Mystery Glimpse: Name That Team
Here’s A Ski Team From The Past.
Can you name when? Who’s who? Thanks to the Colorado Snowsports Museum for this one.
Last Week
Well, last week’s photo was a challenge. Not one guess. Thanks again to Dana Mathios of the Colorado Snowsports Museum for this description.
This photo was taken at The Hotel Jerome in Aspen. The photo is believed to have been taken in 1948, but some indications from the scrapbook this photo came from indicate a date as early as New Years 1939. The Jerome was built in 1889 and is often described as one of the city’s major landmarks. In 1986 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. During Prohibition a celebrated spiked drink, the Aspen Crud, was invented at “J-Bar”. Later, the drink and the bar became popular with members of the 10th Mountain Division while they trained in the area. After the war, Aspen and its new ski resort became a popular destination. Celebrities vacationed in Aspen like Gary Cooper, John Wayne, and Hunter S. Thompson.
The Hotel Jerome: If the walls could talk…Credit: Amuse
Skiing Weatherman: Mid-Winter Preview
Herb Is Bullish On The Second Half Of This Season.
The past week has been another relatively quiet one over the eastern half of the country in terms of fresh snowfall while the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia have again been targeted with substantial new inches. The lack of snow over the Midwest and East has surprised me to a degree because even though deep cold air has been lacking at times, the jet stream pattern of a ridge over Canada with a trough cutting underneath it in the U.S. that set up shop about ten days ago is one that typically produces storms and snow. As the old weather adage goes “the weather doesn’t happen at the 500 millibar (jet stream) level. Sometimes you can get the pattern right but get the weather wrong”. Last week this first weekend in February looked very promising for snow along the length of the Appalachians, but the northern and southern branches of the jet will remain separate and not phase, which would be necessary for a substantial snowfall. The northern branch feature will slide from the Lakes into the Northeast, producing light snows, but it looks like another case of the big one getting away.
In the Northwest, the onslaught of storms will continue into at least the middle of next week. Initially, snow levels will bounce up to 7-8 thousand feet this weekend before crashing for the second half of the weekend to as low as 1,000 feet in places. The changes in snow level will not be as dramatic next week as colder air from western Canada gets involved in the pattern with time. In the northern Rockies, some light to perhaps moderate snow will fall this weekend as the Pacific system moves further inland. Elsewhere in the West, the central and southern Rockies and Sierra will be dry for the next several days before some early week lighter snow moves in.
The cold air that will flow into the Northwest is an indication that the refrigerator in northwestern North America has been working. If we look at the expected standard deviations of temperatures over Canada for the next ten days, the positive values have dropped quite a bit recently and negative anomalies are building in the Yukon. Here is a look at that map:
Last week I talked about an expected change in the jet stream set up that could deliver some of that cold air, and it looks like it is going to happen. Here is a jet stream forecast for 2/8 that I agree with:
A ridge is forecast to extend northward to Alaska, where a trough sat a week ago. The trough spread mild Pacific air into the pattern but having a ridge in that spot will help deliver air from the newly-minted cold in NW Canada. The multitude of troughs over the lower 48 at this time suggests a snowy pattern for many areas, much of the West, the upper Midwest, and the length of the Appalachians. That might be asking a lot, but once that cold air gets tapped, the pattern is going to get busy, and I believe snowy. I am sticking with my analog years, and I remain bullish on the second half of this season, even in areas where snow clouds have been rather stingy thus far.
Here Are The Regional Details.
Northwest U.S./Western Canada: Highest elevations, above 8,000 feet or so, get tagged every few days until further notice. Snow levels will jump up then crash this weekend in WA and OR Cascades, then stay rather low next week.
Sierra: Light snow far north. Tahoe gets light snow Sunday while southern Sierra watch storms go by to the north for a while as ridge offshore plays defense and deflects Alaskan storms.
Northern Rockies: Light to locally moderate snows Sunday as “leftovers” move inland from WA and OR. Arctic air leads to colder weather on the slopes next week. Another light to moderate snow later in the week.
Central and Southern Rockies: Light snow early next week as weakening Pacific storm limps into the region. Another round at the end of the week.
Midwest: Light snow Saturday northern Lakes. Clipper system produces light to moderate snow Thursday of next week. Arctic invasion on the horizon should produce good snowfall Week Two.
Northeast/QB: Weekend ocean storm misses but northern disturbance brings light snow to upstate NY and northern New England/southern QB. Milder early next week with fresh snow by midweek as cold returns. Pattern change bullish for February and beyond.
This Week In SeniorsSkiing.com (Jan. 24)
Talking To Yourself, Skis Delivered, Robert Frost, New Mystery And A Correction, Weather Coming Up, Windham Mt MidWeek Seniors.
Our day trip to Attitash included at this free view of the White Mountains. Credit: Attitash.
As reported in this space, the snow weather here in New England has been sketchy once a burst of fluff in early December disappeared or turned to ice. We had a miserable melt the second weekend of January with temps in the 70s, preceded by several weeks of mediocre snow making weather. That has all changed. Winter is in. Temps are the teens, and a Nor’easter has delivered the goods. The MLK weekend was a huge success around here stemming from that big snow fall and snow making for most resorts, setting attendance records across the region.
White Mts in background, we conquer Attitash.
So we set out for our very first day of Alpine skiing with one of our famous day trips to New Hampshire from the Boston area. The target was Attitash, a venerable, family-friendly, classic area with very decent snowmaking, beautiful, wide trails that we like, and magnificent views of the White Mountains on a blue-bird day. Taking advantage of those post-MLK conditions, we lucked out with a low, online ticket price, an empty lodge, no lift lines, and almost “private” trails.
With new boots and new gloves, we made our first run on the beginner’s slope. We immediately started talking to ourself. “Bend zee knees.” “Inside edge.” “Toe pressure.” “Forward, forward.” “Athletic stance.” After Run One, we made another adjustment, focusing on just one self-instruction: “Edge, edge, edge”. The psychologists call this self-instruction, providing ourselves cues that help us perform. For children who have learning difficulties, self-instruction or, more formally, cognitive mediation, provides a built in tutor who can add a helping reminder. Anyone learning a new skill can benefit from this technique.
Some models of learning call this phase “conscious competence”. We are aware we are doing something new and processing our self-instructions and actively watch the result, aka feedback.
Eventually, after many repetitions of successful performance, the need for self-instructions fades away, and we have “unconscious competence”.
We are curious if other senior skiers use this kind of self-instruction, especially when starting out the season or approaching new situations. Do you talk to yourself? What do you say? How did you learn to do that? Does it work for you? What works? What doesn’t? Have you ever had an instructor tell you to talk to yourself? Share your insights with other senior skiers. Note Comments Below.
This Week
Snowmaking is robust and widespread at Windham.
A day trip area near NYC? Correspondent Joan Wallen describes her experience at Windham Mt, in the heart of the Catskills and just two and a half hours from the Big Apple. The resort has a special 50+ Midweek program that offers lessons, lunches, presentations, and yoga. Sounds like a nice package.
Correspondent John Nelson reports on his experience with Ski Butler, the ski delivery service that brings rental equipment to you. For those traveling to far-away resorts, the savings in airline baggage fees alone makes Ski Butler worthy of a look.
We have a nostalgic look at Moriarty hats, 60s and 70s icons of the “skier-look”. Yes, we still have two left over from college days, and, yes, they are both over 50 years old. And we still wear them, tiny moth holes and all. The cognoscenti at ski places nod knowingly at us, sometimes commenting. Imagine a hat as a conversation starter. This article is a reprise from the earliest days of SeniorsSkiing.com.
We bring you another in our Snow In Literature series, again a poem by Robert Frost: “The Wood-pile”. Speaking of wood piles, how much of yours is left? Better be a little more than half this time of the year, say the old farmers.
Not Barb Ferries.
We add a correction to last week’s Mystery Glimpse. The two racers were not Beth Ferries and Buddy Werner. Thanks Chuck Ferries and others for the tip. See the correction in this week’s article and our new mystery.
As predicted, winter time weather is finally settling in. The Skiing Weatherman Herb Stevens give us the Big Picture for the next two weeks, as well as regional forecasts.
Thanks for reading SeniorsSkiing.com. Tell your friends, and remember there are more of us every day and we aren’t going away.
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