This Week In SeniorsSkiing.com (Dec. 4)
Music In The Mountains, Question For You Redux, Snow Coming, Aosta Trattoria Interlude, XC Starter Kit, Mystery Tow, Dispatch From Wolf Creek, Rental Apartment Advice, Inspiration For Recovery, Utah Resort COVID Summary.
Imagine our surprise when we were searching YouTube for tunes from one of our favorite bands when we found, wait for it, the “Gondola Sessions.”
We love the Colorado band Elephant Revival; they have creative, evocative tunes played with expert musicality. So when we saw them playing ensemble in a gondola going up a mountain in winter, we were stopped cold. What the heck is going on? A band playing music in a gondola? Don’t believe me? Click below.
Yes, that’s an ER-er Bonnie Paine playing the saw in a gondola along with the other members of Elephant Revival heading up at Telluride.
It seems there are “Gondola Sessions” filmed at ski resorts from New England to New Zealand. It all started when producer John Austin was inspired by “unplugged” music—videos of artists playing acoustic instruments in relaxed settings—and the intimate feeling those created. Austin started booking bands to play at Aspen’s Silver Queen gondola, recording them during the 15 minute ride up. Since then, you can find more than 80 different gondola sessions with widely-diverse bands and solo artists on YouTube, recorded in summer as well as winter sessions. Just search for “Gondola Sessions” in YouTube.
Wait, There’s More.
Along with our initial YouTube search for Elephant Revival tunes, we discovered another musical happening at ski resorts that we never knew about. Have you heard of WinterWonderGrass? For 10 years, music impresarios have staged winter music festivals in Steamboat, Squaw Valley, and Stratton Mountain. The days-long festivals feature bluegrass and roots music from very cool bands along with craft beer and merch from a variety of sustainable, environment-friendly vendors. Performances are sometimes indoors and, yes, sometimes outdoors. The motto of the producers is Music, Brews, Mountains. Click here for more information about WinterWonderGrass. As you can imagine, this season’s festivals are adapting to the pandemic.
What is it like? Here’s a full Elephant Revival set at the 2015 WinterWonderGrass festival at Steamboat. Enjoy.
Note: Elephant Revival is a terrific band and has a number of excellent videos on YouTube. Unfortunately the band has suspended performing indefinitely.
So, there is music in the mountains. Innovative, energetic, embedded into the resort environment. No, you don’t have to be under 35 to enjoy these musicians and their music. You just have to love music.
Have any of our readers been to a WonderWinterGrass festival? Let us know. Leave a comment in the reply box below.
This Week.
Dreamcatcher at The Canyons. Plenty of snow already for the new season.
Skiing Weatherman Herb Stevens reports that winter snow is finally coming to the Northeast. Consider how lucky Killington was last year; the Women’s World Cup was held on 11/30-12/1/19 with the help of some expert snowmaking. This year, not much cold to make the stuff until now, that is. Click here.
We are asking a Question For You that we asked before: What is the experience of your first visit to a ski resort like in COVID times? When we asked a couple of weeks ago, we didn’t get many comments because it was way too early. Let’s see what happens this week. Let us know. Click here.
We do have a report from John Farley on his first outing at Wolf Creek, CO, the first resort in North America to open this season. His strategy for dealing with parking is interesting. Click here.
Correspondent Tamsin Venn summarizes the pandemic preparations and regulations at big Utah resorts. Know before you go. Click here.
Stephen Bell’s series on renting an apartment in your ski house concludes with some advice on operating the rental as well as financing a purchase. Steve seems to have made a small business pay for his new residence in Big Sky. Click here.
Hirsch Stube in the summer. Small, friendly, perfect for a day of rest from skiing.
New correspondent Dave Chambers writes about a charming incident in a tiny trattoria in the Aosta Valley. Dave is an Australian who spends time skiing the Alps when he’s not skiing the scene in OZ. Click here.
Long time correspondent Marc Liebman tells us about is recuperation from a debilitating infection. It is interesting he was inspired by an ultra cheap season pass for veterans, and he’s determined to use it somewhere this season. Click here.
As part of our Make More Tracks series on alternative snow sports, Cross country editor Roger Lohr summarizes what you have to know to get started in Cross Country skiing. We believe the xc option makes a lot of sense for seniors who want to get outside this weird winter. Click here.
Finally, our Mystery Glimpse picture this week is one that goes back to the start of skiing in New England. And we tell the remarkable career of Bjorn Daehlie, the fantastically Greatest Of All Time Nordic racer. Read about his VO2 max and and how that made him a very special human specimen. Click here.
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Restrictions: Help, hinder, hopeless? What is your experience? Credit: USNews&WorldReport
Short Swings!
This season will favor those living close to the mountain. Older skiers who aren’t a short walk or reasonable drive away probably will avoid the hassle and risk of commercial flights to get there. They’ll spend more time on local slopes.
Currently, we’re in our place several miles north of New York City. The closest reasonable skiing is about 2.5 hours to the north where there are several areas with vertical drops ranging from 1,100’ to 1.600’.
Which got me thinking: how much vertical feet is needed for a satisfying day of skiing?
I posed the question to several skiing friends around the country. Their responses offer insight into what makes us happy about the sport.
Travel Writer Roger Toll, 75, lived in Park City and Santa Fe and has been skiing for 60 years. In his 60s his daily diet ranged from 20k’ to 40k’. When he moved from Park City to New Mexico, he was lured by free skiing at Ski Santa Fe, an area with about 1,200’. Enjoyable as he found some parts of the mountain, its 1,200’ vertical entertained him for about 10 runs or 12k’; “…enough to have a great day, especially when it’s free.”
At the other end of the country, Howard Vipler finds skiing Hunter Mountain’s 1,600’ satisfying but generally calls it quits by noon. He retired from Hunter’s Ski Patrol after 40 seasons there, so he knows where to find fewer people and better conditions. Even so, for him, 1600’ has it limitations.
Back to the west, where Dick Chapman, retired pain researcher of international renown, skis Wolf Creek in Southwestern Colorado. Dick was 58 when he started. He’s now 76. Wolf Creek has about the same vertical as Hunter Mountain, but far more snow. Its tagline: “The Most Snow in Colorado.” Dick’s measure for a satisfying day on the hill isn’t vertical. He writes, “Fun is skiing at the edge of my ability and successfully meeting little challenges.”
Now to Colorado’s I-70 corridor and Vail, where David Orlinsky books a minimum of 10 runs and/or 15,000’ to qualify for a satisfying day on the hill. Having skied with him, I know that’s an understatement. Over the past two decades, the retired businessman has averaged one million vertical feet per season!
One state over, in Utah, Jan Brunvand and Harriet Wallace have different takes on what it means to have a satisfying day. Their names often appear with their SeniorsSkiing.com articles.
Jan, professor emeritus of English at the University of Utah and widely recognized as popularizing the concept of the “urban legend,” doesn’t count daily vert. At 87, he requires skiing a minimum of five runs in order to log the day. Usually he’s in the 7-10 run range. I’ve taken a few runs with Jan and hope I’ll be as graceful and having as much fun when I’m 87.
I’ve also skied with Harriet, 80, whose optimistic outlook is infectious. As she explains it, “It’s not about vertical. It’s about being outdoors…dancing down the slope…blue skies and whiteouts. It’s all about friends, no app needed.”
There were several other responses which I’ll try to include in a future column. I’d like to hear what you think makes for a satisfying day on the hill. Please post a comment or drop me a line: jon@seniorsskiing.com.
Your Six Words About This Season
Hemingway may have started this form. Six words that express a thought. What six words express this season? Send your entries to jon@seniorsskiing.com, please. Planning to select some good ones. Author credits will appear with each. Reminder: six words about this season. I came up with the following. “Escaping Covid. Skiing in my mind.”
Covid Victim: Ski Patroller Beards
Before/After: Arapahoe Basin Patroller, Thomas Olsen, Credit…Ian Zinner/Arapahoe Basin Ski Area
It’s all about getting a proper fit for masks, and it’s changing the traditional face of male ski patrollers. As this recent New York Times article explains, patrollers’ beards are going, going, gone!
Big White Ski Resort, BC Pulling Anti-Maskers’ Passes
British Columbia’s third-largest ski resort is ending skiing privileges for pass holders refusing to wear masks. First offenders lose a week; second offenders, a month. “It’s pretty simple, if they don’t wear their mask, we pull their pass. Once we told them they lose their skiing privileges, the argument stopped pretty quick,” said Michael Ballingall, senior vice president, Big White Ski Resort.
Crans Montana HotelPass
Here’s a Swiss lift ticket concept, US areas might consider: Crans Montana, the large, seniors and family-friendly Swiss ski resort has a new HotelPass allowing those lodging in participating hotels to purchase last minute lift passes at deep discounts. No advance reservations. Total flexibility of when to use. Click here for more info on the HotelPass. Participating Crans Montana hotels also have new, highly flexible cancellation policies.
Final Laps on the Covid Track
We’re taking the final laps before crossing the vaccine finish line. Do what you need to do to avoid getting infected. If you already have been or are, do whatever you can to get well. Above all: Think positive. Test negative.
One Of The Best Short Ski Films…
The Chairlift is one of the best short ski films to date. A little over 12 minutes, it’s an homage to the chairlift and it’s unique culture. A production of Salomon, which released it a few days ago.
SeniorsSkiing.com Email Blasts
You’ll start receiving occasional emails from some of our advertisers. Each will be relevant to skiing and related topics. SeniorsSkiing.com will distribute the emails; we don’t sell our list or your email addresses to third parties. We hope you’ll find them of interest.
Question For You: Dispatches From The Snow Frontier
Let’s Try Again: What Is Your First Visit To A Ski Resort In COVID Times Like?
Restrictions: Help, hinder, hopeless? What is your experience? Credit: USNews&WorldReport
A few weeks ago, we asked our readers to tell us how their first visits to a ski resort went in this unusual year. We wanted to hear reactions to constraints, regulations, and policies designed to keep visitors and staff safe.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get many responses, presumably because it was a bit too early for resorts to open and our readers to visit.
When we received a detailed report from a reader on a visit to Wolf Creek, CO, we decided to ask our question again. Reader John Farley described his visit to the moderate-size Colorado area—the first in North America to open—and how his strategy for parking and getting to the lifts worked out for him. Click here to read his dispatch.
Take two: If you’ve been out for your first day of skiing this year, how did it go? How did you manage the COVID rules? Were there karmic differences between this year’s first run and other years? More important, how will lessons learned on your first day impact how you approach the rest of the season?
Please write your comments in the Leave A Reply box below.
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