Jon Weisberg

New Feature: Ask An Expert

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Ask An Expert is the new SeniorsSkiing.com feature that answers your snow sport questions with responses from experts. Send in your questions, and we’ll find the experts to answer them. The feature will appear as frequently as we have your questions.

We start the series this week with this question from reader, Terry Kureth:

While skiing with a friend not long ago, we were talking about the recommended techniques for skiing moguls. My friend said he had heard that it is advantageous to loosen the top buckle of one’s boots in order to more easily assume a deeper knee bend needed to be a better mogul skier. Any thoughts?

For an expert opinion, we turned to Seth Masia, founder of the skiyoungernow.com instructional approach, offered at the Aspen/Snowmass Ski School.

I’ve occasionally recommended loosening the top buckle but only when it’s clear that the boot is too stiff to begin with. No one can ski efficiently unless there’s some way to articulate the ankle — knee flex without ankle flex just results in back-seat skiing, not a recipe for safe skiing anywhere and certainly not in moguls. By the way, a boot that’s even half a size too big is likely to be too stiff.

In teaching seniors to ski in bumps, I emphasize hand discipline and speed control. The hands MUST be forward and the pole plant ready early. This enables keeping the shovel of the skis in the snow, and turning — hence speed control. When the shovels come off the snow, the only way to turn is to swivel, and that puts a torque on knees and hips — not a good technique for those of us above a certain age.

Have a question about technique, gear, destinations, travel, or any other aspect of winter sports? Send it to mike@seniorsskiing.com, and we’ll do our best to find an expert to respond.

seniorsskiing

Snow In Literature: An Old Man’s Winter Night

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By Robert Frost

Credit: Brittenovallis.com

All out of doors looked darkly in at him
Through the thin frost, almost in separate stars,
That gathers on the pane in empty rooms.
What kept his eyes from giving back the gaze
Was the lamp tilted near them in his hand.
What kept him from remembering what it was
That brought him to that creaking room was age.
He stood with barrels round him—at a loss.
And having scared the cellar under him
In clomping there, he scared it once again
In clomping off;—and scared the outer night,
Which has its sounds, familiar, like the roar
Of trees and crack of branches, common things,
But nothing so like beating on a box.
A light he was to no one but himself
Where now he sat, concerned with he knew what,
A quiet light, and then not even that.
He consigned to the moon,—such as she was,
So late-arising,—to the broken moon
As better than the sun in any case
For such a charge, his snow upon the roof,
His icicles along the wall to keep;
And slept. The log that shifted with a jolt
Once in the stove, disturbed him and he shifted,
And eased his heavy breathing, but still slept.
One aged man—one man—can’t fill a house,
A farm, a countryside, or if he can,
It’s thus he does it of a winter night.

mikemaginn

Mystery Glimpse: Divine Intervention

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Special Times On The Mountain Top

Here’s another challenging picture from the Colorado Snowsports Museum. Something is going on, obviously, on this mountain. What’s happening? Who arranged it and for what purpose? When? Take your best guess down in the Comments box below.

Last Week

Alta, 1952. Credit: Ray Atkeson

This magnificent photo was taken in 1952 at the Alta ski area. It is part of the Alf Engen Ski Museum’s Ray Atkeson collection. Ray Atkeson (1907-1990) was a photographer best known for his landscape pictures of the American West. Many of Atkeson’s alpine photos were taken before chairlifts were even invented, which meant carrying heavy camera equipment through deep snow and mountain terrain.

 

Ray Atkeson, Alta. Credit: Alf Engen Ski Museum

Needless to say, Atkeson was an intrepid professional, committed to capturing the beauty and majesty of the world around him and sharing it with others. Best said by his wife Doris, Ray’s “greatest joy was sharing the beauty of these places with people who would never go there.”

For more on Atkeson, click here. Many thanks to the Alf Engen Ski Museum, Park City, UT., for contributing this photograph.

 

Ski Testing
Marc Liebman

70s Ski Testing: Political Fall Out

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Advertisers Or Readers?

Ski testing in the early 70s challenged SKI magazine’s leaders in ways they didn’t anticipate.  While our readers loved the reviews and wanted more, we were careful about what we wrote.

A huge proportion of SKI Magazine’s income came from advertisers.  Our publisher regularly reminded me that ad revenue dwarfed what came in from subscriptions and special events.

However, readers showed up in ski shops with ski reports in hand asking questions that the shop personnel couldn’t answer nor could the manufacturers’ reps.  Skiers wrote to us asking for data on skis that weren’t reported. 

Right away, the question “do we print a bad report?” came up.  Space limitations limited how many skis we could cover and only printed “good” reports.

SKI was accused by some manufacturers of destroying a whole year’s worth of marketing with our reports.  Several challenged our results and methodology, but, after seeing the details, were satisfied with its accuracy that reflected what they already knew or suspected.

We offered to bench test and ski prototype new products, and many took the magazine up on its offer.  Again our data proved to be accurate.

Unfortunately, we became the whipping boys of the marketing people.  Our response was to only sell skis that performed was met with cold stares.

Pressure mounted because several manufacturers threatened to reduce their spend with the magazine unless we gave their skis “good” reports.  John Fry, Ski Magazine’s editor in chief at the time, refused in a battle that was well above my pay grade.

In the end, SKIpp debunked three “sacred truths” of ski design at the time:

  1. Myth – ski core determines performance.  The truth – the core is nothing more than a form around which the materials that affect the performance are mounted;
  2. Myth – Side cut determines how well a ski carves.  The truth – side cut has little to do with how well a ski carves but does affect the rate of turn (remember, this was long before the shaped skis of today); and
  3. Myth – Material A is better than Material B.  The truth – it is how the materials properties are combined into the ski’s flex pattern, damping and resistance to torsion that determines how well a ski performs not the materials themselves.

Forty-four years later, after running one of the most innovative ski testing programs in the industry, my 73 year-old legs still have some calibration left and if you gave me a row of unmarked skis covered, I’ll bet I can name the brand after two runs.

Now, I rent skis because I don’t want to schlepp them on airplanes, and, because most ski shops have a selection of high performance skis, you can swap out on a daily basis.  This way I can play ski tester every time I ski.  So, some things never change.

Wendy Clinch

From The Ski Diva: Why Glen Plake’s Down Home Tour Matters

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[Editor Note: Friend and Colleague, The Ski Diva publishes a terrific, award-winning site for women skiers, snowboarders, and snow sports enthusiasts. With her permission, we are reprinting this week’s edition about extreme skier, freestylist, and US Ski Hall of Fame member Glen Plake’s country-wide tour to small- and medium-size ski resorts, the little family and senior friendly areas that we love. Here’s her story.]

Last week I ran into Glen Plake. Yes, that Glen Plake. I was at Pico (VT) for the on-snow Industry Demo Days, where people in the ski industry get to try next year’s goods. (Yes, it’s a lot of fun). So I’m sitting in the lodge getting ready to remove my boots, and I look up…..and there he is, star of the iconic Blizzard of Ahhhh’s and US National Ski Hall of Famer, Glen Plake. Glen is an Ambassador for Elan Skis, so undoubtedly, that’s why he was there. But there’s another reason, too: Glen’s on his Down Home Tour, and Pico must have seemed like a good place to stop.

What’s the Down Home Tour? Basically, it’s Glen and his wife, Kimberly, hitting the road in a custom RV and stopping wherever they feel like skiing. Mostly these are off-the-radar ski areas, with a few larger ones thrown in. But their main mission is to draw attention to the smaller places out there. Because while all of us know about Vail and Aspen and Breckenridge, we don’t all know about Hermon Mountain. Or Black Mountain. Or Titcomb. And yes, even though these are small, they’re very, very important (more about that in a minute).

I’ve been following Glen on Instagram since the start of his tour. I’ve seen pictures of him skiing at places like Camden Snow Bowl in Maine, where it looks like you’re actually skiing into the sea; Northeast Slopes, a community area served by the oldest continuously running rope tow in the US; and yes, even Pico, where I bumped into him in the lodge.

Me with you guessed it.

Which was actually pretty embarrassing, because I morphed from being a fairly articulate, confident person into a jabbering, star-struck idiot. All the things I wanted to say about why I loved the Down Home Tour flew out of my head. Sure, he doesn’t need to hear anything from me, but I wanted him to know that I think what he’s doing has meaning, and that like him, I support the smaller areas out there.

And now here’s why it’s important.

Skiing has changed a lot over the past decade or so. It’s easy to romanticize small areas, but they’re more than just quaint relics of a bygone era. Small community hills are the heart and soul of skiing. It’s where kids and families can have a heck of a good time without sacrificing a week’s pay. Where the important thing is the skiing, not real estate development. And where there’s a measure of character and community involvement that larger, more corporate areas can’t seem to match.

Sadly, though, the recent consolidations in the industry make it harder and harder for smaller ski areas to survive. After all, what’s the incentive for a skier to go to a smaller, independent resort, if they can purchase an Epic pass and have access to multiple resorts for the same amount they’d spend for one? And with Vail and Alterra having such deep pockets for investment, how can a smaller area compete? Before you shake your head and say, well, that’s the market at work, survival of the fittest and all, consider this: Since the 1980’s, roughly 33% of US ski areas have gone out of business and up to 150 more are considered threatened by industry experts. Sure, there are a lot of factors that have caused this to happen. Many of these places were smaller Mom and Pop hills. And though they had limited lifts and trails, they also nurtured beginner skiers and served as feeder hills for resorts like Vail.

Are there ways for smaller areas to stay competitive with the consolidated resorts? Not many. In recent years, the ski industry has seen little to no growth, so skiers who go to one resort tend to take business away from someplace else. In short, one resort tends to cannabilize another. For example, Vail sold about 50,000 season passes less than a decade ago. Now the number is closer to 550,000. These skiers are choosing Vail over some other resort. And while it’s great for Vail, it’s not so great for wherever it is they’re not going.

Anyway, Glen, if you’re reading this, I applaud you for what you’re doing. And while I didn’t get to say it during our very brief meeting, thanks for fighting the good fight.

I can’t wait to see where you’re going next.

seniorsskiing

This Week In SeniorsSkiing.com (Jan.25)

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Buried Alive, Magic Mt., Brian Head, 70s Ski Testing, Mystery Snowfields, Rope Tow Memories.

There is prolific snow in New England these days, and despite the brisk cold, we went skiing last week in New Hampshire in the famous Ski 93 corridor. First stop was Bretton Woods on a frosty bluebird day with far-ranging views of Mt. Washington and the historic Mt. Washington hotel. Great snow, uncrowded, roomy base lodge, wonderful experience. Senior lift ticket for the mid-week day: $29.

Second stop was back down I-93 to the legendary Waterville Valley. Overcast, flat-light-ish, but great snow, uncrowded, etc., etc. Senior lift ticket for the mid-week day: $32 (bought online in advance. The next day’s seniors ticket was $29 online.)

Ironically, we were staying at a condo directly across the road from another venerable New Hampshire resort. Advance sale mid-week senior ticket prices for one day ranged from $70 to $87.

Three competitors in a relatively close geographical area.  Two with competitive prices for seniors, one with huge price disparity. We wonder why. 

At press time, the resort in question’s media contact has not yet responded to our inquiries. We will let you know what we learn next week.

This Week

Correspondent Harriet Wallis give us a description of a scary incident that happened to her skiing companion who got buried, not in an avalanche, but by falling in deep, fresh snow on a gentle slope heading back to the lift at Brighton, UT. Unusual? Not so sure.

Marc Liebman continues his remembrance of ski testing back in the 70s. In this week’s installment, he talks about SKI magazine’s on-snow test regimen and how performance was correlated with bench test statistics. Interesting history.

We have two resort reviews, one from Brian Head in Southern Utah, the other from Magic Mt., VT. They are both appealing and accessible to senior skiers for similar reasons. Is there a “sweet spot” for ski resorts for seniors? We could be seeing convergence of opinion.

Our Mystery Glimpse this week features a fantastic photo of an Alpine wilderness. Tell us where it is and who took the picture. Last week’s Mystery was revealed as none other than Princess Elizabeth stopping off at the Mittersill Alpine Resort in 1951. Find out how she happened to visit what was then a remote outpost of Tyrolean ski culture.

Finally, Don Burch serves up a memory of riding on rope tows as a youngster. We thank cartoonist and ski journalist Mike Roth for contributing an original illustration for this piece.

And remember one and all, January is Learn To Ski and Snowboard Month. Now is the time to re-boot your interest in snow sports and get back into winter. Or bring a friend or a grandchild. Deals abound.

And remember to tell your friends about SeniorsSkiing.com.  That’s how we get new readers.  There are more of us every day, and we aren’t going away.

 

 

Jon Weisberg

Short Swings!

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Have you ever been in or near an avalanche? Big Mountain skiers everywhere are accustomed to hearing and feeling the reverberations of bombs and other technologies used to dislodge slides, making the areas safer.

A few years ago, Taos added a chair to improve accessibility to Kachina Peak.  Last week, following inspection by patrol, a slide there killed two. 

At the top of NinetyNineNinety at Park City Mountain Resort (the part of the area formerly known as The Canyons), there’s a gate and signs clearly spelling out avvy risks of going into that part of unpatrolled backcountry. Similar warnings probably exist on Kachina Peak.

Warnings at the top of NinetyNineNinty

Several years ago a friend instructing at The Canyons joined a search party looking for a couple whose car was in the otherwise empty parking lot and who hadn’t picked up their child from daycare. My friend explained the methodical nature of combing the post-avalanche slope where the couple was thought to be buried. It was late in the day, but there was ample light. My friend, a geologist, had been trained to seek anomalies…things that were different from the surroundings. Looking up the slope, he detected something angular, possibly the back corner of a ski. He told the search leader, who advised him and the rest of the party to continue probing the cement-like snow to detect what might be buried below. They found nothing until they reached the angular ski tail jutting from the snow. It led them to the two buried bodies. A tragedy.

Last year, I became friends with a man in his 40s who was rescued from a backcountry avalanche. I don’t remember his full description other than how horrific an experience it was and how, after months of hospitalization and rehabilitation, it altered his life.

The website of the National Avalanche Center, a unit of the National Forest Service, shows 551 US avalanche fatalities since 1998. All but five (on Mt Washington in NH and on Mt Mansfield in Stowe) occurred in the West. Most were in back and side country. 177 skiers died. 68 boarders died. 2 were snow shoers. 196 were snowmobilers. 48 were climbers. Five were ski patrol.

This year, alone, there have been 26 snow-related deaths at European resorts.

Once, skiing a remote in-bounds section of The Canyons, I set off a minor slide. It only made it to the tops of my boots, but it was dense and difficult to get free.

There are older skiers who seek out the adventure and solace of side and back country. I no longer have the lungs to climb, but if conditions are right, I rarely hesitate to take a gate or duck a rope for a promising patch of powder on the other side. But with every year I think a bit longer before I do.

Free Lift Tickets for Furloughed Government Employees

Mad River Glen  (VT), Sugarbush (VT) and Snow King (WY) announced free skiing benefits to furloughed government employees. Sugarbush upped the ante by extending the freebie to immediate family members. The deals will end when the shut-down ends. 

Knee Issues?

Ski-Mojo and Elevate are products for those experiencing knee problems. Both are advertisers. Ski-Mojo is a set of light-weight shock absorber springs that reduce pressure on the knees by 33%. Worn under ski pants, the device reduces pain and fatigue. The people I’ve talked with who use Ski-Mojo, swear  by it. Elevate is a soft, robotic ski exoskeleton that boosts quad strength and reduces muscle fatigue and joint pressure. The product causes loads to pass the knee entirely;  improving knee stability and preventing normal wear and tear. Elevate is available to demo at locations in Lake Tahoe and Park City.  

Saturday is Ski California Safety Day 

Resorts throughout California and Nevada will participate in Ski California Safety Day this Saturday, Jan. 26. Each of the 15 participating resorts will host activities designed to inform guests about skiing and riding safely. Topics range from avalanche and deep snow safety to proper chairlift loading and riding. More at skicalifornia.org.

Will Renovated Snowpine Bring New Vibe to Alta?

That’s the question explored in an article this week in The New York Times Travel Section. The Snowpine Lodge was the funkiest of Alta’s five lodges. I know this from multiple stays at each of them over my 45+ years skiing Alta. Accommodations were less than luxe. Food was okay. Guests – maybe because we were all subjected to the same musty smells and low, head-bumping passageways – always seemed to bond. That was back then. The new Snowpine is said to be super-luxe, Aspen or Vail style…with prices to match. It may raise eyebrows among readers who know and love Alta, or simply raise the bar for the other lodges.

Solitude to Host FIS World Snowboardcross and Skicross Championships

The world’s best snowboardcross and ski cross athletes will compete at Solitude, Feb 1-3 in the 2019 FIS World Championships. It will be the biggest winter event in Utah since the 2002 Olympics.

Mont-Tremblant International Airport

The single strip airport is about 20 miles north of the resort. Porter Airlines and Air Canada flights connect through Toronto. A quick check shows that New Yorkers and Bostonians can get round trip fares are as low as $275. Both airlines include free flights for kids and free lift tickets. Click here for details. 

Breckenridge to Ski to Memorial Day

That’s the plan for this and future seasons, conditions and US Forest Service permitting.

Videos Worth Watching

Teton Gravity Research generally produces interesting ski videos, and this one (4+minutes) is no exception. It focuses on the challenges a young skier faces at the top of a cornice before skiing a beautiful, steep line.

Kings and Queens – The Evolution of Corbet’s Couloir is fun. The 7+ minute video shows a competition of men and women skiing and boarding Jackson Hole’s famed chute.  Please comment if you’ve had the Corbet’s Experience, and we’ll compare notes.

Experience Something New at Whiteface

Mirror Lake Inn ,in Lake Placid, is a lovely place to stay when visiting Whiteface Mountain and other North Country attractions. Starting this season, Andrew Weibrecht, son of the Inn’s owners and an Olympic medalist, is available to ski with Mirror Inn guests at Whiteface. For details, click on the adjacent ad.

Cell Phone Dying on the Mountain?

Try the GearBeast phone holder. The $9.99 – $12.99 device (SeniorsSkiing.com readers receive a 20% discount; enter SENIORS-SKIING at checkout) fits over the neck and under the parka where your body warmth keeps the phone battery from draining. Other benefits? You won’t drop the phone when using it on the lift. And the mini pocket for credit card, ID and a few bills lets you leave bulky wallets in the car or lodge. Click on the company’s ad. 

Harriet Wallis

Buried Alive In Deep Snow

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Where’s Laurie? She’s Gone.

 

That’s Laurie under there. Credit: Harriet Wallis

Here’s a lesson for vacationers and anyone else who skis in the West.

Let me set the stage.

A snowstorm dumped several feet of light, fluffy snow, and we were skiing at Brighton, UT, our home resort. We know every inch of the mountain—its steeps, its trees, its gentle slopes.

Dreams are made of fresh snow like this. Fearsome steep slopes become mellow ones. Moguls disappear. It was deep, and it was bottomless. It was hero snow.

Then to get back to the lift, it was a wide open slope. Learning skiers like the slope because of its gentle pitch. It had been recently groomed, so the new snow there was only half as deep. Although it’s a basic, easy slope, it’s still fun to bounce along in the fresh snow.

Then Laurie—my skiing companion—disappeared. Where’d she go? Did she ski around the little grove of trees? Did she pass me? Where is she? She’s gone. Holy cow, she’s suddenly vanished.

Scanning the slope I saw a black dot. It was just a few inches of the bottom of a ski—her ski—sticking out of the snow. After all the steep, deep slopes, she fell on the easy slope.

But why wasn’t she wallowing to get up? Why was there no movement? Something was wrong. I struggled up slope and reached the ski, but still no Laurie.

There was no crater. There was no hollow. There was no indication that an entire human being was buried right there. The only tell tale was the tip of her ski sticking out of the snow. I began digging,

She had fallen forward, head first, into snow that was as soft as feathers. The soft snow poofed up, buried her, then settled over her as though nothing had happened. It pinned her down. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t thrash. Couldn’t call out for help.

She could have died there. It was an avalanche burial—but there was no avalanche. It was in bounds, on an easy slope, and in snow that wasn’t very deep.

It was a lesson that verifies what we all know: Mother Nature can play nasty tricks. Don’t ever ski alone.

To read more from Harriet click here for her stories on SkiUtah.

Magic Mountain
Tamsin Venn

SeniorsSkiing Guide: Magic–Where Skiing Has A Soul

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Magic Mt. Has $29 Tickets On Thursdays!

Magic is right-sized for seniors and families.

We are zipping down Wizard, a 1.6-mile-long intermediate trail that hugs the West Side, in seven inches of new snow with lots of woohoos and yippees. At many areas, this trail would be flattened by now. Not so at Magic Mountain in South Londonderry, Vt.

Groomers will leave the snow to powder hounds until the weekend. They will, however, smooth trails out on the more easy going East Side to keep everyone happy.

Is Robert Frost hanging around Magic Mt? Credit: Tamsin Venn

Natural snow makes some of the East’s most interesting, fun, and challenging trails and glades all the more sweet. Add a trail mainly to yourself midweek, friendly locals, and reasonable prices – Throwback Thursdays lift tickets cost only $29 – and it’s like skiing back in the old days.

When Swiss instructor Hans Thorner started Magic in 1960, he picked Glebe Mountain for a reason: exciting, wooded terrain that reminded him of his home in the Alps. Back in the 60s and 70s, Magic Mountain had a huge following. Thorner sold it in 1985. After, the vagaries of skiers, investment, real estate, and weather meant customers drifted away because they could not count on it to be open,  and it has had its ups and downs since then.

President Geoff Hatheway and his band of 16 investors (Ski Magic) are changing all that. They have launched an ambitious five-year plan to make Magic appeal both to die-hard skiers, families, and the 18- 19– year-old set. The group is investing in snowmaking (now at 60 percent) and lifts. Notably they are putting in new lifts to provide mid-mountain skiing and more lift capacity to the summit.

Hatheway typifies the die-hard Magic loyalist. He skied here in 1998 and his kids went through the racing and free skiing programs. Like others he appreciated the family friendly alternative to nearby Stratton Mountain.

“Here’s what you won’t find at Magic, a high speed lift and trails groomed Soup to Nuts,” says Hatheway frankly.

Magic President Geoff Hatheway likes early runs on snowy days. Credit: Tamsin Venn

What you will most like find are other senior buddies either on the lift or in the Black Line Tavern, a popular locals’ watering hole. Throwback Thursdays extend to food and drink specials here, the bands are live, and no one is in a hurry.

Magic is open Thursday to Sunday, plus holidays, and on any day it snows 6 inches or more. It has a daily sales ticket limit of 1,500 to keep lift line wait times short and glades uncrowded.

Mountain Facts

Vertical Drop 1,500 feet

205 skiable acres

29 trails, 11 gladed runs

3 Chair Lifts, 3 Surface Lifts

Tickets

Seniors (70+) day $54; season pass $499

Buy online in advance and pay as little as $44.99

Throwback Thursdays $29 (except holidays and powder days of 6” or more) with purchase of Throwback Card ($149)

Magic Mountain Trail Map Click Here

Magic Mountain Webcam Click Here

There it is. An accessible mountain that has something for every senior. Credit: Magic Mt.

Marc Liebman

70s Ski Testing: On The Snow

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Step 2: Go Out, Do It.

One of the joys of working at Ski Magazine was that I was paid to test skis!!!  Ski manufacturers shipped skis to our lab for testing and when it was completed, the skis were covered with self-adhesive shelf-paper and numbered so the testers couldn’t identify the ski. 

Mother Nature dictated our location and we didn’t want to test at the same area Skiing used.  One year we started at Mount Hood but weather and poor snow forced a move to Mammoth before we settled on Park City the following year.

Areas were picked that could give testers access to a lift that served terrain suitable to our needs.  To create a hard, icy surface, the area allowed us to spread ammonium nitrate on the snow to create a hard frozen granular.

For racing skis, we set up a NASTAR type course with thirty gates and applied ammonium nitrate to make it rock hard.  Racing skis were tested just like the others before we pulled them aside for the days when we would ring them out on a racecourse.

Our contract testers – six men and four women – and me were all certified instructors with either coaching and/or racing experience.  John Perryman and his wife Joan were expert skiers and were part of the test team.  We wanted strong skiers who could ski consistently and could handle a ski without changing their technique. 

To get it right, it wasn’t about blasting down the mountain on one ski after another.  SKIpp demanded a disciplined methodology.  Each year, we reviewed the on-snow maneuvers designed to replicate how beginners through experts skied.

Because some brands were putting their name under clear P-Tex, testers were not allowed to pick up the ski prior to skiing on them.  To help ensure that each ski was tested the same way, the methodology was designed to minimize the tendency of a tester to adapt his/her technique to the ski.  Testers were limited to two runs per ski. 

 The tester came to the tent to score the test ski and write his or her comments before taking another ski.  Each day we tested ten skis because we learned beyond that it became hard to differentiate each ski’s performance.

The best skis didn’t generate many memorable comments although one tester wrote “On the icy snow, this ski tracks like a train on rails and in the soft stuff, it will derail you.”  Another wrote, “A two-by-four with an upturned end would be better than this ski.”

In the evening, skis were prepped for the next day and the day’s data tabulated.  Even though it was preliminary, we were pleasantly surprised at how well the on snow results compared to the lab’s prediction.

Testing ten skis took us to lunch.  For the afternoon, the testers could pick a ski from that day or prior days to enjoy.  It was tough, demanding skiing, but somebody had to do it!

mikemaginn

Mystery Glimpse: Trackless World Of Snow

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Alpine Universe

Now here’s an amazing picture from the Alf Engen Museum, Park City, UT.  What are we looking at? What’s the place? And, more importantly, who took the picture?  No, not Ansel Adams, but close.

Last Week

Yes, indeed, the Very Special Guest was Princess Elizabeth who visited the Mittersill Alpine Resort near Cannon Mt., NH, in 1951, probably in connection with her trip to Canada that year.

Why would the future Queen of the Realm stay at a then-remote ski resort in Northern New Hampshire?

We infer that she was visiting a member of the Hapsburg royal family, Mittersill’s founder Baron Hubert von Pantz, a wealthy Austrian sportsman and hotelier. His Tyrolean-themed Mittersill Club in Austria—a mecca for royalty from all over Europe—came to a sudden end in 1938 when the Nazis invaded.  He resettled in New Hampshire and in 1945 opened the Mittersill Alpine Resort, which consisted of an Inn and number of unique, mountain-themed cottages, reflecting the Austrian style.

From the Mittersill Inn.

We visited the Mittersill Alpine Resort last February, checked out some of the original chalets, and found a collection of unusual illustrations posted on the walls of the Inn.  These charming pictures reflect another time, a Tyrol where horses and sleighs carried sports people dressed in “ski costume” around the mountains. We asked the Inn’s staff what the history of these magnificent pictures was but no one knew. We strongly suspect the Baron brought them with him from his club in Austria.

 

And here’s a poster from the Mittersill Mountain Club’s early days.  Cozy, eh?

 

 

 

Jon Weisberg

SeniorsSkiing Guide: Brian Head Resort

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Brian Head is Utah’s southernmost ski resort. But its base elevation is the highest. At 9600’, the bottom of Brian Head is higher than the top of Deer Valley. It took about a day before I got acclimated.

In terms of Utah ski resorts, Brian Head is relatively small: 650 acres and a 1320’ vertical. It’s possible to add another 300’, but that would require a steep out-of-bounds climb. 

Because of its location, Brian Head can be a snow magnet, especially when southern storms are prevalent. I skied the resort after a modest but windy storm. Every now and then the clouds lifted to reveal glimpses of the dramatic red rock countryside. On a bluebird day, the views must be magnificent.

The resort got going in the mid-60s when Alta’s Alf Engen was invited down by the first of several owners to help lay out the trail system. The place has developed significantly over the years. 

Today, there here are two mountains connected by a ski bridge. Navajo Mountain is gentle; Giant Steps Mountain, a bit more challenging. Eight chairs are available. The #7 chair and the black diamond area it serves were closed during my visit. My impression is that Brian Head’s blacks would be considered blues at other resorts, 

Getting from parking lot to lifts is effortless. We only visited Giant Steps Lodge where we booted up in the lower level (coin-operated lockers available for storage) but needed to exit and walk a short slope to get to cafeteria and restrooms…a minor detail unless you have the urge.

Senior pricing is good: If you’re 65+, weekday tickets are $30; weekend tickets are $43. Holidays, the price climbs to $57. Season passes are available to 62-69 year olds for $329; 70+ for $219. Season pass holders also get three days at each of 15 other smallish areas in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. It might be worth the purchase for that benefit alone!

Another Brian Head price advantage is the low cost of its ski school. A weekend lesson is $75. The resort has other attractive instructional offerings as well.

Lodging options are limited to two hotels and a whole lot of condos. We stayed in a pleasant one bedroom in one of the hotels, Cedar Breaks Lodge. It has underground parking and easy elevator access to all floors. The first night we ordered pizza and wings in its restaurant. All I can report is that the beer was good and the hamburgers delivered to other guests looked edible.

The other hotel is the Best Western Premier. It’s nice looking, serves a respectable sit-down breakfast, and features a basic-menu steakhouse.

Other than the day lodges there are only two non-hotel restaurants: Pizanos Pizzeria (which we didn’t try) and Sook Jai Thai Cuisine, a Thai home-kitchen with acceptable dishes and a lack of central heating. 

Contemplating a stay of more than a few days? Investigate the many condo offerings and stock up on food in Parowan (at the bottom of the 13 mile access canyon) or in the larger community of Cedar City, 32 miles away.

Brian Head is a 3-hour drive, from Las Vegas, where winter flights often cost less than flying in and out of Salt Lake City, 4½-hours north. The resort would pair well with a visit to Vegas or one to nearby Zion National Park and/or Bryce Canyon National Park. 

If I wanted a laid-back, inexpensive, Western ski vacation, perhaps with grandkids learning to ski or board, I’d look into the southern comfort of Brian Head. 

For Brian Head Trail Map Click Here.

For Brian Head Giant Steps Webcam Click Here.

 

Don Burch

Rope Tow Escapades

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Grabbing That Twirling Rope Was Not Easy.

We’ve all been there. Cartoon Credit: Mike Roth

It was the early 1960s, I was in first or second grade and learning to ski at Mohawk Mountain in Connecticut. At the time Mohawk had just installed the first chairlift in Connecticut but most of the experiences I remember where on their numerous rope tows.

The first thing newbies had to master was slowly gripping the rope. Despite instructions to slowly grasp the rope, all first-timers, including myself instantly use a death grip. As a result I’d get hurled up the mountain about five feet before doing a face plant.

To my relief (and later amusement) there was no shortage of people making the same mistake. Every so often there’d be heaps of beginners tossed about on both sides of the tow. Sometimes people got so jumbled up it was impossible to tell whose arms, legs, skis or poles belonged to whom.

After repeating this several times in front of my laughing, older siblings and their friends I finally learned to adjust my acceleration by gently grabbing the rope. Once underway it was an exhilarating ride up the hill.

It was exhilarating because the rope tows at Mohawk moved at about 16 mph. To put that in perspective, modern-day high-speed chairlifts travel at about 12 mph.

After a few tiring rides up the hill someone showed me how to reach my left hand behind my back and grasp the rope while still holding on with the right hand. This did wonders in making the ride physically tolerable.

Another essential skill was learning how to stop once underway. This skill was needed when someone further up the tow fell and blocked the path. Until this skill was learned there would be spectacular pileups. Easing up on your grip wasn’t sufficient because the friction of the rope would tear your gloves apart. Instead you would have to turn one of your skis perpendicular to the hill and use it to keep you from sliding backwards.

The people who didn’t learn this skill would inevitably slide backwards down the hill bumping those behind them. I remember struggling to maintain my place on the tow while two or three skiers slid back into me.

Being six or seven years old the last thing I wanted was to be on the rope tow without others close ahead and behind me. Without other riders close by I would desperately try to hold the rope up off the snow. Being so heavy I’d have to bend over and hold the rope just inches above the snow; a backbreaking way to ride up the hill.

Another challenge was following a tall skier and when you’re a little kid they’re all tall. One of my friend’s fathers was 6’2″. When I rode behind him I’d have to reach up at head level to hold on to the rope. This was another excruciating way to ride up the hill.  In the lift line there was always jostling among my friends to be in the middle of the pack among like-sized skiers.

Being the youngest of three brothers and skiing with a bunch of boys from our neighborhood there was no shortage of mischief. When unloading from the rope tow the older boys would whip the rope in an attempt to knock those following off the tow.

The art form was perfected when one could whip the rope enough to knock off a follower but not so much as to get yelled at by the lift attendant. Those who excelled at this learned to look innocent and express dismay over what happened.

Years later it occurred to me that it was ironic that rope tows, one of the most difficult lifts to master, were most often found serving beginner slopes. I guess they served to toughen us up.

End note: I just recently learned about rope tow speeds at Mohawk having read Nicholas Howe’s fabulous article The Wonders of Walt in the December 2004 issue of Ski Heritage Magazine. Walt Schoenknecht was the ski visionary who founded Mohawk and soon after Mount Snow, Vermont.

Fryeburg, ME, 1936. First rope tow. Credit: MaineSkiMuseum

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This Week In SeniorsSkiing.com (Jan. 18)

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Silver Streaks, PopUp Problem, Snowmaker Gloves, 70s Ski Test, Mystery Guest, Conditioning Advice, Big Bromley Resort Review.

We stopped at Waterville Valley’s Silver Streak corner in the base lodge last Monday to introduce ourselves and spread some SeniorsSkiing.com stickers to the members who had gathered for coffee and donuts. Silver Streaks is a club program that is supported by the WV management with a separate place to park, gather, store equipment, have parties, races, and other special events. Correspondent Tamsin Venn wrote an article about the Streaks in 2015. Click here to read it.

The Silver Streaks is the oldest senior ski program in the country. We think it’s a model for other resorts.

But something that one member said got us thinking. We asked if they had heard about SeniorsSkiing.com, and one member said, “How would I have heard about you?” Excellent question and difficult to answer. SeniorsSkiing.com doesn’t advertise, we do have a modest Facebook presence, we try to link to other sites and stories. The best and most effective way for new readers to find us is to be referred by someone who is already a subscriber. Please spread the word.

This Week

Whoops.

We explain our annoying Popup Problem that came with last week’s edition. We are very sorry some readers had an issue with re-entering name and email address countless times.

Pat McCloskey gives us a steer to snowmaker’s gloves that really can make a difference if you ski in wet, wet conditions.

Marc Liebman continues his series on ski testing with an interesting article that describes how the parameters of ski performance were actually defined back in the 70s.

Our Mystery Glimpse this week is quite challenging. You might be able to identify the mystery guest, but where did this person stay? There are hints.

Orthopedist Dr. Peter Schmaus contributes his advice for focusing your conditioning on core muscles and why that is important, not only for skiing or other snow sports but for living as a healthy senior.

Finally, we hear from Tamsin Venn with a Resort Review of Bromley Mountain, VT., a classic ski area with “just right” skiing for seniors.

 

 

 

 

 

Remember folks, January is Learn To Ski And Snowboard Month. Bring a friend, bring your grandchildren. Get out there and enjoy the cold. Click here for more.

Thanks for reading SeniorsSkiing.com. Please tell you friends, it’s how we get new readers. And remember, there are more of us every day, and we aren’t going away.

Bromley is right-sized for seniors, lots of do-able trails, even the Black Diamonds. Credit: Bromley
Jon Weisberg

Short Swings!

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There’s a pattern to most chairlift conversations. I usually start mine by asking: “Are you local?” My other go-to intros are a comment if it’s cold as hell or if it’s a bluebird day. Use any of these ice-breakers, and most people drop into the groove as easily as a needle on an old 78 (remember them?). 

A double or triple provides the ideal number of conversationalists. Quads and six-packs can be a challenge. I’m sure you’ve experienced those multiple conversations.

Topics generally are benign, although I’ve been exposed to strong political points of view and strong racial epithets. Since the chair is both public and private space, when that kind of ugliness occurs, I have no compunction making my point of view known.

One time, on a triple, I listened to someone describe an active money-laundering scheme. I bit my tongue, anxiously waiting to get away.

I enjoy riding with youngsters and learning what’s on their minds. What they like in school. What they like to read, movies they’ve seen, etc. Those can be some of the best lift conversations.

Many chairlift chats become boasting platforms. Cliff-hucking. Days skied. Resorts visited. The fancy lodge where others on the chair aren’t staying. Etc.

Generally, there’s a brief lull before it’s time to raise tips, check for loose clothing, and tell the others to “Have a good run.” Every now and then when skiing alone, I’ll ask a fellow chair mate if he or she wants to take a run. Some of those have resulted in a pleasant few hours.

Increasingly, people riding the chair are plugged into some electronic device and remain incommunicado. It bothered me for a while, but I got used to it. What I’ve never gotten used to are the people, generally on the younger side, who get on the lift and choose not to say a word. It’s probably more my problem than theirs, but sitting next to a totally silent bump on a log suspended 40’ or 50’ off the ground is weird and seems to be a violation of conventional chairlift etiquette. 

And there’s the occasional pleasant experience of riding solo. A time to enjoy the scenery and to feel the sun or the wind or the cold. Sometimes it’s just nice to be on the chair alone.

Innovative Robotic Ski Device Reduces Muscle Fatigue and Joint Pressure

Elevate is the new robotic ski exoskeleton that boosts quad strength and gives greater control, stronger turns, and longer runs, while reducing muscle fatigue and joint pressure.

Sensors and smart software on the exoskeleton anticipate the skier’s intent and uses air actuators to automatically adjust torque at the knees. The device is fully adjustable and follows the body’s lead, helping the skier feel lighter and more energized. As you’ll see in this video, the skier is always in control.

https://youtu.be/VPnh0j7lPj0

I haven’t experienced the device yet, but from my perspective, it has the potential to be an important addition to the older skier’s toolkit.

Elevate is advertising with SeniorsSkiing.com and offering readers a 10% discount on rentals at its Lake Tahoe and Park City locations. At this time it is only available as a rental. Click on the ad to learn more.

Discounted Backcountry Guides at Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows

Alpenglow Expeditions, located at Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows, conducts lift-accessed backcountry tours of the National Geographic Bowl and Tram Ridge zones at Squaw Valley and the Munchkins zone at Alpine Meadows. Tours are guided by American Mountain Guide Association (AMGA) trained ski guides.  Go with them midweek and get a 20% discount. More info at alpenglowexpeditions.com. If booking online, use promocode SquawAlpine20 at checkout.

Monday is Pizza and Powder Night at Brighton

Brighton Resort at the top of Utah’s Big Cottonwood Canyon is often overlooked by those visiting Utah to ski. That’s a mistake. The area has great terrain and is a magnet for snow, often getting more accumulation than areas around it. Unlike most other Wasatch areas it has an old-fashioned, homey vibe. It’s a wonderful place to ski. If you’re in the area on a Monday night, Brighton is offering four passes and a large pizza for $125. Click here for more.

Monday is Value Night at Jiminy Peak

Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort in western Massachusetts has a seven-hour night skiing lift ticket for $19 on three Monday nights in January: Jan. 14, 21, and 28.

Safe Descents Ski and Snowboard Insurance

You’re older. You’re going skiing. You want protection. Safe Descents is ski and snowboard evacuation insurance costing $56.99 for the season or $4.75 for a day. The policycovers ambulance or air evacuation services from any ski resort in the United States. It also covers sending a loved one to the hospital and/or getting the insured back home following a hospital stay. Policy holders are covered for a maximum of $25,000. Safe Descents policies are underwritten by the global Starr Indemnity and Liability Company. For more information, click on the Safe Descents ad.

Join Us in the Alps

Join us the week of March 10 when we ski in the Aosta Valley with guides from Alpskitour. Each day, we’ll go to a different resort in Italy, Switzerland and France. The all-inclusive price — $4,500 to $5,500 per person– depends on where you fly to and whether you stay in a 3 or 5 star hotel. Orsden is a sponsor and giving a parka to each participant. If interested, email me: jon@seniorsskiing.com.

Coming Soon: SeniorsSkiing.com Annual Fundraising Campaign

In a few weeks, we’ll start our second annual fundraising campaign. Please support our efforts to bring you weekly information and to advocate on behalf of older snow sports enthusiasts. Thank you!

Jeeves, Please Hand Me My Skis

There are many skiers of every age who take to the hills once or twice a year, often schlepping skis that aren’t suited for their destinations or gear that is simply out-of-date. Ski Butlers is a white glove rental/delivery service that solves those problems. Give them your info ahead of time, and they deliver gear and accessories to where you’re staying. Their technicians help  you get the right fit. If you don’t like what they delivered, they’ll meet you and provide alternatives. Ski Butlers services most big name resorts throughout the West (Whistler Blackcomb, included) and France.  Click here for more info.

seniorsskiing

PopUp Problem Perplexes Publishers

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Last Week’s Edition Had Some Issues.

Whoops!

Imagine our surprise when we began to receive complaints—some strongly worded—from our readers about having to re-enter their name and email to access our online magazine. That is, re-enter again and again and again. And again.

We thought it was a typical but annoying problem that is usually on the reader’s side of the screen: When “cookies” are disabled or the reader uses a different browser or device, a similar set of symptoms happens. The solution is usually pretty simple: Turn on cookies on browser.

But no, not this time around. We believe the problem can be traced to a flaw in the popup software we use as a result of a WordPress update. We thank our stalwart software designer Alice Winthrop of Gate-House Design who tracked down the developer of the software and disabled the popup until the problem can be corrected.

Which brings us to why we have a popup in the first place. For one thing, we want to offer visitors a chance to subscribe for free. The popup also appears if a subscriber—or a non-subscriber visitor—is trying to access our Subscriber-Only Content. We ask subscribers to confirm their information before getting access to such assets as Free (Or Almost Free) Skiing For Seniors, Ski and Boot Recommendations, our Historic Ski Poster e-book, and other items.

The alternative to the popup is for subscribers to create an account with a username and password. That is not something we want to manage, nor do we think it is necessary for an online snow sports magazine for seniors. Nor do we believe our readers want to remember yet another password. Hence the popup.

Let us know if you have any issues, suggestions, concerns. We love to hear from you.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

mikemaginn

Mystery Glimpse: Very Special Guest

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Look Who Came To Visit

This is a challenging Mystery Glimpse.  Here’s a page from the register of an inn. Who is the Very Special Guest? Can you name the inn this guest stayed in back in 1951? Hint: New Hampshire. Hint 2: Think of Tyrolean-themed chalets. Hint 3: It’s all because of the Baron.

Last Week

Yes, these are the Bradley Bashers, Bombers, or Packer Graders, and, yes, you had to be a fantastically brave skier to tow one of these down the slopes. The inventor was Steve Bradley of Winter Park, CO, often called the Father of Snowgrooming. He invented this gravity-run implement in 1952, and it became quite popular in the mid-50s. We remember going to a National Ski Area Association meeting in 1970 or so where these devices were demonstrated.  We still remember thinking, “What happens if….?” but the thought was too scary. Thankfully, the field of snow grooming has moved on to safer equipment.

Bradley as an innovator in many ways.  He experimented with solar power, re-thought cafeteria lines, and managed Winter Park’s emergence as a nationally known center for disabled sports, among many other honors. You can read more about his achievements here.

Thanks to the Colorado Snowsports Museum for providing this wonderful picture.

The whole idea was to bust up moguls and smooth out crud. Gravity was both a friend and an adversary.

Pat McCloskey

Snowmaker’s Gloves For Wet Weather: The Joka Waterproof

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Wear What Works In The Wet.

Joka Glove is $28, mittens also available as are other models.

I usually take most of my vacation time in the winter because I like to ski out West and in the Adirondacks.  And more often than not, the trips are something to look forward to when you live in the Mid-Atlantic and have to deal with the rain and sleet events that plague our winters here in “the banana belt”.  I always tell everyone if you can stay dry, skiing in the rain is not bad since the snow is soft, and the turns are, well, hero turns on hero snow.  Enter the Joka Waterproof Glove.

If you go to the CHS Snowmakers web site, you will find an array of perhaps the finest waterproof gloves that you will ever purchase for a very reasonable price.  Joka gloves are rubber and have an inner, removable fleece liner  that can be easily removed and dried.  These are true snowmaker gloves and are perfect for skiing in the rain.

I have a Pro Gore-Tex from Patagonia that keeps me completely dry, but the Achilles heel has always been wet leather gloves that get soaked and cold.  When I found the Joka gloves on a recommendation from a friend, I became a believer and an evangelist. You can literally submerge these gloves up to the fleece lining  in a bucket of water and never get wet. Everybody is buying them down here in the banana belt, and you should too if you venture out in weather that is not quite optimal.

The other nice thing about the gloves is that you can “squeegee” your goggles without scratching your lenses. When it really rains, I have to reach up and clear the goggles and these gloves are non -abrasive to the goggle lens.  A definite plus for expensive goggles that are sensitive to handling.

My suggestion: Do yourself a favor, buy a pair.  You can use them in the yard, on a mountain bike, or skiing in the rain.  As my friend the Shark always says, “No such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing choices.”

 

 

Marc Liebman

70s Ski Testing: Defining How Skis Work

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Step 1: Inventing The Right Metrics

[Editor Note: In this new series, former SKI editor Marc Liebman recounts how serious ski testing began as a way to provide consumers with objective information about ski performance.]

In the early seventies, ski design was in the midst of a revolution that is still going on today.  It started in 1959 when Art Molnar and Fred Langendorf marketed the first ski with a fiberglass reinforced core under the Tony Sailer brand.  When it came out, skis were made predominantly from wood with a P-Tex bottom and segmented edges screwed into the core.  One piece steel edges were coming into vogue.

Computers and programs to model flex patterns, torsion (twisting) and the impact of different materials on ski performance were in their infancy. Ski design was (and still is) a mix of sound engineering, materials science, and experience.

Ski manufacturers touted the benefits of fiberglass versus aluminum sheets or rods or u-shaped metal versus foam or wood cores and the list went on and on.  Ski Magazine’s (and Skiing’s) customer research said that their readers wanted an objective way to compare skis.  Net net, we – the skier – were confused.

In 1971, Ski Magazine contracted John Perryman, an aerospace engineer to come up with a methodology that would achieve four objectives:

  1. Measure the dynamic and static properties of the ski;
  2. Analyze these properties mathematically because they don’t act in isolation and are intimately related to each other;
  3. Correlate bench testing with a rigorous on-snow program that requires the skis to be put through a standard set of maneuvers by the tester on a variety of snow conditions and terrain without knowing the ski’s identity; and
  4. Present the results in an easy to understand format that enables the skier to compare ski A with ski B.

The program was called SKIpp for Ski Performance Prediction.  Each year, SKI magazine tested more than 200 skis, all roughly 200 centimeters long. I was on the initial team. Calculations were done with a slide rule and data tabulated on my Bowmar Brain, one of the first electronic calculators.  We created five metrics that we believed defined ski performance:

  1. Foreflex dynamics – complex calculation of the force needed to bend the front portion of the ski and its resistance to rapid flexing;
  2. Afterflex dynamics – same as the front for the portion of the ski behind the boot;
  3. Effective torsion – combination of resistance to a ski’s twisting and how sidecut affects ski’s ability to turn in an arc;
  4. Effective Compression – measured the camber of the ski along with the force needed to flatten the ski; and
  5. Damping – ability of the ski’s to suppress vibration.

Based on the data gathered, we could predict how:

  1. Easy a ski was to turn;
  2. It would perform in different snow conditions; and
  3. How it stable it would be at high speed.

Looking back, we didn’t realize how far ahead we were in ski performance analysis.  In the beginning, several manufacturers challenged our results, but in the end, they came around to our side of the table which was that the correlation between our lab analysis and on snow performance was amazingly accurate.

seniorsskiing

Focus On Conditioning: Still Time For This Season

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[Editor Note: This article was contributed by Peter Schmaus, MD, Orthopedic Spine and Sports Medicine Center, Paramus, NJ. and Senior Attending Physician, Hackensack University Medical Center. SeniorsSkiing.com is very grateful to have his view on conditioning.]

Pay Attention To Body Tuning Before You Hit The Slopes Or Trails.

Many of us pay more attention to our equipment than the most important equipment of all—us! Many ski injuries and overuse syndromes can be avoided by simple preventative maintenance. While sharpening your edges and maintaining bindings are smart, even more important is a musculoskeletal tune up on yourself. This is even more crucial as we age and the musculoskeletal system inevitably displays the wear and tear of the years.

We lose muscle mass annually as we age over 40, but this can be reversed with the correct exercise regimen. Joints inevitably become stiffened both from cartilage thinning as well as tightening of the soft tissues surrounding the joints and spine. These conditions, while not completely reversible, can be managed with exercise programs stressing both flexibility and strengthening.

While stabilization and core are buzzwords frequently used in the fitness field, for snow sports those words cannot be repeated too often. Fitness trainers, therapists, and physicians refer to muscle groups that are core stabilizers. These include the rectus abdominus, external and internal obliques, back extensors, and the pelvic floor muscles.

These are your natural weight lifting belt and lumbar support muscles. They stabilize and support the spine in all planes, and a strong core helps provide balance and force required to carve a turn or navigate a field of moguls. Core muscles even support your spine when pulling off your boots at the end of the ski day. Exercise methods include Swiss ball, back extension, modified crunches, various planks and supermen. All can be done in the home without elaborate gym equipment. And do not forget the simple push up and proper squat.

We frequently refer to the posterior chain, which includes the gluteal muscles, the hamstrings as well as latissimus, and back extensors. Regimens can include lunges, modified dead lifts, squats, kettle bells and burpees. If your bodyweight does not provide sufficient resistance, add some light weight. Simple flat plates, kettle bells, or even resistance bands will suffice. Then move on to side-to-side exercises, which simulate ski motion.  Keeping your center of gravity well centered is the physics behind a good day on the mountain.

Be mindful that snow sports, while not overly aerobic, do require exertion and therefore increased cardiovascular activity. That is aside from the long walk uphill though the parking lot with all your heavy equipment.

Also important especially as we age are balance exercises. Stand on a balance or wobble board. Not a challenge? Hold two light weights. Go through your regimen while remaining balanced on the board. It is not easy in the beginning, but the benefits of enhanced balance and stability are crucial on uneven terrain. Constructing a preventative exercise program well in advance of those first days on the mountain will reduce the risk of injury, making those days on the mountain more enjoyable and injury and pain free.  

Tamsin Venn

SeniorsSkiingGuide: Big Bromley

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Bromley Mountain Is Just Right For Seniors.

Bluebird day at the top of Bromley Mtn, VT. Credit: Tamsin Venn

At Bromley Mt. in southern Vermont, runs are not too long and not too short, just right for senior legs to make a top-to-bottom, 1,300 vertical-foot run without a thigh-burn break.

Although you would be remiss not to stop. Views from the top of the Sun Mountain Express stretch from the Adirondacks to the White Mountains. In the near distance, snow-dusted hills and ridges roll away. Trails curve through bright deciduous trees, and dipping into a glade is a friendly undertaking.

I found the sweet spot on a trail called Corkscrew over to Pabst Peril, smooth as Guernsey butter, after a recent seven-inch snowfall. The Pabst reference is to Bromley’s original owner, Fred Pabst, grandson of Captain Frederick Pabst, founder of Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer.

Black diamonds here are really what other areas would call blues, reducing the high alert meter. A high speed lift and groomed trails ensure sharable speed and vertical feet tallies on your Ski Tracks app. A south facing slope, flooded in sunshine on a wintry day, is enough to banish SAD for the entire winter, although some skiers’ fondest memories are sun-and-shorts spring ski days, and the world is grand.

Bromley is known as a young family-friendly mountain, which is always good news for seniors. It welcomes a lot of others as well: tele skiers (a popular annual telefest); moms (Feb. 8 is Mom’s Day Off); snowboarders  (Sochi Olympics medalist Alex Deibold is a native son); uphill skiers sunrise through dusk . (The Appalachian Trail swings around back.); and exchange students (who trade Lima, Peru for Peru, Vt., to work here in their summer). Also innkeepers, young racers guided by the Bromley Outing Club, and lines of kids in weekly afternoon school programs.

Bromley is right-sized for seniors, lots of do-able trails, even the Black Diamonds. Credit: Bromley

As an independent mountain, managed by Brian and Tyler Fairbank of the Fairbank Group, which also runs Cranmore Mt. and Jiminy Peak, Bromley still has a senior’s season pass, and senior day pass discounts as low as $39 for a midweek day ticket if bought at least a day in advance.

The Silver Griffins is “for skiers 60 plus with a sunny attitude.” For $15 annual dues, you get parking near the base lodge midweek non-holiday (the youngsters have to park on the other side of Route 11), discounts in the cafeteria, ski shop, rental and repair service area, plus a name badge, monthly after ski parties in the Stratton View alcove, other social functions, and lots of tall tales from when Bromley was a two J-Bar mountain.

Fun Facts

Marvie Campbell celebrates 50 years as a ski instructor at Bromley.

Seniors Seasons Pass: 70 plus, $549; age 65-69, $599. No blackout dates.

Advance Sale Lift Tickets: As low as $39, depending on day and month.

Bring the grandkids: Bromley put in a terrain park this year, built by the experts at Arena Snowparks.

Fat Tire Fridays: Burger and Beer Special for $10 in the Wild Boar Tavern.

Skiing History Day: March 2. Fanatics unite. https://www.bromley.com/winter/events/

Why Stay Home Lodging: Midweek $99/night, includes lodging, tickets, and breakfast for two. http://lodgeatbromley.com/vermont-vacation-packages/

50th Anniversary: Marvie Campbell celebrates her 50 years as a Bromley ski instructor this year.

Mountain Stats

  • Summit Elevation 3,284 feet
  • 47 Total Trails
  • Nine lifts
  • 86 percent Snowmaking
  • www.bromley.com

Click here for trail map

 

 

seniorsskiing

This Week In SeniorsSkiing.com (Jan. 11)

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Avalanche Alerts And Deaths, Keep Warm, Telemark Memoir, Snow Tool Mystery Glimpse, Tire Chain Reminders, Why You Have To Enter Email Again.

Europe is getting buried by severe storms. Some mountain towns have been cut off or evacuated. Credit: Al-Jazerra

Over the past week, there have been monumental snow falls in Colorado, California, the Canadian Rockies, and most of western Europe. Click here for snow totals over the last seven days from different resorts in the Alps from OnTheSnow.com. In California, I-80 was closed due to spin-outs and low visibility that came with heavy snow and rain. More was forecast for this week.

Multiple feet of new snow are falling on existing bases on both continents. That combination creates an unstable snowpack and brings extremely serious avalanche risk. In fact, seven deaths have already occurred in the last week both in North American and Europe from avalanches, according to Snowbrains.com. Some of these were backcountry skiers, another couple were snowshoeing in the Alps, one death came when snow swept through an avalanche safety class in Silverton, CO.

Obviously, winter snow sports depends on snow and cold weather. When the weather becomes severe, it is wise to pay very close attention to where you are going, whether you are prepared, and even it is wise to venture forth.

There’s a very instructive expression for those who sail, boat, fish, or otherwise head out to the ocean that also applies to those who live and play in snow country.

If you go to sea, you must know what you’re about. 

If you’re not, the sea will find you out. 

Snowfall in Europe, January 2019

Indeed, if you head to snow country into significant weather, please know what you are about. If you ski in backcountry, follow common sense rules: pack a shovel, avalanche beacon and related equipment, ski with a group, watch the warnings. If you are driving in the mountains, make sure your car has the “box in the back” with emergency tools, including chains. [See Marc Liebman’s article on tire chains in this issue.] If you’re just out there skiing the groomers, know your limits, keep hydrated, know when to head to apres ski.

Otherwise, you could get found out.

This Week

Correspondent Harriet Wallis brings a very funny article on keeping warm.  Her advice to women is pretty specific: Ladies, Don’t Wear Black Underpants On Super Cold Days.  Find out why by clicking here.

Author Roger Lohr (c) and two buddies try a three-man tele turn. What’s with the group turning thingy, guys?

SeniorsSkiing.com’s XC editor and publisher of XCSkiResort.com Roger Lohr shares some memories of his Telemark skiing experiences. Did you know that Telemark skiing and NATO have some things in common? Did you know that making group Telemark turns is a “thing” in that sport? 

Our Mystery Glimpse features what looks like a bit of daredevil skiing with a device that was meant to be helpful at ski resorts.  What are we talking about?  Click here.  Also, we reveal the names of those flying family members who were ski jumping in tandem from last week’s MG.  Not surprisingly, several readers got that one.  Easy.

Our bet is that most seniors think negatively about snow chains. Unwieldy, noisy, clunky, but ultimately necessary in certain circumstances. (See above comments on severe winter weather.) Correspondent Marc Liebman reminds us why these nuisances are important to master. Click here on his tire chain story with a link to some resources on how to select the right chains for your vehicle.

Finally, we re-cue our explanation of why our readers sometimes have to re-enter their names and emails. We do this because we have a lot of new readers who may not know how our no-password access to Subscriber-Only Content works. We also do this to stem some of the nasty-grams we get from some frustrated readers who are not shy about letting us know about their frustrations and what they think of our so-and-so online magazine. So, to those people, we say: Be nice.  There are reasons you are having these re-entry issues.  Click here for more.

 

 

 

 

 

January is Learn To Ski And Snowboard Month. Bring a friend to your favorite resort. There are 140 ski resorts offering nearly 300 special learn-to-ski programs this month. In fact, some resorts are celebrating Learn To Ski month with celebrations on January 11th. Click here for more.

Thank you for reading SeniorsSkiing.com.  Remember, there are more of us every day, and we aren’t going away.

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fact vs belief
Jon Weisberg

Short Swings!

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I write this column every week to share information and ideas about being in and on the snow. I haven’t yet had the pleasure of being there this season. It’s still a week or so off.

Sometimes it’s clear what I’ll write about: there’s a new survey; we’ve published one of our annual lists; Big Skiing, Inc. is systematically removing senior benefits. Those and other topics get a fair number of responses. Other times, the subject d’jour doesn’t present itself so easily and the dearth of reader comments reflects it. But, I always enjoy assembling the words.

More than one reader has accused me of naiveté because of comments about the amounts seniors spend when they go skiing. We explored that area in a reader survey at the end of last season and found that 56% of respondents reported they spent between $1000 and $5000 per person last season on skiing, boarding, and related activities. More than 10% spent $5000 or more, per person.

Those figures are “grossly in error,” wrote one reader who claimed the figure should be closer to $5 per day. Our data comes from survey questions that had almost 2000 responses. The resulting information reflects input that shows higher levels of spending. I can’t argue with what the reader observed in the lodge at her area of choice – those elderly $5-a-day brown baggers are found at many areas – but our surveys collect data from a large group. Unless readers have conspired in a massive fib fest, I’ll accept the survey results as closer to what actually happens when seniors go skiing.

Another recent survey result is that grandparents play a major role introducing grandchildren to the sport. This may be obvious, but I don’t think it is fully appreciated – especially by Big Ski, Inc., which relies on newbies to fuel its future. In the past 35 years, the number of skiers and boarders hasn’t grown. I have two young grandkids just starting out. We encourage them with related gifts. The survey that validated this concept. It showed that once introduced, almost 95% of the grandkids stay with it.

Like all surveys, ours are not perfect. But the questions are carefully written and the number of responses large enough to be accurate.

If you have topics you’d like explored in Short Swings!, please let me know. Alternatively, if you’d like to express your own interests on these paperless pages, we’re always open to article ideas and article submissions. They could be about your personal experience, your ski club activities, interesting skiers you know, etc. Click here for submission guidelines. 

Vermont Adaptive Snow Ball Fundraiser, Feb. 2 at Sugarbush

Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports will host its fourth annual Snow Ball fundraiser, Thursday, February 7, at Sugarbush. Tickets are $40 for individuals and $70 for couples. For more info, click here.

January is Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month

January is the 11thannual Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month. Resorts across the country have great deals on beginner learning programs. Since its inception in January 2009, resort partners have provided 957,250 beginner lessons during the month of January. For more info, click here.

 

Liftopia Launches Hosted Ski Bus Trips

Liftopia, the largest online and mobile marketplace for ski lift tickets and mountain activities recently launched “Liftopia Experiences,” hosted ski bus trips. Liftopia Experiences are available in major metro markets in the U.S. and Canada including Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City, Minneapolis and Toronto. The trips include round-trip transportation to ski area along with lift tickets, rentals, lessons, and accommodations. For more information, click here.

Join Us in the Alps

Join us the week of March 10 when we ski in the Aosta Valley with guides from Alpskitour. Each day, we’ll go to a different resort in Italy, Switzerland and France. The all-inclusive price — $4,500 to $5,500 per person– depends on where you fly to and whether you stay in a 3 or 5 star hotel. Orsden is a sponsor and giving a parka to each participant. If interested, email me: jon@seniorsskiing.com.

Coming Soon: SeniorsSkiing.com Annual Fundraising Campaign

In a few weeks, we’ll start our second annual fundraising campaign. Please support our efforts to bring you weekly information and to advocate on behalf of older snow sports enthusiasts. Thank you!

mikemaginn

Mystery Glimpse: This Isn’t Easy

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Bombing Down

What is going on here? Party? Race? One thing we will tell you is that this looks like (and was) a very tricky maneuver on skis. One resort made these famous.  Name it? The inventor?  Thanks again to the Colorado Snowsports Museum at Vail.

Last Week

Indeed, this is Alf and Alan Engen doing some father and son ski jumping at Alta circa 1952. Alf was an early ski jumper who mastered Alpine skiing and helped start the ski school at Alta. He and his two brothers helped popularize skiing in the West, especially Utah and Idaho. Alf’s son, Alan, carries on the family tradition today at Alta.

The Alf Engen Museum at Park City contributed this photo.

The photo came from the Museum’s Ray Atkeson collection. Atkeson (1907-1990) was a photographer best known for his landscape pictures, particularly in the American West. His black and white ski photos are considered some of the finest ever captured.

The museum contains more than 300 trophies, medals, uniforms, scrapbooks, skis, boots, photos, films and other collectables that span some 70 years in the career of the Engen family. The museum’s educational component gives school children a skiing-based foundation to study subjects such as the water cycle, physics and Utah’s colorful history.

Alf Engen. Check those pole baskets.

The Museum recently added a fully functional virtual ski experience designed and built by Utah-based company Unrivaled. The ride takes you through an amazing downhill ski experience and even gives the authentic feeling of skiing by adding wind and even snow to the overall downhill experience.

 

 

 

Roger Lohr

Memoir Of A Telemark Skier

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“Telemarketers” Found Each Other To Practice Their Distinctive Style.

[Editor Note:This remembrance of Telemark skiing by Roger Lohr first appeared in his publication XCSkiresorts.com.]

The North American Telemark Organization set a record with this group turn at Mad River Glen in 1980.

In the 1970s, telemark skiers were called the free heelers, telemarketers, and the Lunatic Fringe. But these skiers performing the historical telemark turn down the slopes at alpine ski areas were seen as “the vanguard of the slopes” by many for their ability and skill descending the runs at high speeds, in the moguls, and landing aerials on their cross country skis. But telemarkers were often heard commenting that they were only riding the lifts at alpine ski areas to improve their downhill skills for the backcountry. Some claimed “free the heel, free the mind”, but they became intoxicated with riding chairlifts rather than getting their thrills in the backcountry.

These days, as alpine touring and backcountry skiing become more popular, the telemark subculture may be a declining breed at the alpine ski areas. However, there was a time when they were racing down through the gates and partying hard and celebrating their differences based on what was perceived as their retro ski techniques. They were dressed in wool pants or knickers with ear flapped knit hats with elongated tassles (designed by Vermonter Poppy Gall, a woman entrepreneur, designer, and currently a co-director of the Vermont Ski & Snowboard Museum).

NATO Founder and Telemark legend Dick Hall wiggles through a narrow spot.

Today, telemarkers, or what is left of this group, are no longer counter culture, but in their heyday, telemark festivals, traveling clinics and workshops, and more were the brainchild of the North American Telemark Organization (NATO) created in 1975 by Richard (Dickie) Hall of Waitsfield, VT. In 2017, Dickie Hall was inducted in the Vermont Ski Hall of Fame, which is a long way from his first time telemark skiing with a dozen others as a group at Pico Mountain, Vt. in 1974.

According to author David Goodman’s article about telemarking in Powder Magazine, “the telemark turn was invented in 1868 by Sondre Norheim in the Telemark district of Norway. As alpine skiing and techniques took over, it was not until Rick Borkovic of Crested Butte, CO, sparked a revival and a number of Nordic skiers rediscovered the old technique.”

I found out about telemarking from the 1977 book “Skiing Cross Country” by Canadian Ned Baldwin while I was living in southern Vermont. Most of us regarded Steve Barnetts’s “Cross-Country Downhill” as the bible of telemarking as it covered downhill techniques in depth. As I improved, I got to know many of the telemarkers in the region, mostly men but there were some women, too. We ran a race series, but beside the competition, it was really a clan of telemark skiers who met on scheduled dates at different ski areas.

As a racer, I felt disadvantaged on my Trucker Light Edge skis, which were narrower and softer compared to the Rossignol Randonee skis, which handled the ruts and hard pack better and were used by most of the other skiers. Always blame the equipment. But Dickie’s motto “Ski Hard. Play Fair. Have Fun” was not so much about winning as it was about spreading the telemark gospel.

Hall developed NATO, (according to Hall, it’s the peaceful one) to conduct workshops, training courses, expeditions, and festivals. He traveled as a telemark evangelist from his home in Waitsfield, VT, and visited the states in the northeast, the Rockies, California, and Alaska among others. These NATO telemark events would feature instructional clinics for all ability levels, and equipment suppliers’ gear for demo use. Hall created the telemark ski school at Mad River Glen as one of the first in the US, and he helped others to become telemark instructors across the country. Over the years, Hall estimated that he has introduced, instructed, or just shared his love of telemark skiing to about 40,000 people!

In 2015, NATO held its 40th and last telemark festival at Mad River Glen, which attracted about 200 participants, a far cry from the 13 attendees at the original Pico event. The races held at the festivals were usually the focus point at these events, but the “group telemark turn” was an activity we all shared together. The telemarkers in Colorado and Alaska would try to top the eastern telemarking crew of deplorables at Mad River Glen, but it is believed that 128 eastern telemarkers in a group turn is the standing record.

At Mad River Glen, Dickie was a task master when it came to the group telemark. In Dickie’s mind, it was paramount that we link two telemark turns for the attempt to count. The photo in the 1984 NATO Eastern Telemark Festival Series poster (and used in many other NATO materials) exemplifies one of those record-breaking group telemark attempts. On the day of that photo (I was there), many of the telemarkers who were near the end of the line got whipped into a gully, and it ended in a yard sale of significant proportion. No injuries, lots of laughs—indeed we played hard and had fun.

NATO is now defunct but Dickie Hall telemark videos are still available via email request at nato@gmavt.net

Author Roger Lohr and two buddies try a three-man tele turn. What’s with the group turning thingy, guys?