Ideal ski towns for the future factoring in all issues?

[thebigo]

The greatest improvement in my skiing has resulted from watching my kid's instructors and proper equipment. I had more stamina in my 20s than 40s but I never had proper instruction and simply could not afford fitted boots and a quiver. This is my daughters fifth year in a seasonal program, in the beginning I would follow the group around to assist coaches with lifts/bathroom breaks/snack etc. before long I started watching the drills and replicating in my own skiing.

 

[x10003q]

My experience with most 100 day a year skiers is that they are the folks who arrive at 7:30, get first chair and are back in the lodge getting ready to leave at 10:00. Or who go inside and relax from 10-2 and then reappear in the afternoon.

Key word there was "most" before the hard cores start flaming.

I had a place at Gore for 25 years. A few times per season, I would go up on a Monday night, ski Tues/Wed and drive home Wed night. There were a handful of retirees who where booting up with me at 8am and leaving when I came in for lunch at 1130am. I got to know some of them - they were mostly good for a couple of hours. If the snow was excellent, they would stay longer. They all loved skiing enough to do it almost every weekday, but limited the time per day. They did not feel the need to go bell to bell or even bell to 2pm because they knew they would be back the next day.

 

[Domeskier]

I think the one valid inference that can be drawn from Miller's largely flippant quote is that someone who is better skier in their 40's than in their 20's wasn't a world-cup or Olympic calibre skier in their 20's. But there's huge difference between being a pretty terrible skier and not being an Olympic-level skier, and the room for improvement within that spectrum is probably not dependent on the difference in fitness levels between 20 year olds and 40 year olds.

I don't think anyone's denying that if winning trophies, throwing yourself off cliffs or impressing ski bros with your park skillz is important to you, you should probably focus on skiing when you're younger and forget about carving up the groomers for half an hour each morning to appear in the 100-day club group photo on K-Zone when you're 64.

 

[2Planker]

Used to be 50-60 days/year
Half working as a patroller.
Half definitely not working. skiing w/ wife & friends.

This year will be 20-25 days on the Conway Chamber Pass.
100% Ski Bum, Not working.
First pass I've had to pay for since 1990

 

[abc]

BTW, the concept of "ski day" is long past its usefulness IMO.

It made sense when we were paying for lift tickets per day, and amortized season tickets over the number of "days" we used it. With the majority of people skiing on cheap season passes, the number of "day" is irrelevant. Those "days" of 2 hours is not comparable to "days" of bell-to-bell! What about those "days" when you took a run and decided the condition is so terrible they'd rather quit, but end up sitting at the bar shooting BS till the lift closes?

I don't know many other sports use this "day" concept. Definitely not in cycling. There, people talk about mileage. I don't think in running. Not even in cross country skiing, a pretty close relative to downhill skiing. Tennis? Hah. They talk about hours or number of games, not "days"! Maybe golf?

 

[Smellytele]

BTW, the concept of "ski day" is long past its usefulness IMO.

It made sense when we were paying for lift tickets per day, and amortized season tickets over the number of "days" we used it. With the majority of people skiing on cheap season passes, the number of "day" is irrelevant. Those "days" of 2 hours is not comparable to "days" of bell-to-bell! What about those "days" when you took a run and decided the condition is so terrible they'd rather quit, but end up sitting at the bar shooting BS till the lift closes?

I don't know many other sports use this "day" concept. Definitely not in cycling. There, people talk about mileage. I don't think in running. Not even in cross country skiing, a pretty close relative to downhill skiing. Tennis? Hah. They talk about hours or number of games, not "days"! Maybe golf?

You keep track of hours in tennis for a whole season?
Mileage is harder to track in skiing then biking, running and xcountry.
Tracking hours over a season for skiing really isn’t a thing is it?

Thought I’d try the ABC way and ask questions.

 

[cdskier]

I've honestly rarely skied "bell to bell" at any point (even when I was paying for day tickets in the past). There are a handful of days that I've done it...but those days are generally days I'm skiing with a group of friends combined with days that have really good conditions. So my definition of a "day" skiing is simply a day that I skied at all. It doesn't matter to me how long I skied for it to count.

 

[snoseek]

I'm approaching 50, have done some shitty stuff to my body and still ski 4 or 5 days a week. Maybe less stupid stuff and maybe more groomers but nothing hurts at the moment.

There were alot of years I hit 100 and I feel that that probably made my tolerance to everyday wear and tear better as I age. So yeah going from a 9-5 your whole life and expecting to pound out a 6 day a week season on your first year of retirement is probably not gonna work. I suggest resistance training maybe and ski bell to bell those working years to develop

 

[ThatGuy]

If you went out and had fun thats a good day skiing. Don’t need to get the excel charts out to define your season.

 

[cdskier]

If you went out and had fun thats a good day skiing. Don’t need to get the excel charts out to define your season.

Hah...I actually do track my days, miles, vertical in an excel spreadsheet. But it is just for my own information and I'm not trying to use it to compare against anyone other than myself.

 

[ThatGuy]

Hah...I actually do track my days, miles, vertical in an excel spreadsheet. But it is just for my own information and I'm not trying to use it to compare against anyone other than myself.

I track everything on my Slopes app as well. Just meant that your ski stats shouldn't be what defines your season fun-wise and feeling like you have to meet a certain amount of days/vert detracts from enjoyment.

 

[abc]

Tracking hours over a season for skiing really isn’t a thing is it?

It isn't a thing YET!

For all the hate of Vail, EpicMix can track your lift rides, which pretty much equates the number of runs. That's a much better reflection of the amount of SKIING than "days".

Cyclists not only can track their miles. They can also track the amount of climbing they do. Those two really reflects the amount of effort (and achievement) in that discipline.

You can certainly track the mileage of your ski "day" with a Garmin, for example. Or use the many apps that tracks all other kind of parameter: vertical, hour, mileage, you name it! The only reason people don't do that is largely inertia. Using a completely outdated and increasingly meaningless tracker is pretty pointless.

 

[abc]

If you went out and had fun thats a good day skiing. Don’t need to get the excel charts out to define your season.

During those years when I skied a lot of "days", I didn't bother keeping track of my "days". But I do keep track of the powder days!!!

 

[pinion]

Plenty of phone apps have monitoring of this type availalbe. I've used Ski Tracks since 2012, and can break down my speed, ski distance, vert, runs, view GPS data, etc. It's great info to have but not worth obsessing over metrics. I did 84,000 vert and BIG distance on skis before MLK weekend... at Wildcat... on Polecat...

 

[deadheadskier]

Plenty of phone apps have monitoring of this type availalbe. I've used Ski Tracks since 2012, and can break down my speed, ski distance, vert, runs, view GPS data, etc. It's great info to have but not worth obsessing over metrics. I did 84,000 vert and BIG distance on skis before MLK weekend... at Wildcat... on Polecat...

40 runs down Polecat in a day?!?!

 

[pinion]

40 runs down Polecat in a day?!?!

No, a combo of every day leading up to MLK because that's all that was open My point being that distance, vert, runs, etc differ wildly in their "value", so should not be taken too seriously as a metric.

** edit ** there was some Bobcat thrown in there after Xmas. And one rope duck on Upper Wildcat that required some emergency repairs in C-lot afterwards.

 

[Smellytele]

Days actually track your commitment in getting to the mountain and skiing and not committing to other activities like house maintenance and dog walking...

 

[crank]

What I discovered about using Ski Tracks is that it's fun to look at it around summer's end and reminisce about a great day of skiing. See your ups and downs so to speak. Remember that zoomer where you hit 60+. How much vert you skied on an epic day. Or... how many days you skied per season

 

[BenedictGomez]

Maybe golf?

Rounds.

 

[2Planker]

40 runs down Polecat in a day?!?!

They used to have the 100K Challenge.
That is, all in 1 day
Was usually early March