The Ski Trains Return!
Car Free Means Care Free for Seniors.
The newly revived Winter Park Express. All Aboard!
Credit: Amtrak
Remember ski trains? Back in the day, trains were the way to get away from the city and into the mountains.
Skiers unloading in Grandview, circa 1946.
Denver skiers were thrilled last March when the ski train resumed service from Denver to Winter Park, CO, to help celebrate the ski area’s 75th birthday. Officials had ended the service in 2009 due to expense and liability. But regular weekend service resumes for the 2016-17 season Jan. 7. www.amtrak.com/winterparkexpress.
Adios to I-70 and the dreaded “red snake” down from the mountains, slick roads, zero visibility, death grip on the steering wheel, leaving you wondering whether it’s OK to use the runaway truck lane yourself.
Ski trains make a lot of sense for us seniors. Go ahead relax, get up and walk around, visit the dining car, arrive rested not rattled, and perhaps meet some fellow comrades to ski with. Then, on the way home, knock down a Mountain Stream Ale, no need to keep your wits about you. Plus, Amtrak offers seniors 62 years of age and older a 15 percent discount.
Here are some other “ski trains” to help you get right to the lifts car-free:
* Salt Lake City skiers have to be the most spoiled skiers in skidom with major resorts like Alta, Snowbird, and Park City a 45-minute drive from downtown via car or bus. But why not take the train? The UTA Front Runner rail service takes skiers from downtown Salt Lake’s North Temple Station to Ogden in less than an hour for skiing at Snowbasin or Powder Mountain. www.rideuta.com
* Lake Tahoe skiers and riders in California can ride the Polar Express that goes from Emeryville/San Francisco Amtrak station to Truckee in about five hours later to nearby Northstar. The scenic ride through the snow-swept Sierra Nevadas sure beats I-80 closures due to snow. No need to “seek an alternate route.” www.amtrak.com
* Leave your car at home and take the Downeaster to Portland, ME from Boston. From there a shuttle from the Bethel Inn Resort will meet you at the train station and whisk you off to Bethel and skiing at Sunday River.
* Wachusett Mountain in Princeton, Mass., encourages you to “Ski the T.” New this year Boston skiers and snowboarders can take the commuter rail (ski racks included) from Boston’s North Station to the new “Wachusett Station” only ten minutes from the mountain. On weekends, a ski shuttle will meet you there. www.wachusett.com.
* In the Adirondacks in upstate New York, the Gore Mountain Ski Train connects Saratoga Springs to North Creek and a free shuttle bus takes skiers from the North Creek Station to Gore Mountain’s Base Lodge Friday-Sunday. That service started a few years ago after a 50-year hiatus. Does anyone remember riding this train back then?
* Amtrak’s Vermonter hauls skiers and riders to Brattleboro where they can hop on the free local MOOver shuttles to the Mt. Snow base lodge or various local inns. It’s easy – just tell the driver where you need to go and the driver will be sure you connect with the right bus.
* Amtrak’s Ethan Allen Express takes car-free seniors from Penn Station to Rutland, VT. The Killington Express Shuttle will pick you up at the depot and take you your final half hour to Killington.
Riding the rails has a long tradition in skidom, and the appeal is still strong.
Thanks to www.liftopia.com for some of these route suggestions.
[Editor note: Thanks to the Canadian Ski Instructor Alumni Association for passing long this “lost footage” of real ski trains from 1939. From the Governor Francis P. Murphy Estate.]
Ski train unloads in North Conway, NH, circa 1946.
Credit: Dick Smith
The Value of Guided Skiing
Try It, You’ll Like It OR Let Me Toot My Horn.
Ski Guide Peter McCarville, who lives in western Colorado, assumes a pose at Snowmass.
Credit: Peter McCarville
When I tell people that I am a guide for skiing and hiking I, basically, receive two different responses. The first response goes something like “cool, I want your job, ….”. The second response goes something like “why does someone need a guide for skiing, that sounds silly….?”. I definitely like the second question because it is an opportunity to make my case for hiring a guide when skiing anywhere in the world. I know it is popular and common to hire a guide for heli-skiing or for skiing off-piste in Europe, but I want to make the case for hiring a guide or going with a guided group when on a domestic (US) ski trip.
In March 2016, I met some friends in Summit County, Colorado, to ski at Copper and Breckenridge. I have not skied at these places in years but considered them my home mountains when in my 20s. I generally am a very good route finder and have good orientation skills. Hell, I am a geologist by profession and a guide in these kinds of terrains with guests! On this trip, however, I found that I was having lots of trouble finding the best terrain and snow for my interests. I just could not remember the mountains well enough to maximize my fun. In addition to the snowstorm we were skiing in, there were some new high peaks at Breckenridge that I had never skied. Combine that with thin cover (although we just had 36” of snow in three days) and flat light, and I found myself tentative on some of the slopes. My buddy, with whom I was skiing, considered Breck his home mountain. However, he is my stockbroker, not a guide. At numerous times, we were lost and not in the bowl he thought we were in. Once he lacked the information to tell me about the thin cover on a line I was skiing, and I had a nice chat with some shallowly buried rocks at about 30 mph. Also, the lines at the lifts! Why are we at this lift, I said to myself. OK, I should have known; weekend in March, Breck, Spring break, and he is a broker, not a guide.
As a guide, I show my guests the best line to ski on a hill. I describe the fall line, the band of rocks to avoid, and where the lift lines aren’t. I also look out for their safety as well as many other small helps.
Although ski guiding in Europe is quite common, in the US we have very few listings of guides for skiing. Backcountry guides are available via companies that provide Mountain Guiding Services. The best ways to engage a ski guide at a ski area for the day or longer are: 1) word of mouth, 2) a search service like toursbylocals.com, or 3) a mountains’ concierge service. The free on-mountain guiding services, offered by larger ski mountains, may be short in duration, but just may suit your needs. On the other hand, a personal, paid, guiding service is a completely different experience. Remember, a guide is worth his or her weight if they place YOU on the right terrain and snow conditions, in an unfamiliar area, to meet your skiing ability. And, keep you safe doing it.
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