mikemaginn

The Late, Late Show: Killington Still Killin’ It

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Skiing In New England In May?

Yes, it has been a curious winter and curiouser spring.  We had a snow drought in the West, a middling winter in the Rockies, and bitter cold in the East.  Now, it’s mid-spring, and we’ve heard of quite unexpected, new powder skiing in the Rockies and the Dakotas.  Did people actually go skiing out there after the lifts closed down?  Someone please tell us; we thought most areas in the region closed early to less-than-ideal snow conditions this spring.

Superstar Trail is open for business at Killington on May 22. Credit: Paul Remillard

Superstar Trail is open for business at Killington on May 22.
Credit: Paul Remillard

Now we hear from SeniorsSkiing.com Subscriber Paul Remillard who reports he and his pal Joe spent May 22 at Killington, VT., on the bumps and has pictures to prove it.  He reports conditions were still top to bottom on Superstar with corn snow and a hard base between moguls.  “Sweet,” says Paul.

This unusual ski season refuses to end.

Pal Joe dismounts the lift at the top of Superstar. Note trees. Credit: Paul Remillard

Pal Joe dismounts the lift at the top of Superstar. Note trees.
Credit: Paul Remillard

Tamsin Venn

Ski Lessons Improve Senior Skiers’ Technique

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It’s Never Too Late to Take A Lesson.

William Smith, age 91, started skiing at Mt. Cranmore, N.H., after WW II. His wife even took lessons from ski legend Hannes Schneider. She quit skiing when she was 73, but Smith continued. He was skiing with his son that morning when I rode the lift with them at Waterville Valley Resort, N.H. Father Smith taught his kids and grandkids to ski, but he doesn’t want to take lessons himself.

Senior Skiers take lessons at Waterville Valley Resort. Good technique means more enjoyable skiing. Credit: Steve Bryan

Senior Skiers take lessons at Waterville Valley Resort. Good technique means more enjoyable skiing.
Credit: Steve Bryan

“I’m skiing as well as I’m going to. My legs aren’t holding up as well.” I then watched him push off down the slope swiftly in well balanced short parallel turns. So much for weak knees.

Like Smith, many seniors are skeptical of what they call teaching old dogs new tricks, unless they plan to do something very different, like ski powder in Utah for the first time.  However, a senior ski lesson can actually lead to more enjoyment.

“Most senior skiers like the medium to long radius turns and cruising the mountain and enjoying it,” says Peter Weber, Snowsports Director at Waterville Valley Resort for 15 years. But that is no reason not to ramp up your technique.

“Whether you’re 7 or 77, technique trumps all. The better you are technically, the easier everything gets,” Weber says.

In teaching seniors, an instructor would most focus on pacing—how fast you ski, how many time outs for trailside chats vs. pushing top to bottom runs, and the need for biobreaks.

Fitness level in general is key, adds Weber. “Skiing anything above a moderate level is an athletic endeavor,” he says.

Like other resorts with comprehensive snow sports schools, Waterville Valley Resort matches you to the right instructor, so you don’t end up in a class with a bunch of young hot shots. Weber also recommends a private lesson as well as taking several group lessons.

Mark Hanabury, an instructor at Waterville Valley, says, “I think it’s more important for seniors than anyone else to take lessons.” He feels seniors will be safer and will enjoy skiing more if they embrace the new techniques including a wider stance and shorter, wider shaped skis.

“Skiing has evolved so much,” he says.

He knows first hand. Last year,  he took his dad Dick Hanabury, age 83, to ski Snowbasin, Utah, after convention in Las Vegas.

“He’s been an avid skier all his life and skied on long Head Standard skis when he was younger. I told him he had to retool his techniques to ski safely at his age. I drilled it into his head,” says Hanabury.

“My dad’s outside ski was getting hung up. He was used to stepping onto the outside ski, but his balance wouldn’t allow that. So, a fellow instructor told him to slide the ski forward and free it up. That allowed him to keep both skis on the snow so it was no longer a balance issue,” says Hanabury.

“My son Mark is keen on knowing the latest technique, so he’s done a good job for helping me to keep up as far as turning techniques,” says Dick Hanabury.

“I used that technique, letting the skis do the work, not throwing your body into the turn but just weighting the skis properly and making sure the outside ski in the turn is well weighted, that’s about the best way I can explain it,” he adds.

“If you’re in good condition, I would recommend skiing at any age. I play tennis a couple of times a week, exercise daily, so I’m ready when the time comes,” says Dick Hanabury.

No matter if seniors are updating old technique or learning for the first time, “I feel it is never too late to learn. Skiing is a dynamic sport and seniors enjoy learning just as much as younger folks. This enables them to ski longer and enjoy more terrain with family and friends,” says Mark Hanabury.

Many ski areas have created programs for those interested in new movement patterns associated with shaped skis or improving techniques. They list these programs on the resort website under the snowsports school tab.

mikemaginn

Force Majeure: Skiing Is Back In The Cinema

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SeniorsSkiing’s First Movie Review A “Runaway” Hit From The Alps

We remember the New Wave of French cinema in the late-50s to mid-70s when going to a “Foreign Film” was an intellectual exercise. That’s when you and your date went to those black and white, sub-titled classics, The Four Hundred Blows, Shoot the Piano Player, Breathless or Jules and Jim, and afterward settled into a discussion about what it all meant. To jog your memory, check out this scene from Annie Hall, where Woody Allen squelches an academic babbler by dragging none other than media theorist Marshall McCluhan into the scene to settle an argument. We were all into interpretation, the more philosophically zealous the better.

Which brings to mind the 2014 movie Force Majeure, from the Swedish director Ruben Ostland. We were attracted to it because it takes place in a French ski resort in the Alps. Since the last film we remember that had skiing as a central element of the plot was Downhill Racer (1969), we thought we’d take it in. It certainly brought back the old-days of trying to “figure out” the message.

A vacationing Swedish family of four enjoys lunch on the deck of a mid-mountain lodge when an avalanche envelops the scene. It’s actually an

An avalanche triggers a family crisis. Credit: Ruben Ostland

An avalanche triggers a family crisis.
Credit: Ruben Ostland

astonishing sight as the assembled lunch crowd first marvels, then gasps, and finally panics at the approaching cloud of snow. What happens then propels the plot: The father of the family runs away, leaving his wife and two children behind to fend for themselves. The avalanche evaporates into a mist, the father returns, but the wife and mother is left with doubt. That uncertainty grows in several uncomfortable scenes including long, slow takes without dialogue, semi-humorous encounters with other couples at the resort and a foggy ski run that ultimately leads to the climax of the movie and its equally foggy denouement.

While the plot may drive some reflective conversations with your date, we loved our new insights into European-style skiing, the silent actor that we feel stole the show. The movie was filmed at Les Arcs in Savoie, France, which is a cluster of different resorts near Mont Blanc.

Open-piste skiing is a featured character in Force Majeure Credit: LesArcsNet

Open-piste skiing is a featured character in Force Majeure
Credit: LesArcsNet/SMA

We got a sense of what it is like to spend a week in the alps, open-piste skiing between different resort areas, taking tele-cabine gondolas from place to place and living in a tres chic, modern hotel with luxury dining and service. Les Arcs has a series of large, apartment-block-like hotels located at different altitudes, all connected by a web of lifts. When two characters in the movie head off-piste for some adventure skiing, the solitude and the scenery are exquisite.

Aside from a few thrilling mountain chases in James Bond films, we’ve not noticed ski resorts, skiing or ski racing in any recent movies. So, thanks to Force Majeure and director/writer Ruben Ostland, perhaps another auteur de cinema can realize the dramatic opportunities in alpine vistas.  Force Majeure is currently available on Netflix.

https://youtu.be/3nTJIc_e6Ns

mikemaginn

It’s Official: Deer Valley Owns Solitude

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Changes In Uphill Capacity For 2015-16 Already Planned.

As we reported last October, the deal is now done.  Deer Valley has scooped up Solitude Resort, put a new general manager in place and is announcing lots of capital improvements for next season. Read all about it here. 

Will Deer Valley Change The Sign? Credit: CityWeekly.Net

Big Changes Coming From New Lifts To Restaurant Renovations.
Credit: CityWeekly.Net

mikemaginn

The Last Loop: Snow Leaves The Field, Enter Spring

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A final ski tour at Appleton Farms reveals winter letting go.

GWBSR

1970 Washington Birthday Race start. Everyone goes at once. Credit: Lewis R. Brown via CardCow.com

It is that special interim period here in New England between the end of winter and the start of spring.  Last week, we headed out across the corn snow at Appleton Farms in Ipswich, MA., in the bright, and, yes, warm sunlight.  We recalled the first time we skied around the edges of farm fields, way back in 1970 when we stayed at the Whetstone Inn in Marlboro, VT.  We were there for the Great Washington Birthday Race, an annual “people’s race” at the Putney School started and run by the legendary cross-country racer and coach John Caldwell.  In those days, hundreds of skiers came to Vermont for what must have been the defining event of Nordic skiing in the United States.  Modeled after the famous Vassaloppet race in Sweden, the massive starting line stretched across a hay field and, when the gun sounded, it was off you went.  We remember skiing along with the then-movie critic of the New York Post, an older chap who said he skied around the field behind his house in Westchester every morning before heading into work.  We also remember struggling in dead last in that race along with a couple of other members from the then-staff of SKIING magazine, our wax long worn off, but still laughing at our disastrous first-time-ever trying cross-country skis.

Snow is hanging on this year, melting slowly but inevitably, starting with the trees. Credit: Mike Maginn

Snow is hanging on this year, melting slowly but inevitably, starting with the trees.
Credit: Mike Maginn

These thoughts came back as we went around that big field at Appleton’s.  For a long time, we favored wooden skis, woolen sweaters and wax potions; these days, we go waxless and polypropylene.  But the pleasure of being in the sun, noticing the melt around the edges, and the rhythm of planting pole, gliding, planting was the same as ever. As the snow rolls back and the sun comes in and out, Robert Frost’s Two Tramps In Mud Time came to us. This verse hits home:

The sun was warm, but the wind was chill. You know how it is with an April day.
When the sun is out and the wind is still, you’re one month on in the middle of May.
But if you so much as dare to speak, a cloud comes over the sunlit arch,
A wind comes off a frozen peak, and you’re two months back in the middle of March.

Sunny day, springtime snow, skiing across the field at Appleton Farms, Ipswich. Credit: Mike Maginn

Sunny day, springtime snow, skiing across the field at Appleton Farms, Ipswich.
Credit: Mike Maginn

More Ice Canoe Racing On The St. Lawrence

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Looking Back At A Cool, Cold Sport In Quebec.

In February, we traveled to Quebec to visit the Winter Carnavale and the legendary ski resorts on the St. Lawrence, Mount Saint Anne and Le Massif de Charlevoix.  The city was alive with thousands of people celebrating the brilliant cold and the many events of the Carnavale.  One of these was the most extraordinary athletic event we’ve ever witnessed:  The Ice Canoe Race on the St. Lawrence River.  As we watched from the shore, about a dozen or more crews hustled and pushed specially built canoes over and around ice floes.  Triangular course went from one side of the river to the other; the “professional teams” had to make two complete circuits.  Click here for a clip from our eyewitness account.

Now we have more expansive coverage, thanks to our good friends at QuebecRegion.  Have a look; it is clearly an impressive experience for participants and observers alike.  Recall this video when you are complaining about the heat and humidity of next August.

For more information on the Quebec Region’s many attractions for active seniors, please click here.

Rose Marie Cleese

Sierra Ski Season 2014–15: A Mixed Bag

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In a winter with the lowest snowfall in the Sierra Nevada since record-keeping began, some resorts fared well while others barely managed to open.

On April 1st, it was no joke when California’s Department of Water Resources snow surveyors went to Phillips Station off Highway 50 near Echo Summit to do their official April 1st measurement of the snowpack. Whereas the average

Despite snow drought, author's daughter Katie Cleese and friend Rose Cendak practice Quidditch at Heavenly Valley. Credit: Rose Marie Cleese

Despite snow drought, author’s daughter Katie Cleese and friend Rose Cendak practice Quidditch at Heavenly Mountain Resort.
Credit: Heavenly Mountain Resort

snow depth at that location is 66.5 inches on that date since record-keeping began there in 1941, the measuring crew—with Governor Jerry Brown by their side—found themselves in a meadow devoid of any snow at all. It was unprecedented. Since it’s now likely that there will be very little Sierra snowpack runoff into the state’s reservoirs this year coupled with the previous three years of statewide drought, the governor announced on the spot a mandatory 25 percent reduction in water usage for everyone—companies, institutions, and individuals alike.

Yet, despite there being grass instead of snow in the meadow at Phillips Station, one can still ski and snowboard in the Sierra—at least for a couple more weeks. A small handful of wintersports areas will remain open past the traditional Easter weekend closing date, thanks to their snowmaking efforts, their higher elevations, and/or their careful protection and manicuring of the snow they were lucky enough to have fall on their slopes.

To catch a few more runs before all the snow is gone, you can head to any of the following (closing dates as of April 2nd are in parentheses): Bear Valley (Sunday, April 12th), Boreal (Sunday, April 12th), Heavenly (Sunday, April 19th), Mt. Rose (Sunday, April 19th), Kirkwood (Sunday, April 19th), and Mammoth Mountain (Sunday, May 31st). Bay Area skiers rarely make the trek to Mammoth on the eastern slope of the Sierra off Highway 395 since the quickest route there, via Tioga Pass in Yosemite, closes every winter after the first major snowfall. This season, however, Mammoth was and remains a great option since the Tioga Pass road never closed this winter—a first! As of March 31st, Mammoth had 19 of its 28 lifts operating, with a base of 30–60”. The resort has often been open for skiing over the 4th of July weekend; don’t hold your breath this year!

Only one Sierra wintersports resort is closing this Easter Sunday, April 5th, the traditional end of ski season: Alpine Meadows.

Katie Cleese soaks up the bennies in the too-warm patio at Heavenly Mountain Resort. Note snow melt in background. Credit: Rose Marie Cleese

Katie Cleese and Mike Allen, Director of Ski Services, soak up the bennies in the too-warm, mid-mountain patio at Heavenly.  Note snow melt in background.
Credit: David Koth

Several Sierra resorts had a tough season, especially those with no snowmaking capacity or besieged by higher temperatures that prevented snowmaking or located in the Central Sierra, which didn’t get as much snow as their neighbors farther north. Sierra-at-Tahoe managed to open on December 12th and ran its lifts for a total of 94 days before it had to close on March 16th. Badger Pass in Yosemite National Park opened on December 14th but had to close on January 19th, never to reopen. Dodge Ridge racked up similar stats to Badger Pass, opening on December 17th and closing in mid-January. Homewood on the west shore of Lake Tahoe opened on December 20th but then closed on February 23rd to wait for another significant snowfall that never came. Tahoe Donner closed on March 15th and Diamond Peak closed on March 29th. Sugar Bowl had to cut its 75th Anniversary season short, closing on March 22nd.

Hopefully, all the resorts will have a banner year next year, but with the new normal, it looks more and more like any California resort that hopes to survive the changing climate will have to take the plunge into a robust snowmaking system.

https://vimeo.com/121045965

If You Like Mountains…

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Take An Aerial Tour Of The Himalayas.

Teton Gravity Research, one of our favorite action sports movie makers, has captured the spirit of the mighty giants of the Himalayas.  Using an advanced camera stablizer, this short, ultra HD video takes you up close and personal to Mt. Everest, Ama Dablam, and Lhotse.  Fasten your seat belt and pass the pop-corn.

Jon Weisberg

Getting Fresh On The Mountain

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Deer Valley’s Seafood Buffet A Wasatch Institution.

Deer Valley in Park City consistently ranks at the top of SKI Magazine’s polls for guest service, on-mountain food and snow grooming. As a part time instructor there for several years, I came to understand that the resort has a unique hotel culture. Customers are treated as “guests.” As one executive advised us, “Treat them well. They might not be right, but they’re still our guests.”

DeerValleyBuffet2

Freshly shucked oysters are never-ending at Deer Valley’s seafood buffet. Credit: Deer Valley

The food choices are varied, the quality is terrific, and, considering Deer Valley’s posh reputation, reasonably priced. I used to joke that DV is a great restaurant with skiing as an amenity. Actually, DV offers a lot of varied terrain that most of its guests probably never get to. It’s a fine area with a fine reputation and really fine food.

One of its dining institutions is the Seafood Buffet, a ski season-only restaurant that pops up Thursday through Sunday evenings in the resort’s Snow Park Base Village lodge. During ski hours, the cafeteria serves DV’s daytime offerings: far more sophisticated and varied than what you’ll find in most day lodges in North America. Come evening, it transforms to a remarkable array of freshly shucked oysters, crab legs, shrimp, sushi, cooked entrees from sea and ranch, and sweets of every fresh-baked and otherwise concocted description. It’s on Zagat’s “America’s Top Restaurants” list.

You might associate the food choices with dressing for dinner. But given the lodge’s upscale rustic surroundings almost everyone is in jeans.

DeerValleyBuffet

A wide variety of seafood grace the Deer Valley seafood buffet, a ski season-only institution in the Wasatch. Credit: Deer Valley

Then there’s the service. With some exceptions, Utah restaurants are aggravating for their lack of quality service. Historically a culinary backwater, a growing number of excellent eateries in Park City, Salt Lake, tiny Boulder, and a few other locations are attracting attention and clientele from all over. The Seafood Buffet is all about superb service, and its international wait staff in topnotch. Leave your table for another plate of whatever, and you return — each and every time — to one tidied with replaced dishes, flatware, and moist cloth napkins for sticky fingers.

The wine and beer list is reasonably priced, with several whites clustered under the heading “Shell Fish Wines.” While the list has a range of options, our Marlborough (NZ) Sauvignon Blanc was available at a reasonable premium above the state wine store.

The buffet cost is $64 for adults/$34 for kids (11 and under), beverages excluded.

Deer Valley’s Seafood Buffet is a classic. Winter visitors to the Wasatch — the mountain range where Deer Valley and numerous other ski resorts are located within close proximity — have many dining options. But wherever you stay, at Deer Valley, in Park City, at one of the other resorts, or somewhere in the Salt Lake Valley, it’s worth a short drive to the mountains to enjoy first-rate cuisine from the seas.

Reservations advised.

mikemaginn

The Ski Diva Heads West

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All-Women Ski Trip Brings Kindred Spirits Together

Our friend and colleague, The Ski Diva, gathers a group of Diva Members for an annual ski trip to exciting places.  This year, her group went to Montana where they had a rocking good time.  Click here for her report.  Pass this along to the Ski Diva in your life. The Ski Diva is a super resource for women who ski. Perhaps your diva would be interested in joining.

Ski Divas gathered in Montana this year. Clear skies and clearly fun. Credit: The Ski DIva

Ski Divas gathered in Montana this year. Clear skies and clearly fun.
Credit: The Ski DIva

 

Harriet Wallis

Breaking News: Boyne, Intrawest, Powdr Launch M.A.X. Pass

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MAXSki & ride 22 resorts five times each for total of 110 days.

The Multi Alpine Experience (M.A.X.) Pass is a brand new, groundbreaking ski pass giving access to 22 mountains all over North America. M.A.X. passholders will get five days of skiing or riding at each of the 22 participating resorts for the 2015/2016 ski season. Resorts include:

  • Blue Mountain, Ontario
  • Mont Tremblant, Quebec
  • Stratton, VT
  • Steamboat, CO
  • Snowshoe, WV
  • Winter Park, CO
  • Loon Mountain, NH
  • Sugarloaf, ME
  • Sunday River, ME
  • Boyne Highland, MI
  • Boyne Mountain, MI
  • Big Sky, MT
  • Brighton, UT
  • Crystal Mountain, WA
  • Cypress Mountain, B.C.
  • Summit at Snoqualmie, WA
  • Killington, VT
  • Pico Mountain, VT
  • Copper Mountain, CO
  • Mt. Bachelor, OR
  • Boreal Mountain, CA
  • Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard, NV

Boyne, Intrawest and Powdr combined to form a fourth company, PassCO, LLC, that will handle online sales of M.A.X. passes.

The M.A.X. pass was launched a few days ago. It offers skiing and riding at 22 U.S. resorts and it goes head to head with Vail’s Epic Pass with 81 U.S. and international resorts – and Mountain Collective with 14 U.S. and Canadian resorts.

Editor’s Note: We applaud the creativity the M.A.X. pass has shown in providing multi-resort ski discounts, but we are disappointed to see there aren’t any discounted rates for Senior Skiers. Hopefully, we will see an updated price list that acknowledges seniors, the growth segment of the ski industry. Readers: How say you?

Harriet Wallis

St. Patrick’s Day Snow Art At Brighton, Utah

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Everyone enjoys trailside sculptures in annual tradition.

Lift Mechanic Jamill Sami puts finishing touches on his department's gigantic ninja turtle. Credit: Harriet Wallis

Lift Mechanic Jamill Sami puts finishing touches on his department’s gigantic ninja turtle.
Credit: Harriet Wallis

The snow sculpture competition is an annual St. Patrick’s Day event at Brighton Resort, Utah. The competition pits departments against each other in a good natured contest.

During the night as grooming equipment manicures the slopes for the next day, they scoop up a pile of snow for each department.
Lifties who run the beginner lift created an enormous Snoopy lying on top of his dog house. Adults and kids who are learning get to ski and ride around the delightful sculpture.

There are nearly a dozen sculptures located around the base of the resort. Even non-skiers can walk around the base area and enjoy them. They’ll remain on view for a few days and then be groomed back into the slope.

Correspondent Harriet Wallis remembers the outstanding St. Patrick Days at Brodie Mountain, MA. Credit: NewEnglandSkiHistory.com

Correspondent Harriet Wallis remembers the outstanding St. Patrick Days at now closed Brodie Mountain, MA.
Credit: NewEnglandSkiHistory.com

St. Patrick’s Day is for reminiscing. I used to live in the East, and I skied Brodie Mountain, Massachusetts on St. Patrick’s Day. The once thriving ski area went all out to celebrate the Irish holiday. There was green snow,  green beer, green outfits, green face painting and lots of merriment off the snow and on it. Along with 20 others, I sledded down a slope on a cafeteria tray and crossed the finish line first. For that I earned a Brodie Mountain T-shirt. I still have it.

Does your ski area celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in an unusual way?

Rose Marie Cleese

There’s Snow In Them Thar (California) Hills

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Although Snow Conditions Have Been Less Than Golden This Season,
There IS Some Great Skiing To Be Had In California’s Northern Sierra Nevada.

Northstar-at-Tahoe has been operating full blast since Thanksgiving. Credit: Northstar

Northstar California has been operating full blast since Thanksgiving.
Credit: Northstar California

While much of the U.S. has gotten battered all winter long by massive dumps of snow and other inclement weather, California’s Sierra Nevada has been having a tough time living up to its name (“snowy mountain range” in Spanish). But, a crazily configured jet stream and a persistent giant high off the West Coast notwithstanding, most of the mountain resorts of drought-stricken California have been able to carve out a decent wintersports season.

As of March 8th, most Northern California resorts, particularly those in the Lake Tahoe region and at the higher elevations, have more than half of their lifts running and terrain open to skiers and boarders, thanks to a storm during the first weekend of March that dumped as much as 28 inches of snow on the slopes and to colder temperatures that have allowed for accelerated snowmaking.

Squaw Valley, with a base of 22″ to 52″, has all but five of its 29 lifts going, and its neighbor area, Alpine Meadows, has nine of its 13 lifts operating on a base of 19″ to 47″. Heavenly Mountain Resort, which boasts “the West Coast’s largest snowmaking” operation, is running 19 of its 28 lifts with an average snow depth

Heavenly Valley's been making snow, producing outstanding conditions. Credit: Heavenly Vally

Heavenly Mountain Resort has been making snow, producing outstanding conditions.
Credit: Heavenly Mountain Resort

of 39″. Says Heavenly p.r. coordinator Liesl Kenney, “Everybody is surprised at how good conditions are when they get up here.” Convincing skiers and boarders of this is probably one of the biggest challenges facing many resorts, seeing as how the San Francisco Bay Area has been experiencing perennially sunny skies and basking in 70° temperatures week after week this winter!

Northstar California is “thriving” this season, according to senior communications manager Rachael Woods. “Every chair is served by our snowmaking system, which can be controlled by a smart phone!” The resort has been operating top to bottom since opening shortly after Thanksgiving and hopes to do so until its planned April 19th closing date. The resort currently has an 18″ to 49″ base with 18 of its 20 lifts operating. The higher-elevation resorts, Sugar Bowl (base: 6,883 feet) near Donner Summit, Sierra-at-Tahoe (6,640 feet) near Echo Summit, Kirkwood (7,800 feet) near Carson Pass, and Bear Valley (6,600 feet) near Ebbetts Pass, can all crow about their healthy snowpacks that stack up to as much as 72” (Sugar Bowl).

The two resorts located northeast of Lake Tahoe in Nevada can’t complain this season either. Mt. Rose, with the Tahoe region’s highest base elevation at 8,260 feet, has all 60 trails and all eight of its lifts going, with snow depths of 32″ to 66″. Diamond Peak, at 6,700 feet, has two to three feet of snow with five of its seven lifts in operation. And SoCal favorite Mammoth Mountain off US-395 in Central California has 19 of its 28 lifts running, a base of 30″ to 60″, and a planned closing date of May 31st. Its fellow Central California resorts, alas, have not fared as well. China Peak, Badger Pass in Yosemite, and Dodge Ridge are all currently closed due to a lack of snow cover. Up near Tahoe, Donner Ski Ranch, Tahoe Donner, and Homewood are also temporarily closed—permanently for the season if that high ridge doesn’t budge!

With most currently open Sierra resorts planning to close the third or fourth weekend in April, West Coast skiers 65 years of age and older still have at least six weeks to enjoy some quality spring skiing or boarding and to catch some senior savings. Most resorts offer discounted lift tickets (65+) and you can even ski for free if you’re 75+ (Bear Valley) or 80+ (Diamond Peak). Several resorts offer clinics for 55+ skiers early on, but that’s a story for next season. May it be ever so snowy! Like Boston-snowy!

Harriet Wallis

Serious Stuff: There Is No Such Thing As “Side Country”

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And There Is No Such Thing As Being A Little Bit Dead.

Back country warnings are there for a reason. Credit: Harriet Wallis

Back country warnings are there for a reason.
Credit: Harriet Wallis

Yesterday we rode the chairlift with a bozo. Okay. Maybe he wasn’t a bozo. Maybe he was just clueless. All the way up he yapped about his skiing prowess. And near the top he phoned home to give his wife his location. “She worries about me,” he said.

She should worry. He planned to duck under the boundary rope and make some turns in the deep, unspoiled powder beyond.

“Take your avy gear,” we said.

“Don’t need it. It’s in the car. I’m just doing side country,” he said.

Somehow he missed hearing that there is no such thing as side country.

The term “side country” hit the scene a few years ago, and it was quickly squelched by the ski industry’s leading avalanche experts, snow science experts, the U.S. Forest Service, ski area risk managers, mountain patrollers and others. It was likely a marketing brainchild used to promote the newest boots and powder-specific skis and boards.

The term had obvious appeal to intermediate and advanced skiers and riders. They could buy the latest gear and try their skills beyond the rope line thinking it would be okay. They could be a little bit naughty.

But the ski industry took a stance saying you’re either within a resort or else you’re in the unmonitored, ruthless back country. You’re either in bounds or you’re out of bounds. There’s nothing in between. There is no such thing as side country. There is no such thing as “kinda” out of bounds.

“We all must focus on educating skiers and snowboarders that backcountry terrain accessed from a ski lift has the same risks as any other back country or out-of-bounds area,” says the National Ski Area Association.

Later in the day I caught the TV news. A skier died after being caught in an avalanche. The avalanche occurred in the very out of bounds area where a guy— with too much macho and too little knowledge—went to ski. There’s no such thing as side country.

There’s no such thing as being a little bit dead.

 

 

Susan Winthrop

Ski Japan: Looking For Snow? Head West. All The Way.

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Combine lots of snow with an exotic destination for an incredible skiing experience.

Almost like a Japanese woodcut, skiers in Niseko run through the flakes. Credit: Susie Winthrop

Almost like a Japanese woodcut, skiers in Niseko run through the flakes.
Credit: Susie Winthrop

O.K., you adventurous senior powder-hounds: How far will you fly to find an awesome stash in this odd winter of snow conditions?  If you don’t fly east to New England or Quebec to ski, how about 14 hours on a JAL flight to Tokyo on a 787 “Dreamliner” direct from Boston?  When you get there, hop on another two-hour flight to Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido, the northern most island in Japan. Then,  jump on a bus and three hours later you’re in Niseko, home to four (Annupuri, Higashiyama, Hirafu, and Hanazono) interconnected ski areas.  If it’s winter, it will be snowing.  Yes, guaranteed fresh light powder snow everyday all winter.  The aspen trees are perfectly spaced and slopes are rarely skied out, but guides, helicopters and snowcats also await those coveting untracked bliss.

However, the real adventure here is the fact that you’re in Japan. You’ll eat sushi, sashimi, tempura, gyoza, yakitori, miso soup and sea urchins. Be sure to stay

Moku No Sho ryokan has an onsen (hot water spring) on site. Credit: Susie Winthrop

Moku No Sho ryokan has an onsen (hot water spring) on site.
Credit: Susie Winthrop

at a real Japanese Inn (Ryokan) with hot spring fueled baths (Onsens).  You won’t need to bring a bathing suit to the springs; you bathe in the buff.  Niseko Moku No Sho, the fabulous inn we stayed at, provided a yukata (kimono bathrobe) and slippers which we wore at all time until we dressed for skiing.  You don’t even need to bring your own ski garb; you can rent it  at the mountain: parkas, pants, hats, mittens, goggles, helmets, snowboards, skis, boots, poles—all the latest, all for rent.

Like most things in Japan, the resort is clean, organized and efficient.  At the mountain, it took no time to pop grand-daughter, Eloise, in day care, purchase our senior three-day ticket (a real deal at $105 for three days on four mountains), rent our super-wide powder skis and get out on the slopes.  There are no lift lines, even during vacation week.

Tower of beer. What a novel idea. Credit: Susie Winthrop

Tower of beer. What a novel idea.
Credit: Susie Winthrop

Looking for apres-ski fun? Make some friends and order a high “tower” of beer to share at the base lodge.  Or slide down to the Bar Ice igloo and warm yourself with a hot rum and butterscotch toddy.  “Kampai” is all the Japanese you’ll need to know.

For more information on skiing in Japan, click here.

mikemaginn

Portrait Of A Weird February: East, Coldest; West, Warmest

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Here’s a picture of our weather record-breaking mid-winter month.

Black and White, Ying and Yang, Macy’s and Gimbel’s, Felix and Oscar: These opposites come to mind when we look at this picture of what happened to the weather in February, 2015.  The Washington Post reports there were coldest months on record throughout the East, while the West cooked.  There are some in both places who aren’t having fun with this.  You can understand the frustration of Western snow sport enthusiasts when they see brown hills, but there are plenty in the East who find the cold abysmal, the roads to ski areas challenging, and the need to deal with ice dams at home more demanding than recreation.  Nevertheless, as the month turns (Rabbit, Rabbit), there are signs the West is entertaining new storms.

One glance at the February weather composite shows why we've had a weird mid-Winter: Cold East, Warm West. Credit: Weatherbell.com

One glance at the February weather composite shows why we’ve had a weird mid-Winter: Cold East, Warm West.
Credit: Weatherbell.com

mikemaginn

Come On Over, Western Skiers: Eastern Snow Is Epic

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Boston Reports Over 100 Inches, 2 1/2 More Than Normal, With Three More Weeks Of Winter To Go.

If you are a senior skier from the West, you are probably wondering what’s going on with the snow.  Our correspondent in Utah report skiers taking two or three runs on ice-covered, snow-deprived slopes and calling it a day.  We’ve heard of areas closed in Montana due to “dirt”.  On the other hand, we Easterners are luxuriating in historically epic piles and piles of the stuff.  It’s fun to look back on NOAA’s prediction for the Winter of 2014-15.  Notice they had it kind of right in the West, major wrong in the East.

NOAA Winter 2014-15 Prediction shows warm in the West and the East. Credit: NOAA

NOAA Winter 2014-15 Prediction shows warm in the West and the East.
Credit: NOAA

To be sure, there is good snow everywhere in the Northeast, from the Poconos to Quebec.  Here’s an article by New York Times travel writer John O’Connor who reports on ecstatic conditions in New England.  Bottom Line:  It may be that if Western skiers want to do some decent skiing, they should plan coming East right now.

NYTimes_022515

mikemaginn

Le Massif de Charlevoix: Views, Trails, and Chic

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Where else can you ski into a major river (almost) and take a ski train to a charming village?

About an hour north of Quebec City, we find Le Massif de Charlevoix, a magnificent and major North American ski area that offers several exceptional features:

Skiing into the river? Looks that way at Le Massif de Charlevoix Credit: SkiZone

Skiing into the river? Looks that way at Le Massif de Charlevoix
Credit: SkiZone

  • Most people arrive and park at the top of the mountain, making their first run down without an inaugural lift up.
  • Runs are varied and long from very pleasant groomers (which we like best) to mogul fields, glades and double diamonds. There is even an off-trail sector of 99 acres for back-country adventurers. Le Massif de Charlevoix has the highest vertical drop (2,526 ft.) in Eastern Canada and east of the Rockies, so trails basically keep going and going. (The longest one is 3.2 miles.) But stopping to take in the view is worth it because…
  • …A couple of hundred yards from the bottom is the St. Lawrence River. The impression you get as you head down the piste is that you are heading straight into the water. It’s an illusion that is quite captivating and photogenic.
  • Not only does Le Massif de Charlevoix host a piste de luge—sled run—that is 7.5 km long, it also has the only TRIPLE black diamond trail we’ve ever seen. It’s called La Charlevoix, it’s “extremely steep”, and it’s designed as a downhill course for FIS approved races. We looked at it respectfully from afar.

 

  • Light rail train stops at Hotel le Ferme in Baie-Ste-Paul Credit: PhotoGT

    Light rail train stops at Hotel le Ferme in Baie-Ste-Paul
    Credit: PhotoGT

    You take your last run down, and, at the very bottom of the piste, you and your skis, gear and boots can take a transit gondola to a light rail station where a train will take you about 30 minutes along the shore of the St. Lawrence to the little town of Baie-Saint-Paul, the hometown of the world famous Cirque du Soleil. The beer on the little train was most welcome, served by une serveuse très charmant. Again, the views of the river were breathtaking; we were glued to the window until we arrived at…

  • …Hotel La Ferme in Baie-Saint-Paul, a new, very chic, stylish, design-winning hotel built as the first phase of a multi-phase project that will “responsibly” develop the area. With the hotel in town as a four-season destination for visitors, plans are also in process to develop ski-in, ski-out condos at the base of the Le Massif de Charlevoix within five years.
  • The quaint and historic village of Baie-Saint-Paul is an artist colony with galleries, shops and chef-owner gourmet restaurants that capitalize on fresh, local agriculture. Our discovery was Au P’tit Resto Suisse where the fondu and raclette brought us to a magical place.

    Au Ptit Resto Suisse serves gourmet racelette. Credit: Tourisme-Charlevoix

    Au Ptit Resto Suisse serves gourmet racelette.
    Credit: Tourisme-Charlevoix

So, senior snow enthusiasts, we’ve discovered something new for us in the north. The Charlevoix region is not only a winter destination for skiers, cross-country, snow-shoers and back-country explorers, but from what we’ve seen, there are many outdoor adventures for other times. A short drive from the northeast or the mid-west, this is an experience waiting to happen.

For more information on the development at Le Massif visit LeMassifVision2020.com

Harriet Wallis

SuperSeniorSpotlight: George Jedenoff Shreds Alta At 97

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SeniorsSkiing Honors A Legend Who’s Skied Alta For 55 Years.

SeniorsSkiing.com is proud to spotlight George Jedenhoff, 97, who skis Alta every year. Credit: Ski Utah

SeniorsSkiing.com is proud to spotlight George Jedenoff, 97, who skis Alta every year.
Credit: Ski Utah

How’s the spring in your legs?  Here’s George Jedenoff, a 97-year old from Oakland, CA, who has been skiing Alta, UT, since 1960.  With a lifetime season pass and a healthy lifestyle, George shows us that skiing can be a part of any stage of life.

Here’s a short video of George has he sweeps down the slopes in February 2015.  Thanks, George, you are an inspiration to all of us.  And thanks to Ski Utah for documenting George’s return to the slopes for the past three years.  You can see additional videos of George from 2013 here and from 2014 here.

 

 

 

 

mikemaginn

Au Quebec Pays des Merveilles d’Hiver

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Au Quebec Pays des Merveilles d’Hiver

Messieurs et Mesdammes, nous aimons le Quebec en hiver! With apologies to Madame Haydu, my high school French teacher, our recent journée au Quebec was trés intéressant, and nous were heureuse to tell you toût de l’historie.

Eçoutez, Senior Skiers, if you are looking for a winter vacation in snow country that is different, even exotic, consider heading north to Quebec. There you will find some incredibly beautiful multi-snow sport resorts, world-class hotels and scenery that is honestly like nothing you’ve ever seen before. All so close, all so exotique. But before we tell you about our skiing adventures, we want to report on Quebec’s winter jewel: le Carnavale de Quebec.

Mascot Bonhomme makes us feel welcome at his Palais. Credit: Tourisme Quebec

Mascot Bonhomme makes us feel welcome at his Palais.
Credit: Tourisme Quebec

If you are reading this, you are most likely a friend of winter. Let us tell you straight up that les Quebecois are amants (lovers) of winter. Frankly, when you live up there, you have to be. Visiting Quebec City during Carnavale is a lesson in celebrating a glorious winter culture built on welcoming the magnificent cold and all it brings.

We met Bonhomme, the puffy white snowman mascot of Carnavale, at an evening parade which featured dramatically lit creatures of the North—narwhales and wolves—floats with scenes of Quebec history, musicians, clowns, acrobats, motorcycles, all in the brilliant cold air. It seemed the entire city lined the parade route with rosy-cheeked children riding on parents’ shoulders, many enthusiastic bleatings of plastic horns, and a warm feeling of camaraderie.

Musicians' hut at le Monde de Bonhomme at Quebec's Winter Carnavale. Credit: SeniorsSkiing

Musicians’ hut at le Monde de Bonhomme at Quebec’s Winter Carnavale.
Credit: SeniorsSkiing

Downtown, we also visited la Palais de Bonhomme, a really large, ornate, multi-room structure built of crystal clear blocks of ice, with themed rooms and ice furniture. We walked over to the Plains of Abraham where we found an extraordinary outdoor exhibition of snow slides, kid’s activities, sleigh rides, ice sculptures, musicians in heated booths, and squeaky snow underfoot.

The pièce de résistance, though, was the canoe racing on the St. Lawrence River, choked as you would imagine this time of year with jagged ice floes and big bergy bits, and with the occasional stretch of open water. Teams of fiveIceboat hardy athletes dressed in wet suits and spiked shoes push, pull, heave, lift and row bateaux about 20-25 feet long through, around and over all this. The idea was to head around three buoys, two placed on the Quebec side of the river and the third on the far side, at least two miles across. Amateur teams went around the buoys once; the pros had to make the circuit twice. Now that’s an extreme sport.

Quebec is an easy car ride from anywhere in the Northeast and even from the Midwest; major airlines fly into Jean Lesage International. It’s probably the most European city in North America. Restaurants and cafes line le Vieux Quebec, and there are many art boutiques and craft shops though out the city. Just being in Quebec in winter is exhilarating; the locals know how to live in winter, and they start by loving it.

Coming next: Skiing the Charlevoix Region.

Claire Walter

Eldora’s Front Range Gang Is A Model Senior Skier Program

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Here’s An Another Area-Sponsored Program For Senior Skiers.

Eldora's Front Range Gang is another model senior-focused program. Other ski areas: Are you paying attention? Credit: Eldora Resort

Eldora’s Front Range Gang is another senior-focused program. Other ski areas: Are you paying attention?
Credit: Eldora Resort

Anyone who lives in or visits Boulder in winter has absolutely no excuse not to ski Eldora Mountain Resort, not really a resort with lodging but a simple ski area under the brow of the Continental Divide, is just 21 miles west of town. There’s no need to drive, since scheduled RTD buses depart from downtown station, stop at the park-and-ride lot in the heart of downtown Nederland and then drop passengers and their gear off right in front of the Main Lodge, with return service – of course. Fares are half-price for ages 65-plus.

Eldora’s Front Range Gang is a popular program for skiers aged 50 and over. It is offered from 9 a.m. to 12 noon every Monday and Thursday in February and March. Alpine, telemark and Alpine touring gear is welcome. And cross-county skiers are welcome at the Nordic area, which shares base facilities with Alpine skiers.

Each Front Range Gang day includes a three-hour guided group session on a choice of green, blue or black terrain,

City bus from downtown Boulder to Eldora is super convenient. Credit: Eldora Resort

City bus from downtown Boulder to Eldora is super convenient.
Credit: Eldora Resort

helpful tips and liftline priority access – though in truth, except when Boulder Valley schools are out, you’ll never find a line. Cost is $40 per day, $99 for a one-month package and $189 for two months – too late for 2015, but keep it in mind for next winter.

[Editor’s Note: What other ski area/resort sponsored programs do readers know about?  We’d love to create a directory for our readership.  Please let us know.]

 

mikemaginn

Quebec Winter Carnival: Canoe Racing On The Frozen St. Lawrence

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A New Extreme Sport Emerges For Those Who Really Love The Cold

Hearty, are we?  Well, these lads surely are.  These garcons are one of a dozen or so teams, some of them professionals, who are canoe racing on the St. Lawrence during Quebec’s Winter Carnival.  The amateurs included a women’s team, mixed men and women teams and a few folks who just wanted to have some fun.  You might wonder why this is a good idea for a sport.  Don’t bother.  It’s about The Extreme.  And learning to love the magnificent cold.  This was taken on Feb 8, 2015 when the temps were -20 C and the wind was blowing at least 25 knots.  What’s the wind chill? Anyone?  Anyone?

Quebec’s Winter Carnavale was the site of the North American Snowsports Journalist Association Annual Meeting.  More to come on Ice Hotels, ski trains and memorable “versants” (ski areas) just outside Quebec.

Harriet Wallis

Sound Like A Local

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Here’s How To Talk The Talk.

Every region has its own pronunciations, so if you take a western ski trip you might want to brush up on a few words and say them the way the local say them.

Word 1: Alta. This popular ski-only resort in Utah is the granddaddy of powder skiing. It averages 500 inches of snow a year, yet it’s just 25 miles from Salt Lake International Airport. How to say it like a local? Use this as a guideline. “My PAL AL skis at ALta.”

Word 2. Nevada. If you go a littler further west you’ll ski in Nevada at resorts around Lake Tahoe such as Kirkwood and Heavenly. But the state’s name often gets clobbered by visitors. Try saying this: “I’m GLAD not MAD to ski NEVADa.

BLIZZard, no longer BlizzARD. Talk like a native. Credit: Harriet Wallis

BLIZZard, no longer BlizzARD. Talk like a native.
Credit: Harriet Wallis

Word 3. Blizzard. That’s a snowy weather condition. It’s also a brand of skis that’s popular out west. The Lift House, a full service ski shop at the base of Big Cottonwood Canyon in Utah, says that the brand is modernizing and Americanizing its name. No more “BlizzARD”, rhymes with “yard.”

Now you’re in the know. You can pronounce BLIZzard skis just the way you’d speak of a big snowstorm – a blizzard.

Does your region have some words that get mispronounced by out-of-staters?

Is This Guy For Real? Amazing Candide Thovex In The Alps

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Daredevil is becoming an -ism.  Here’s yet another impossible run.

We wonder if videos like this help recruit people to skiing or turn them off.  It sure looks, um, well, risky.  What do you think? Professional skiers Candide Thovex totally shreds Val Blanc.

Tamsin Venn

Silver Streaks: A Model For How Ski Areas Can Serve Seniors

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You Always Have Someone to Ski With at the Waterville Valley Program.

Gold_Waterville_Valley_Resort[Editor Note:  Waterville Valley’s Silver Streak Program was a Gold Senior Friendly Award Winner, based on SeniorsSkiing.com’s First Ski Area and Resort Survey.  Silver Streaks is the oldest senior ski program in the US.  We hope that other ski areas can start “Thinking Seniors” like Waterville.]

“I’m so excited, I just turned 65,” says Anne Pelletier, booster for the Silver Streaks, a program for the 50-plus set at Waterville Valley, N.H.

Silver Streakers Mike and Anne Pelletier totally enjoy the benefits of the Waterville Valley program. Credit: Tamsin Vinn

Silver Streakers Mike and Anne Pelletier totally enjoy the benefits of the Waterville Valley program.
Credit: Tamsin Venn

Nearly 30 years old, it was one of the first senior ski programs in the country to cater those 50 and over, a demographic astutely valued by Waterville’s founder ex-Olympian Tom Corcoran.

Pelletier, a lively woman in fire-red ski pants and state-of-the-art heated jacket, has reason to be happy. At age 65, the Waterville season pass benefits kick in: $379 for non-holiday midweek skiing.

For much longer, though, she has been with the Silver Streaks.

For the $95 joining fee, senior skiers get:

  • Reserved area in Parking Lot # 1 (one 90-year-old joined for that reason alone).
  • Complimentary coffee and pastries in the Base Lodge from 8:30-10 a.m. in special meeting area.
  • Complimentary Snowsports clinics for seniors only.
  • Après-ski party every Wednesday at rotating venues.
  • Banquets and other special events throughout the season.
  • Reduced price NASTAR every Wednesday.
  • Nordic program every Wednesday for two hours of Nordic skiing with professional guides, followed by lunch at the Nordic Center.

The program runs Monday-Thursday, non-holiday, early December to mid-March.

Also every Monday night the Coyote Grill at the White Mountain Athletic Center offers a $12 dinner; après-ski two times a month. (unfortunately $5 martini night was retired for reasons easy to imagine).

Other events: a Memorial ski run from the top in single file to remember those who have died in the past year.

The Pelletiers like the friendships, but they have an ulterior motive.

Says Anne, a platinum (top) NASTAR racer, “We have a need for speed.” Husband Michael, 72, is a top-ranked marathon runner in New England.

Silver Streakers Randy and Reggie Breeckner moved full time to Waterville 15 years ago from their home in the Litchfield Hills in northwestern Connecticut where they raised seven children.

Reggie notes, “I’m going to try snowshoeing when I get old.”

“You develop strategies not to get hurt,” adds Randy, a six-decades-long New England skier. Those include not skiing when it’s icy, foggy, or on busy weekends.

What about snowboarding?

“We know only one person in the group who snowboards,” he says.

Albert and Kristina Ruehli from southern New Hampshire are also on board. Albert learned to ski at age six in his native Switzerland.

Says Albert, “the mountains, the view, it’s a beautiful sport, plus you’re expressing yourself on the hill.”

“I went to a meeting and one of members said, ‘You’re too young to join,’ so of course I joined immediately,” says Kristina, 71.

 “We figure when we can’t ski anymore, we should just let an avalanche take us,” adds Kristina philosophically

Julius Feinleib from Thornton, N.H, has grandchildren ages seven and nine who now whiz by him on the trail. His reasons for joining are simple. “Just being with people I recognize.” He also likes the cup of coffee and doughnuts.

For more on Silver Streaks, click here.