United airlines

[djd66]

Great Sand Dunes National Park. It's in the San Luis Valley, about 4 hours southwest of Denver. Fascinating place, 30 square miles of dunes deposited in a corner of the valley up against 14,000' mountains. Dunes have a vertical rise of 750'. In May a warm, shallow creek/spring flows beside the base of the dunes. It's like the beach, except 1000 miles from the nearest ocean.

View attachment 63017View attachment 63018

can you ski on them?

 

[jimk]

can you ski on them?

Yes. I had to google it, but yes nordic & alpine skiing, and snowboarding are allowed in winter. As you can see by my first photo, in summer a lot of people take "sandboards" up to use on the dunes.
Here's a photo I grabbed off the internet of snowboarding in winter.

 

[machski]

Hey!! I'm sitting in that fossil right now. Still beats flying commercial

JK, but I'm too lazy not to fly a fully integrated avionics suite these days.

 

[abc]

Yes. I had to google it, but yes nordic & alpine skiing, and snowboarding are allowed in winter. As you can see by my first photo, in summer a lot of people take "sandboards" up to use on the dunes.
Here's a photo I grabbed off the internet of snowboarding in winter.
View attachment 63020

“Allowed”, if you’re really lucky.

As you can see, the snow cover was spotty. And that’s when it got snow at all.

I was there in one winter, after skiing Taos, heading back to Denver. (Part of my trip report on the year I went ski bumming) I was hiking in shorts. Though towards the top, I had to put the zipped off pants legs back on and add a thin jacket. Skiing? Maybe for 10 yards.

There may have been nordic skiing back in the 50’s. Or 70’s? But I doubt there’s much snow accumulation on the flat land below the summit nowadays.

 

[2planks2coasts]

JK, but I'm too lazy not to fly a fully integrated avionics suite these days.

Lol... No glass cockpit here. We have a few 45's as well. They're still 20+ years old, but the difference is night & day. More room for ski gear too.

To the thread topic. My wife has the absolute worst luck when flying United. I've tried to explain that weather events and such affect all carriers. She's not buying it. I talked her into letting me book her on EWR-MHT (express ops by GoJet) today. Of course it was delayed two hours. I've now been informed that should I wish to remain happily married, I will never suggest she fly United again.

 

[machski]

Lol... No glass cockpit here. We have a few 45's as well. They're still 20+ years old, but the difference is night & day. More room for ski gear too.

To the thread topic. My wife has the absolute worst luck when flying United. I've tried to explain that weather events and such affect all carriers. She's not buying it. I talked her into letting me book her on EWR-MHT (express ops by GoJet) today. Of course it was delayed two hours. I've now been informed that should I wish to remain happily married, I will never suggest she fly United again.

I have the same issues with UAL threw EWR. That airport in and of itself is a disaster. Then United makes it worse trying to shove the schedule they have into that joint. I recall oh about 8 years ago or so, they made a conscious effort to push traffic away from EWR (when MHT lost that, they gave us IAD flights). Honestly thought that ran so much better. Now it's just EWR again from MHT and I avoid them like the plague. Company used them EWR-BOS for me end of last tour, scored me a big payday when UAL melted down Saturday night!!

 

[2Planker]

Pretty sure my best and worst airlines based on quality/professionalism, etc... have all been European.

BEST: Aer Lingus & Virgin
WORST: RyanAir

Flew Air Lingus last fall. Boston -Shannon. It was OK. Better than many but No Swiss Air

 

[2planks2coasts]

I have the same issues with UAL threw EWR. That airport in and of itself is a disaster. Then United makes it worse trying to shove the schedule they have into that joint. I recall oh about 8 years ago or so, they made a conscious effort to push traffic away from EWR (when MHT lost that, they gave us IAD flights). Honestly thought that ran so much better. Now it's just EWR again from MHT and I avoid them like the plague. Company used them EWR-BOS for me end of last tour, scored me a big payday when UAL mel

We finally got my employer to let us book our own commercial flights to/from the aircraft each tour. When dispatch booked them, they were always some awful combination of crappy times and long layovers. Your plane is in DAL, but you're in SFO.....let's book you a connection in ATL!

I only have lowly silver status on UA as a perk of my Marriott Status, but it beats a poke in the eye for boarding group and seat selection. I'm personally loyal to Delta as they have a massive network from BOS. Looks like this tour is going to end in BED anyway though, so I'll just take the coach home to NH.