Booting up...in the lodge or the parking lot???

[deadheadskier]

I don't find there to be a corelation between being the first one on the lift and being serious about skiing.

It's all relative to the person though. I don't need to get the first chair and 70K vert to be satisfied with my day. That doesn't mean I'm 'relaxed' in my approach to skiing.

My best day skiing ever consisted of seven runs, which ironically started with me getting one of the first dozen or so chairs at Stowe.

Pipeline - first tracks
Hour Glass - maybe the fourth guy down
Birthday Bowls - ditto
traverse back over and down to the Big Pig
Tusk - first tracks
Hell Brook - close enough to first tracks
Bruce Trail - plenty of fresh left and a happy exhausted me enjoying fresh brews at the Matterhorn at 2PM in awe of what I accomplished in my day.

basically took six hours to complete it all, there's just over 10K worth of Vert in those runs. I've been skiing for 27 years have had no fewer than 10, 75+ day seasons in that time and that day was as serious as it gets.

kudos for you feeling the need to grab first chair. I did on my best day, but have had countless incredible days getting to the mountain at 10 as well.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

bump

 

[Sky]

Like many...it depends.

Wa is simple, especially mid-week mornings and race nights....IN the lodge. No worries of stolen gear (good luck to the guy who takes my stuff...39" inseam on the pants and size 14 shoes....enjoy!

I put my gear along the wall, or on race nights...upstairs in the restaurant area (with everybody elses).

I've booted up in parking lots plenty of times...it's always an option.

 

[powderman]

Usually in the parking lot

 

[4aprice]

I keep a locker at Camelback PA for the season. Its not a glamourous locker room but its very efficient with changing rooms. It's nice to arrive in street clothes and be able to change back into them after skiing. On the road I lug all my stuff to the lodge when its freezing. Come spring time I'm more likely to change at the car.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

 

[SkiDork]

At our place at K. (I think I might have already answered this?) I have no problem driving a suburban with ski boots on.

 

[hardline]

I don't find there to be a corelation between being the first one on the lift and being serious about skiing.

It's all relative to the person though. I don't need to get the first chair and 70K vert to be satisfied with my day. That doesn't mean I'm 'relaxed' in my approach to skiing.

My best day skiing ever consisted of seven runs, which ironically started with me getting one of the first dozen or so chairs at Stowe.

Pipeline - first tracks
Hour Glass - maybe the fourth guy down
Birthday Bowls - ditto
traverse back over and down to the Big Pig
Tusk - first tracks
Hell Brook - close enough to first tracks
Bruce Trail - plenty of fresh left and a happy exhausted me enjoying fresh brews at the Matterhorn at 2PM in awe of what I accomplished in my day.

basically took six hours to complete it all, there's just over 10K worth of Vert in those runs. I've been skiing for 27 years have had no fewer than 10, 75+ day seasons in that time and that day was as serious as it gets.

kudos for you feeling the need to grab first chair. I did on my best day, but have had countless incredible days getting to the mountain at 10 as well.

im with DHS on this one 9 9:30 10 there all fine for me most of the places i got i get first tracks. i am usually driving up in the middle of the storm and dont get there till 12 or 1 so i like to relax and take my time. plus i have paper work i have to do before i go to sleep. come to think of it i dont think i have ever had first tracks on any trail at stowe in 14 years.
holy shit i have been riding a stowe for almost 15 years.

 

[hiroto]

For a day trip, my son puts his boots on at home :blink:

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Bridger Bowl is the biggest powder day feeding day frenzy ever..on top 10 powder days..arriving an hour and a half early and waiting at the front of the line..is the best place in the world to be..and I make it a point to track up ever bit of fresh Poe I see..farming powder..that's for snowcat operations..I want to shred the gnar to the max..

First run right under the chair..at mad steezy speeds..Second run a few runs over from the lift..using other peoples tracks to get speed to go a little farther over...then just sniff around for more fresh poe. In college I showed up at the crack of 11:00AM on some great powder days due to a 9:00AM class where attendence was taken..or a ride from a putz..and yes there were some untracked left..but not top to bottom...sloppy seconds are fun to ski after getting a bunch of Poe runs..not for the first run of the day..But I'm weird..Even if I'm not first chair..I want to beat all the people ahead of me to the goods..I love the frantic nature..Some people are like that with work..I'm like that with skiing..

I try to avoid the lodge..it's hot and smells like feet and french frys..ski area locker rooms are usually gross..I like to drive with the windows down on the way to the ski area to acclimate to the outside temps..my passengers don't always appreciate that. But it's all about first tracks..whether you boot up in the lodge or in your car..or best of all..a slopeside condo...

This is a great powder day video I found on youtube..from Bridger bowl..my former home mountain..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDeG9Q277BU&feature=related

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

For a day trip, my son puts his boots on at home :blink:

I used to eat lunch with my goggles on....my Dad used to always change in the lodge..he didn't want to drive 25 minutes to Blue mountain in his ski pants..for me..I've driven home from Stowe in my ski pants..mainly for extra stoke!!!!!:???:

 

[drjeff]

If the Moover shuttle at Mount Snow is running, I boot up at my kitchen table at my place, and walk about 50 feet to get on the shuttle and then right off to the lifts! If the Moover isn't running through my complex that day at Mount Snow, then I boot up in the lodge or even in the entry area of the Discovery Center at Mount Snow where my daughter's ski program is based out of

 

[JohnGD33]

parking lot all the way! I usually eat lunch in the lot also, but not all the time.

 

[eastcoastpowderhound]

usually the lodge...boots don't go on so well when they're cold. if its warm and I'm not meeting anyone i'll do it at the car

 

[hardline]

valid points, but like I said, I know my spots at Stowe and have never felt the need to line up for the Forerunner at 7:00 AM or earlier and wait 45 minutes.

I lived in Stowe off and on for 10 years and on a few epic powder days I did show up that early and each time realized I can find plenty of fresh all day long.

The only times I did it was when I really desired to be the first one down Pipeline as after a dozen head down it, it's completely scraped off. Everywhere else on the mountain, I can find fresh all day long and a couple days after.

Like I said earlier. I prefered to get a good spot at the middle gondi lot, stop by the car with friends for lunch, couple brews whatever than head back out from there. Those were some good times and still are when I'm fortunate enough to make it back up there a couple of times a year.

pipe is the only place you have to get first tracks. did you ever have to the limbo with that fat ass fallen tree after you make the right. the first time i ever did it i was fifth in line going down and after doing pipe i was following every body next thing i know everybody is doing the limbo to go under. i have never laid back so fast. that was one of those great days.

 

[hardline]

I've driven home from Stowe in my ski pants..mainly for extra stoke!!!!!:???:

so you can seem hardcore to the people at the rest stops on the thruway

 

[Terry]

I do either. It depends on who I am with, and where. Most nights at Shawnee I boot up in the truck just because it is quicker. If I am skiing with my wife, we boot up in the lodge because she doesn't like booting up in the car. On race nights I boot up in the bar and have a drink while getting ready.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

so you can seem hardcore to the people at the rest stops on the thruway

You be knowing!!!!

 

[Vortex]

Warm days a lawn chair and outside. Cold days inside.

 

[thaller1]

lodge on frigid days, parking lot on nice days..

 

[Beetlenut]

Use to be the parking lot. But now days after driving 3-4 hours, it's the lodge. So much nicer walking back to your car at the end of the day in regular shoes!