The Official Skiing / Snowboarding / Playing in the Snow Thread

[Fueco]

Winter Park had some prime winter conditions today. Lots of deep chopped up powder. My six-year old did a black diamond and swore it was easier than the one he did at Eldora. I have my doubts.

 

[mhip]

Off you go, love…

 

[imatlas]

It's Military in the Mountains week here, and I've been working with this dude for the last 2 days, with one more to go. A former skier, he lost the use of his legs to his progressing MS.

Yesterday we started him off on a mono ski, because he has good mobility in his torso. He found the outrigger emphasis too hard on his shoulders, so we switched him to a bi-ski setup, which emphasizes body movements much earlier in the learning process than mono.

And
He
Crushed
It.

The silver Natty Light jacket is their laurel wreath for the sendiest member of their group for a given session. He was linking turns by the end of day one and end of the day today he's working on "scarving" short radius turns on the steepest green we've got. I'm psyched to see what he's able to do by the end of the day tomorrow.

And, 10 weeks ago he couldn't even lift himself into his truck. After 9 weeks of training for this, he can.

Tomorrow we're going out just the two of us. That's a huge milestone for me as an adaptive instructor: they're trusting me to take out a sit skier on my own for the first time. I'm a little nervous, but lucky for me my student is super chill.

 

[Fueco]

Nothing like snowplowing a diamond. This is the Corona run at Eldora, just about to enter the steepest part.

 

[UnFacconable]

It's Military in the Mountains week here, and I've been working with this dude for the last 2 days, with one more to go. A former skier, he lost the use of his legs to his progressing MS.

Yesterday we started him off on a mono ski, because he has good mobility in his torso. He found the outrigger emphasis too hard on his shoulders, so we switched him to a bi-ski setup, which emphasizes body movements much earlier in the learning process than mono.

And
He
Crushed
It.

The silver Natty Light jacket is their laurel wreath for the sendiest member of their group for a given session. He was linking turns by the end of day one and end of the day today he's working on "scarving" short radius turns on the steepest green we've got. I'm psyched to see what he's able to do by the end of the day tomorrow.

And, 10 weeks ago he couldn't even lift himself into his truck. After 9 weeks of training for this, he can.

Tomorrow we're going out just the two of us. That's a huge milestone for me as an adaptive instructor: they're trusting me to take out a sit skier on my own for the first time. I'm a little nervous, but lucky for me my student is super chill.


View attachment 2156987

What a great story! Just wanted to highlight how awesome it is that you do this. This past weekend had some of the best snow of the season but my favorite moment was when I was on the chairlift and saw a sit skier dropping off a ~10 ft cliff.

My kids are fascinated by the adaptive ski program and love what you all do for people.

 

[breakaway01]

just wrapping up a week at Park City; lucked out into 40+ inches of snow over the week. Felt much more like midwinter conditions than the usual slushy spring skiing this time of year. I prefer Alta/Snowbird for the skiing but it's just so much easier getting to/from the mountain at PC.

On another note, started using the CARV ski coach system this season and really liking it so far. It's not going to teach you how to ski but if you like data, it can help identify areas to improve.

 

[otc]

Did you find it useful off piste/in fresh snow, or does it just get confused?

 

[breakaway01]

Did you find it useful off piste/in fresh snow, or does it just get confused?

Off piste I have been focusing on a subset of the metrics. The overall integrated “SkiIQ” score isn’t all that useful there but some of the metrics that look at parallel skis, early inside ski tipping, early edge engagement, and turn roundness are helpful regardless of terrain/conditions. It has also help me identify and correct some asymmetry in my right vs left turns.

It is most useful with ski helmet headphones for turn by turn feedback. But of course you have to just turn it off sometimes and enjoy the skiing.

 

[UnFacconable]

Really intriguing. I don’t spend much time on groomers these days (and when I do they tend to be crowded ones I need to use to relocate) but every time I see one of those carv videos, it makes me want to go bomb some.

The metrics you are talking about don’t match what the language the coaches I ski with use, but seem to map fairly well to the tips they are giving us. I learned this season that I wasn’t using the early part of the turn enough for speed control which causes problems both on and off piste.

This coming weekend is likely our last ski weekend of the season (womp womp) but it’s a 3 day weekend so hopefully I will have a chance on Friday to get some wide open turns on the few good groomers my hill does have.

 

[otc]

Seems like something I'd really like to borrow for a day. Would definitely be cool to see the data, although it definitely raises my hackles about the ongoing push for everything to be a damn subscription.

This weekend is our closer. Yesterday was day 56, so it will only take 2 days of skinning after the close to hit my goal of 60 days...which is good because I don't think the snow is going to last long.
Here's the summit forecast:

But this past weekend was some of the best skiing I've had all year--nice to end on a high note. Bunch of fresh snow coming in to Saturday and zero crowds so I was still finding plenty of good untracked lines by the end of the day. Sunday was a classic sunny spring day: hunting for north-facing leftovers at the beginning of the day, big soft slushy south facing laps at the end.

I do still have a Big Sky flex pass that give me unlimited late-season skiing, but I don't know that I'll find it worth the trip down there.

My wife is due in July so probably no Mt Hood adventure this summer and future ski seasons are going to look very different!

 

[otc]

Every year I've been competing with this local high school kid who has my same first name on the mountain's vertical tracker (I don't know if he knows I exist...I just want to be #1 with my name)

He seems to usually cut back/stop skiing late season and I was on track to catch him, but he put up a big day yesterday and I'm still 20k vert behind him. Ultimately it will come down to whether he skis this saturday and sunday or not.

Obviously it doesn't actually matter and I have a bunch of days at other resorts or skiing slower/low-vert chairs or chairs where they don't scan your pass (my ski tracker app reports >200k feet more than the resort)...but I'm still tempted to take off a day of work later this week. I'm not willing to just go burn out a mega-vert nonstop groomer day, but a bonus sick day might seal the deal.

As it stands, <450 people have skied more than me...and I bet most of them aren't working full time jobs.

 

[Fueco]

Every year I've been competing with this local high school kid who has my same first name on the mountain's vertical tracker (I don't know if he knows I exist...I just want to be #1 with my name)

He seems to usually cut back/stop skiing late season and I was on track to catch him, but he put up a big day yesterday and I'm still 20k vert behind him. Ultimately it will come down to whether he skis this saturday and sunday or not.

Obviously it doesn't actually matter and I have a bunch of days at other resorts or skiing slower/low-vert chairs or chairs where they don't scan your pass (my ski tracker app reports >200k feet more than the resort)...but I'm still tempted to take off a day of work later this week. I'm not willing to just go burn out a mega-vert nonstop groomer day, but a bonus sick day might seal the deal.

As it stands, <450 people have skied more than me...and I bet most of them aren't working full time jobs.

I’ve called in sick for less…

 

[imatlas]

I know myself well enough to completely avoid tracking apps. I am competitive enough already!

Ikon dropped on-hill speed from their tracking app, undoubtedly for liability reasons. Bad enough that the mountains are busier than ever, getting every jerry competing for speed records is a recipe for disaster.

 

[otc]

i mostly just like having the maps to see where I’ve been. Especially if I find some new line and want to figure out how the heck I got there.

I don’t regularly Strava my resort skiing or anything (I’ll occasionally upload the .gpx file if I did something funny like ride every chair, tbar, and magic carpet in the same day).

We’ll see if I follow through but I also plan to do some post-season mapping to track hot spots on the hill and highlight places I haven’t explored.

 

[Fueco]

I can’t follow this stinker anymore…