How seriously do you take skiing?

[Greg]

Never had the opportunity to ski bum. Didn't start skiing until I was almost 20 and soon after college, the standard life path began. I wouldn't trade where I am now with a wife, kids, and nice house for it though. Not a chance. I get in plenty of skiing and can only hope that the kids become as hooked as I am. I have no doubt that my best years of skiing are still ahead.

 

[deadheadskier]

Never had the opportunity to ski bum. Didn't start skiing until I was almost 20 and soon after college, the standard life path began. I wouldn't trade where I am now with a wife, kids, and nice house for it though. Not a chance. I get in plenty of skiing and can only hope that the kids become as hooked as I am. I have no doubt that my best years of skiing are still ahead.

I kind of feel the same way....minus the wife, kids, nice house part. Though a modest condo will be closed on in a few weeks with a girl who more than likely will be the wife and whom I will end up having children with.
If I have any regrets (and they are small) as to giving it my best to be a ski bum throughout my twenties, it's that it has me starting a bit late in life on the 'standard life path' thing.

I too feel that my best ski years are ahead of me. The goal is to spend a minimum of one more day per year on the hill than I did the previous year.

 

[eastcoastpowderhound]

Haha..I like wearing tightunderarmour because it's like a man girdle for me..it keeps the spare tire tight..lol..my diet starts tomorrow though so I shouldn't have that issue next season. Once I get skinny I'll be able to rock the mesh shirt..JEA!!!!

I don't think being serious about skiing means taking lessons and working on technique..it's more about how into the sport you are.

Do you need to ski the first weekend there is lift served skiing in the east? No...but I wanna!

Does the thought of missing a powder day kill you? No, just tortures the hell outta me

Do your friends understand why you aren't around much during ski season? Nope, they're on the lift with me

Do you ski in the rain? yup

Do you ski when there is only one trail open? yup

Do the liftees at the local hill say,"Are you always here"? no

Do you think about skiing everyday? yup

If you were to win the lottery..would you quit your job and become a skibum? quit job, yes...but I'd be more of an independently wealthy ski junkie than a bum.

Have you ever been a skibum? yup, 90/91 in Tahoe and 96/97 in Vail

Do you have ski posters on your walls?

No...some nice black and white pics though...and the sign over my desk says "Eat Sleep Ski"

 

[billski]

I'm with the other guys and gals. I'm in it for the fun. I was only serious until I felt comfortable with any terrain, anywhere, then I let loose. Plus, when you're over the age hump, just being out and having all my capabilities is good enough!

 

[BeanoNYC]

I'm not very serious. That wouldn't be fun.

 

[kingslug]

Do you need to ski the first weekend there is lift served skiing in the east?

Does the thought of missing a powder day kill you?

Do your friends understand why you aren't around much during ski season?

Do you ski in the rain?

Do you ski when there is only one trail open?

Do the liftees at the local hill say,"Are you always here"?

Do you think about skiing everyday?

If you were to win the lottery..would you quit your job and become a skibum?

Have you ever been a skibum?

Do you have ski posters on your walls?

YES..................................damn it.........YES!!!

So I guess the answer is................yes.

 

[andyzee]

Do you need to ski the first weekend there is lift served skiing in the east?

Does the thought of missing a powder day kill you?

Do your friends understand why you aren't around much during ski season?

Do you ski in the rain?

Do you ski when there is only one trail open?

Do the liftees at the local hill say,"Are you always here"?

Do you think about skiing everyday?

If you were to win the lottery..would you quit your job and become a skibum?

Have you ever been a skibum?

Do you have ski posters on your walls?

YES..................................damn it.........YES!!!

So I guess the answer is................yes.

This year I noticed you reach a new lever of sickness, er, I mean seriousness.

 

[Lostone]

1. Do you need to ski the first weekend there is lift served skiing in the east? No... But the first day Sugarbush is open. :wink:

2. Does the thought of missing a powder day kill you? Yes!! :roll:

3. Do your friends understand why you aren't around much during ski season? Ayep! :wink:

4. Do you ski in the rain? Depends on what the forecasts are saying for the next day. If the next day is warm, but not rainy, I'll delay. (Laundry has to be done, you know. :wink If, on the other hand, the temps are going to drop, get out there while the rain snow is soft!

5. Do you ski when there is only one trail open? Yep!

6. Do the liftees at the local hill say,"Are you always here"? Nope... They say, "You are always here!"

7. Do you think about skiing everyday? Pretty much. :wink:

8. If you were to win the lottery..would you quit your job and become a skibum? Nope... I don't have a job.

9. Have you ever been a skibum? See above. :wink:

10. Do you have ski posters on your walls? No. Other than one print of a pic of the Sugarbush Gondola and the old Mushroom, all of my pictures are ones that I took. And, as I look around, I'm surprised to find that none of them are of skiing, tho all but one of them are of Vermont.

Of course, looking from my deck, I can see ski trails, so I'm not all that far from it. 8)

As to the title question how serious am I about it... I'm mostly here for the fun. I take lessons every year, to give myself something to work on. Every once in a while, I part from others and just clinic, getting my skis to work a little better.

But... I'm mostly here for the fun. 8)

 

[riverc0il]

One of my personal savings is "I don't do anything half ass" or at least I try not to. Things that I don't take seriously usually fall by the way side pretty quickly (like that neglected guitar sitting on a stand in a corner). My life has been nothing but a series of full filled obsessions and taking them seriously never made me enjoy them any less and achieving certain skill levels has enabled me to have more fun than I might have had I not put in the time and effort.

Putting in time and effort is taking it serious. You can't get good at anything without taking it serious and people are kidding themselves if they think other wise. You can take it serious and still have fun, still have an amazingly fun time. But it is rare indeed that someone can go after something totally effortless without going after it. Most people on here make more effort than the average skier, that is for sure, and enjoy it more than the average skier.

How about taking it "too seriously"? That might be different. Some may say I take my powder too seriously. When I am on the mountain, I don't think so, especially once you really get into it. When I am driving up to the mountain at 8:45AM realizing I missed first tracks on a powder day and am cursing the whole drive up the access road... okay, that may be taking it too serious. But eating it all up and never being satisfied? Too serious? Perhaps, but who here is ever satisfied? When you are satisfied, you can hang up your skis and not "jones" for another day. Interestingly enough, after taking a season serious, I no longer exhibit the jones many other skiers do. I take it seriously enough that I know I made every sacrifice possible to maximize my season and I can leave it at that.

My major point is that taking skiing seriously and having fun is not a contradiction but rather a correlation and perhaps even a causation in many ways. You can have fun while taking something seriously. And you can have fun while not taking things seriously. Just depends how hard you get after it and your mental approach. Earlier this season, a dude started getting pissed off because we were about to ski his line. We actually were going to let him go first since he was ahead of us and we just de-skinned and clicked in quicker. Yelling about someone else skiing your line is taking it too seriously. Doing everything in your power to get their first and nail the untracked? Just another day of skiing in my book. For me personally, I gotta take the activity as far as I personally am willing to do so and if that is taking it seriously, I don't think it is a bad thing as long as I am enjoying every turn.

Edit: We need another thread about taking posting on the internet too seriously :lol:

 

[cbcbd]

Steve, I dig the dissertation posts... keep at it

Skiing is serious... serious fun.

 

[hardline]

like anything i do i my life i try to be as proficent at as i can. if that means that i seem a little odd to people that i know. cool. that i get a job that lets me buy the things i need to have fun at the activity i love doing. fine. the past few years have been exactly what i have been working towards most of my life. so i guess i take it seriously.

 

[kingslug]

This year I noticed you reach a new lever of sickness, er, I mean seriousness.

It's been escalating for some time.

 

[kingslug]

Another aspect of taking it serious: When the terrain gets "serious" is when I feel the need to get serious. Skiing is fun, but it can get hairy sometimes. I think anyone looking to up the ante and really get out there would be wise to take certain things seriously, especialy in the back country. I see so many people trying to get down things that are way out of their league. I wonder if they know how close they are to really having a bad day.

"why do skiers drink so much at the end of the day? it's because our nerves are shot"

Micah Black

 

[mattchuck2]

Do you need to ski the first weekend there is lift served skiing in the east? Usually pretty close to the first weekend.

Does the thought of missing a powder day kill you? Yeah. Nothings worse than sitting in an office looking outside at fresh snow and thinking about all your buddies who are already at the mountain

Do your friends understand why you aren't around much during ski season? Your friends don't ski? If your friends don't ski, then they're no friends of mine ;-)

Do you ski in the rain? Yeah.

Do you ski when there is only one trail open? Early and Late season I do . . . Not in the middle of the year (unless I can hike up to more)

Do the liftees at the local hill say,"Are you always here"? No, but I know all the lifties.

Do you think about skiing everyday? Yes.

If you were to win the lottery..would you quit your job and become a skibum? DEFINITELY. I'd move to a different ski area every year for 10 years, and if I haven't found one I liked in both winter and summer, I'd move back east and buy and old ski area to run myself

Have you ever been a skibum? No. But there's still time.

Do you have ski posters on your walls? No, but after I redo my basement into a home theater, I got a bunch of those vintage wood poster type thingies from various mountains that I'm going to put up.

 

[mattchuck2]

As far as whether I take the sport seriously, not really.

I'm always looking to improve, but I find skiing to be a lot like Golf in that if I want a tip, then I'll ask for it . . . I don't want unsolicited advice from people when I'm clearly just out there to have fun and enjoy the day.

It's more of an adventure for me . . . I consider it a good ski day if I've attempted something that I've never done before (whether it's skiing a specific line, learning a new trick, or skiing a new trail at a new mountain).

 

[180]

Everyone around me, especially my kids, know I'm way too serious. First chair, last chair, weather, weather weather....

 

[Sparky]

Serious?

I cruse two or three sites like this a day (once I found a way around Surf Control)
I have a helmet cam just for skiing
I have hours of less then mundane homemade ski videos
I curse summer
I strive to get enough work done around the house so that my wife doesn’t bother me to much about it during the season.
I took a job as an instructor to get more time on the mountain (it certainly wasn’t for the money)
During the season I suck up all the training I can (which I desperately need)
I use my kids as an excuse to go skiing, “it’s a good bonding experience” In the near future I’ll use my new grandson.
I even use other family members for excuses, even brother in laws. I’ve even offered to give lessons to semi friends
I have 27 ski movies (which I will watch all summer long)
I count the times out on my office calendar
My off season workouts are designed to help my skiing
October and November are pure agony, it’s so close
I’ll check three or four weather sites searching for any potential “first” storm that would open my mountain
I search of any ticket deal any where. I have gotten enough free Stratton tickets to cover a ski weekend with the family
This list could go on even longer but even I’m bored with it

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

seriously

 

[hardline]

anybody that ski's 50 or more days serious. 90 or more your the real deal

 

[Moe Ghoul]

anybody that ski's 50 or more days serious. 90 or more your the real deal

I don't think that's a fair metric. Being geographically challenged or on a budget doesn't make someone less serious about skiing. The skier that puts in less than 50, but spent 14 of those days earning turns or heliskiing into some gnarley back country is prolly pretty serious. I think what you do when you ski (spending at least 5-6 hours on the slopes, not 2 on the slopes and 4 in the bar) is a better measure.