Short Swings!
Last week was the single deadliest avalanche week in the US since 1910. Avalanches claimed 15 lives: five in Utah, four in Colorado, three in Alaska, and one each in California, Montana and New Hampshire. To date, this season, 21 people perished. According to avalanche.org, all but five of the fatalities were skiers or boarders.
Experts attribute the dangerous conditions to the thin early-season snowpack which weakened under the snow from recent storms. That, of course, has been exacerbated by the increase in backcountry skiing, some of which is the result of Covid restrictions at the resorts. An increase in any activity means many novices who are not adequately educated about what they’re getting into.
And, as we all know, there’s the element of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Bad luck.
I have several friends whose passion is backcountry skiing. They have the proper gear and know how to use it. They’ve learned how to scope out terrain and how to study snow. They know what they’re doing. That said, one of them was caught in a terrible slide with life-altering consequences.
Whether or not you’ll ever leave the resort, this first-rate 15-minute orientation film from avalanche.org is worth watching.
Sun Valley Expansion
Sun Valley has added 380 acres of expert terrain. Called Sunrise, it’s served by the new Broadway detachable quad. It replaces the Cold Springs chair, until recently the resort’s oldest. Click on the image to learn more.
Lower Covid Risk on Ventilated Gondolas
Swiss researcher measures gondola’s air volume.
Risk of Covid during a 12-minute gondola ride is 1000 times less risky than a dinner in a closed room with eight people. That, according to scientists at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology. Personally, I prefer gondola rides to good terrain far more than restaurants with good terrine.
History of the Chairlift
Early Sun Valley chair
James Curran, who never skied a day in life, invented the chairlift at the request of Averell Harriman who was developing Sun Valley. This article in the current issue of Smithsonian Magazine tells the story of the chair and other lifts. It’s good reading.
Generous Discount for Readers
I’ve reported on a few of the Biofit 360 CBD products. The company’s Deep Sleep CBD drops is the first product — Rx or OTC — to give my wife a full, uninterrupted night of sleep without side effects. It is exceptional. I’ve used its Relief CBD Cream as an alternative to OTC pills, and it really does the job. Now, Biofit is offering SeniorsSkiing.com readers a 20% discount. To enjoy this benefit, click on the Biofit 360 ad on the right of the screen, shop, and enter SKIING in the discount code field when checking out,
90,000+ Vertical in One Day
Jonathan Boblitt
Jonathan Boblitt skied 90,073 vertical feet at Beaver Creek (CO) on January 26. According to Vail News, he was inspired by his late grandfather who told him a good day of skiing is when he could get it down to 10 cents a run. Boblitt did 39 laps on the Birds of Prey lift. Those and the runs he took to reach Birds of Prey helped him get to 90,000 vert. Congratulations, Jonathan!
Kai Jones Skis Targhee
This two-minute video of 13-year old Kai Jones at Grand Targhee brought a big smile. Targhee is a powder magnet and a joy to ski. Watching this kid make his way down slopes, over cliff bands and through the park is a lot of fun.
We Appreciate Your Support
This is a brief thank you to readers who, over the past week, donated to SeniorsSkiing.com. You will be receiving a mailing with stickers. And, if you contributed $50. or more, you will receive the terrific BBQ apron specially imprinted with the vintage skier woodcut (see below). We’re encouraging readers to make a minimum gift of $10 to help defray the cost of publishing SeniorsSkiing.com. To participate, please click here. The fund-raiser will last through February.
Please, Take A Run For Me
I’ll be in the hospital and out of commission for a while. The coming months will require effort, grit and good luck. For the majority of SeniorsSkiing.com readers blessed with good health or who have gotten through rough periods, I hope you remain well. For those facing health issues, I hope you get better soon.
Because of this situation, it will be some time before I get back to writing Short Swings!
For each of you fortunate enough to be on the slopes this weird (now, snowy) season, I ask this favor: Next time you’re on the hill, please, take a run for me.
Multiple feet of new snow are falling on existing bases on both continents. That combination creates an unstable snowpack and brings extremely serious avalanche risk. In fact, seven deaths have already occurred in the last week both in North American and Europe from avalanches,
Finally, we re-cue our explanation of why our readers sometimes have to re-enter their names and emails. We do this because we have a lot of new readers who may not know how our no-password access to Subscriber-Only Content works. We also do this to stem some of the nasty-grams we get from some frustrated readers who are not shy about letting us know about their frustrations and what they think of our so-and-so online magazine. So, to those people, we say: Be nice. There are reasons you are having these re-entry issues. 
January is Learn To Ski And Snowboard Month. Bring a friend to your favorite resort. There are 140 ski resorts offering nearly 300 special learn-to-ski programs this month. In fact, some resorts are celebrating Learn To Ski month with celebrations on January 11th.