Rate your 2010-11 ski season

[Ski Stef]

hmm....I'd have to give this season a 7



Pros
SO MUCH FUN!!
Skiied new terrain and new mountains
I skiied hard and made some improvements in my skiing that will only get better next year

Cons
Should have had more days on the hill...

[billski]

So all those great reports you put up this year just go in the waste bin? That's a shame.

Examine the criteria -

I worked more than I skied. Epic Fail!

[polski]

Belatedly getting back to this ...

What makes this a season of 9's is not the number of days but the quality of it!

Hear hear. That said, I did note in the OP that I got in more days by far this year than ever before, and part of the satisfaction comes from a spell where I made turns something like seven days straight and 12 out of 13. Quite a few of those days were skinning locally but even if those involved only a handful of runs, they often were off the charts in quality - not least because the pow turns were earned, with no other tracks on the hill. (We were blessed by an incredible snowpack down here for almost two full months.)

One thing I didn't mention was I was in better shape this year than ever before, so I was skiing better and had a lot more stamina, e.g. to climb to Little Headwall on Mt Wash and then charge hard all afternoon at Black. All that local skinning sure didn't hurt.

[gmcunni]

Examine the criteria -

I worked more than I skied. Epic Fail!

guess you won't be happy until retirement then.

[RootDKJ]

real good season for me - alot of days for me, 45 plus a few fun xc/bc days, a few powder days, first trip out west, alot of fun trips to greek peak and some other pokey areas, whiteface always delivers, and a had a good race/drinking season. fun family time watching mrs snowbunski and jr continue to step it up big time and watching my oldest daughter boarding with her dude after losing the last two seasons to acl surgeries. whole lotta fun skiing and drinking with friends old and new. only dissapointments are no slides at the face again and my tux trip this weekend is about to implode due to family and work shit... oh yea and not making nastar nationals this year is a little dissapointing - bump up to gold division is going to make it tough for a few years until i get to the next age bracket, theres like 5 or 6 really good dudes ahead of me at both of the local hills.

Mrs snowbunski loves talking about her win

[polski]

I should add two factors that cancel each other out:

- my sons continue not only improving in form and confidence but being scared by less and less. Last year the younger boy (then just 9) persuaded me (not the other way around) to ski Upper Magician and Red Line at Magic on a perfect day for that; this year they both (older boy now 13) did Fall Line as well as numerous other serious blacks at MRG, and we might well have done Paradise if it had been open that day (as noted, on a subsequent visit I did make my first descent of that trail).

- did not get my wife on downhill skis all season. She had a bad experience as a kid and has yet to overcome her fear of losing control on skis despite a few tries (lessons) in recent years. We did have some fun on xc skis though and she also got into snowshoeing, so I'm hoping we'll still get there someday.

[RootDKJ]

I keep trying to do a season wrap up and keep forgetting about it.

Overall, 6.5-7.5. After a death in the family at the end of December, I had a hard time figuring out how to have fun. Many days, I simply "forced" myself to just go make some turns. I had a good trip to Stowe in January that delivered me 6"+ inches of fresh 4 out of 6 days. I didn't get much use out of the GoPro as I had hoped, maybe next season. Ended the season at the end of March at Hunter again. Picked up a bunch of new gear in the off-season so far. I'll be looking forward to my 1st turns of '11-'12 for sure.

[2knees]

Started off well, middle was very good, great pow days, I will give it a 7.

Why no ten? I am a huge spring fan, and well spring has underdelivered, and the day or two that could have been killer, I had to do things around the house. Also I have had knee problems, which to this point nothing can be done to help. I have had to face the fact that I am 31 (almost 32) and have 70 year old knees.

hear you on the knee thing. mine are awful and always hurt after skiing. still swollen from sunday right now. not sure how you ski, but i've changed alot in the last 10 years. I dont get air anymore, it just isnt worth the risk. i still ski alot of moguls but i dont charge very hard, especially if conditions are firm and the biggest thing i try to avoid is groomed out hardpack. the chatter is worse then anything on my knees. I'm 40 and have been dealing with this for a long time. There are days it doesnt seem worth it, but i figure there's always snowboarding if the knees truly give out.

[Philpug]

11

First year out west. I am confident I will hit my goal of skis days (60) that I set early on. I get to ski almost every day with my best friend along with testing new gear almost every day. I can comfortably say I am "living the dream"

[gmcunni]

There are days it doesnt seem worth it, but i figure there's always snowboarding if the knees truly give out.

it has been nice knowing you. you are dead to me.