The Lady gap - Blue Plateau

[skivideoguy]

TS01 - I will check out the Ladies MRG program. We will be there that week. I will also check out the Tele for myself. That is a good idea to give myself something else to work on while skiing with her. She actually had a great time at MRG 2 years back in the AM and I skied all the trails and some woods with a buddy in the afternoon. The girls were SUPPOSED to go shopping in the afternoon but they never got out the pub there where we found em at the end of day.

AdironRider - more time on snow is always a good thing. Life's demands only allow so much but we are fortunate in being 25 minutes from Blue Mountain down here in PA so it's possible to do 2-3 nights a week after work for 2.5 hours or so which will definitely help.

I do count us both as fortunate that we still get to ski and ski as much as we do. I'm actually skiing as good as ever and still improving. I've skied all the regular trails at Sugarbush and some of the woods. Actually skied alot of woods at the Canyons and Deer 2 years ago. Crazy good conditions certainly helped.

We ski with 2-way long range radios so we can find each other or coordinate amongst 3 couples etc. I do get some time alone to hit it. Usually I will go for first chair and she will catch up about 45-60 minutes later. She will end her day around 3:30 and I will go till they shut it down so I get to have my fun and I certainly can enjoy the blues by ripping full on carves or playing with the edges or otherwise goofing around.

Blue/Camelback and Elk have some fun spots. Anytime on snow is fun for me. Clicking in always puts me in my happy place.

If SB has their Ladies clinic the week we are there in March, she will have that option if she wants it.

Think Snow!

 

[ts01]

Lemme know if any questions on the tele front.

If you get into it, there's a ton of info on telemarktips.com but especially in the summer a very poor signal-to-noise ratio. Good info here http://www.amazon.com/Free-Heel-Ski...ons-Mountaineers/dp/0898867754/ref=pd_sim_b_2 and here http://www.amazon.com/Allen-Really-Telemark-Revised-Better/dp/076274586X.

And don't worry about gear cost or rental gear availability. As more people switch over to NTN ("New Telemark Norm") bindings, there's a ton of perfectly good 75mm ("duckbill") gear available at giveaway pricing.

 

[4aprice]

All guys closing in on 50 should be thankful their wives even ski. If your wives have not yet joined you on the black trails you like by now, its not happening.

In fact, your wives are saying the same thing on the diva forum - " When is he going to stop skiing all those stupid scary back diamond trails? Is there anything I can do to slow him down? We are not getting any younger!":-D

.

I do believe there is a lot of merit to this statement. My wife just likes to enjoy the sport now. Like I said she is IMO a very good skier (very good form) but the desire to challange herself is not so important especially with a rebuilt knee. And as much as I still do like to go for the woods, bumps, she wants and enjoys groomers. She's a great sport and has never prevented me from going off and doing harder terrain when I want, but I have to say I also enjoy doing groomers with her too.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

 

[hammer]

My wife and I started at around the same time, both of us were around early 40s. I've plateaued off but she keeps improving and has joined me on the few groomed East Coast blacks that I go down. She's a cautious (slower) skier so her short turns are actually pretty good...and she did fine on the looser powder bumps when we were in UT. We ski together a decent amount but there are times when we just go our own ways and just meet up at the bottom. I'm just glad that she enjoys the sport, even though she's not as enthusiastic about it as I am.

 

[Smellytele]

My wife surprises me every once and awhile. She has always loved the steep trails and this year she surprised me by skiing bump runs and she has come around to liking natural condition obstacles (stumps, rocks, grass etc) that I think add to the fun. Maybe in the next few years she will venture more into the trees with me and our 3 boys. She is a great skier and I enjoy skiing with her for the most part. We are both in our 40's and she has been skiing for over 20 years and I have been for over 30. So things can change even when you start getting older.