All Hail The Ski Diva: 10th Year Anniversary
Online Community For Women Skiers Reaches A Rare Milestone.
It’s not often you see a website/blog/forum on the internet last for 10 years. Truth be told, internet presence can be pretty ephemeral. Websites often rocket into cyber space, do an orbit or two and then fade into the ozone. Think AOL.com, AltaVista or MySpace. A notable exception is The Ski Diva, a meeting place for women skiers that is celebrating its 10th anniversary this month.
Our friend and colleague, Wendy Clinch, The Ski Diva herself, created an online community that focuses on the interests and needs of women who enjoy snow sports. And it’s women-only. We love the idea of excluding men from the site and allowing women to focus on and discuss issues without feeling restricted or constrained.
Both men and women can join the birthday celebration, though. Just click here.
Every year, The Ski Diva leads a couple of ski trips that attract members of the community. It’s a lesson for us at SeniorsSkiing.com: There is vitality in pursuing a niche demographic, allowing it to find its own voice and providing a place for expression.
Thanks for being an inspiration, Ski Diva. Happy Birthday and keep on keeping on.
This Week In SeniorsSkiing.com (Sept. 2)
Snow In The Air, Crazy Alaskan Run, French Alps Resort Review, Our First Reader Ski Report.
Snow dusting at A-Basin, CO, August 30, 2016.
Snow came to high places in Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado in late August. Pike’s Peak and A-Basin had a dusting. Colorado Springs had to bring out the plows to handle a hail storm. Looks as if a heck of a winter is brewing up out west. While we have been cautioned not to put too much stock in weather predictions, it looks like our La Nina July forecast might be holding up.
Here is the latest from NOAA Climate Prediction Center. The map on the left shows temperature, the one on the right precipitation. These are for Feb-Mar-Apr 2017. A means Above Normal, B is Below Normal, and EC is Equal Chance for Above and Below, meaning take your pick. Ideally, we want B temps and A precipitation, like we see in the Mid-West and Northwest.
Speaking of snow, we also have a spine-tingling video of pro-skier, extreme athlete Richard Permin skiing along a mountain ridge in Alaska. One wonders, and perhaps admires…
For those seeking a European ski vacation, contributor Val E. nominates Les 2 Alpes, a resort in the French Alps that offers free skiing for 72-plus skiers. Two interesting features of L2A: You can ski on a glacier at almost 10,000 feet; there is also a summer season!
Finally, Tom Levak, a very enthusiastic Seniorsskiing.com reader, offers his views on ON3P skis, a handmade product from Portlandia. Tom skis into the late spring on Mt. Hood; we know because he has frequently let us know well into June how much snow was left on the hill.
We hope to encourage more contributions from our readers like Val and Tom over the season. We depend on our readers to tell us what’s happening out there that other senior snow sport enthusiasts should know about. More about that as the season takes shape.
Meanwhile, more surprises and interesting features are coming up next week. Happy Labor Day! More snow on the way.
And remember, there are more of us every day and we aren’t going away.
Credit: L2A Promotion
Alaska Spine Skiing: A Virtual, Visceral, Vicarious Experience
While We All Await The Snow To Fly, This Might Give You A Rush.
Now this is hard skiing. Alaska spine with jumps.
Credit: Richard Permin
Pro skier and extreme athlete Richard Permin rips down a spine ridge in Alaska somewhere. While we aren’t advocating this kind of skiing, we do appreciate the skill and courage it takes to even try it. Note Richard’s heavy breathing as he negotiates some knarly steepness and major, major jumps.
A special thanks to Snowbrains for originally posting this. Here’s a link to the original, complete with narrative about Richard. It appears he did this…stunt…only months after recovering from a really bad broken ankle. Richard, you da man. Almost as gutsy as the great classic daredevil Dick Buek or Toni “Straight Down” Matt. Click here for another story of gutsy skiing from SeniorsSkiing.com.
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