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McDonald (or Chinese buffet) of skiing?

abc

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I'm on the nordic ski patrol of Mohonk Preserve. For those who don't know, it's a quite sizable nordic ski area of some 30-40 km of cross country skiing trails, GROOMED and track set! It sometimes gets good amount of snow but other times bare ground. Still, it being only an hour from my house, whenever it has snow, I'd go. it's a great exercise, the peace and quiet in the woods, the effortless gliding along the tracks. I usually enjoy xc skiing A LOT.

But last season, I didn't go even once!

Why?

I was skiing at Stratton and Sugarbush, because I felt I want to "use the days" that comes with my $800 IKON pass!

Don't get me wrong. I enjoy skiing some of the more "iconic" destinations the pass offered: Big Sky, Jackson, Snowbird/Alta... to name just a few. I do not regret buying the pass, and will do so again. But Stratton...???

OK, Sugarbush is a mountain I wanted to ski and I got to ski it. But to be honest, the condition wasn't the best when I was there. I went only because I have it on the pass "for free". That is, instead of doing some cross country skiing an hour from my house, which is just as enjoyable and probably better for my cardio health.

I was out riding my bike up to Mohonk again last weekend. I was huffing and puffing and suffering. That's when I hit upon the possible connection between not even xc ski ONCE in the winter and my suffering on the bike!

With the unlimited pass of IKON/EPIC. There's a temptation to "eat" as much as possible to "maximize" the benefit of the pass, to "make the pass pay", to lower the average per day cost etc... But I'm beginning to wonder, am I becoming a slave of the "good deal" pass? To the point I'm not doing what is actually good for me (which in my case is a mix of downhill and xc skiing)

Like stuffing oneself in a Chinese buffet? Or eating at McDonald's because it's cheapest way to not feel hungry even though the food isn't the most healthy?

Years ago, I typically had a western season pass (A-basin, Mt Ross, or later RMSP) for my western trips. But locally, I would downhill or xc ski based on condition and expense (xc always wins the latter, because it's either free or only $20). However, since the days when multi-resort passes includes northeast mountains, I had unconsciously got sucked into downhill skiing as many days as possible, rather than a balance of whatever other winter activity/sport I normally be doing.

Basically, I felt like I'm becoming one of those lazy fat people who, without thinking, had been eating too much junk food! Only in skiing terms.

So, those of you who had season passes, do you ski too much the first few years you got the pass? Do you "recover" after a couple seasons?

With the constantly changing pass affiliation of EPIC/IKON, there's the added pressure to ski the new mountains before they change to "the other" pass. Kind of like being in the first year of a new season pass, only every year is "new"!

Like, there's a new McDonald or similar opening up a block from me every couple weeks, offering deals. Then closing shortly. And I got suckered into "capitalizing their deals", eating fatty burgers every meal instead of a salad... :( (wait! McDonald does have salad, albeit not all that good! I'm lost! ;) if you know what I mean)
 
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thetrailboss

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Ski too much? No way! ;)

That said, I used to snowshoe and XC ski a lot more until I grew up and had to pay full freight for a pass. Now I often try to use it as much as I can.
 

ScottySkis

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Mohonk is awesome��������!
I totally understand what u saying
2 years of no outside hiking and biking and a terrible diet makes me sad and it's crazy hard to deal with
I am simply doing smart stuff like walking to convince store
Using my small fitness gym at apartment complex where I live
 

Smellytele

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I skied 72 days last year and x-country skied 10 times. Most I have done of both. I have had a season pass some where or another for at least the last 15 years. Still strive to ski more.
 

NYDB

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You can always show up early and get a few self powered laps in to keep your cardio up. I race MTB in the summer and I think it helps
 

cdskier

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I don't understand the question about "ski too much" with a season pass... That just doesn't seem possible.
 

abc

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You can always show up early and get a few self powered laps in to keep your cardio up. I race MTB in the summer and I think it helps
I tried to hit the xc trails near downhill areas. Couldn’t work up enough motivation so far. It didn’t help most xc trails in alpine resorts tend to be rather boring.

I used tp pack my xc skis on my trip west too. But I had stopped doing that as I sometimes end up not using it at all.

Yes, the real answer is ski downhill less and make time to xc. But that, is sacrilege.

Not to mention I have a hard time making myself do that. Wait! is not gouging myself in a chinese buffet really sacrilege? Or am I just a junk food addict? I’m all confused. ;)

(I’m not entirely serious. But I’m indeed slightly confused. Just slightly)
 

Smellytele

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In New Hampshire some of the best x-country is near alpine ski areas - Waterville, Bretton Woods, Jackson near Wildcat, even Cannon has a x-country place within 10 minutes of the ski area.
VT has Stowe which has great x-country near it. Also Bolton Valley.
 

abc

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In New Hampshire some of the best x-country is near alpine ski areas - Waterville, Bretton Woods, Jackson near Wildcat, even Cannon has a x-country place within 10 minutes of the ski area.
VT has Stowe which has great x-country near it. Also Bolton Valley.
Hehe! You’re quite right. But your list doesn’t include the “McDonald” mountains such as Stratton & Mount Snow.

(there are decent xc skiing even in southern VT. But the trail fee are as much as 1/2 of daily lift tickets! :( )
 

Glenn

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When we first had passes, we used to ski a lot. Then it kinda became like a job. We're a lot more selective now with weather and conditions. We still get our value out of our passes; 4 days on the hill and we break even.
 

slatham

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Hehe! You’re quite right. But your list doesn’t include the “McDonald” mountains such as Stratton & Mount Snow.

(there are decent xc skiing even in southern VT. But the trail fee are as much as 1/2 of daily lift tickets! :( )

XC skiing right at Stratton and Mt Snow. Real good - and cheap ($20's) - not too far from Stratton at Wild Wings (Peru) and Viking (Londonderry).
 

abc

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XC skiing right at Stratton and Mt Snow. Real good - and cheap ($20's) - not too far from Stratton at Wild Wings (Peru) and Viking (Londonderry).
What I really SHOULD be doing is cut back on skiing downhill (yes, sacrilege!) when condition is just so so, travel less, and stay close to home to ski Mohonk!

But I guess I'm still stuck on the phase of going to places because it's "free", especially it's places I don't get to do normally without spending an arm and a leg.

I'm hoping the novelty will eventually wear off, and I'll be back to doing what is good for me rather than what's good for the resorts. (not that I "contribute" all that much to the resorts' bottom line: my ski lunch is typically just a soup, no drinks no fries, I even bring my own cocoa pack! Yep, certifiable el cheapo)
 
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