Short Swings for February 2025
As always, there’s lots happening at our favorite ski/snowboard resorts in February, especially outdoor events now that the days are getting longer. This month’s Short Swings features two areas hosting important major competitions, new snowcat skiing and an uphilling program.
Tenny Mt World Pro Tour
Women’s Ski Jumping at Lake Placid
Last year, the Olympic Regional Development Authority committed to including women in this year’s Ski Jumping World Cup. It’s happening February 6-9, 2025. It is the first time ever that women will compete in a World Cup in the United States.
Beyond that effort, the Olympic Authority is addressing the imbalance of prize pay-out between women and men with a new campaign, “Flight for Fairness”. It is intended to deliver equal prize money to women for this event, via funding support from the Olympic Authority, partners, sponsors, and spectators.
Athlete prize money is integral to athlete development, fueling their ability to continue to train and prepare for success. Currently, the women’s purse is more than $120,000 less than what the men get. That’s not fair, but it’s the same in other sports, too, including women’s soccer and women’s basketball.
To help close the gap and support equity in sport, the proceeds of tickets sold will be allocated to the prize money given to the women. So attend the event and support and encourage women ski jumpers.
Tickets and more information: Olympic Jumping Complex: 2025 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup
The World Pro Ski Tour at Tenney Mountain
The WPST is making its only stop on the East Coast at Tenney Mountain on March 14-16. It’s a fantastic lineup of elite athletes from around the world, showcasing the remarkable talent and competition that make professional ski racing so exhilarating to watch.
The races will consist of qualifiers and four separate pro races – two men’s and two women’s – where athletes meet on the hill for a dual super slalom, single-elimination, bracket-style competition.
In addition to the races, there are vendors offering products and giveaways and entertainment.
More information here – https://skitenney.com/world-pro-ski-tour/
Uphill Breakfast Club at Buttermilk
Grab your skins and head up to Buttermilk for the weekly Friday Morning Uphill Breakfast Club. From 8:45 to 10am, the Cliffhouse Restaurant awards early-morning climbers with a full breakfast buffet for just $8, a bargain in pricey Aspen-Snowmass. Then head uphill for breathtaking panoramic views of Pyramid Peak and the Marroon Creek, and either ski down or reward yourself with a chairlift ride down.
More information here – https://www.aspensnowmass.com/visit/events/friday-morning-uphill-breakfast-club
New Snowcat Skiing at Deer Valley
The resort’s major expansion this season is bringing many changes, including the opportunity to explore its untouched deep powder terrain. The snowcat can take 12 passengers, for $2,000 per person, or $20,000 for a private group of up to 12. Each group has dedicated Ski Patrollers and guides, and each participant is issued avalanche gear and a lift ticket to use after the snowcat day is over, if you have any legs or lungs left.
The price includes breakfast in the 2002 Room at Deer Valley’s Snow Park Lodge, followed by a warm-up run on Bald Mountain to the backside into Park Peak Meadow, where the snowcat is waiting to whisk you to an untouched playground of exclusive skiing. With a second snowcat stationed at the bottom of each run, skiers can get speedy access back uphill for multiple repeated descents. The snowcats are equipped with coolers for snacks and refreshments, hopefully including something bubbly to toast the day after the last run.
Yes, of course, $2,000 is pricey, but still far less expensive than heli-skiing.
More information here – https://www.deervalley.com/things-to-do/activities/deer-valley-cat-skiing
See you on the slopes!
Getting a Grip on Being a Senior Skier
A Sunny Day!
Age is an insidious thing. No matter how hard we try, once we pass 50 or so, with each passing year, we are physically weaker, our bodies more fragile, and it takes longer to recover from illness and injury. Those are simple facts of life.
This degradation takes time and creeps up on us and would give anything to have the strength and stamina on the slopes from my 50s.
Aging has also dictated changes in where I ski, when I ski, in what conditions I ski, and how I ski. Unlike others, I can fall back on my experience as a ski instructor. At 60, the certified instructor in me started assessing my skiing technique, i.e., how I turned a pair of skis.
Transitioning from 203cm skis to the new shaped skis only 180cm long required an adjustment on how one makes turns. For almost seven decades, I skied (except on a racecourse) with my boots almost touching each other. Certification back in the 60s required one to emulate what the oldest readers of this publication will remember as PSIA’s “Final Forms.”
When I noticed my balance wasn’t as good as it was in my 50s, so my feet started moving farther apart. Now, almost 80, my feet are 6- 10 inches apart on steep runs or when the snow is clumpy or uneven.
Under the age of 50, short radius turns the Austrians called wedeln, and the Americans called short swing down the fall line were a matter of pride. I can still do them, but an almost 80-year-old brain says wait a minute, each turn takes energy! So, why not make carved turns with a greater radius and save energy.
Those who carve their turns know they take less energy than skidding. A skidded ski is more difficult to control than one on its edge and knifing through the snow. Carved turns make skiing on hardpack, frozen granular, and even ice easier!!!
The other major change was slowing way down. speed. Now, my grandkids tell me I am skiing way too slow! Then I cut loose for a run to put the young whippersnappers in their place!
I am also much more careful of the conditions. I love deep powder, but two or three runs of a thousand or more feet of vertical in thigh or waist-deep snow is exhausting. The cut-up, clumpy stuff that’s left over requires energy sapping strength to plow through. Groomed runs are preferable, the steeper the better.
Ice, i.e., the stuff that looks like a hockey rink, forget it. It’s time for a beer! Can I ski ice? Yes. The risk of getting hurt in a fall on a surface as hard as concrete isn’t worth it. As retiree, I can always find another off-peak, weekday to ski or pick a mountain that doesn’t have ice!
My Second Career as a Ski Patroller at Age 72
By Alan Slobodnik
When I retired from full-time work at the end of 2017 after a rewarding 50-year career as a family therapist, I was looking for a new passion and challenge in which to invest my energy and continue helping people live to their full potential. I had always been adventurous and active, including skiing, golf, pickleball, weight lifting, long-distance cycling, hiking, kayaking, T’ai Chi,so something physical appealed to me.
As luck would have it, my wife and I met the Assistant Ski Patrol Director and his girlfriend at our local bar, near where we lived in Waterville Valley. As I expressed my interest, he said enthusiastically, “You should come out for the Patrol and meet our Director,” never once mentioning my age (72 at the time).
Photo by Harriet Wallis
I’m now entering my sixth season, and it has become the adventure of a lifetime and pushed me beyond what I thought was possible.
It is hard not to fall prey to the ageism in our society and even in ourselves. One of my good friends and skiing buddies, an age-group national gold medalist in GS, told me that things in the body really start falling apart at age 75. I started to think that my seventies was not going to be my best decade, that my best skiing was behind me and the rest of my life was about loss and preparing for death. Boy, was I wrong!
Research shows that people do best when they push their comfort zone by 4%. Living with a positive and growth oriented attitude makes every decade feel better than the last.
Receiving instruction to improve my skiing (and developing toboggan handling skills) from the training directors, and hanging out with Patrollers of all ages who believed in me has been exhilarating and also keeps me feeling young, because I have a new peer group to keep up with. Passing my medical training (a completely new skill for me) and receiving my white cross on my Patrol jacket was one of the proudest days of my life, partly because conventional wisdom said there was no way I should be doing this. The other part was because I truly love every part of being a Patroller, and no intention of quitting any time soon.
Have there been physical and mental challenges? Of course, but true to my philosophy, I met them eagerly because I wasn’t ready to give up my adventures and joy. I had to work hard at my skiing, even though I thought I was already pretty good.
I had my fourth joint replacement in July and crushed my rehab so I could be skiing by mid-November. When I felt my balance and agility slipping, I doubled down on T’ai Chi and started seeing a personal trainer.
Stick to blue groomers in perfect conditions? That may happen in the future, but for now it’s “Hell No!” I’m having too much fun being the first one ripping down an ungroomed double black to see if it is safe to open to the public! And I want to be the first one to respond to someone who has suffered trauma in a fall, because I have worked hard to learn the skills to help them.
I’m not an exceptional athlete, but I believe that 50 years of honing a positive mental attitude has prepared me well to find this phase of life so exciting and rewarding. And it’s something we all can do.
My advice to everyone is to follow your joy and believe you can achieve your dreams and goals, whatever they may be. Don’t give in to the myths of ageism! Focus on what you (and your body) can do and not what you can’t! I guarantee you will surprise yourself!
If your joy is skiing, keep at it however you can and look me up on the slopes of Waterville Valley. I will be the guy with a huge smile on his face wearing a red jacket with a white cross.
-0-
[authors_page role=contributor]