New Lift Opening On Dec 16 Makes Mt. Bachelor Sixth Largest In US. The season seems to go on forever at Central Oregon’s Mt. Bachelor, where Pacific storms dump huge annual totals, and the upper-elevation slopes hold onto the snow. From November to late May, Mt. Bachelor keeps the lifts spinning for an ardent group of skiing faithful. Among them[Read More…]
It’s New This Year And Something To Shout About. It’s the largest backcountry resort in the country: 3,300 feet vertical, 300+ average inches of snow, and luxury yurt “glamping.” Check your bucket list. Better add Whisper Ridge. Peace, quiet, the hush of snow, make your own tracks, and the vastness of mountain ranges virtually to yourself. Are you drooling? Whisper[Read More…]
Now Our Readers Can Pinpoint Local Ski Clubs. Check Out Their Events And Activities. In Flying Solo, a recent article by XCSkiResorts.com publisher Roger Lohr, the joys of solitary skiing, nordic or alpine, are highlighted. From the comments, many readers agree. There are definitely benefits to going at your own speed, especially when you ski with people whose skills are at[Read More…]
From The Stone Age To Today. The tiny museum in Franconia, New Hampshire is located next to Cannon Mountain’s gondola base, and it’s a wonderland. Even before you enter, you’re intrigued by what you see just outside the door and you ask yourself: “What’s that thing?” The big red boxy thing is one of Cannon’s original tram cars from 1938.[Read More…]
How To Find Out Where The Snow Is Without A Lot Of Clicking. A reader’s question came in yesterday. He said: “You would do us seniors a service if you listed what ski areas in New England were opening early now that we are getting snow.” Great question, and here’s the answer. And let’s go beyond New England. States where skiing is[Read More…]
Home Of Big Time Extreme Weather Looks Over Dramatic Moving Clouds. Mt. Washington is the Northeast’s highest summit. At 6,288 feet above sea level, the mountain is a mecca for campers, hikers, and fast-changing weather conditions. This video was taken from the Observatory on the summit in late October this year. It reveals an “undercast”—opposite to overcast—as the dawn sun warms[Read More…]
Synchronized Cruising In The French Alps Captured By Drone. This reminds us of the coordinated swimming events we see in the Olympic Games, minus the gel in the hair. Well, kind of. A group of skiers cruises down and around the slopes at Les 2 Alpes (aka L2A), an amazing resort which actually has a short summer season we reported on this[Read More…]
Arc’teryx And The North Face on YouTube With Top Cinematography And Music That Doesn’t Blow Your Eardrums. In 1990 China had zero ski resorts. Today there are 568, including Jackson Hole, a residential and ski community a few hours north of Beijing. Iran is a land where, for many, skiing offers escape from state control. Skiing in China, Iran, Japan[Read More…]
Seniors Can Find Big Bargains At This Big Boy Resort. It’s hard to realize that today’s Revelstoke Mountain Resort only dates back to late 2007 and now has the greatest vertical drop in North America (at 5,620 feet, 400 feet more than Whistler, locals like to point out). And while it has only a third the skiable acres of Whistler,[Read More…]
Les Deux Alpes, France: Seniors 72+ Ski Free. Editor’s Note: This Resort Review was written by Val E., a reader who has an interesting background in the ski industry. Val used to work as a ski slalom course supervisor, snowboard technician, ski/snowboard clothing consultant, ski engineer, ski/snowboard writer and photographer in the U.S. and in Europe. He traveled to 25 countries,[Read More…]
Grandkids Would Love A Summer Day At Smugglers. [Ski resorts are being creative about developing off-snow season attractions. Smugglers Notch in Northern Vermont has gone the extra mile in creating three separate water parks. There’s still time to get up there if you’re looking for a getaway for Labor Day. Special thanks to Janet Franz, a feature story writer covering[Read More…]
North America Swelters, NZ Freezes. In case you missed it during this hottest summer of all time, the ski season is in full swing down under. Here’s a clip from Whakapapa Ski Field, New Zealand’s largest winter resort. Located on the North Island, Whakapapa is on the north side of Mount Ruapehu. You really have to give the crew credit for[Read More…]
Picture Used as Lillehammer Games Logo. The world’s oldest known image of a person on skis — a 5,000 year old petroglyph on the Norwegian island of Tro — has been destroyed by vandals. The image was used as the logo for the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics. This is a tragedy for those interested in skiing history. It also[Read More…]
Chinese Skiers Expected to Fuel Growth. Vail Resorts Inc. has reached an agreement to buy Whistler Blackcomb Holdings, owner of Whistler Blackcomb ski resort. The C$1.4 billion deal is expected to result in Vail’s marketing machine to attract greater numbers of international visitors to Whistler Blackcomb. “We have felt for a long time that Whistler (Blackcomb) is really the best[Read More…]
A Small Area Enchants Seniors, Offering Bargain Skiing In Big Powder. Editor Note: This review was written by Jim Barber, a long time skier and ski business veteran. He lives near Mt. Baldy and loves his retirement home in BC. Here’s his story: “My wife and I started our life together in the ski shop business at Hunter Mountain N.Y. in the[Read More…]
House Rebels Against Bill That Would Have Ended Free Senior Skiing. Senior resident skiers can breath a sigh of relief after NH legislators agreed to drop a plan that would have ended free skiing for seniors. House and Senate representatives had agreed to a plan where resident NH seniors would begin to pay $5 a day for lift tickets, increasing[Read More…]
Perfect Day’s Outing For Fit Seniors. [Editor Note: This article was contributed to SeniorsSkiing.com by Sue Z. Sue Z., born in Brooklyn, is now a senior skier who likes to spend her time at Alta. When she is not skiing or hiking with her husband, David, she paints in acrylics, plays the piano, and plays the drums. She and David have[Read More…]
Summer Skiing At Buckhill, MN, Is About To Happen. We’ve seen how ventures into summer and indoor skiing have become a growing trend in the ski industry. From a business angle, it makes sense: extend the season, create activity at the ski facility, keep lessons going and get people involved. It may also make sense from a climate change angle. If[Read More…]
Miles Of Mountain Trails On The OC Coast. My wife Janet was a flight attendant for US Air for many years, and she always referred to some crew members as “slam clickers.” They go to their hotel, slam the door and click the lock and don’t go out to visit any of the local sights. Too bad, especially since there is[Read More…]
Mysterious Accident Luckily Happened In Mid-Summer. The top terminal of a triple-chair lift at Sunday River, ME, has pulled out of the ground, collapsing the lift. The foundation failure was discovered by a maintenance worker during a routine evening inspection on July 10. The detachment caused the top terminal to be pulled downhill which released tension on the cable, causing[Read More…]
Yes, It’s An Ad, But—Wow—Some Awesome Videography. Okay, okay, this is a video ad for CMH Heli Skiing, but it’ll do for a bit of a visual fix for these mid summer days. (BTW, we weren’t paid to show you this.) Back in the early 70s, we wrote some captions for high-quality pictures sent into SKIING magazine by Hans Gmoser,[Read More…]
Ten Days of Ancient Cliff Dwellings and Thousand Year Rock Art. It’s the 100th Anniversary of the National Parks Service, so my wife and I invited a friend to join us on a ten-day road trip to the Four Corners where Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico meet. We spent two nights each in Mesa Verde National Park, Canyon de[Read More…]
Heli-Skiing In Chilean Andes With Breathtaking Lines. Yes, it’s summer and the snow is gone. Not in Chile. As you may be aware, the resort at Portillo received nine feet of snow earlier in June. Nine feet! So, we decided to follow up with an awesome video from GoPro, the versatile mini video camera company that shot this production at[Read More…]
How To Learn Cliff Jumping At Snowbird In The Pow. On the first day of summer, we celebrate winter with a very cool video from pro skier Giray Dadali who is showing us how to jump the cliffs at Snowbird. So, if you are thinking that summer is too long, here’s a way to get back to those cool days[Read More…]
Road to Resort Blocked. Winter shifted hemispheres quickly this week and delivered a 9-foot monster dump of snow on Ski Portillio. Resort operators there are ecstatic with the early season delivery. Dramatic satellite images show the day-before/day-after difference in coverage. If any readers are on their way or have plans to go this season, take some pictures and send a[Read More…]
