crocus
seniorsskiing

Snow In Literature: “To lose if one can find again”

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By Emily Dickinson

[Editor Note: An homage to Spring is due. Let’s all relax, watch the crocuses emerge, and remember the poetry of Emily Dickinson.]

“To lose – if One can find again -⁣
To miss – if One shall meet -⁣
The Burglar cannot rob – then -⁣
The Broker cannot cheat.⁣
So build the hillocks gaily -⁣
Thou little spade of mine⁣
Leaving nooks for Daisy⁣
And for Columbine -⁣
You and I the secret⁣
Of the Crocus know -⁣
Let us chant it softly -⁣
‘There is no more snow’!” ⁣

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Wendy Clinch

Ski Diva: Skiing In The Time Of COVID-19

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[Editor Note: There has a lot already written about the sudden shuttering of the ski industry with resorts closing all around the globe. Our good friend and colleague The Ski Diva has put all the news and its impact on resort, guests, employees and the like in clear perspective.  We are posting the headline and initial paragraph of her article, “Skiing In The Time Of COVID-19”, here with a link to The Ski Diva’s site. Thanks to the Ski Diva for allowing us to publish this excellent summary of the situation as of the third week of March. Or CLICK HERE TO LINK TO THE ARTICLE ON SKI DIVA.COM.]

CLICK HERE TO LINK TO THE ARTICLE ON SKI DIVA.COM

mikemaginn

The Man Who Paints Mountains

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James Niehues Creates Hand Painted Maps Of Ski Resorts And Now There’s A Book.

James Niehues in his studio, creating maps by hand. Credit: LA Times

If you’ve ever taken a second look at the resort trail maps you casually pick up and put in your parka pocket, you are most likely looking at a painting by James Niehues. James has created trail map art of over 200 resorts around the globe since 1988.  Instead of resorting to computer-created images, he paints by hand and the results are remarkably detailed and beautiful. How does he do it?

James combines the technology of cartography with the art of water colors to create the maps. He flies over an area, takes aerial photographs, studies topographic maps, then creates a simple sketch of the mountain scene. From there, he projects the image on a painting surface, filling in the details starting from the sky down to the base. 

Niehues’ trail map of Vail. Complex, broad, beautiful.

One of the biggest challenges is to show the back trails or bowls of mountain on the same map as the front side. Sounds like Picasso, right? He says it’s a puzzle he has to piece together.

James has been creating resort maps for three decades, taking over the role from Colorado’s Bill Brown, the only resort map artist at the time. Now in his mid-70s, James has anthologized his collection of over 200 maps into a coffee-table book, The Man Behind The Maps, available from Amazon for about $100.

He’s retiring from his one-man profession, passing the mantle to a younger protege. Clearly, his maps create a mood that you don’t get from computer graphics, and that’s the whole point.  Both approaches show you the way down, but James’ maps are create a “feeling” of mountains and the outdoors.

Here’s  a short video that tells James’ story. 

 

Herb Stevens

Skiing Weatherman: There’s Snow In The West, Only Maybe East

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For Those Still Venturing Out On Snow Shoes, Skinny Skis, Or Skins.

On a typical office day in the winter, I often scan web cams from resorts, living vicariously on those days when I can’t be on the snow myself. Now that the coronavirus pandemic has ground the winter sports season to a virtual halt, I still check out the cams, but recently I have felt more of a sense of sadness rather than excitement or anticipation of my next trip to the mountains. The absence of skiers and the stationary lifts is striking, and where fresh snow has fallen and remains untouched, the scenes are downright bizarre. Although the alpine resort options are very limited, there are many of you who still want to get your fresh air on skins, skinny skis, or snowshoes, or perhaps with your grandchildren on a sledding hill, and it is for you that I present this week’s weather discussion.

The winter pattern has shown a great reluctance to change from a dominant western trough/southeastern ridge configuration, which has led to abundant western snows and a struggle for snow lovers in the Midwest and East. For the past two weeks, there have been signs of change in the Pacific that correlate to colder than normal weather spreading into the eastern half of the country and that change makes sense based on the change of seasons. You see, as we head toward spring, the distance between jet stream features shortens as the available supply of cold air in the hemisphere starts its seasonal decrease. If you think of that cold air as one large puddle in the heart of winter, it becomes smaller puddles as the overall supply dwindles. Each winter trough requires a cold pool aloft to exist, but with less cold air around, those features tend to be smaller than a month or two ago. So, rather than have two large features covering the continent, there is room for three, or even four from the eastern Pacific to the East coast. It is possible to have a western trough AND an eastern trough with shorter wavelengths. This jet stream forecast for next Tuesday illustrates that setup.

Not only is there a deep trough off the West coast, which will deliver another significant snowfall to the Sierra, Cascades, and northern Rockies, but there is a departing trough over the Northeast. In addition, the ripple in the flow over the Plains is another package of energy that could turn into a deeper eastern trough and potential snow producer by late next week because it could become stronger as it moves into the East.

Looking further down the road into early April, there are conflicting signs as to whether or not the jet stream flow will tap any appreciable amount of cold air to sustain what is left of the season. The transitional months are easily the most difficult time to forecast. Judging the battle between the retreating cold and advancing spring warmth is a handful, and there are signs that the pattern will revert to one that is milder than normal over the East while the West continues in more of a wintry setup. I still think that the shorter wavelengths will deliver cold shots and late opportunities for snow to the Midwest and East, at least up until Easter weekend.

Here Are The Regional Details.

Northwest U.S./western Canada: Quiet weekend with systems from Alaska moving into the region next week, leading to a snowy period overall.

Sierra: Dry weekend with snows returning to region next week as an upper trough slides down the coast. Only issue is that if trough hugs the coast, snow levels will rise.

Northern Rockies: Sunny weekend. Coastal Pacific system will bring snow to the region by Tuesday and Wednesday…another system arrives next weekend.

Central and southern Rockies: Southern branch of jet stream has brought this area snow over the past two weeks, but it will be rather quiet for the next week. Nothing more than a little light snow at times.

Midwest: Late week snow will refresh surfaces across the north. Nice weather for the weekend. Next opportunity for snow late next week.

Northeast/Quebec: Chilly, dry weekend. No major storms next week, but an early week southern system could bring late snow to the northern mid-Atlantic areas. Overnight lows help preserve snow most nights.

seniorsskiing

This Week In SeniorsSkiing.com (Mar. 13)

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Pivoting To Spring, New Mexico Resorts, Luxury Vermont Inn, Mystery Gondola, Weather Man Predicts.

We have several reports that spring-like skiing is happening at the higher elevation resorts in the Northeast. A few bluebird days, corduroy trails.  Ahh.  We are jealous because…we are in Florida. Such are the vicissitudes of family life.  We plan to get back for a final turn or two when we return next week. Let’s hope the base holds for another few weeks.  Hope so because it was 73 degrees when we departed Boston.  As the Skiing Weatherman Herb Stevens reports in this week’s prediction, there might be lots of snow at Easter time.

Incidentally, now is the time for buying next season’s pass.  Both Ikon and Epic have new configurations of passes, and you can get a pass to fit your winter sports cadence. Finally there are reasonably priced mid-week passes that are real bargains. 

Click here to see the 2020-21 Epic passes.

Click here to see the 2020-21 Ikon passes

Wear your green next week. Happy Paddy’s Day. Is he still a saint?

Speaking of next week, Happy St. Patrick’s Day! We know it is an unofficial way to transition into spring skiing mode, and some resorts really do it up.  Brodie Mountain in western Massachusetts used to be the archetype.  Now, green beer and snow are popping up from coast to coast and into Canada and beyond.

And speaking again of next week, we anticipate sending the final premiums from SeniorsSkiing.com’s recent fund raiser.  We ran out of labels, stickers, tote bags, cards all at once, and when they arrive we will get back to stuffing and addressing envelopes.

Thank you again for your support and for the many positive messages you sent in your donations.  Frankly, your support makes the challenge of producing a weekly online magazine for senior snow sports enthusiasts a little easier.

This Week

70+ Ski Club group photo. The club ventures to US, European, and this year, New Zealand resorts. Credit: 70+ Ski Club

Harriet Wallis catches up with the 70+Ski Club as they visit several Utah resorts. What a wonderful group of senior skiers who find new friends and new adventures throughout the season and beyond. We’re often asked by readers where they can find seniors to ski with.  The 70+ Ski Club is definitely a place to start. P.S. If you’re not quite 70 yet, you can be a “member in training.”

Contributor Bob Margulis offers his advice on safety in the mountains with this matra, “What can go wrong?” His advice makes sense whether you are backcountry skiing, snowshoeing, skiing, rock climbing, or even cycling. Interesting gear and tips from an experienced mountain man. 

Angel Fire has some two mile runs, and best of all 70-75 seniors pay $29, 75+ pay zero. Credit: Angel Fire

Veteran correspondent Mike Roth reports on his venture to three New Mexico resorts, comparing conditions and trails to his home base in upstate New York and New England.  Interesting differences.

Correspondent Tamsin Venn stayed at a very classy, year round resort at Stowe.  Check out her story on the Topnotch Resort and Spa. Good timing, too, because rates are dropping as we move along into spring. 

Our Mystery Glimpse features an early photo of a gondola in a western state.  Can you guess?  Thanks to the Colorado Snowsports Museum for the photo.  And yes, indeed, that was Cannon Mountain from the air. 

Our stalwart Skiing Weatherman Herb Stevens tells us what to expect as the official start of spring approaches. It looks like more snow to come and perhaps a snowy Easter.  Did you know meteorological spring started on March 1?  Missed it, didn’t you?

Thanks again for reading SeniorsSkiing.com and for your ongoing support.  Please tell your friends about us and remember, there are more of us every day and we aren’t going away.

 

 

 

 

Harriet Wallis

70+ Ski Club: Ski Trips, Fun, And Camaraderie

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You Are Never Too Old To Be Young.

70+ Ski Club group photo. The club ventures to US, European, and this year, New Zealand resorts. Credit: 70+ Ski Club

Ski clubs have been around ever since people strapped skis on for fun. But the 70+ Ski Club has a unique niche. It’s the only ski club for skiers – and boarders – who are at least 70 years old. 

People often give up skiing when their spouse passes away or when they simply run out of friends to ski with. The 70+ Ski Club fills the need and serves up week long ski trips and also short events so skiers can make new friends and find new ski buddies.

Red and Jim: Newfound friends become new ski buddies. Credit: Harriet Wallis

This winter, the Club’s week-long international trips included the French Alps, Vermont’s Okemo, Big Sky, Banff/Lake Louise, and Utah, where they skied a different resort every day. And the season isn’t over when the snow melts here. The Club is scheduled to go down under to ski New Zealand this summer.

There are shorter jaunts and day events especially in the Mid-West and New England. While the mountains might not be as big, the game is on with new trails to explore, ski clinics, race clinics, good natured events, and apres ski parties.

At a time when our doctors are urging us to be active, the 70+ Club members already have the message. They continue to be active skiers and they engage in living life to the fullest. Becoming 70 is just the beginning. Many members are in their 80s and 90s and even a few at 100. As the saying goes: “You’re never too old to be young.”

The Club was launched 43 years ago, in 1977, by Lloyd Lambert, an enthusiastic and accomplished skier and patroller who saw the need to keep skiers skiing as they grew older. He urged ski resorts to give discounts to older skiers. And he helped turn the tide from skiing being a sport for the adventurous young into a lifelong sport for all. The Club started with 37 members and has grown to 3,000 members.

Today, grandson Richard Lambert heads the Club and plans the trips. He gets universal praise for his thoughtful preparation and well organized trips.

I asked very modest Richard to say something about the Club for this story. Instead, he sent a note he received from skier who met some of the 70+ers.

It said: “Met several of your members and would love to be part of this amazing group. I vow not to adapt to a sedentary lifestyle and this group is an inspiration. I plan to wear out, not rust out. The enthusiasm of the group is contagious.”

Membership includes a distinctive 70+ (or 80+, 90+, or 100+) jacket patch, a helmet decal, a lapel pin, a list of ski areas that offer seniors free or discounted skiing, a twice annual newsletter, and a membership card. All for $15.

Are you old enough to be a 70+ Ski Club member?

Not quite 70? Check the website for details on becoming a 70+ Ski Club member-in-training.

70+ Ski Club members Sandra, Red, and 102 year old George Jedenoff. Credit: Harriet Wallis

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Bob Margulis

My Personal Skiing Safety Primer

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To stay safe, all older skiers should prepare themselves for what might go wrong. I call this a “safety mindset,” and it’s kept me safe in more than 40- years of rock climbing, mountaineering and skiing.

Part of that preparation is answering these questions: 

  • What should I wear to protect myself?
  • How will I be found?
  • What are the most common dangers and how can I survive them?
  • What skills/knowledge/training do I need?

What should I wear to protect myself?

Wear a helmet and make sure it is securely fastened. If your helmet isn’t adjusted properly and snugly attached it might not do much good. I check the helmet strap frequently. About half the time it needs adjustment. If you’re using an old helmet or one with a damaged shell, replace it with one of the modern impact distributing technologies like MIPS (Multi-directional Impact Protection System).

How will I be found?

When skiing I always carry a Fox 40 whistle. If you’re skiing inbounds, a series of three loud whistle blasts will summon help. Your phone, also is useful, assuming there’s a signal and juice. Make sure 1) it’s fully charged at the start of the day, 2) the area’s number is in your “Contacts”, and 3) you have a GPS app that will give your coordinates for when you call patrol. To keep the battery from draining, I keep my phone warm on a neck lanyard between base layer and mid-layer fleece. 

Several ski clothing companies incorporate RECCO reflectors into their products. It can help rescuers find you. If RECCO is not built in to your parka or pants, Marmot makes a RECCO belt.

I also carry a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB). Mine is a McMurdo FastFind 220. About the size of a pack of cigarettes, it cost a couple of hundred bucks, is waterproof, requires no annual fee, and has a 6-year battery life. It gets registered with NOAA and, when activated, broadcasts a signal to the same rescue network used when commercial planes crash. It’s not to be used frivolously, but when it is, rescue will be on its way.

 

What are the most common dangers and how can I survive them?

In addition to avoid being hit by others or losing control, I try to avoid tree wells and avalanches; just a few of conditions that can lead to suffocation and/or hypothermia.

When skiing powder in the trees, I wear a Black Diamond AvaLung Sling. If I were stuck in a tree well, it would help me extract air from the surrounding snowpack and divert exhaled CO2 away from my head. It costs $130 and weighs 9 ounces. 

Hypothermia occurs more frequently in seniors and twice as often in men. When it’s cold the body reduces blood flow to the extremities in order to keep sending it to the brain and key organs. I use glove warmers and boot cozies to keep hands and feet warm.

Helmets help prevent heat loss from the scalp but if there’s exposed skin on your neck, body heat will be lost there. Neck gaitors are a good preventative.

What skills/knowledge/training do I need?

The answer to that question depends on your level of on-snow engagement. If you’re a resort skier, knowing and following the responsible skier’s code and being hypersensitive at trail intersections and to the people around you may be sufficient. A step up would be basic first aid and CPR training. If you’re spending time in the backcountry, take a Wilderness First Aid course (REI offers several 2-day courses) and investigate educational offerings from the American Institute for Avalanche Research & Education. 

Herb Stevens

Skiing Weatherman: Out Like A Lion

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March Won’t Be Ending Spring-like.

Although I had good intentions, I must confess that I did not get on the snow in the past week.  65 degree temperatures here in Rhode Island early this week didn’t help to inspire, for sure.  Much of the East has had a frustrating season, due to a lack of cold and snow, but the evolving pattern over the next several weeks is not going to please those ready to turn their backs on winter.  The pattern is going to change to one that delivers cold and snow into the country, first into the West but also to the East, where the colder pattern will persist for a longer spell than we have seen since early winter.  That is great news if you have plans to ski or ride Easter weekend!

In the short term, a massive high pressure center is going to deliver a seasonably cold weekend to the resorts in the Great Lakes and East.  In the West, the best news is that the Tahoe area is going to receive heavy snow during the second half of this weekend into early next week.  After a largely snow-free February, some lighter snow has fallen the past two weekends in the central Sierra but this event will deliver the load that the resorts really need.  Amounts will range from 1 to 2.5 feet with this storm.  Snow is headed for the northern Rockies this weekend, too, as this surface map from Sunday morning illustrates. 

 

Next week will turn milder again in the East, but not to the extent that we saw earlier this week.  The coastal system that impacts the Sierra this weekend will continue to rotate southeastward during the first half of next week, bringing snows to the southern Rockies.  While the upper level trough that produces that snow favors the West, an upper ridge over the East will keep it mild and deflect a storm up through the Great Lakes late in the week, and that track will be unfavorable for snow in the East.

Help is on the way to the East, though, in a classic case of “better late than never”.  Changes are underway in the Pacific in terms of the location of ridges and troughs, and we will soon see a configuration that has been rare this winter.  An upper ridge will set up shop over Alaska, with a trough south of that spot.   Here is forecast for the 22nd that illustrates the position of that ridge.

In addition to the strong ridge sitting over Alaska, notice the trough extending down from the southern flank of the polar vortex all the way to southern California…that will continue to benefit parts of the West.  With a clockwise flow around the ridge and a counterclockwise flow around the trough, you can see how the air will be directed from the Yukon into the northern Plains and then eastward through the Great Lakes.  As the trough presses eastward, it will spread the cold air into the East for the final week of the month and likely beyond.  The season will roll along in the West, while in the East, don’t despair, a solid shot of cold and snow will set things up for some nice Easter sliding.

Here Are The Regional Details    

Northwest U.S./western Canada:  Light to moderate snow this weekend followed by several dry days next week.  Light snows return Thursday, followed by a more substantial weekend storm.       

Sierra:  Good sized storm this weekend, the biggest since January.  Next weekend looks promising, too.  Longer term, eastern Pacific trough development will bring additional snows into April.             

Northern Rockies:  Moderate to heavy snow this weekend, light snows continue early in the week.  Next shot at snow later next weekend.  

Central and southern Rockies: Light to moderate snow this weekend, another shot at significant snow Tuesday as southern branch systems moves toward Four Corners.      

Midwest:  Nice weekend on the slopes.  Light precip early next week, snow across north, rain south.  Developing colder pattern will help sustain the season late month/early April.               

Northeast/Quebec:  Seasonably cold, dry weekend.  Milder next week, not so much for northern New York and New England.  Pattern change will make Easter viable for skiing, riding.     

seniorsskiing

This Week In SeniorsSkiing.com (Mar.6)

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We Get Letters, Alpine Backcountry Primer, Frost’s Funny Poem, History Dartmouth Skiway, Big Green Machine, Collision Video, Guess Aerial Photo Of Resort, Weather Ahead.

Dear Readers:

Our 2020 SeniorsSkiing.com February Fundraiser is officially over, however, the donation page will remain open. We are overwhelmed by the response from so many of you.  Your contributions will go a long way in helping defray the expenses incurred in putting out an online magazine, an expense that grows as our subscriber base grows.

Throughout the month, we’ve been getting emails and snail mails with notes from you that are incredibly sustaining to us. We are proud to have provided a forum for seniors’ interests in the snow sports world and even in the active senior world. Frankly, your validation about what we are doing feels darn good. Here’s a sample of comments:

From Lynn and Alice:

Hope you got my donation last week.  I just cannot believe that you have 20,000 subscribers!! [Editor Note: Not there quite yet. We anticipate that number by the end of the season.] And, here, I thought that I was one of very few 74 year old women who get so overly excited when they see an untouched glade on the mountain!  😍

Soon, you will outdo the printed ski mags—once so popular and so celebrated—but who now are sadly R.I.P. I did say to my sister about 20 years ago, “Somehow I can’t imagine us not wanting to still be riding these chair lifts in a quarter of a century! And I just know that the ‘Free Lift Pass for over-65’ will have climbed to ‘over-90’.  Such is life!  At this rate, she and I will NEVER make it to a ‘Free Lift Pass’  It’s the ‘Jedenoff Gang’, who will be the Spoilers for us!!  Long may they reign and ski!

Your newsletter—seriously—is far more informative (and funny) than those “resting giants”—the old ski mags—had come to be by the time they met their demise.

You all do a wonderful job and, believe me, we all appreciate it!

From Bruce:

Your reports motivate me to keep working and skiing.

From Kate:

Love what you are doing, love the tote.

From Gail and Tom:

Really enjoy SeniorsSkiing. We ski for free at Alta now.

From Marilyn:

Keep up the good writing and work!

From Richard:

If you ever venture up to Maine to ski, give me a call.

From Bruce and Mary Lou:

We read almost everything published in SeniorsSkiing and I think we get more value from your publication than we do from our Ski Magazine subscription.  Keep up the good writing!  We’ll see you out on the slopes some day.

Thank you, dear readers.  We are touched. Premiums are being sent out over the next couple of weeks.

This Week

Backcountry skiing is different, requires planning and gear. Credit: Bolton Valley

Correspondent Tamsin Venn introduces us to a relatively new snow sport: Alpine Backcountry skiing. It requires new equipment, preparation, and planning.  Her article tells you what to do and not do when you go off piste.  Her report comes from Bolton Valley’s Alpine Backcountry area.

Our Snow In Literature series features a Robert Frost poem that highlights the mischievous nature of the month of March. You’ll get a laugh at the last line. Kind of unusual for Robert.

Correspondent Roger Lohr shows us what its like to ski the famous, venerable Dartmouth Skiway. This area is one of the early venues for skiing and the long-time training site for many ski teams. Check out the green-colored lodge.  It is Dartmouth, after all.

Speaking of green, snow machines are also going green.  Here’s a report from Harriet Wallis about the new PistenBully hybrid snow groomer at Alta. Many ski resorts are making investments in green, sustainable energy sources. Expect to hear about more machines like this at ski resorts in the future.

Skier hits boarder from behind. We have a new Incidents & Accidents report from reader Randall White who shows us a video of his collision with a snowboarder.  Now, that’s a complete reversal of the kind of incidents we’ve been reporting.  Find out why the collision happened. Randall did a great job analyzing the conditions that led to the impact.

Yes, indeed, it was Lucille Ball at the Mittersill Alpine Resort in last week’s Mystery Glimpse. This week we have an aerial photograph of a notable ski area. Can you guess which one? Not easy.

Finally, Herb Stevens, our Skiing Weatherman, tells us what to expect in next week’s weather. Spring is coming, but there’s still lots of activity in the atmosphere.

Once again, thank you so much for your support. And, tell your friends about SeniorsSkiing.com. Remember, there are more of us every day, and we aren’t going away.

 

 

Herb Stevens

Skiing Weatherman: Cold Air Scarce In The East

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What’s The Matter With The Polar Vortex?

The past week brought light to moderate snows to much of the West, including some much needed snow in the Sierra, a region that has missed out on storms for much of this winter. A three-day storm last weekend was very productive from the snow belt areas downwind of the Great Lakes through the higher peaks of northern New York and northern New England. Stowe, Smuggler’s Notch, and Jay Peak in Vermont were the lottery winners, with over three feet of snow piling up. A good friend and Stowe skier told me that every turn in the woods last Saturday produced a “face shot” of powder! My favorite resort in the world, Mont Sutton in Quebec, just over the border from Jay, had a three foot dump, as well, and their phenomenal “su bois” (glade) skiing was the best of the season.

While most of the West has enjoyed frequent snows through the heart of the winter, the eastern half of the country has had trouble lining up storms on favorable tracks, and snowmaking temps have been spotty, especially south of I-90. There have been several major snows across the far north, and at elevation, but even in those areas, mixed precip events have also passed through. The main problem has been pretty simple: a lack of deep cold air masses AND a lack of staying power of the cold air that managed to push south. In this piece, I thought I would touch on the reasons why cold air has been hard to come by this winter.

For most of the season, a low pressure center at the upper levels of the atmosphere has been sitting over the western portions of the Arctic. The Polar Vortex typically meanders around the high latitudes, and occasionally weakens and breaks down, and that is when chunks of very cold air migrate southward into the mid-latitudes, often supporting snowstorms in the process. Occasionally, the vortex moves bodily southward, and that is when we see the coldest air reach the U.S. This winter, the PV has been remarkably persistent in its size and position, and that has greatly limited the amount of available cold air. Here is a map of the jet stream showing the current PV.

So, cold air has been scarce and when it has managed to find the eastern half of the country, it has seldom lasted more than a couple of days before milder air returned. The lack of staying power is related to the lack of a blocking pattern over the North Atlantic. A high pressure ridge over Greenland does a nice job of buckling the jet stream over the U.S. in winter, allowing cold air masses to hang around and help produce multiple snow events. That ridge has been missing much of the winter, resulting in a flat jet stream flow across the country, which has tapped milder Pacific air and pumped it into the pattern. Here is a diagram to illustrate.

Notice there’s a low pressure center near Greenland, not the usual high pressure ridge. The counter-clockwise circulation around that feature helps sweep any cold off the east coast and out to sea. There are signs that the flow may be buckling more from mid-month on, which would help generate late snows and sustain the eastern season into April. We shall see.

Here Are The Regional Details.

Northwest U.S./western Canada: Trough offshore brings moderate to heavy snow into next week. After a couple of dry days, a stronger trough comes ashore with heavy snow later next week. The epic season continues.

Sierra: Trough digs down the coast from the NW over the weekend, producing light to moderate snows. Dry early next week, with southern branch trough moving inland late next week, bringing significant snow to the southern Sierra.

Northern Rockies: Weakening troughs produces light snow over the weekend into early next week. Next shot at major snow late next week from northern branch system.

Central and southern Rockies: Ridge aloft early with mild temps. Light snow later this weekend. Next significant storm late next week.

Midwest: Mild weekend with surfaces softening.   Lower Lakes looking at potential snow event later next week. No lake effect events in next week.

Northeast/Quebec: Nice weekend on the slopes. Next potential storm mid to late next week, likely another elevation event.

Frost Image
seniorsskiing

Snow In Literature: “A Boundless Moment”

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By Robert Frost (1923)

He halted in the wind, and — what was that
Far in the maples, pale, but not a ghost?
He stood there bringing March against his thought,
And yet too ready to believe the most.

“Oh, that’s the Paradise-in-bloom,” I said;
And truly it was fair enough for flowers
had we but in us to assume in March
Such white luxuriance of May for ours.

We stood a moment so in a strange world,
Myself as one his own pretense deceives;
And then I said the truth (and we moved on).
A young beech clinging to its last year’s leaves.

[Thanks to the Robert Frost Facebook page for this poem.]

Harriet Wallis

There’s A Big Green Machine At A Few U.S. Resorts

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It’s More Than A Pretty Paint Job. It’s The World’s First Hybrid Snow Groomer.

Up the hill goes the PistenBully. Quietly. Credit: PistenBully

On the outside, it looks pretty much like all the others in a resort’s fleet. It has a fierce-looking blade up front, a cab in the middle, and a corduroy-making tiller behind. What’s “under the hood” makes the green groomer special.

The PistenBully 600 E+ is on the forefront of environmental kindness. It uses 20 percent less fuel, and its carbon emissions are reduced by 20 percent. In addition, there’s a major reduction in particles released. And it’s also quieter.

Those are major factors because grooming operations go on all night, every night, all season long, manicuring the snow into fresh corduroy for skiers every morning.

The green groomer is called the E+ because it makes its own electricity. That electricity powers its work-horse equipment including its tank-like tracks and its huge corduroy-making tiller. It’s a hybrid!  It’s the world’s first diesel-electric snow groomer.

Alta got one of the very first PistenBully 600 E+ in the country. “The 600 E+ is a step towards the future just as we are seeing with electric cars,” said Buck Boley, Alta’s Director of Equipment Operations. “It’s a great snowcat, and we are happy to have one.”

Other resorts that have a 600 E+ include: Bromley, Cranmore, Jiminy Peak, Park City, Heavenly, Alpine Valley, WI, and Crystal Mountain, WA.

The groomer has joystick and lots of knobs and dials. A steep learning curve. Credit: Harriet Wallis

Taking a snow groomer for a test drive and getting it delivered is more complicated than buying a new car. Alta’s came from Peterson Equipment, the regional, Utah-based PistonBully dealer that’s been in the groomer business for nearly 60 years and was named the top snow groomer dealer in North America. Alta, now in its 82nd year, has earned many awards for its environmental commitment and leadership, so its 600E+ fits right in as a strategy to reduce environmental impact.

Looking to the future, total electric groomers are being tested, but they’re not yet ready for production, said Eric Kircher, a PistenBully Trainer and Technical Advisor. Kircher is an expert who travels to resorts to teach the fine points of groomer operation.

Nitty Gritty Specs About The PistenBully 600 E+

Where Manufactured: Germany

Engine: 6-cylinder, in-line Mercedes Benz

Fuel and Tank: 73 gallons, diesel

Speed: 12 mph, continuously variable depending on the work it’s doing

Torque: Its electric motors have full torque as soon as  they start to turn at very low engine rpm.

Turning Radius: On the spot

Weight: About 10 tons

Cost: About the same as a large house.

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Incidents & Accidents: 9

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Funneled With No Place To Go.

Who: Randall White

Where: Mt St Louis, Ontario, Canada, near Toronto

What Happened: Skier-snowboarder collision at convergence and crossover of blue ski runs. These were moderate to high speed runs without any warning signs, and it was a crowded day.  See recorded GoPro video for a detailed visual account of the accident, and thoughts on improvements.

Role of Ski Patrol: Neither person was seriously injured or required transport, so Patrol not called. The protocol at this ski area is for Patrol to take a “not injured statement and signature” from people.  That is for relief of liability. 

Lessons Learned:  Read maps carefully, ski off to the side of the run in busy intersections, go slow, and watch out for fast skiers behind you. Runs with funnel points should be avoided or approached with caution.

Advice: Wear a flashing red bicycle light on your helmet aimed behind you. Choose one of very high lumens for daylight visibility.  That may help reduce the probability of rear end collisions. 

Action: Make a report to the manager of Ski Patrol, or the GM of the ski area for such hazardous conditions.  Suggest that they install metering chicanes in such locations to slow skiers down and allow for safer crossovers and merges. See video.

For Prevention:  Stay away from overcrowded ski slopes that are too close to large metropolitan areas. There are inherent hazards/accidents that while preventable, are unlikely to be corrected by the ski area operators.  

CLICK BELOW TO SEE RANDALL’S STORY AND ANALYSIS OF THE CAUSE.

 

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This Week In SeniorsSkiing.com (Feb. 28)

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What Is It With February? Trapp Family XC Tour And Beer, XC Clothing That Works, Funny Keep-Warm Tips, Safety Survey, Mystery Celeb, Doing The Chutes At DV, Weather Next Week.

“The most serious charge which can be brought against New England is not Puritanism, but February. Spring is too far away to comfort even by anticipation, and winter long ago lost the charm of novelty. This is the very three a.m. of the calendar.” Joseph Wood Krutch

“Why does February feel like one big Tuesday?” Todd Stocker

“While it is February one can taste the full joys of anticipation. Spring stands at the gate with her finger on the latch. ” Patience Strong

“February is the border between winter and spring.”   Terri Guillemets

“Good morrow, Benedick. Why, what’s the matter,
That you have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?” William Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing

“Late February, and the air’s so balmy
snowdrops and crocuses might be fooled
into early blooming. Then, the inevitable blizzard
will come, blighting our harbingers of spring,
and the numbed yards will go back undercover.” Gail Mazur, “The Idea of Florida During a Winter Thaw,” The Common, 1995

“Late February days; and now, at last,
Might you have thought that winter’s woe was past;
So fair the sky was, and so soft the air.” William Morris, “February: Bellerophon in Lycia,” The Earthly Paradise: A Poem, 1870

February is the bridge we cross over into spring.  It’s the month that hosts the mid-point of winter. You can feel the change happening in the longer hours of sunshine and the odd day that reaches far above average temperatures. To some, February’s end brings spring in the mountains, enjoying the snowpack with suntan lotion on nose and your extra layer tied around your waist or balled up in your pocket.  To others, the burning need to get in some more swings and turns gets amped up: Gotta do it now because it’s all on a downhill calendar. Take that trip out West; it’s high season.  To still others, the season’s end is just a couple of weekends away.

So, what is it with February? We’re halfway done, but there’s a whole other half ahead. Fifty percent of the season is about to unfold. And, in completely different ways than the first half. More sun, longer days, changing snow conditions. According to this season’s winter weather predictions, the forecasts were more or less on target. The West (minus California) has hit snow base records; the East continues to a be a swirl of snowy days, rain, warm temps, freezes, and repeat, exactly the “mixed, wet and wild” prediction that NOAA forecast. 

The end of February signals one more big vacation week ahead to look forward to for the season. Spring Break brings the last waltz for a lot folks who don’t live close to resorts, who live near resorts whose snow bases are thin, who have boats to uncover, tennis leagues to form, bike rides to plan.

But wait.

February might be the middle, but March, ah, March, is the impish one, the spoiler with more days to work with, more volatility in the air, more history of being mischievous. Hope for a sudden, out of nowhere and strong Nor’easter to cover every ski hill from West Virginia to Maine, and you might get your wish. Yes, we can see Spring on the horizon in February, but no one can tell what March is up to, and that’s coming up next.

This Week

Nose cone fashion statement? Credit: Harriet Wallis

We rejoin our Incidents & Accidents series with the recounting of yet another hit-from-behind story.  The lessons learned, however, might be a little more nuanced than the ones we’ve seen previously. Thanks to Arlene Condon Maginn for the report.

SeniorsSkiing.com is asking its readers to complete a survey provided by the Snowsports Safety Foundation, a non-profit that is seeking input on safety matters at ski resorts.  Please offer your perspectives and opinions; this is a good cause.  The survey is quite short, the questions are clear; shouldn’t take more than five minutes.

George and Jon at Alta.

Of all people, co-publisher Jon Weisberg bumped into the 103-year-old George Jedenoff, the legendary skier who is the senior-most senior skier of all.  Check out Jon’s story about skiing with George at Alta this week.

Correspondent Pat McCloskey rips up the notion that Deer Valley is overly intermediate. Check out his story about handling the Daly Chutes at DV.  The video is pretty cool, too.

New England-based correspondent Tamsin Venn visited the Trapp Family Lodge, toured up to a remote cabin, and returned to the Trapp Bierhall, all in one day. If you love Nordic skiing, or you want a break from Alpine, consider a cross-country vacation at either Trapp Family Lodge, or any other resort that caters to xc. For a listing of those, check out XCSkiResorts.com.

Northern VT mountain-scape on the way to the Slayton Lodge. Credit: Tamsin Venn

This week’s Mystery Glimpse is another relatively easy one.  Name the famous television celeb on a visit with her family to the Mittersill Alpine Resort, Franconia, NH.  We also reveal the name of the artist whose watercolor adorns the walls of the New England Ski Museum’s North Conway Branch.  Not a Wyeth, but sorta close.

Utah-based correspondent Harriet Wallis has some fun with her “recipes” for handling cold noses and feet.  Practical advice from some inventive senior skiers.

SeniorsSkiing.com’s cross-country editor and publisher of XCSkiResorts.com Roger Lohr offers his advice on the latest xc clothing to wear. As in, don’t wear your parka.  There’s more.

Finally, Herb Stevens checks in with his view of what’s happening in the atmosphere. As we mentioned above, you can never tell what will happen in March, and Herb has a nascent Nor’easter on his scope for the end of the first week.  Stay tuned. Click here for the outlook.

Thanks for reading SeniorsSkiing.com.  Thanks for contributing to our February Fundraiser; premiums will be going out soon.

Tell your friends about us and remember, there are more of us every day and we aren’t going away.

 

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Incidents & Accidents: 8

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It Might Be Wise To Skip That Last Run.

Who: Arlene Condon Maginn

Where: Bretton Woods, NH

What Happened: On the third day of our ski week, Bretton Woods had a two-for-one ticket day.  The crowd, still very modest, was noticeably bigger than earlier in the week.

John and I were skiing the last run of the day around 3 pm. John followed me down from the top, and, at the very bottom run out, he zoomed past me. At least three trails led into the base area, marked by a big “Slow” sign. No one was slowing in the slightest. Suddenly, a boarder crossed directly in front of me and went right over the back of John’s skis, not 15 feet away. John launched into the air without his skis and landed head first in a snow bank off the trail. The boarder also fell and lost his board.

Both John and the boarder stood up and shook themselves off. John said he saw stars and was thankful he was wearing a helmet.  The boarder also said he was okay and was very apologetic to have caused the mishap. 

I am a nurse with a recent head injury, so I was very careful to ask John several times about any symptoms, like blurred vision and headache. The boarder stayed with us while John put his skis back on. We went down the 50 or so yards to the base.  We were done for the day and headed back to the lodge.

Lesson Learned:

1. We should have asked for identification from the boarder, just for future reference. And we should have reported the incident to the resort. Later, in the lodge, we learned from an employee that there is a formal process for reporting accidents. Since we never exchanged information with the boarder, reporting didn’t seem that useful.

2. The last run of the day can often be problematic. We had fatigued muscles, slowing down our response time.  John should have curbed his enthusiasm and his speed at the bottom of his last run.

3. Skiing in crowded areas—merging trails, near the base, or where there are lessons—requires more diligence and focus on what’s going on. Clearly this is where the risk for collisions is highest.

4. As a senior—especially someone who is recovering from a head injury—I try to be very careful about injuries.  I stay in shape, stretch, wear a helmet and bright-colored parka. My lesson is to ski defensively, especially in tight places and at the end of the day. 

 

 

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Nonprofit Seeks Public Input On Ski Safety

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Support SeniorsSkiing.com by clicking here.

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Please Participate In This Short Survey From The SnowSport Safety Foundation.

[Editor Note: Daniel Gregorie, founder, SnowSport Safety Foundation, has requested the SeniorsSkiing.com publish this safety survey to its readers. We know that on-snow safety is an issue for you. Please take a minute to weigh-in on the subject by participating in this survey from the SnowSport Safety Foundation.]

Safety is a growing concern among skiers of all ages—and particularly among senior skiers. This much is evident on the pages of SeniorsSkiing.com, which has done a marvelous job highlighting the topic with excellent opinion pieces, perspectives from readers and even an original play. 

The topic is personal for me. I lost my 24-year-old daughter more than a decade ago when she fell to her death at a ski resort. What I learned in the wake of this preventable accident prompted me to create the SnowSport Safety Foundation. Since 2008, our  Foundation has been dedicated to advocating for changes to make ski resorts safer for the enjoyment of everyone. 

Our foundation is part of a new and growing coalition of organizations and individuals pushing for change in Colorado, the state that hosts the most skiers and boasts the most ski resorts. We are a growing coalition of skiers and riders of all ages, parents, grandparents, seniors, safety experts, and health care professionals concerned about safety at Colorado ski resorts. 

We are seeking the information necessary for skiers and riders to make informed choices about safety, identify and define opportunities to prevent accidents and reduce the severity of injuries, support measurable improvement in resort safety management, and enable public safety oversight.

Our coalition seeks to benefit from the variety of perspectives among readers to help shape an upcoming public support building campaign. Coalition partners created a brief survey to better understand the views and opinions of skiers and riders. 

Please Click Here To Complete A Brief Survey So The SnowSport Safety Foundation Can Benefit From Your Perspective.

Please submit responses by March 6. More information about our foundation is available at SnowSportSafety.org. 

Herb Stevens

The Skiing Weatherman: Snow West, Maybe East

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The Pattern Persists.

In the past two weeks I have enjoyed many days on the snow, and a couple of them turned out feeling like reunions with old girlfriends. First came an afternoon at West Mountain in Glens Falls, NY, where new owners and $6 million in investments have turned a sleepy hill into a dynamic mountain that embraces racing for all ages. Got my skis tuned there, and the result was phenomenal!

Then I caught Wildcat, NH on a packed powder bluebird day. The long winding cruisers loaded with natural mini-features brought back memories of cutting high school in Rhode Island for twofer days on Wednesdays. The views of Mt. Washington across the street are beyond stunning. Wildcat summit view is the best in the East, IMO.

So, where are we going with the weather the next couple of weeks? The pattern has been rather persistent for weeks on end now, with abundant snow piling up over much of the West, the exception is the central and southern Sierra, where storms of significance have been rare this winter. In the Midwest and East, “persistent” has had a different meaning with mild and cold air masses taking turns marching through every four to six days. Storm tracks have favored a “cutter” type, where the primary low center moves through the eastern Great Lakes toward the St. Lawrence River Valley. A coastal secondary storm has formed with many of the cutters, but usually quite late—south of Long Island or Cape Cod—which has helped boost snowfall totals in New Hampshire and Maine as the low center heads for the Maritimes. However, at resorts further west, in VT, NY, and PA, the cutter has been more influential and most have produced a “variety pack” in terms of precip types.

There are a number of indices that help me put together longer range forecasts, such as the SOI (Southern Oscillation Index), MJO (Madden Julian Oscillation), AO (Arctic Oscillation) and NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation). For the most part, these indices have sent mixed signals in what has turned out to be a tough winter for forecasting over the eastern half of the country. The West has been much easier: ”Snow and more snow”.

One index that has performed admirably has been the EPO (Eastern Pacific Oscillation). When it is positive, we tend to see a trough over Alaska, which helps drive moisture into the NW, which accounts for the bountiful snow, but that Pacific air is mild when it reaches the lower elevations further east. When the EPO is negative, an upper ridge pokes northward to Alaska and helps tap colder air from the Arctic regions. This forecast of the EPO telegraphs the changeable nature of the temps going forward.

Following the green line, the neutral look to start with accounts for the chill of this weekend, with the rise next week foretelling a milder spell, followed by a drop and colder weather thereafter, a sequence that mimics what we have experienced for quite a while.

The decade of the 10’s was the most active on record in terms of sizable coastal snowstorms in the East, but the first winter of the new decade has pitched a shutout to this point. That said, there are signs that the forces might conspire to bring the Northeast a late season dump during the colder dip in the EPO. Here is a look at the European forecast for the 7th of March. A man can dream can’t he?

Here Are The Regional Details

Northwest U.S./western Canada: Onshore flow from the Pacific will keep the snow coming, broken periodically by a short wavelength ridge passing through. Many powder days coming through mid-March.

Sierra: Some much needed snow is coming to this region early in the week of the 2nd. Another shot comes along about a week later.

Northern Rockies: I don’t see a whopper on the horizon, but a moderate snowfall will come along every few days in the next two weeks

Central and southern Rockies: Light to moderate snow event 3rd-5th followed by upper level ridging and bluebird skies late next week.

Midwest: Lake effect snow early in snowbelt areas. Clipper systems bring additional snow during EPO dip.

Northeast/Quebec: Back and forth temperature ride continues into mid-March. Snowfall highly storm track/elevation dependent. Some signs of coastal storm around March 6-7 starting to show up.

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This Week In SeniorsSkiing.com (Feb. 14th)

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Notes From A NH Ski Trip, Mystery Water Color, Weekly Weather, Jack Frost Senior Program, Avalanche Warning, Cal Safety Day, Againer Review, OR/SIA Show Wrap.

We’re up in Franconia, New Hampshire for the week, skiing and sort of vacationing. From this adventure, come many observations we’d like to share.

  • Stopping at the New England Ski Museum, either the new North Conway branch or at headquarters at the foot of the Cannon Mt. tram, is definitely a way to get into the skiing mood for the week.  If you are lucky, you will run into staff member Ted Laliberte at North Conway who graciously explained some exhibits and showed us United We Ski, a documentary about truly little ski hills around NH and Vermont that rely on community support and Yankee ingenuity to provide affordable skiing to local kids and families. Entrance is free, the staff helpful and friendly, the exhibits riveting.
  • Deciding to not head out to one of the local ski hills on your first day of your ski vacation because it is 1) wicked cold, 2) blowing like stink, 3) Sunday tickets are too pricey anyway is okay. Getting up late and going exploring is just fine.

Bethlehem NH artist co-op boutique.

  • Speaking of exploring, this corner of NH has a collection of antique stores from high quality to honorable junk. This is a fine alternative to spending money on lift tickets on a overly crowded, cold, and windy day.  No guilt. Check out the town of Bethlehem for starters.

Schilling Brewery is a magnet for young and old in Littleton, NH

Thayers since 1847 at the heart of Littleton, NH

  • Franconia, North Conway, Lincoln, even Bartlett are the notable ski towns around here, catering to the weekend warriors from MA, CT, and points there around, as well as the condo retirees. Go a bit farther up I-93 and you come to the old, formerly-down-at-the-heels-now-experiencing-a-renaissance town of Littleton. We were surprised to find Schilling’s, an artisan brewery and restaurant filled with young and hip people, a Main Street with artist co-ops, boutiques, vintage clothing stores, refugees from LA and NYC running interesting and inviting businesses.  Stop at the National Historic Landmark Thayers Hotel (1843) on Main Street to see the list of celebs who have stayed there in its 177 year history. Chang Thai is a restaurant on Main Street not to be missed.
  • At 2:00 pm, the base lodge at the local resort starts to clear out.  Is that our imagination? People start at 9:30-10:00 am, stop for lunch, and are gone by 2:00?

Alien abduction museum in Lincoln, NH, close to the scene of the incident.

  • In 1961, Betty and Barney Hill were driving at night on Route 3 in Lincoln, NH, close to Loon Mountain, when a bright light filled their car.  Afterward, their vivid dreams were drawn out through hypnosis, revealing, they claim, that they were abducted by aliens who experimented on their bodies and returned them to their vehicle. There’s a museum with articles, memorabilia, and videos in a gas station very close to the spot where they claim the incident started.
  • We declare Bretton Woods, NH’s largest ski resort, to also be among the most friendly to seniors. The week day walk-up ticket price for seniors is $32. Down the road, Attitash charges seniors $63 mid-week, Loon is $79-86, day-dependent, and Cannon is $60, any day for us guys. Only Waterville Valley, also just down the road, offers a $31 senior ticket on non-holiday mid-weeks.  Thank you, Bretton Woods and Waterville.  We’re going to visit WV next time.
  • The better the condition of the snow, the better skier you are. Discuss.

This Week

Ted, you do not want to meet this on your bluebird, outback ski day.

Harriet Wallis writes a strongly worded letter to her nephew Ted about the reality of avalanches and the mortal danger they represent. Last season, 25 skiers were lost to avalanches, this season, the toll is 13. This is a real and present danger. Tell your loved ones to be prepared.

SeniorsSkiing.com is always looking for resorts that offer something special to their long-time senior customers.  PA’s Jack Frost has a special, Wednesday morning program for seniors that includes lessons, lectures, and lunch does just that.  Thanks to Bill Runner for connecting us with this news story from the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader that explains how a group of senior folks can work with a resort to come up with a program that works for everyone.

Yes, Suzy Chafee was the fast-moving woman in last week’s Mystery Glimpse, and yes, she was barreling down Fountain Mt, the famous Mt. Snow attraction.  Apparently, it was a photo shoot as there are several similar shots of her. And thanks again to Peak Resort’s and its wonderful archive for the pic. This week’s photo comes from the New England Ski Museum.  You’ll probably easily guess where, but what about who the artist is.

Klaus and Jon and the SeniorsSkiing.com sticker

Co-Publisher Jon Weisberg reports on his visit to the OR/SIA Show in Denver last week and his sortie to Winter Park to demo some new skis. The two hottest new items at the show: Wearable warmers, and CBD for what ails you.

San Francisco-based SeniorsSkiing.com correspondent Rose Marie Cleese reports on Ski California’s Safety Day, featuring educational events and demonstrations up and down the state. As we are learning from looking at reports of and comments about ski accidents, safety education is an important part of reducing injury potential.  How effective that is is another story.

We publish a review of the Againer, an exoskelton-computer device that takes the pressure off knees.  Our review was pleased. Check out his report, “I Felt Like I Skied One Run Not Eight.”

Finally, the Skiing Weatherman reports on conditions for next week. There will be more storms coming along; it’s just a question of timing.

 

Thanks for reading SeniorsSkiing.com. Please tell your friends, and remember, there are more of us every day and we aren’t going away.

As of Feb 12, 2020. Thanks, Joe Durzo.

Harriet Wallis

A Letter To A Very Stupid Nephew

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Avalanches Don’t Care Who You Are; They Kill You.

Ted, you do not want to meet this on your bluebird, outback ski day. Credit: UtahOutside.com

[Author Note: I wrote this as a letter and emailed it to a college student nephew who’s experiencing his first Utah winter with lots of snow and avalanches. He thinks he’s infallible.

If you have grandkids or others who are new to snow country, you’re invited to copy and send any part of this story to them. They probably won’t get this kick in the pants anywhere else.] 

Hi Ted,

The photos of your ski adventure into the backcountry are beautiful. The ski is blue, the snow is deep, and the mountain you climbed is extremely steep. You must be very proud of yourself.

And you are lucky to be alive. You acted stupidly.  Avalanches do not play favorites.

Craig Gordon, a forecaster with the Utah Avalanche Center says backcountry skiers who get caught in an avalanche have already made three bad decisions before they get swept away and killed. Gordon’s examples include exactly the bad decisions you made.

  1. It’s a beautiful day, let’s go.
  2. It’s fresh snow. I want to ski it.
  3. We’ll be okay because my friend is going.

Your pal has 18 minutes to find you and dig you out. That’s it. Credit: Mountain Savvy

Furthermore, if you’d checked the avalanche forecast—the very first thing you should have done—you would have learned that many backcountry areas were closed and  others were under extreme avalanche danger warning. But you went anyhow.

I know that you were dead set on getting an avalanche flotation bag that you would hope to inflate and ride out an avalanche if caught in one. But absolutely no piece of equipment can compensate for stupidity.

Perhaps you equate an avalanche with a Disney World ride. Whoopee! I’m riding down an avalanche. It’s not like that. Avalanches don’t care who you are, what your college GPA is, how much you work out in the gym, or what your life’s goals are. Avalanches kill.

An avalanche doesn’t care about Mother Nature either. Avalanches snap off trees and rip up boulders. If you’re caught in an avalanche you’re pummeled with broken tree trunks, tossed around with boulders, and thrown over cliffs and buried. The snow quickly sets like concrete. You are entombed.

If you haven’t already died from blunt force trauma, you have 18 minutes to live before you die from asphyxiation from being sealed in an airless tomb. Your buddy had better know how to use his avalanche beacon, his probe and his shovel and use them furiously fast.

There is no time for your buddy to see if his cell phone works out there in the backcountry. It won’t do any good to call 911. He has to dig you out within 18 minutes. Just 18 minutes.

Avalanche burials frequently become body recoveries.

Ski patrols work to reduce the avalanche danger in-bounds, but that does not guarantee in-bound safety. But the moment you leave the in-bounds by stepping through a gate, you are totally, completely, absolutely on your own—even if your are only 10 feet out of bounds.

You were lucky this time. You did everything wrong, but you were lucky. Pull a stupid stunt like this again, and you might be dead.

Being macho won’t save your life. Take an avalanche course. Courses include field work where you dig snow pits, learn to calculate slope angles, and learn to use your avy beacon, probe and shovel. Then practice in one of the many avy beacon “parks” at ski resorts and trailheads.

Craig Gordon also says: Time your buddy while he practices in the beacon park. If he’s slow finding the buried target beacon, he’ll be slow finding you if you’re buried—so don’t go into the backcountry with him. You need to be quick and expert with your equipment.

Practice. Practice. Practice. You can’t learn to drive a car in one lesson. You can’t be proficient with your avy equipment in one lesson. Practice. Avalanches don’t give you a second chance.

An avalanche is not an amusement park ride you can race. If you try, you will lose. Credit: KUTV

Rose Marie Cleese

Slope Safety Reigned Supreme In Far West

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During the second annual Ski California Safety Day, some 15 resorts in California and Nevada held a slew of events to promote on-slope safety.

Avy dog demos were a big hit at Sierra-at-Tahoe. Credit: SkiCalifornia

On the last Saturday in January, slope safety was in the air at more than a dozen ski resorts from the Sierra Nevada range in the north to the San Bernardino mountains in the south. The occasion was the second annual Ski California Safety Day, during which Ski California, the state’s ski industry trade organization, premiered its fourth ski safety video and participating resorts held a wide range of fun and fascinating demonstrations and events to promote safety on the slopes.

According to statistics gathered by the National Ski Area Association, the 42 fatalities reported in the US during the 2018/2019 wintersports season accounted for one fatality per one million skier/snowboarder visits; the 31 reported catastrophic injuries accounted for 0.52 such injuries per one million visits. So the odds of a skier or snowboarder being killed or seriously injured on the slopes is one or 0.5 in a million, yet that is little solace for those who were injured or for the families of those who died. Surprisingly the majority of these deaths and injuries were not the result of avalanches but rather males under the age of 30 skiing or snowboarding on intermediate terrain and having collisions with other people, trees, or stationary objects, or falls on the snow surface. So on-slope safety awareness is key to making skiing and snowboarding safer for all.

NSAA is promoting three actions for skiers/boarders to keep in the forefront of their minds when they hit the slopes: 1) Always be ready and in control so you can slow down or avoid objects at any time; 2) Always be alert to what is going on around you, from other skiers to snow conditions; and 3) Plan ahead, including looking uphill when you merge onto a larger slope from a trail, being aware of blind spots, scoping out a run slowly the first time you ski or board it, and giving other skiers/boarders a wide berth. Advice to skiers and boarders is all well and good but resorts believe that leaving safety awareness to individual skiers and boarders is not enough. There is now a concerted effort underway among California and Nevada ski resorts and the Ski California association to greatly reduce these statistics, and Ski California Safety Day is a vital part of that effort.

Resorts are going an extra step, holding events where they have captive audiences that will hear the safety messages loud and clear and retain what they hear. Says Michael Reitzell, president of Ski California since 2015, “Over seven million people ski and snowboard in California and Nevada annually. While the risk of serious injury remains extremely low, we are proactive about educating wintersports participants about the importance of safety. If we can prevent just one serious injury, our extra efforts are worth it.”

A couple of ski areas came up with quite ingenious ideas to promote safety on the slopes. Kirkwood Mountain Resort, for instance, cranked up its “Bars for Bars Down” program: anyone using a chairlift restraint bar at the proper time on the resort’s Timber Creek beginner chair was handed a candy bar when getting off the chairlift. At the top of Chair 2, ski patrollers enticed people getting off the lift with hot dogs so they’d stick around and listen to an avalanche awareness talk given by the Sierra Avalanche Center and get the chance to pet some “avy dogs.” Mammoth Mountain came up with “Know the Zone,” painting a few big circles in the snow, each with a 15-foot radius and a mannequin in the middle, beneath the Broadway Express Chair, its busiest chair, to help chairlift riders visualize the optimum distance skiers and boarders should leave between each other on the slopes.

Boreal/Woodward Tahoe hosted a “Helmets Are Cool” event during which participants could decorate their helmets with various stickers and view a “Helmets Are Cool” video. Homewood Mountain Resort also focused on helmets, offering free helmet rentals all day. The resort also had ski patrollers and instructors on hand, along with Ruckus, the avy dog, at five interactive stations at the base area during the lunch hour, talking about a wide range of safety topics.

Heavenly Mountain Resort went all out with terrain park safety clinics, avalanche dog demonstrations, avalanche beacon park and backcountry preparedness beacon hunts, various ingenious raffles, and a “Helmet Head” photo booth where folks could post on social media photos of themselves wearing helmets.

Sierra-at-Tahoe had a great turnout at its avalanche dog demonstration, during which the resort’s ski patrollers talked about avalanche danger and how the dogs are trained. This was followed by a ski patroller actually being buried in the snow and “rescued” by one of the avy dogs. The patrollers also demonstrated the various safety devices available today, from beacons and whistles to AvaLungs and airbags. Northstar California followed suit with its own avalanche/rescue dog demonstration and also emulated Kirkwood with its own “Bars for Bars Down” event on selected chairlifts .

Sugar Bowl hosted an on-slope Scavenger Hunt and a poster contest for kids aged 12 and under. Squaw Valley/Alpine Meadows set up safety booths, held a raffle, and had a meet-and-greet with the ski areas’ patrol dogs. Tahoe Donner held a few demos on slope safety, and Diamond Peak offered a behind-the-scenes tour of its Village Terrain Park that included discussion of its construction, safety, maintenance, and boarder etiquette. Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe treated its guests to an “On-mountain Safety Poker Run” and free hot chocolate or coffee for anyone who reviewed the skiers’ Responsibility Code at its welcome booth.

In the Southland, Big Bear Mountain Resort went the Hollywood producer route, hosting an on-mountain Instagram story contest, in which participants had to create an Instagram story highlighting five safety items and tagging their creations with a series of hash tags. China Peak gave visitors a chance to accompany the ski patrol on its rounds, and Snow Valley Mountain Resort offered a free lift ticket to anyone who purchased a helmet at the resort’s sports shop on the 25th.

Mike Reitzell sums it all up, saying about safety, “You can never do enough for ski resort guests. We are committed to a consistent and constant effort to increase safety awareness. The resorts are all in this together; we’re not competing with each other [in this area]. As an industry, safety is at the forefront. We ultimately want to say to skiers and boarders: Come skiing; we have the safeguards in place.”

Ski Patrollers explain safety rules to kids at Sierra-at-Tahoe Safety Day. Credit: SkiCalifornia

Herb Stevens

Skiing Weatherman: Sun Spot Cycle Means Jet Stream Changes

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[Editor Note: SeniorsSkiing.com is asking our readers to contribute to support our online magazine. Yes, we have grown in the number of subscribers and advertisers. But our expenses have also grown. You can help us defray some of these expenses by helping us out with a donation.]

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The Potential Exists For “Significant” Snow Events In The Midwest and East For The Remainder Of The Winter.

In real estate, location is everything.  In skiing, TIMING is everything, and last weekend I lucked out during my three days in Stowe.  The first day, a foot of what turned out to be a 19 inch storm fell, and the skiing the following two days was wonderful.  Now, if you end up at Stowe on a weekend powder day and don’t get there before 9 a.m., you will have a traffic/parking problem…consider yourself warned.

That storm dumped on the East along a swath from western New York to the mountains of Maine, including nearby Quebec.  Once again, there wasn’t enough cold air to bring snow to the northern mid-Atlantic as the battle between modest Canadian cold and the mild air associated with a southeastern U.S. ridge continued.  That same clash of air masses will carry on through much of this month, with the upper Midwest and interior Northeast in line for frequent refreshing of surface snow.

In the West, the replacement of an Alaskan upper ridge with a trough will keep the hits coming to the mountains of B.C., WA, OR and the northern Rockies, but not for long.  Another system will spin southeastward from Alaska during the holiday weekend and it will reach the northern and central Rockies by early next week, but this shot of the jet stream on President’s Day shows a ridge poking northward into Alaska.  

That feature will allow storms (with less moisture) to continue moving through western Canada into the western U.S., but the ridge will nudge the storm track eastward, which will limit the snow in the U.S. coastal ranges.  The region of the West that could use fresh snow is the central and southern Sierra, but this jet stream change will make that a tough task for the next week, at least. 

Looking further down the road, it appears the pattern will become more changeable.  For the most part, jet stream features have been quite persistent this winter.  There have been pattern changes, but once they set up they have tended to linger longer than usual for winter, but that is quite common at the time of solar minimum.  The following chart shows you the 11 year sunspot cycle for the past 250 years and clearly shows that sunspots are scarce right now.      

Fighting the persistence associated with solar minimum is the tendency for the wavelengths between jet stream troughs and ridges to shorten during the latter stages of winter, due to the gradual shrinking of cold pools that support the troughs that lead to snow and colder weather.  So, even as a trough visits Alaska from time to time going forward, which will help shoot milder Pacific air into the pattern over the lower 48, the potential exists for significant snow events in the Midwest and East due to shorter wavelength troughs taking shape at times.  That includes those areas, generally south of I-80, where snow has been hard to come by this season.  North of I-90 in the east, the snows should keep on coming.  If you time it right, you should have a good number of powder days to choose from well into March.      

Here Are The Regional Details:      

Northwest U.S./western Canada:  Holiday weekend into early next week will be snowy, but as ridging pushes northward and toward the coast, the storm track will ease to the east.  Snows will back off for the first time in a while later next week.      

Sierra:  Offshore ridge will continue to make it difficult for storms to reach the Tahoe region.  A southern branch storm will deliver fresh snow to the southern Sierra and Southwest late next week.     

Northern Rockies:  Another Alaskan low will bring moderate to heavy snow late this weekend.  Only lighter snows will fall beyond that event for the following week. 

Central and southern Rockies:  Moderate to locally heavy snow late Sunday through Tuesday, with ridging leading to only spotty light snow later in the week.  Southern Rockies in line for snow late in the week, too. 

Midwest:  A couple of Clipper systems bring light to moderate snow to the north early next week and again late in the week.  Temps comfortable for February.             

Northeast/Quebec:  Clipper system brings light snow Sunday.  Stronger storm follows Tuesday, with snow favored north of I-90, mixed/rain to south.   Parade of storms continues for a while. 

 

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This Week In SeniorsSkiing.com (Feb. 7)

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Our Iowa Caucus Moment, Hemingway In The Voralberg, Ragged And Powder, Mystery Lady, Weather Report.

We recovered though.

Last Friday, SeniorsSkiing.com launched our Annual Fundraiser, asking you, our wonderful readership, to help defray some of the expenses that come with publishing an online magazine. Well, all went well for a few hours, and then…we went Iowa. 

A small number of our readers reported their credit cards or zip codes were being rejected. Egads! What to do? Slightly panicked, we dug around the back end of applications and called support people, finally finding a menu box that should have been unchecked was still checked. Uncheck the box, and the world is well. That bit took all day.

So, please, if you tried to donate to SeniorsSkiing.com, the only online magazine for senior snow sports enthusiasts, and you ran into our Iowa moment, please try again. 

Once again, the premiums we are offering are:

For $65 or more, you get a SeniorsSkiing.com tote bag, our top choice for the best way to keep all of your ski stuff in one, portable place, and to show your support for SeniorsSkiing.com. Made of durable, water-resistant polycanvas, it is 19.5” wide, 15” high, and expands by 7.5”. Use it to store and carry gloves, mittens, liners, hand warmers, sun screen, lip balm, extra tops and socks, a change of clothes, you name it. It has a good-sized zippered interior pocket to keep ski passes, cell phone, etc. The entire bag zips up to make a neat package for the back of the car or to carry on board. It features sturdy sewn hand straps and a clip-on nylon shoulder strap.

For $35, we’ll send you two coveted SeniorsSkiing.com sew-on patches with a bold battle cry, “Liv 2 Ski” and two SeniorsSkiing.com stickers.

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This Week

Voralberg region, Austrian Alps, was visited by Hemingway and friends.

The Voralberg, Austria

Our Snow In Literature feature publishes an excerpt from Ernest Hemingway’s famous story, The Snows Of Kilimanjaro, describing the main character’s memories of skiing in the Austria Voralberg in the 20s. Clearly, some of these fictional passages were based on Hemingway’s own sojourn is the Alps as an early adopter skier back in the day.  We originally published this article in 2014, but we’re bringing it back for our newer subscribers. You can’t beat his description of skiing down to mountain inns with a “Hi! Ho! said Rolly!” A link to the whole story is included in case you haven’t read it in a while. Have you skied the Voralberg?

Ragged Mtn, Danbury, NH, has two peaks. Credit: Ragged Mtn.

Correspondent Joan Wallen reports on Ragged Mt. a New Hampshire classic that we feel is a perfect hill for seniors.  It’s within easy driving distance from Boston, Connecticut, Maine, and has an array of do-able trails, uncrowded, relatively moderate cost, and no-frills base lodge.  What more could you want?

Credit: Thad Quimby, Peak Resorts

Our popular Mystery Glimpse feature has a picture of a dashing woman skier, heading down a slope sans chapeau, wearing a light sweater.  What’s that flag doing in the background? That’s enough of a hint for observant readers to guess where, but what about who?  Thanks to Peak Resort’s photo archives for this pic. We also reveal the identity of the ski team from last week.

Harriet Wallis updates our review of Powder Mt, the wide-spread ski area in Utah, that loves seniors so much they offer a free ticket to 75+ and a practically free season pass. How’s that, readers? That gives you access to uncrowded slopes, good snow, and classic facilities. 

Finally, we have our weekly weather prognosticator Herb Stevens, showing us that winter might be half over, but not done by far.

Thanks again for reading SeniorsSkiing.com.  Tell your friends, and remember, there are more of us every day, and we aren’t going away.

 

 

Herb Stevens

Skiing Weatherman: A Battle For The Second Half

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[Editor Note: SeniorsSkiing.com is asking our readers to contribute to support our online magazine. Yes, we have grown in the number of subscribers and advertisers. But our expenses have also grown. You can help us defray some of these expenses by helping us out with a donation.]

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Post-Ground Hog Day Winter Looks Like A Struggle Between Air Masses. The Winner Determines the Outcome Of The Season.

Over the past week, the Northwest and northern Rockies have been the overall winners in the snowfall lottery, continuing a trend that has been in place much of this winter. Over the eastern half of the country, it has been a struggle to pile up snowfalls. More often than not, storms have produced a mix of precip types because of an unfavorable storm track or simply just a lack of available cold air. This discussion is going to focus on the Midwest and East, because a battle for the outcome of the season in those regions is getting underway. What I mean by that is cold air is trying to push southward out of Canada but milder air associated with an upper ridge over the Southeast just won’t go away. While the next couple of weeks look snowy, there are signs that the ridge may push back and cause the storm track to shift northward late this month.

The day this is posted, a juicy storm is delivering heavy snow to a swath of the Northeast from upstate New York to western Maine. Further south, snow is also falling on the heels of another round of mixed precip. The dramatic thermal gradient between the contrasting air masses is responsible for the storm and if we look at the outlook for temperatures at 5,000 feet for Friday (2/7), you can see the essence of the fight.

The border between blue and green is the 32 degree line, which approximates where the rain/snow line is likely to be. The line has cut across the East, and at times the Midwest, in most storms this season, causing a wide variety of precip types and changeable conditions.

Last week I wrote about the cold that was finally asserting itself again, and it will be available for storms through at least mid-month, so I am confident that more snow will fall north of I-80 or so. Beyond that, I have some concerns about the staying power of any cold, based on whether or not the EPO, or Eastern Pacific Oscillation, will stay negative, where it is now. A negative EPO, where an upper ridge is found over Alaska with an upper trough underneath it and off the west coast, correlates with colder than normal temps over the eastern half of the country. That helps turn more water vapor into snowflakes rather than those less desirable forms of precipitation. There are signs that the EPO will trend positive later this month, with a trough returning to Alaska. That would inject milder Pacific air into the pattern which would squeeze the rain/snow line further north once again. Here is a forecast for the EPO going forward.

It is not forecast to go strongly positive, but still enough to potentially limit the push of the cold air from southern Canada. I will have more in my next post, but in the meantime, enjoy the snowy pattern unfolding from the Lakes to the Northeast.

Here Are The Regional Details

Northwest U.S./western Canada: Disturbances will slide down the coast along the eastern flank of the ridge over Alaska and deliver moderate to locally heavy snowfall every two or three days through the next week. The parade will continue into Week Two.

Sierra: Ridge offshore is “too close for comfort” in Week One as most storms are deflected to the east. Week Two looks more promising for fresh snow.

Northern Rockies:  Systems cutting southeast into the region will maintain enough moisture and power to keep the snows coming every few days Week One into Week Two/

Central and southern Rockies: The storms that hit the NW/N Rockies will produce a snowy Week One in the central Rockies. Light to moderate snows further south in NM/AZ. Week Two looks better.

Midwest: Two snowfalls north of I-80 in Week One will refresh the slopes nicely. Alberta Clippers will bring additional snow in Week Two. Packed powder to rule in most of this region.

Northeast/QB: Early storm sets things up for a nice weekend from central NY through Adirondacks, northern Greens/Whites and western Maine.  Same areas hit again later next week. Mixed precip south of these areas.

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This Week In SeniorsSkiing.com (Jan. 31)

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Annual Fundraiser Starts, John Fry, Mystery Team, DV Multi-Generationals, Weather Coming, Start Drinking.

If it’s Ground Hog Day, it must mean SeniorsSkiing.com is launching its annual fundraiser. This time around, we have three levels of premiums to consider:

  • $65: A super duper SeniorsSkiing.com tote bag, rugged and ready for ski trips, plus SeniorsSkiing.com patches and stickers.
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Why a fundraiser? The short answer is that our subscriber base and editorial projects been growing and expanding, leading to increased expenses for emailing, software licenses, web design, hosting, not to mention administrative, marketing promotion, and, yes, even postage.

A couple of years ago, we thought that SeniorsSkiing.com should be offered on a paid subscription basis. When we pressed on that idea, we realized it would be a huge hassle to manage log-ons, passwords, cyber security, customer service, and lots more, representing a whole other set of tasks that distract from editorial.  So, we adopted a fundraising model, just like National Public Radio.  We offer free access, and you can choose to support us if we are providing you with interesting, useful, and entertaining content. We hope you do.

We are in the exact middle of SeniorsSkiing.com’s sixth publishing year.  We’ve come a long way with your support and help. Thanks for making a donation.

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This Week

John Fry. Credit: SKI Magazine

We lost John Fry, a ski journalist, innovator, historian, and member of both the US and Canadian ski halls of fame.  He had just turned 90 when he passed away on vacation in Puerto Rico. Click here for a look at his long life in snow sports.

Our West Coast correspondent Rose Marie Cleese reminds us to start drinking and stretching before we head out. Lack of hydration is the bane of seniors, as our own physician once said, “Most seniors are walking around in a state of dehydration.” And tight, too. It makes sense to do wake up those hamstring and quads, too. Click here to drink up.

Correspondent Tamsin Venn recounts her trip to Deer Valley with her millennial family who dropped their “Ok Boomer” attitudes and wound up loving the resort. Here’s her report on DV.

Our Mystery Glimpse asks you to identify the members of a US Ski Team, and we reveal the previous week’s picture was the Hotel Jerome in Aspen, the venerable, silver-mining relic that had celebrities and scoundrels galore in residence. Click here to see the Mystery.

Skiing Weatherman Herb Stevens previews the second half of the season. He’s optimistic there is much more to come.  Check out his analysis here.

Thanks for reading SeniorsSkiing.com.  Tell your friends, and remember, there are more of us every day, and we aren’t going away.

 

 

 

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SeniorsSkiing.com’s Winter Fundraiser Begins

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SeniorsSkiing.com is in the middle of our sixth publishing year. We are gratified and proud that our online magazine has clearly found an audience that resonates with our editorial content and our advertisers. Our new Incidents & Accidents feature has clearly struck a nerve, and we will continue to examine how unmonitored skiers and boarders are impacting senior skiers, and what can be done to mitigate these errant resort customers. Our skilled group of international, professional correspondents bring you a variety of articles from instructional tips, equipment comments, resort reviews, personality profiles, nostalgia, and popular features like Mystery Glimpse and Ask The Expert. Our directory of those resorts that offer free or deeply discounted tickets and passes seniors is completely unique.  Our listing of ski recommendations in conjunction with Jackson Hogan’s realskier.com is a fall favorite. 

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