Ski At Home: Faux Mountain Condos In The City
Vail, Are You Paying Attention?
Design by Shokhan Mataibekov Architects is a finalist in World Architect Festival Awards.
That’s what Borat says.
Remember Borat, the hilarious Kazakhstanian character created by British comic, Sasha Baron Cohen? His spoof helped define Kazakhstan in a way that has it trying to get respect ever since.
The country has five ski resorts, at least one reaching higher than 10,000-feet. Now a proposed apartment building for Astana, the nation’s capital, would add another skiing option. Slalom House is designed as a 21 story building with a 1000-foot slope wrapping the exterior. It would be the world’s first residential building with a built-in ski slope.
If built, it would not lack for decent snow-making conditions. Astana, the second coldest capital city in the world, has winter temperatures reaching as low as -31°F. Summer temps climb as high as 95°F.
Here’s a virtual video tour. We suggest turning off your sound to avoid Borat-like soundtrack.
Stretching vs Dynamic Warm-Ups
Are you tuning or terrifying your body?
Correspondent Harriet Wallis bribed son Craig, daughter Alison, and best ski buddy Laurie to demonstrate warm ups at the top of a Deer Valley lift.
Credit: Harriet Wallis
Some experts say stretching before exercise helps performance and lessens injuries. Others say stretching can cause damage.
So what should you do?
“Skiers who stretch at the top of a lift are crazy!” says Jo Garuccio, a PSIA Examiner, Snowbird ski instructor and Triathlon World Champion. “They’ve been on a cold lift and then they’re going to stretch? That’s absolutely nuts!” she exclaims.
Really good warm ups in ski boots include swinging arms, swinging legs and marching in place, Garuccio says. Get the blood flowing.
Recent studies concur. Static stretching done cold without a warm up hurts the performance of weight lifters and competitive athletes.
Okay. Case closed. Warm up at the top of the lift before you even think about doing something else.
But when I Googled “dynamic stretching” and also “dynamic warm ups” I found – ironically – that the images were virtually the same for both. So it seems it’s your responsibility to ask your body: “Am I getting juices going, or am I straining cold muscles?”
On a humorous personal note, my best ski buddy would stand at the top of the lift and wiggle this way and that. I don’t know if she was warming up or stretching. Nevertheless, she was glued in place until she finished her routine. If it was a powder day I was frantic. “Hurry up. We’re wasting fresh snow,” I’d grumble. She finally learned that fresh powder trumps wiggles.
[Editor Note: Our recent poll revealed 60 percent of our respondents did some kind of stretching, 40 percent didn’t. Here is an LA Times article on stretching that amplifies Harriet’s point about getting the blood flowing through an “active warm-up”, i.e., moving around a lot. Short duration, static stretches are just an add on to the moving around part. But experts certainly haven’t reached consensus. For a collection of short, light stretches, look here.]
SeniorsSkiing Guide: Mt. Baker, Snow Catcher
Hey Seniors, Low Ticket Prices In The Northwest!
With Mount Shuksan looming behind, a snowboarder shreds soft snow at Mt. Baker Ski Area.
Mt. Baker is a storm factory.
This North Cascades ski area holds the world record for snowfall in a season—an incredible 95 feet dumped here in 1998-99!
I arrived in mid-January to a modest three inches new, but that was on top of a foot that had fallen the previous day. The snow was soft; the scenery stunning.
The Canyon, one of Mt. Baker’s signature runs, takes skiers and boarders into a narrow drop between mountain walls.
I immediately took a few runs down The Canyon, one of Baker’s signature drops. Skiing between these towering mountain walls is a rush.
But best of all was Pan Face, a wide-open powder shot into a lovely mountain basin. Empty slopes meant fresh lines all day.
To top it all off, Mt. Baker is an incredible bargain for senior skiers, with some of the lowest ticket prices in the Northwest.
Snow, terrain, and more
- Location: Baker is 52 miles from Bellingham, Wash., on State Route 542. It is the northernmost ski area in Washington and is closer to the Vancouver, British Columbia, metropolitan area (about a two-hour drive) than it is to Seattle (two and a half hours).
- Snowfall: Pacific winter storms seem converge on Mt. Baker; it averages 640 inches annually, far more than any ski area in the state.
- Terrain: About 1,000 acres are lift-served with 31 percent rated as advanced and 69 percent rated as beginner and intermediate. The Mt. Baker backcountry is enormous with huge, avalanche-prone big-mountain drops. You’ll need a partner, transceiver, shovel and probe to go out of bounds.
- Vertical: 1,589 feet (the base is 3,500 feet; chairlift access to 5,089 feet).
- Lifts: Eight chairlifts (none high-speed) operate out of two base areas: White Salmon (open every day) and Heather Meadows (open weekends and holidays only).
- Views: If you’re lucky enough to visit between storms, you’ll have a commanding view of 9,131-foot Mount Shuksan to the north, a stunning, glaciated wall of rock and ice. Mount Baker (the volcano) stands at 10,781 feet to the south and is visible from certain locations of the ski area.
Lot to lift access
- Parking on a weekday at Mt. Baker is a breeze; I arrived 10 minutes before opening and parked in the front row next to the ticket window at White Salmon Lodge. Weekend parking is busier and skiers might find closer lift access at the Heather Meadows base.
- Bus service operates daily out of Bellingham.
- Closest lodging options (motels and condominiums) are in Glacier, Wash., a foothills town about a half-hour from Mt. Baker. Bellingham (population 82,000 and counting) is a lovely port city about 75 minutes away with top-notch dining and accommodation options.
Culture
- The Vibe: Old-school friendly. Everywhere I went, I was talked up by locals who were happy to share their knowledge and pride in Mt. Baker.
- Dining: Lodges operate out of the two base areas, but the best option is the cozy Raven Hut, a mid-mountain lodge at the base of Chairs 4, 5 and 6.
Bottom line
- Baker is a true bargain. Weekend and holiday tickets are $58 for adults; seniors 60-69 pay $50, and those 70 and older pay $39. Weekdays are even cheaper: $53 for adults; seniors 60-69 pay $41.
- Big powder dumps are common, and locals are happy to share their advice.
- Snowboarders love Mt. Baker for its rough features and natural half-pipe; out-of-bounds, big-mountain terrain attracts hard-cores.
The open, powdery slopes of Pan Face drop into the Heather Meadows side of Mt. Baker Ski Area.
Credit: John Nelson
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