightly better this year I feel...but my memory is heavily biased towards what I experience in the Flatlands where I teach. I remember last year there was something crazy like a 2 week span in January where they couldn't make snow. Then there was the absolute BLOWTORCH for President's week. That was crazy. I clearly remember leading down lessons avoiding popsicles and grass/mud and puddles...in the middle of February.

March was good though. Very cold. St. Patricks day blizzard. Skied 32" at Bellayre or something crazy like that.

cdskier · Feb 12, 2018

ss20 said:
Agreed. Slightly better this year I feel...but my memory is heavily biased towards what I experience in the Flatlands where I teach. I remember last year there was something crazy like a 2 week span in January where they couldn't make snow. Then there was the absolute BLOWTORCH for President's week. That was crazy. I clearly remember leading down lessons avoiding popsicles and grass/mud and puddles...in the middle of February.

March was good though. Very cold. St. Patricks day blizzard. Skied 32" at Bellayre or something crazy like that.

They've both been "bad" and "good" in different ways I think. Judging purely based on the photos I took last year, it seems January had a bit more consistent conditions on weekends. At this exact point last season, Sugarbush also had over DOUBLE the amount of snow that they have this year. (I do remember there being a sharp drop in snowfall totals south of Sugarbush though to be fair)

They also had quite a bit of snow right before the holiday (just looked at the snow reports and they had over a foot right before the President's weekend)...and then the brutal blowtorch came. After that lower elevation trails in particular were very much back to square one in many cases (the pictures I have of Lower Domino from 2/25 last year are filled with numerous bare spots). It was actually so bad by early March that even Sugarbush fired back up the guns in the beginning of March. After that though it seems things did improve and we had quite a bit of snow in March and April. Funny how those March and April conditions (along with an absolutely epic December) are what stick in my mind about last year and I had forgotten how bad the end of February ultimately was until people started to bring it up. I apparently had successfully blocked the bad parts of last season from my mind until now.

Moral of the story though I suppose is that even if the next couple weeks of February are crappy, there's still plenty of times for things to turn back around.

Hawk · Feb 13, 2018

Rowsdower said:
Or... rather than remaining celibate and marrying your powder skis, choose a career with flexibility in where you can work?

Celibate??? Who said that? and as for a career, I think I covered that.

Hawk · Feb 13, 2018

drjeff said:
Doesn't really get to me after almost 40 seasons of being a Northeast skier.

I have a work schedule that typically gives me 50+ days a year, but not a ton of last minute flexibility to go last minute on an unplanned day.

I look at it this way, I love the sport enough that regardless of whether it's a powder day, a wet day, a dust on crust day, nice temps, ugly temps, multi face mask day or a sunscreen day, I've got the gear to get out on the hill, on my set days, regardless of the conditions, and I'm very, very, very likely to always have fun while out there

Sent from my XT1254 using AlpineZone mobile app

Amen Brother!

Hawk · Feb 13, 2018

VTKilarney said:
I’m seriously thinking about buying a fat tire bike. I’ve been told that they are the most fun in hardpack. I see it as a good insurance policy that will allow me to enjoy crappy skiing days.

Considering you are up in the NEK with the Kingdom Trails at your Door, I am surprised that you don't already have one. The Kingdom trails have done an excellent job with the fat tire crew in the winter. Everybody that goes says it is top notch. Go rip it up dude.

ironhippy · Feb 13, 2018

VTKilarney said:
I’m seriously thinking about buying a fat tire bike. I’ve been told that they are the most fun in hardpack. I see it as a good insurance policy that will allow me to enjoy crappy skiing days.

A fat bike on complete hard pack (where you can walk without snowshoes) is the most fun I've ever had on a bike. It is the closest feeling I've had to powder skiing (when not powder skiing). Climb up an open hill, look back down, bike ANYWHERE you want to go.

This was at a local golf course last year, we have not had these conditions this year but the groomed stuff has been great at times.
Winter Fat biking is completely weather dependent, but normally the weather that makes good fat biking makes poor skiing and vice versa so you are almost always ready to do something.

Snowshoe or XC ski when you can't downhill ski or fat bike.

Smellytele · Feb 13, 2018

The Sneak said:
BW was in excellent shape this past Saturday. Spent the whole day in the glades. So much fun.
High performance milf on the chair talking crap about her husband was amusing, less so that she was telling her child how much daddy sucked at life.

Heard Sunday was a frozen glare ice skating rink there.

tumbler · Feb 13, 2018

I have no control over the weather so I try to not have it control my mood. Yes, conditions could be better but I still go to the mountains on the weekends and have fun regardless. I gave up a long time ago trying to will the weather, now I just drink.

Glenn · Feb 13, 2018

It's been a challenge the last few years. My wife and I take a few long weekends throughout the season and hope for the best. Some days, you get lucky; like the day we had before Christmas. Other days, you don't...like yesterday. I sometimes feel like we wish the winter away because we're always looking ahead to the next storm...or next cold snap. This week looks like a drag and into next week...so what's it going to do after that?

The season is limited and so are the available days on the hill. You just have to make the most of it. We've gone the quality over quantity route. We typically skip Saturdays and get our runs in on Sundays. This year, work has gotten in the way of all the good powder days.

It seems that having a regular winter with average snow and consistently cold temps is asking too much.

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