Tag Archive for: senior skier

Tamsin Venn

Trapp Family Lodge: Some Favorite Nordic Things

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A Ski Tour At The Legendary Resort Winds Up With Craft Beer.

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

One of our favorite things to do at the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, VT, is to ski up to Slayton Pasture Cabin, a three-mile steady climb.

The rewards are a screaming yippee-inducing downhill and a cozy cabin with a roaring fire, friendly fellow skiers, and hot chocolate, soup, and sandwiches.

The pasture is named after the farming family that once owned this hill-top acreage, a corner of the gorgeous 2,600 acres of rolling hills and meadows owned by the Trapp Family Lodge.

On a recent crisp mid-February day with new snowfall, nature presented a perfect Vermont day, sun shining through the trees, and impeccably groomed tracks. Every senior who likes to Nordic ski should do this trip.

Sam von Trapp, scion of the famous singing family, leads the tour up to Slayton Pasture Cabin. Credit: Tamsin Venn

Our guide was Sam von Trapp, son of Johannes, youngest of the singing family’s siblings. Sam exudes enthusiasm—for the trails, his family’s business, land, guests, Nordic guides, and epic ski races. He actually waited for us to catch up, then told entertaining stories while we caught our breath.

It was Johannes armed with a masters’ degree from the Yale Forestry School and, with the aide of a Norwegian XC director from Oslo who cut the lovely rolling loops through the woods and fields, created the first commercial Nordic center in the country in 1968.

We reached the cabin via Yerrick’s Yodel to the newly named Hissy Fit trail to Chris’ Run. The sign that marks the half way point to the cabin has been removed for motivational reasons. The official record time from the Outdoor Center to the cabin is 17 minutes 11 seconds, according to von Trapp.

On the way down, follow Haul Road, Chute Bypass, Triple Bypass, cross Luce Hill Road, to Luce Trail, to Lager Lane, and you have arrived. At the Bierhall!

Here the spacious setting offers Austrian fare for lunch and dinner. Dishes like the chicken schnitzel and the Johannesburger, made from the Trapps’ own grass-fed beef await. We sampled the new Berliner Weissbier “test batch,” just out of the brewery. It’s going to market later this month.

Sam and Johannes at the brewery. Beer and XC skiing make a natural combo. Credit: Tamsin Venn

Ever the visionary, Johannes started the brewery in 2010, when the craft beer movement was gaining froth. The goal was to brew crisp, clean craft lagers like the ones the family tasted on trips back to Austria. First opened in a retro-fitted bakery on the property, the brand new 36,000-square-foot brewery that you see today followed, so positive was the response.

A shuttle will take you back to the Outdoor Center. Just ask the host at the Bierhall to request the ride. If you still have some energy left snowshoe the red trail up to the Stone Chapel that Werner von Trapp built. Snowshoeing is increasingly popular here with dedicated trails, another favorite thing.

The facts: 100 km of XC, snowshoe, and backcountry trails on more than 2,500 acres. 36 miles are groomed,

Passes: Senior day $20. Senior Ski Season (65 plus) $185. Senior couples $300.

If you energy to spare, snow shoe over to the Stone Chapel, built by Werner von Trapp. Credit: Tamsin Venn

 

 

 

historic6
seniorsskiing

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. 

 

 

mikemaginn

Mystery Glimpse: Celeb In NH

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All The Way From Television Land.

Was she a skier?

Here’s a famous television celebrity you should know if you grew up in the 50s. We took this from a picture displayed in the lobby of the venerable Mittersill Alpine Resort, Franconia, NH. We think the famous person was visiting the Baron von Pantz and his family, who built the resort in the mid-40s, modeled after his “castle” in Austria.  Enough clues.

Last Week

This is iconic Tuckerman Ravine, located across from Wildcat Ski Area in NH. There were many interesting guesses as to the artist.  We can see a little Wyeth in there.  However, this watercolor is by G. Lewis Hodgkins (1906-1972), an architect who lived in nearby North Conway. Hodgkins eventually became keeper of Ye Coach and Four Inn on Oak Street. He gave daily painting lessons that were quite popular.

He is known for his bold strokes and his ability to interpret his subjects simply and impressionistically. This water color was most like done en plein air. 

Curiously, as an architect, Hodgkins designed homes and buildings in and around the area, including the North Conway Community Center which eventually became the North Conway branch of the New England Ski Museum where this work is currently displayed.

Many thanks to the New England Ski Museum for permission to use this photo.

 

Harriet Wallis

Recipes For Toes And Nose

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Nifty Tricks For Your Feet And Schnoz.

Just three ingredients for warm feet and dry boots. Credit: Harriet Wallis

I like to get to the lodge early, meet new skiers, and visit with old friends.

Recipe for your toes

One day I met John Bridgwater and Joan Kent who travel continually to ski. They invented a way to dry their boots night after night in hotel rooms and keep them toasty warm on the drive to the mountain. They find this works better than the expensive, highly marketed systems. Here’s the boot drying recipe.

List of ingredients:

  • One inexpensive boot bag that will hold your boots side by side.
  • One heating pad that will stay on continually rather than turning itself off within a short time. They found CVS carried such a heating pad.
  • One pair of ski boots that have been worn all day.

How to do it

Put the heating pad in the bottom of the boot bag and leave it there.

At the end of the day, buckle your boots and put them side by side inside the boot bag.

When you get to the hotel – or home – unzip the boot bag and leave it open. Plug in the heating pad. You only need one outlet for this.

Then go out to dinner and enjoy the evening. Your boots are drying themselves.

“It’s a chimney effect,” said John. “The boots heat from the bottom and the moisture is driven out the top.”

And tomorrow

Unplug the heating pad and put the cord into the boot bag. Zip up the bag and the boots will stay warm on the way to the mountain.

Recipe For Your Nose

My friend Marypat Schreibman wears a nifty little nose protector. It  secures to her glasses, protects her nose from the sun, and it keeps her nose warm even on the coldest days. It’s called a “nose cone.”

So I Googled nose cone, and the internet gave me nose cones for planes and rockets. Wrong ones!

Ingredients

Marypat’s came from NozKon.  It’s made of light weight, flexible material and comes in a variety of colors and models. Some attach to goggles. As the springtime sun grows stronger, many skiers are now wearing the protector.

Or protect your beak with beko gear. Protecting noses from sun damage is an entire industry for bicycling, yard work, and water sports. How’s your nose?

Nose cone fashion statement? Credit: Harriet Wallis

Roger Lohr

X-C Skiing: What To Wear

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Don’t Wear Your Ski Parka. Choose Specialized Gear For XC.

Contemporary nordic ski togs are lightweight, warm, and more athletic looking than Alpine gear. Credit: Roger Lohr

Often on cross country (XC) ski trails, you see many of the uninitiated in clothes that just don’t work. That is, they are dressed for downhill skiing with insulated ski jackets and pants, alpine ski gloves or mittens, and ski goggles. Over-dressed on an XC trail can lead to heavy sweating, dehydration, cold, and fatigue. There is a better way.

XC skiing is a form of recreation that involves moving and thus lighter clothing is appropriate and recreational XC ski garb is versatile, functional, and fashionable, which is different than either outfits for downhill skiing or the suction suits worn by the XC ski racers seen at the Olympics.

Currently, the most popular cross country ski apparel is from companies like Craft, Daehlie, Sporthill, Swix, and others.  What is important is that the products fill a function that includes comfortably allowing movement, protection from the outdoor elements, and transporting perspiration out to keep skiers dry. Of course, skiers need to heed the weather by wearing layers (base layer underwear, pants and tops, and outerwear) and when it’s colder, more layers or thicker layers are necessary.

XC Ski Jacket and Pants

A jacket for XC skiing provides a layer to keep warm and also a way to cool off and transport perspiration away. These jackets have a mesh liner and material that is comfortable when you have to zip up the collar on a very cold day. The hood on the jacket is useful if it suddenly gets cold out on the trail. The high-hip fit keeps you warm and the zippered side pockets can be closed to avoid losing pocketed items. In some jackets the pockets have a mesh liner that allows for the skier’s heat to escape when working hard. The jacket arms might have extended cuffs, which are a nice touch to keep snow out of your gloves. The inside chest pocket has a zipper and a hole for a phone and earbuds for the times that you may want musical accompaniment on solo trail outings.

The pants for XC skiing may be light overpants with zippers along the entire length of the legs.  At the ankle there is an elastic area that may be closed with a zipper. This pant ankle set-up is a most significant aspect of the pants because it tightly fits around the boot and keeps snow out of the shoe top to avoid getting wet socks while skiing. To prevent losing a set of keys, zippered side pockets (on pants or jackets) allow a way to lock away your valuables. The base layer (also known as long underwear) is intended to provide a dry layer next to the skin but if there is lined material in the pants it may be enough to stay warm with or without a base layer underneath.

Other Aspects of the XC Ski Outfit

Base layers in various thicknesses can correlate to warm and cold days. Moving perspiration away from the body is very important and very lightweight underwear on those nice winter or spring days are the way to stay dry, but on the coldest days use a heavier or thicker base layer pants and a top that has a turtleneck.

 For your head, a light hat or headband is the way to go. Light Lycra neckies are good for your face but when it is very cold (below 15 degrees Fahrenheit) try a heavier neck gaiter like you’d wear when alpine skiing.

Socks and gloves are an entirely other matter that could be covered in a separate article. In short, parameters for selecting socks include material for perspiration, thickness, spacious comfort for your toes, and height of the sock on your leg.  Expect to pay as much as $25 for a pair of quality socks these days.

Different pairs of gloves will allow adjusting to the temperature ranging from heavier insulated mittens or two-fingered gloves for the really cold days to lightweight gloves for springtime. One of the features to consider is the patch of soft material found on the outside part of the thumb, which is useful for nose wiping.

For eyewear, opt for sunglasses rather than goggles. Sunglasses allow the air to flow while goggles tend to fog up when you get hot. Oversized glasses that have interchangeable lenses for sun or flat light are great for XC skiing.  

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.

Pat McCloskey

The Daly Chutes At Deer Valley

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Want Steep? Chute 4 Has Steep.

Chute 4 from the cornice. You ready? Credit: FeedTheHabit

Deer Valley Resort in Park City, UT has a reputation for catering to its clientele.  Aside from the great food and fabulous customer service, it pampers skiers with groomed perfection and valet service, Yet, the resort is often dismissed by hard core skiers who feel that there is nothing on the mountain that would interest them.   

To those folks I simply say, ”Go to the Daly Chutes off the Empire Express Chair.” Riding the chair, the chutes are visible to your left.  As you exit the chair to your left, you make your way down the Orion Trail until you see the signs for The Daly Bowl and then an upward climb/traverse to the cornice on top of the Daly Chutes area. 

Depending on the weather and the condition of the snow that is blown into the bowl area, the openings can be varied.  Sometimes only a few chutes (which are numbered) are open and you must choose the correct ones as you stand at the top of the windblown and steep cornice. 

Last week I chose Chute 4 twice, and, as I dropped in to the windblown snow, I immediately began a series of steep jump turns down the throat of the chute.  Coming up on an exposed rock section, I veered to the right and finished in a wide open bowl area that was strewn with debris from avalanche blasting the day before. 

After weaving through the large snow chunks and into the trees, the chicane of seldom used tight trails eventually brought me out in plain view of the Empire Lodge. 

The chutes are all skiable and if you can manage the roller coaster trail through the woods on the way over to the bowl area and eventually to the top of the cornice, you will be treated to a selection of some steep but manageable terrain that definitely quiets the naysayers. 

In addition to the challenging terrain of the Daly Bowl and Chute area, if you make your way all the way over to skier’s left of the resort, you can access the Sultan, Wasatch, and Mayflower chairs and experience some fast and steep groomers. 

The signature run is Stein’s Run named after the legendary Stein Eriksen who was the Director of Skiing at Deer Valley for many years and an Olympic and World Championship medalist.  Usually this area is quiet, and you have free rein to rip GS turns to your heart’s content,  another plus for those who think that Deer Valley is not challenging. 

All in all, a word to advanced skiers would be that although the terrain at Deer Valley does not rival Jackson Hole, Alta, or other areas with challenging expert terrain, the Daly Chutes will not bore you, and you definitely have to pay attention on your way down any of the selections. 

Don’t knock it until you have tried it.  Seniors get the benefit of a $125.00 lift ticket on certain days compared to the usual $209.00 tab.  And of course the Ikon Pass is accepted at Deer Valley.  

Check out a video trip down Chute 4 from Deer Valley.

seniorsskiing

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

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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.

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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.

 

 

mikemaginn

Mystery Glimpse: Fast Lady

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Nice Sweater, But Who Is She?

Looks like a balmy day on the snow with this speeding skier, sans cap and a big sweater.  And hmmm, that flag.  This week’s pic comes from Jamie Storrs at Peak Resorts who has opened their archives for SeniorsSkiing.com.

Credit: Thad Quimby, Peak Resorts

Last Week

Thanks again to Dana Mathios, Curator and Director of Collections, Colorado Snowsports Museum, for the description. This photo shows the 1972 U.S. Alpine Ski Team. Colorado heroes include Hank Kashiwa, Rick Chaffee, and Whit Sterling.

Hank Kashiwa was a member of the U.S. National Team from 1967 to 1972. He won the 1969 US National Championships and competed in the 1970 World Championships in Val Gardena, Italy. After racing in the 1972 Olympics in Japan, he starred in the Pro Circuit from 1972 to 1981 and won the World Pro title in 1975. He later served as President of the Volant Ski Corporation, a Boulder-based ski manufacturer. Hank was inducted into the Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame in 1994.

Other 1972 US Alpine Ski Team members included Bob Cochran, David Currier, Terry Palmer, Tyler Palmer, Karen Budge, Marilyn Cochran, Susan Corrock (placed third in Downhill), Barbara Cochran (who won the Slalom), Sandy Poulsen , and Patty Boydstun.

Joan Wallen

SeniorsSkiing Guide: Ragged Mountain

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Ragged Has All The Features Seniors Love: Great Trails, Low Crowds, Modest Prices.

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

Located less than two hours from Boston, Ragged Mountain in Danbury, NH offers skiers and boarders a wide variety of terrain from a perfect learning area for beginners to some challenging glades for the expert. It’s truly a family mountain as all trails lead back to the quintessential New England base area.

Ragged’s beginner terrain is ideal for learning. There are two carpet lifts serving very gentle terrain that provides a slope that will not threaten or frighten new skiers. From there they can progress to the Barnyard Triple serving a slope perfect for working on turns and building confidence. The whole beginner area is located off to the side of the main mountain, keeping it separate from the better, faster skiers coming off the summit.

Magic Carpet ride for beginners. Credit: Ragged Mtn.

Two high speed lifts serve the area’s two main peaks. A detachable, high speed six passenger chair, New Hampshire’s only sixpack, whisks skiers and riders to the summit of Ragged Mountain in about five minutes. A detachable quad takes about the same amount of time to reach the Spear Mountain summit. From the Ragged peak a variety of trails from easy green to black diamond wind their down. Skiers and riders are able to navigate from the summit to base on all green or all blue trails or a combination of the two. There are some shorter black diamonds on the upper mountain and a couple of top to bottom ones as well. Several steep glades connect Ragged summit to the trails on Spear. Spear Mountain has three main trails down with one called Cardigan being the easiest and longest way down. Flying Yankee is sometimes closed for racing but when open is a nice intermediate cruiser. Showboat, under the lift, is a steeper pitch and is great for what its name implies. There are half a dozen black glades on Spear, open only with natural snow but great fun when the cover is good. There are three terrain parks, including a small introductory one in the Barnyard learning area.

The area first opened in 1965 and being an older mountain, the trails are interesting and varied, from wide and open to narrow and twisting. Their grooming crew does an excellent job. Even in a challenging winter like this one all open trails have been in great shape.

The Learning Center offers the unique Bebe Wood Free Learn-to-Ski or Ride Program for beginners of all ages to be introduced to snow sports without risk to their wallet. This program – it really is free! – offers three two-hour lessons, with rental equipment and a lower mountain lift ticket for no charge. Following graduation from the program students can purchase discounted equipment and seasons passes. It’s named after long time Ragged employee Bebe Wood who worked there until she was in her nineties.

The attractive and well thought out base area is easy to navigate. There you’ll find the Elmwood Lodge, the Meetinghouse Lodge and the Guest Services building all designed with skiers in mind. The Elmwood Lodge, with its attached Red Barn, houses three restaurants. Birches features table service and an upscale menu of classic American cuisine and lovely mountain views of Ragged’s slopes. If you’re there to watch one of the races held on the Main Street trail and don’t want to stand outside, this is the spot to be. The Stone Hearth Bar, located in the Red Barn, serves up lunches and snacks as well as thirst quenching adult beverages including some new and delightful beers brewed at the Flying Goose in nearby New London. Check out the newest one—Rags to Riches. A huge stone fireplace and weekend entertainment complete the picture here. The Harvest Café is great for a quick lunch or snack with soups, sandwiches, items from the grill and more. There’s plenty of table space in the lodge and the bar’s stone fireplace extends to two floors and provides a cheerful spot to warm up.

The Meetinghouse Lodge houses the Learning Center, the rental shop and more gathering space for changing and picnic lunches.

Although a little off the beaten path, Ragged is accessible either via Interstate 89 or 93 followed by a 20- to 30-minute drive on lightly traveled secondary roads. While not the largest of mountains, its 1250’ of vertical, short lift lines and uncrowded trails reward skiers and riders with plenty of time on the hill in a relaxed atmosphere. It is well worth the trip!

Tickets And Passes

Lift Tickets: Seniors (65+-79) $62 Weekend/Holiday, $52 Midweek,  $51 Four Hour Weekend/Holiday, $45 Four-Hour Midweek, 80+ Free

Season Passes: From $349-519, All ages. Purchase of a season pass provides access to four additional resorts: Jay Peak, Pats Peak, Ski Butternut, Whaleback

Click Here For Ragged Mountain Trail Map

Click Here For Ragged Mountain Web Cam

There’s the base lodge down there. Credit: Ragged Mtn.

 

 

Powder Mountain
Harriet Wallis

Uncrowded Powder Mountain

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500 Inches Of Snow, 8,000+ Acres, And No Crowds.

Uncrowded on a holiday weekend. Powder has plenty of room. Credit: Harriet Wallis

A Mountain Host greeted us with memorable words. “The snow here is all natural. Mother Nature makes all of it,” she said. “And it’s GMO-free,” she quipped.

We skied Powder Mountain during a recent holiday weekend when other resorts near Salt Lake City were packed to the gills, “PowMow’s” trails were not only uncrowded, they were sometimes absolutely empty. It was wonderfully relaxing. I didn’t need eyes in the back of my head. Nobody was going to run over me. And there was still patches of untracked snow from a storm nearly a week earlier.

To ensure a good experience, the mountain caps adult season passes at 3,000 and daily lift tickets to 1,500. It doesn’t accept the Ikon or other multi-resort passes. Do the math. At max capacity, every skier gets about 2 acres.

Seniors 75 and older get a free lift ticket or a season pass for $20. 

Good snow, uncrowded slopes and affordable senior prices  are just part of the equation. Powder Mountain is old school. It doesn’t do glitz. That’s it’s charm. There’s even an old fashioned blackboard where the list of upcoming bands to play in the Powder Keg bar are written in colored chalk.

Powder base lodge is unpretentious. Credit: Harriet Wallis

The day lodge is modest, the bathrooms are adequate, the cafeteria tables are set in long rows so everyone eats family style and gets acquainted with whoever sits down next to them. The lodge on the summit is similar, just smaller.

Six chairlifts serve 8,464 acres that include white knuckle slopes, aspen forests, and treeless snowfields. And in old school style, there’s a Poma. It hauls skiers up a short pitch that’s a gateway to vast terrain. Riding a Poma is a skill that older skiers remember well but younger skiers struggle to learn. After a few they get to experience what the good old days of skiing were like.

We chanced to meet Bob Leaverton, a veteran ski patroller, who has skied Powder Mountain for 35+ years. His three favorite things are: “the road, the people, and the snow.”

The last several miles up to the resort are steep, and that climb often deters visitors, he said. The people are friendly, and the snow is wonderful. Take it from a local.

For adrenaline junkies, Powder Mountain offers specialty adventures: in- and out-of bounds backcountry skiing, skin & ski, snowcat, and heli-skiing.

Historically, Frederick Cobabe accumulated the vast acreage as range for his herd of sheep. His son eventually purchased the livestock company and the land and turned it into a ski resort in 1972.

It’s currently owned by private investors who are developing an upscale community of Bauhaus-style homes set in the far reaches of the resort and linked by a network of trails and lifts that sprawl across that rolling, not steep, terrain. It can take most of the day to ski a circuit all around the resort.

But if its a powder day, do what the mountain resort is named for: Ski the powder.

Yes, that’s the lift line. Where is everyone? Credit: Harriet Wallis

Herb Stevens

Skiing Weatherman: A Battle For The Second Half

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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:

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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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We’re Asking For Your Support; Contribute And Get A Cool Premium.

Patches!

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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John Fry (1930-2020)

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Journalist, Historian, Innovator, Hall of Fame Member Passes On.

[This article first appeared in Ski History Magazine. We thank the International Ski History Association for permission to reprint this memory of a ski industry legend.)

John Fry. Credit: SKI Magazine

John Fry, the dean of North American ski journalists, died suddenly but peacefully on January 24, two days after celebrating his 90th birthday

Fry was in apparent good health. According to his wife, Marlies Fry, he suffered a probable stroke while floating quietly in shallow water off a beach on Vieques Island, Puerto Rico.

Over a 60-year career devoted to ski journalism, Fry served on the staffs of the magazines SKI LIFE, SKI, Snow Country and Skiing Heritage (now Skiing History). He was editor-in-chief of SKI, founding editor of Snow Country, and served as president and then chairman of the International Skiing History Association.

“John’s love of skiing, combined with his talent for in-depth reporting and crystal writing style, set the standard for ski journalism not only in English but world-wide,” said Seth Masia, who went to work for Fry in 1974 and is today president of the International Skiing History Association. “Those of us who had the good fortune to work for him loved his wit, warmth and mentorship. He was the heart and soul of each magazine he edited and was more productive and inspiring than ever during his final years with us.”

Kathleen James, editor of Skiing History, had this to say: “In 1994, John Fry gave me my first big-time magazine job as an associate editor at Snow Country. Over the years, working for him there and later at Skiing History, he taught me how to hold every issue of every magazine to the very highest standards: to examine story ideas with a critical eye, ask authors the right questions, and artfully present the finished article on the page. At the age of 90, his comments on stories, his suggestions, and his headlines — succinct, funny, compelling — were always the very best. He was my mentor, my friend and a second father who always pushed me to be better. To my occasional frustration and eternal gratitude, he was (almost) always right.”

Fry edited America’s Ski Book, revised edition (1973), co-authored with Phil and Steve Mahre their autobiography No Hill Too Fast (1985), and authored the award-winning book The Story of Modern Skiing (2006) and a work of Canadian history, A Mind at Sea: Henry Fry and the glorious era of Quebec-built giant sailing ships (2016).

In addition to his writing, as editor-in-chief at SKI Fry created the Nations Cup of alpine skiing, ranking the worlds’ national ski teams based on World Cup points; and NASTAR (National Standard Racing), the nationwide recreational alpine racing series now owned and operated by the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association.

Born January 22, 1930 in Montreal, Canada, Fry first donned skis at age six. After a few years he was able to ride the world’s first rope tow, which had been built at Shawbridge, Quebec in 1932.  For high school, he attended Lower Canada College (class of 1947), and was a member of its championship ski team. At McGill University he raced for the Red Birds Ski Club and earned a bachelor of arts degree in 1951.

Fry emigrated to New York City in 1957 to join the daily trade paper American Metal Market, where, in 1960, he was named managing editor. Meanwhile, he freelanced as contributing editor of Ski Life, a national magazine launched in 1959, soon to be merged with SKI Magazine. In 1963 he joined the staff of SKI as executive editor, and editor of its sister publication Ski Business. In 1964 he was named editor-in-chief of SKI, and in 1969 became editorial director of SKI and Golf Magazines. After the Times Mirror Company acquired the titles in 1972, he served as editorial director of Outdoor Life, SKI and GOLF, with circulations ranging from 350,000 to 1.8 million. During this period, he created two new publications: Action Vacations and Cross-Country Ski. In 1965 he married Marlies Strillinger.

In the summer of 1987, the New York Times Co. retained Fry to create a new magazine, Snow Country. When the magazine debuted in January 1988, he became the full-time editor-in-chief. Snow Country attained a circulation of 450,000.

In 1996, the New York Times Sports/Leisure Group appointed Fry as editor of new magazine development. In this role he launched Golf Course Living Magazine. He retired from the New York Times Co. in 1999 and returned to SKI as a contributing editor. He remained an active contributor at Skiing History magazine until his death. 

Fry was elected to the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame (1995), to the Laurentian Ski Hall of Fame (2016), and to the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame (2018). A founding member of the International Skiing History Association, he first served as its president in 2001, and from 2014 until his death was the association’s chairman. He also served as a director at the environmental organizations Riverkeeper (1992-2000), Pinchot Institute for Conservation (1994-1999), and Beaver Dam Sanctuary (1995 until his death). In 1997 he was honored by the International Ski Federation (FIS) with its Journalism Award.

Fry is survived by his wife of 55 years, Marlies; their daughter Nicole Fry; his children by Ann Lyons, the sculptor Leslie Fry and William Fry; and grandchildren Sarah and Emily Fry.

A memorial will be planned later.

mikemaginn

Mystery Glimpse: Name That Team

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Here’s A Ski Team From The Past.

Can you name when? Who’s who? Thanks to the Colorado Snowsports Museum for this one.

Last Week

Well, last week’s photo was a challenge.  Not one guess. Thanks again to Dana Mathios of the Colorado Snowsports Museum for this description.

This photo was taken at The Hotel Jerome in Aspen. The photo is believed to have been taken in 1948, but some indications from the scrapbook this photo came from indicate a date as early as New Years 1939. The Jerome was built in 1889 and is often described as one of the city’s major landmarks. In 1986 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. During Prohibition a celebrated spiked drink, the Aspen Crud, was invented at “J-Bar”. Later, the drink and the bar became popular with members of the 10th Mountain Division while they trained in the area. After the war, Aspen and its new ski resort became a popular destination. Celebrities vacationed in Aspen like Gary Cooper, John Wayne, and Hunter S. Thompson.

The Hotel Jerome: If the walls could talk…Credit: Amuse

 

 

 

seniorsskiing

This Week In SeniorsSkiing.com (Jan. 24)

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Talking To Yourself, Skis Delivered, Robert Frost, New Mystery And A Correction, Weather Coming Up, Windham Mt MidWeek Seniors.

Our day trip to Attitash included at this free view of the White Mountains. Credit: Attitash.

As reported in this space, the snow weather here in New England has been sketchy once a burst of fluff in early December disappeared or turned to ice. We had a miserable melt the second weekend of January with temps in the 70s, preceded by several weeks of mediocre snow making weather. That has all changed.  Winter is in. Temps are the teens, and a Nor’easter has delivered the goods.  The MLK weekend was a huge success around here stemming from that big snow fall and snow making for most resorts, setting attendance records across the region.

White Mts in background, we conquer Attitash.

So we set out for our very first day of Alpine skiing with one of our famous day trips to New Hampshire from the Boston area. The target was Attitash, a venerable, family-friendly, classic area with very decent snowmaking, beautiful, wide trails that we like, and magnificent views of the White Mountains on a blue-bird day. Taking advantage of those post-MLK conditions, we lucked out with a low, online ticket price, an empty lodge, no lift lines, and almost “private” trails.

With new boots and new gloves, we made our first run on the beginner’s slope. We immediately started talking to ourself. “Bend zee knees.” “Inside edge.” “Toe pressure.” “Forward, forward.” “Athletic stance.” After Run One, we made another adjustment, focusing on just one self-instruction: “Edge, edge, edge”.  The psychologists call this self-instruction, providing ourselves cues that help us perform. For children who have learning difficulties, self-instruction or, more formally, cognitive mediation, provides a built in tutor who can add a helping reminder. Anyone learning a new skill can benefit from this technique.

Some models of learning call this phase “conscious competence”. We are aware we are doing something new and processing our self-instructions and actively watch the result, aka feedback.

Eventually, after many repetitions of successful performance, the need for self-instructions fades away, and we have “unconscious competence”.

We are curious if other senior skiers use this kind of self-instruction, especially when starting out the season or approaching new situations. Do you talk to yourself? What do you say? How did you learn to do that? Does it work for you? What works? What doesn’t? Have you ever had an instructor tell you to talk to yourself? Share your insights with other senior skiers. Note Comments Below.

This Week

Snowmaking is robust and widespread at Windham.

A day trip area near NYC?  Correspondent Joan Wallen describes her experience at Windham Mt, in the heart of the Catskills and just two and a half hours from the Big Apple. The resort has a special 50+ Midweek program that offers lessons, lunches, presentations, and yoga. Sounds like a nice package.

Correspondent John Nelson reports on his experience with Ski Butler, the ski delivery service that brings rental equipment to you. For those traveling to far-away resorts, the savings in airline baggage fees alone makes Ski Butler worthy of a look.

We have a nostalgic look at Moriarty hats, 60s and 70s icons of the “skier-look”.  Yes, we still have two left over from college days, and, yes, they are both over 50 years old.  And we still wear them, tiny moth holes and all.  The cognoscenti at ski places nod knowingly at us, sometimes commenting. Imagine a hat as a conversation starter. This article is a reprise from the earliest days of SeniorsSkiing.com.

We bring you another in our Snow In Literature series, again a poem by Robert Frost: “The Wood-pile”.  Speaking of wood piles, how much of yours is left?  Better be a little more than half this time of the year, say the old farmers.

Not Barb Ferries.

We add a correction to last week’s Mystery Glimpse.  The two racers were not Beth Ferries and Buddy Werner. Thanks Chuck Ferries and others for the tip.  See the correction in this week’s article and our new mystery.

As predicted, winter time weather is finally settling in. The Skiing Weatherman Herb Stevens give us the Big Picture for the next two weeks, as well as regional forecasts.

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

mikemaginn

Mystery Glimpse: Crash Pad

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CORRECTION!

Linda Meyers, not Barb Ferries.

We received several comments and emails about the identification of the woman in this recent Mystery Glimpse. The photo was provided by the Tread of Pioneers Museum, Steamboat Springs, was mis-labelled as Barb Ferries. Our observant readers saw the error and correctly identified her as Linda Meyers who also skied with Buddy Werner on the 1964 US Ski Team.  One of those who corrected us was none other than Chuck Ferries, Barb’s brother.  We notified the curator at the Tread of Pioneers Museum which is taking corrective action. Thanks readers.

 

 

Where Is This Hotel?

Thanks to the Colorado Snowsports Museum for this picture.

Last Week

Rudi Wyrsch was the self proclaimed Pied Piper of skiing and taught children not only how to ski but how to have fun on and off the snow.  From Piperville, his name for the Mt. Snow pee-wee  playground/ski school,  to his 12 foot stilts, Rudi was a master at engaging children with entertainment.  Once a member of the Swiss national team and coach of the British, Australian, and New Zealand ski teams, Rudi worked at Mount Snow in the 60’s – 70’s. After wowing the kiddies on the hill, Rudi entertained adults back in the lodge with joke-telling, magic tricks, and juggling.  

Rudi’s approach to teaching kids at Piperville revolved around three principles: 1) Balance, 2) How to turn, and 3) Self-confidence. 

Rudi conducted trick skiing stunts across New England.  Here he is performing at Pleasant Mountain, ME, home of a nascent freestyle program under Rudi. He later open a restaurant at Taos, NM. We have heard, but could not confirm, that he was killed in a “ski accident” in Switzerland.  If anyone knows that part of the story, please share it with us.

Thanks to Mt. Snow and Peak Resorts for the pic of Rudi  flipping in the top hat and to the New England Ski Museum for the photo below.

 

Herb Stevens

Skiing Weatherman: Winter Is Delivering

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Looks Like A Promising Couple Of Weeks.

It has been a terrific week of skiing and riding in most of the U.S. and Canada and I have been lucky enough to squeeze in a couple of days. Loon Mountain on Tuesday was wonderful; miles and miles of packed powder and views of the White Mountains that are hard to beat. Packed powder, sunshine, and light winds at Stratton on Thursday added up to another awesome day.

The pattern looks very promising for the next couple of weeks, but it is not without its challenges. The primary challenge arises from a jet stream development over the northeastern Pacific that quite honestly, I had not anticipated. With a sizable pool of warmer than normal water over that part of the Pacific, I expected an upper level ridge to be a persistent feature that would extend northward to Alaska. Instead, a trough is parked over Alaska and the counter clockwise circulation around it cuts off cold air from the high latitudes and pumps milder Pacific air into the southern Canada/U.S. pattern instead. Temps will be above normal over Canada for the next ten days or so as flat ridging dominates there. Does that mean that it can’t snow over the northern tier of states? Not at all, because we are at the climatologically coldest time of year. However, each storm will be a nail-biter for snow vs. rain in the Midwest, northern mid-Atlantic, and Northeast. Here is a forecast map for the jet stream across the continent for later Saturday, Jan 25, that illustrates the issues.

The trough off the west coast that stretches northward to Alaska is tapping relatively mild air and sending it into the Northwest and mountains of B.C. There is a ton of moisture available, but snow levels will be an issue in WA and OR this weekend…not so further north in B.C. The moisture will flow east and the northern and central Rockies will benefit with moderate amounts of new snow later this weekend.

 

The red shades that you see across Canada indicate the extent of the ridge that will play a major role in this weekend’s event in the Northeast. Although it is mild relative to normal over the eastern half of Canada, that air is still cold enough to support snow. Also, upper ridges support surface high pressure centers that can deliver low level cold air into the path of a storm. Just such a high will be present over Quebec this weekend and it will help produce snow in the Adirondacks, Greens, Whites, and into the mountains of Maine. Further south it will turn into more of an elevation-dependent tossup. The upper ridge will help suppress the trough you see over eastern Ohio and it will track east…favorable for the snow to the north. The upper ridge will also keep the surface low from racing out to sea, so the snow will be a 48-60 hour event. Here is a snowfall forecast map through Monday night…it is great to see that significant snow will reach southward to West Virginia resorts…they are running a little lean right now.

Longer term it looks like the same general pattern will remain in place for the next 10-14 days, with another eastern storm in the cards late next week. After that, the western ridge should poke north far enough to deliver a fresh shot of cold to the lower 48.

Here Are The Regional Details

Northwest U.S./Western Canada: B.C. will see very heavy snow this weekend. WA and OR Cascades pick up heavy “cement” as snow levels start high and slowly drop. Same general setup holds through next week.

Sierra: Snow—perhaps a foot—Saturday night/Sunday Tahoe regio. Snow levels dropping through the event. Lighter snows southern Sierra. Some light snow next week; main storm track to north.

Northern Rockies: Moderate snow will develop later this weekend from Pacific trough. Wasatch, Tetons and points north looking snowy next week.

Central and southern Rockies: Dry weekend. Light snow early next week central, just snow showers south.

Midwest: Light snow north this weekend, mixed precip WI and lower MI. Another shot at snow later next week.

Northeast/QB: Long duration light to moderate snow event this weekend, north of I-90. Elevation snow between I-80 and I-90. Snow south to WV along Appalachian spine. Another storm late next week.

John Nelson

Jeeves, Bring Me Some Skis…

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…And Boots. Ski Butler Service Takes The Schlep Out Of Ski Vacations. 

Maura Grady of Ski Butlers adjusts the bindings on Rossignol Soul 7 HD skis, one of the models the company offers. Credit: Jon Nelson

I’ve always wanted a butler. After watching all of those episodes of “Downton Abbey,” who wouldn’t?

And like the wise and efficient Carson on that popular TV show and movie, Ski Butlers offers an indispensable service, making the lives of traveling winter recreationists a whole lot easier.

Ski Butlers is a “come-to-you” ski and snowboard rental service that operates out of some of the largest markets in North America and Europe. Once you fly to a destination and check into your accommodations, Ski Butlers arrives with the gear, setting you up on site.

It’s a seamless operation.

I used the service when I flew into Salt Lake City for a four-day tour of Wasatch resorts in mid-January. The Ski Butlers team brought everything —goggles, helmet, skis, boots and poles. I had requested a high performance package and got Rossignol Soul 7 HD skis, a model I’ve been wanting to try out for a couple of years.

Your first question might be, “How did they fit your boots?”

Maura Grady of Ski Butlers brought several different pairs of boots for me, finding the right-fitting performance Rossignol boots almost immediately. I even learned something from her after finding the right pair.

“Pull the power strap tightly above the top buckle to prevent bruising on your shins,” she said.

It worked. Thank you, Carson. I mean Maura!

Once the boots were selected, Grady set the bindings, and I was good to go. The skis performed flawlessly during my tour of Alta, Snowbird, Solitude, Brighton, Snowbasin and Powder Mountain.

And let me also say this: The Soul 7s are a great ski for Utah’s amazing powder.

When it’s time to go back home, Ski Butlers picks up the gear, saving you another travel headache. All in all, it’s the easiest rental service I’ve ever used.

Ski Butlers started at Park City, Utah, in 2004, and has expanded to 50 destinations worldwide, concentrating on the Rocky Mountains and Western United States, said Nikki Bongaerts, senior content and communications manager.

The pricing for Ski Butlers depends upon the time of year, the type of package and the location, Bongaerts said, with rates going up during the busiest times of the year. She added: “Our prices are equal to or lower than the shop prices on the hill.”  

For example, base prices in Park City range between $51 per day for a “first-timer” package and $71 per day for a high performance package.

Some of the top markets for Ski Butlers are Utah, Summit County in Colorado, the Lake Tahoe area in California, Jackson Hole, Wyo., and Big Sky, Mont., Bongaerts said. Some Northeastern U.S. destinations may be added in the future, she added, depending upon demand.  

Besides the boot-fitting, the other main concern among customers is whether the gear will be beat up. No worries—the bases of my skis were perfectly tuned, thanks to Ski Butlers’ Montana tuning machine, a state-of-the-art robotic system.

Rather than schlepping your gear on an airplane, you might want to consider Ski Butlers in the future.

“The biggest advantage is the convenience factor,” Bongaerts said.

seniorsskiing

Snow In Literature: The Wood-pile

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By Robert Frost

Out walking in the frozen swamp one gray day,
I paused and said, ‘I will turn back from here.
No, I will go on farther—and we shall see.’
The hard snow held me, save where now and then
One foot went through. The view was all in lines
Straight up and down of tall slim trees
Too much alike to mark or name a place by
So as to say for certain I was here
Or somewhere else: I was just far from home.
A small bird flew before me. He was careful
To put a tree between us when he lighted,
And say no word to tell me who he was
Who was so foolish as to think what he thought.
He thought that I was after him for a feather—
The white one in his tail; like one who takes
Everything said as personal to himself.
One flight out sideways would have undeceived him.
And then there was a pile of wood for which
I forgot him and let his little fear
Carry him off the way I might have gone,
Without so much as wishing him good-night.
He went behind it to make his last stand.
It was a cord of maple, cut and split
And piled—and measured, four by four by eight.
And not another like it could I see.
No runner tracks in this year’s snow looped near it.
And it was older sure than this year’s cutting,
Or even last year’s or the year’s before.
The wood was gray and the bark warping off it
And the pile somewhat sunken. Clematis
Had wound strings round and round it like a bundle.
What held it though on one side was a tree
Still growing, and on one a stake and prop,
These latter about to fall. I thought that only
Someone who lived in turning to fresh tasks
Could so forget his handiwork on which
He spent himself, the labor of his ax,
And leave it there far from a useful fireplace
To warm the frozen swamp as best it could
With the slow smokeless burning of decay.

seniorsskiing

This Week In SeniorsSkiing.com (Jan. 17)

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East Coast: Start Us Up.  Roll Away Stiff Muscles, Harriet Wears A Cup Cake, New Bindings Old Skis, Mystery Top Hatted Skier, Nordic Gourmet Ski Tours, Good Weather News.

Last weekend, the temperature was 70+ degrees in Boston, a record high for January 4-5.  That was not a good thing for resorts, especially lower altitude areas, that are gearing up for the busy MLK weekend and trying to preserve whatever base they have. But, change is coming for the better. Real winter is finally coming to the East and Northeast.

How do we know? Statistics tell us so.  There is a metric devised by the National Weather Service called the North East Snowfall Impact Scale (NESIS) which rates snowfalls based on how much has fallen and the area of coverage. It is a similar rating scale to the Fujita tornado rating scale and the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale many of us are familiar with. 

Using the NESIS scale, snowfalls are rated, again based on amount and area,  from 1 to 5 with an appropriate descriptor for each category:

    • Category 1 Notable
    • Category 2 Significant
    • Category 3 Major
    • Category 4 Crippling
    • Category 5 Extreme

Over time, you can look at the pattern of when these different categories of snowfalls occur over the winter. What you find when you plot Category 3-6 storms over time is the following: 

NESIS Cat 3+ storm frequency distribution by month, 1956-2019. Credit: Weather Channel

This graph shows that Category 3 to 6 storms usually show up at the end of January and the beginning of February. Which is now.

So, if you’ve been waiting for snow in the East, Northeast, Middle Atlantic, you may be able to finally get out on decent snow cover.  Place your bets because this looks like the snow train is a’-coming.

This Week

Nordic Nibbles are happening across the country. Eat and lost weight.

Our Incidents & Accidents this week is by Dave Irons, a noted ski journalist and patroller from Maine. His point: Safety is our everyone’s job. What can you do to avoid problems? Check it out here.

In Ask The Expert, Reader James Davis asks about using new bindings with old skis, the opposite question asked a couple of weeks ago. Those old skis might look fine, but inside…is another story. Here’s advice for James.

By now, you’ve probably been out for a day or two, or even several days of exercise on the slopes. If you are like many seniors, you are discovering some muscle soreness, knots, and stiffness. The way to smooth these normal aches and pains out is by foam rolling.  If you haven’t tried this form of self-therapy, you are missing a quick, simple, and effective method for relief. Click here for more.

Our Mystery Glimpse photo this week comes from Peak Resorts. He should be a familiar character that skiers who’ve been around for a while will recognize. We also reveal who the two racers from last week’s mystery picture. For the first time in a while, we had no guesses for those two, so we stumped the readership. Click here to see the Flippin’ Clown.

XCSkiResorts.com publisher and SeniorsSkiing.com cross-country editor Roger Lohr brings us a round up of where you can enjoy cross-country skiing and gourmet food on the same tour. Yes, there are xc resorts across the country that offer delicious food in plein air along beautiful ski trails.  Interesting concept: eat and burn calories.

Harriet will pass this badge on to someone turning 80 before April. Credit: Harriet Wallis

Herb Stevens, the Skiing Weatherman, brings good news about the change coming to the snowfields. The winter pattern is settling in on schedule, signaling a comeback for the East and New England.

The best for last.  Harriet Wallis, our esteemed and venerable correspondent from Utah, has her 80th birthday party at Alta.  Check out her pink, cup cake helmet cover.  You have to see it to understand.  And she is offering to pass along her “80” badge to a SeniorsSkiing.com reader who will turn 80 before April. Help her celebrate.

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

Hope this guy has a foam roller.

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