Skiing in the Rain Anyone?

[catskills]

Ok so its going to rain just a tad this Saturday. Skiing in the rain can be very good skiing. The first football game doesn't start until 4:30pm. So what you going to do? You can go skiing in the rain and listen to the Seatle/Washington game on the radio on the way home. Then, at 8PM you can see the only game that is important between the Pats and Denver.

So who is going skiing in the rain this Saturday besides me? Come on it will be fun. So you get just a little wet. Its not like your going to melt. :beer:

 

[awf170]

your sick... :wink: :lol:

you do understand that it is not just going to be a few showers, it is going to be all out pouring rain the whole day. Not fun IMO

 

[thetrailboss]

So where are you going to do this?

I got the impression that Sunapee may not be opening tomorrow--crews at the HSQ were removing seat cushions and the maintenance crew was taking down the flags by the road.

That said, I did ski once in heavy rain at Middlebury. It was an interesting experience. Good snow, but the googles were a problem. Did it to earn 'hardcore' status. I also have skied in the rain for a while at Sunday River last year during our vaca. Not as fun :roll:

 

[catskills]

I will be at Belleayre tomorrow. Actually I do like the snow conditions when it rains. If you never have skied in the rain you should try it sometime. Its the fog and visibility that can be a problem. The virtigo can be confussing in thick fog sometimes. Its not like your following the lines on the road.

This is not to get hard core status. Just trying to nudge folks out the door to play in the rain like when you were kids. You dont' get hard core status by skiing in the rain. You get hard core status by skiing in -30F degrees and 30+ MPH winds.

 

[YardSaleDad]

I will be at Belleayre tomorrow. Actually I do like the snow conditions when it rains. If you never have skied in the rain you should try it sometime.

I'll be there too. I want to hit the demo days before the boilerplate sets in. They are predicting and inch of rain for tomorrow. It will be my first time monsoon skiing :-?

 

[NYDrew]

Rain conditions are great. Just dress in a garbage bag and bring extra bags to pack your gear in.

Skiing with broken bones, illnesses like the flu, or temps so cold your eyes freeze is hardcore.

One time at Okemo, there was a storm. Was cold enough to freeze your eyes shut, 3 ft of snow in like 5 hours and wind so strong that:

a little girl im a too-big red jacket (aka a Sail) on top of the mountain, as she is literally getting blown off the back side screaming "daddy help me". She really would have gone over the edge if a patroller wearing ski boots didnt see and was able to get over to her (wind was too strong, you couldnt control yourself on skiis)


I laughed, despite the potential tradgety, it was funny

 

[skijay]

I am planning on going, solo if I have to. I have done it a few years ago in the same type of rain storm. I have TNF rain gear, change of clothes and a towel.

It can not be any worse than getting into the pool and opening the main drain in April.

 

[Tyrolean_skier]

If you dress properly, then skiing in the rain can be a pleasure. I am not skiing tomorrow but it is not because of the rain - I have a social function to attend. When I ski in the rain, I ski until it is time to wring out my mittens. I do wear Goretex pants, jacket and gloves. The helmet also helps keep me dry.

 

[nrthest]

Well, after a long absence, I'm back on the board. And with a (lame) avatar! Will dig a better one out here soon... Nice to see some familiar names, and some new ones.

Anyway, back to the topic -- No, I'm not skiing in the rain today, but have fun!

Here is my rain/skiing experience -- it was not by choice. Made a trip to northern VT/Canada a couple years ago. My one and only time to JayPeak so far, and it was raining pretty hard. We stuck it out until they closed down the mountain at ~3pm to salvage the depleting surface. Actually an enjoyable time, would have been better if ~half the trails weren't closed. My wicking ski gear was doing ok keeping me warm and it was interesting to be wringing out my gloves. Added bonus: they were handing out ~JayPeak logo garbage bags/ponchos in the lift line!!! Skiing at Sutton in Canada the day before (or was it the day after?) in *thick* fog was not fun. Could not see a bloody thing. Skiing blind. Fog didn't burn off until ~11-12.

May venture out Sunday to Jiminy Peak, [anyone interested?, send me a pm or post a reply if so], as long as it is not bare and/or solid ice from the monsoon + temps then diving to <20deg... chance of 1-3 inches snow tonight might help out a little.

 

[catskills]

Awesome day in the rain today. Only started raining hard at 2:30pm. Around 4:00PM the temps went south and it started snowing big time. Down in the Hudson Valley toward Kingston, NY it was still raining this evening but up in the Catskill Mountains it started dumping snowing at 4PM. Should be an awesome POWDER DAY tomorrow on Sunday.

 

[YardSaleDad]

Awesome day in the rain today.

As I pulled into Belleayre at 9:30 AM the rain stopped completely. Conditions were good considering the amount of rain that fell overnight. I took a group lesson with just me, so I got an private "Intro to bumps 101". I was spotted just after it ended and won a Fleece vest in an Eyespy contest. Then I entered my first Nastar race. Faster than a turtle and I made all the gates. It started to drizzle in the afternoon and I called it a day @ 2PM just before the deluge.

Then I hopped over to Hunter to see Keith Holmquist the bootfitter. That man is amazing. It took him all of 45 seconds to diagnose my feet and stance. Now I know why I had such a hard time carving to the left. An hour later my boots fit like heaven. I can't wait to try them out.

A red letter day for me! I am so glad you guys talked me into going
:beer:

 

[catskills]

Then I hopped over to Hunter to see Keith Holmquist the bootfitter. That man is amazing. It took him all of 45 seconds to diagnose my feet and stance. Now I know why I had such a hard time carving to the left. An hour later my boots fit like heaven. I can't wait to try them out.

Keith Holmquist is a genius boot fitter and Pedorthics. He does great work. Most of the time you need to schedule an apointment with Keith weeks in advance.

 

[Mark_151]

I spent all day Saturday at Wachusett in the pouring rain for a NATO Telemark workshop, with temps in the 50's. With good gear it was surprisingly pleasant, and the snow quality really couldn't have been better besides a few thin spots to practice alpine turns over.

Oh, and only Wachusett could have 1/2 a parking lot full at 8:30 in the morning in such conditions....

 

[skibum1321]

It was pouring rain for most of the day Sat at Smuggs. I had to ring out the gloves a couple times. Also, it seems that leaning on the bar on the lift seemed to cause the water to soak through my Gore-Tex jacket, so my arms ended up kinda wet too. All in all I would say Saturday was better skiing than Sunday since it was nice soft snow.

 

[dmc]

Then I hopped over to Hunter to see Keith Holmquist the bootfitter. That man is amazing. It took him all of 45 seconds to diagnose my feet and stance. Now I know why I had such a hard time carving to the left. An hour later my boots fit like heaven. I can't wait to try them out.

Keith is indeed tha man...

 

[YardSaleDad]

Most of the time you need to schedule an apointment with Keith weeks in advance.

I was assuming, I would only be able to check out the shop. I had intended to get some rough idea about pricing, and to make an appointment for a boot fitting. He only has appointments during the week. On weekends it's first come first served. Since it was raining, it was not packed, but still busy. There were 2 people ahead of me, so I had to wait about 45 minutes. I walked out with custom footbeds, my liners heat molded and shimmed, all for less than $200. I really did not think my one size too big, bargain boots($99 Rossi Soft 2) would be salvageable. I was expecting that, I had to buy pricy new boots to get a really good fit. The great part is that my foot beds will transfer to a new boot when I am ready to upgrade.

Well worth it.