Powder days...are you worthy?

[bvibert]

IMHO, "problem" might be too strong, rather a "compromise". I will give up A to get B.

that said, i've cursed you and greg for you ability, should you choose to do it, to run over to sundown for a quick hit. for me, it is minimum 3 hour investment to go skiing, and that gets me less than an hour on the snow.

Yeah, I thought that may not be the right word as soon as a I posted it, but I was too lazy to come up with another one.

And, yes, being less than 30 minutes from Sundown sure is nice.

 

[gmcunni]

And, yes, being less than 30 minutes from Sundown sure is nice.

thanks.. cursing you now as i type this :angry:

 

[bvibert]

Powder is only one reason in a long list, and I totally agree. The drastically affected aspects of my life was income. If you can make that work, I see no other drawbacks to living in the Mtns vs. visiting them.

I don't make a ton here, so I can barely make it work (and still have some fun) as it is. The other factor is family, especially now that we have kids. Taking them away from their grandparents seems unfair to me (especially when you consider somewhat frequent free baby sitting).

I'd love to live in the mountains, but at this point in my life I'm unwilling to make the lifestyle adjustments necessary to do so, and I'm good with that. It just means less powder days for me. That's the reason I'm so big on skiing bumps right now, because I have easy access to that kind of skiing right now.

 

[Greg]

CT ain't all that bad. We have some of the best mountain biking around!

 

[bvibert]

CT ain't all that bad. We have some of the best mountain biking around!

Easy there dude, it's still ski season! Why the hell would you be thinking about mountain biking anyway?

 

[severine]

...see what I started with the MTBing thread.... :lol: Sorry, guys!

Yes, I would love to learn how to better ski powder. Between: 2 kids, 2 night classes, a business I'm trying to re-launch (which requires working nights and weekends), and just plain old regular family obligations, it's just not possible for me to go out and ski just because it's snowing. There's a lot more planning involved, thus limiting my opportunities. If I were independently wealthy then heck, yeah, there'd be no excuse. But we're barely eeking by here. We just do the best we can and compromise for now... and hope we're not too decrepit when the day comes that we can move closer to the mountains and have less obligations/responsibilities.

 

[rocojerry]

Well, 2 weeks notice for PTO is pretty standard.

This may or may not work for some of you, but it has worked pretty well for me -- Schedule a bunch of days off in the winter way in advance..... if it doesn't snow, don't fret... Come into work on your vacation day...

at this point, here you are at work, working through your vacation day because the work you are doing is soo important..... maybe you mention to your boss... If I could take a day sometime in the next few weeks, that'd be great instead....

wait, track clouds, give your boss the 24/48 hour heads up... pounce....

 

[riverc0il]

My everyday skis are 86mm under foot. Mister Moose owes me a clip he took of me on Pipe Dream on Thursday where I was really struggling. The whole thing was heavy wind slab. I did about half of it using the Highway Star "Mandatory GS Turn" technique. In the back seat just hoping nothing ripped a ski off. I felt really off-center and I'd like to see the video to see how far out I really was. Somehow, I don't think another 4mm would have mattered.

The right tool will generally benefit up to a point. But it won't compensate for not skiing with the best technique for that condition. Then again, 4mm might not have made much of a difference by 10mm+ might have.

 

[riverc0il]

This is definitely a good point and I'd say it represents the majority of the skiing public. The folks that have easy access to powder, or are willing to make the sacrifices to get there are the exception, not the norm.

It all comes down to that willing part. Granted, there are some jobs that absolutely will not allow for any flexibility. But most people do not have those jobs. The distance issue is non-sense. I used to live three hours from most Vermont mountains, three and a half hours for many, and still made the effort. Very few skiers in New England can not get to a quality mountain in three hours or less.

The family issue, well, that is the big thing that I can see being a challenge and hard to get around by will alone. I am sure there are ways to do it but obviously the kids come first (until they are old enough so you can pull them out of school and enjoy a powder day together).

Then again, we all make lifestyle choices. Sorry to sound like a broken record on that issue, but too often people make excuses and blame external forces.

I agree that the great majority of skiers don't get enough opportunities to ski powder. But for the majority of those skiers, I think there is a general lack of will to make the sacrifices, compromises, and effort that is required to do so.

 

[Marc]

I agree that the great majority of skiers don't get enough opportunities to ski powder. But for the majority of those skiers, I think there is a general lack of will to make the sacrifices, compromises, and effort that is required to do so.

I don't want to nitpick, but this statement sounds almost contradictory of the rest of your post about personal choices. I agree, if we're talking about skiing powder as an action alone in a vacuum, those who don't ski powder, one could say, lack will. But then again, when should we ever look at one aspect of life alone in a vacuum? As a larger piece of the puzzle, it's just a different set of priorities sometimes set in motion and/or affected by our own innate natural abilities. Because we're discussing this in a skiing forum, it's easy to talk like that, and even easier for people like Brian to think he lacks will rather than assuming his different priorities.

Skiing powder is not akin to unaided, human powered flight. Most people are physically capable, but not everyone has decided to do so.

 

[riverc0il]

I don't want to nitpick, but this statement sounds almost contradictory of the rest of your post about personal choices.

I probably did not articulate accurately on that statement. Just agreeing with the general sense that the reason lots of folks have a hard time in powder is because they don't get out there enough. Not that they "lack the opportunity" but "don't create the opportunity" if that takes out the offending contradiction.

There are, of course, no take backs in life and no amount of "will" can ever reduce important priorities once they happen. Sometimes those choices are made long term with deliberation and sometimes things just happen. My take is that there is almost always some aspect of control, regardless.

It is impressive how many family guys on this forum "make it happen" despite the issues previously discussed such as distance, family, job, etc. Lots of folks are having their cake and eating too. Perhaps not in the quantity that would be ideal but in the moderation that makes all aspects of their lives work for them. Which is inspirational and kind of backs up what I am getting at... lots of folks are making it happen despite the hurdles.

 

[Marc]

I probably did not articulate accurately on that statement. Just agreeing with the general sense that the reason lots of folks have a hard time in powder is because they don't get out there enough. Not that they "lack the opportunity" but "don't create the opportunity" if that takes out the offending contradiction.

There are, of course, no take backs in life and no amount of "will" can ever reduce important priorities once they happen. Sometimes those choices are made long term with deliberation and sometimes things just happen. My take is that there is almost always some aspect of control, regardless.

It is impressive how many family guys on this forum "make it happen" despite the issues previously discussed such as distance, family, job, etc. Lots of folks are having their cake and eating too. Perhaps not in the quantity that would be ideal but in the moderation that makes all aspects of their lives work for them. Which is inspirational and kind of backs up what I am getting at... lots of folks are making it happen despite the hurdles.

It does, and don't worry, I wasn't too offended by it, it actually was pretty nitpicky. I agree with the rest of it, and give me hope should God forbid I ever want to procreate. Scary thought that is.

We should go touring sometime, I've progressed a bit since the last time we earned turns together. I promise I won't forget my poles either.

 

[bvibert]

People can always make the choice to get more powder skiing, or skiing in general in. In some cases, however, that would mean leaving their wives, kids, families to do so. That doesn't sound like a good decision to me. Sure, some people manage to "make it happen" more than others, but surely they're sacrificing something else somewhere along the way, they may not even know it.

Life is full of choices and compromises, some lead to powder, others lead to other things that may or may not be better than powder skiing. It's all a matter of perspective.

and even easier for people like Brian to think he lacks will rather than assuming his different priorities.

I still stand by my statement that many people are not willing to make the sacrifices that are sometimes required to "make it happen". I don't think that I lack the will to get powder, I do lack the will to change my priorities though. Because I don't want to.

 

[Marc]

I still stand by my statement that many people are not willing to make the sacrifices that are sometimes required to "make it happen". I don't think that I lack the will to get powder, I do lack the will to change my priorities though. Because I don't want to.

It's not a lack of will then. An example of a lack of willpower would be a smoker that doesn't want to smoke any more, but continues to smoke. Which also usually breeds low self esteem.

 

[Geoff]

Spring corn snow on bluebird days is more reliable. It's equally tough on people who skid their turns. For a weekend warrior, I'm happy to substitute spring days for powder days.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I skied a hell of alot more powder the two ski seasons I spent in Montana compared to the four ski seasons I spent in Vermont..there isn't much powder skiing here in PA but I make up for it with steezy ski trips..I have about 10 powder days so far this season out of 50 days total..not a great ratio for the snowsnobs who live in the north country but good for living in MASH..

 

[sledhaulingmedic]

Am I worthy? Absolutely not! I try to make room for them every chance I get. At this phase in my life, it's a lot less than a couple years ago, but I have more pressures on my time. No complaints though.

 

[riverc0il]

We should go touring sometime, I've progressed a bit since the last time we earned turns together. I promise I won't forget my poles either.

Totally, that would be great. I probably won't do too much touring until April. I will keep you posted when I start hatching up some plans.

 

[ripzillia]

Skiing Powder waist deep is no big deal to someone from the West. Skiing Ice IS! Fat skis just makes it easy for the tailgunner/floater skier,they can be skied correctly but usually not. This season the West learns to ski Ice and the East learns Powder. If your a real skier you just enjoy whatever you are served.
Thank-you and good-day.

 

[JD]

CT ain't all that bad. We have some of the best mountain biking around!

MTBing around here is OK too.