Snow Is Happening Now, Winter Weather Prediction, Portillo Report, XC Binding News.
So it begins. There’s snow in British Columbia, some parts of Washington, Idaho, and Montana. Check out the very recent snow map above from Snow-Forecast.com. The green represents snow; it’s not very much accumulation, —though we did hear Banff got blasted just today—but it’s there. Someone please ring a bell or something.
And, we have heard that four resorts in New Zealand’s South Island have been forced to close because of too much snow this week. That reminds us of the snow-heavy winter we had in 2015-16 when the California Sierras were inundated. Such is the nature of climate change. Go to Snowbrains.com for the story on how epic snow closed the mountains in En-Zed.
Free (or Almost Free) Skiing For Seniors Listing Almost Ready.
This week, we are getting back into full swing here at SeniorsSkiing.com. Our correspondents are sending in early season stories which you should be seeing in a week or two. We have completed our research on where seniors can ski for free (or almost free) at ski resorts in North America. Yes, indeed, we are including Canadian resorts this year in our listing. It’s amazing how many resorts there are that do offer a significant break for seniors. Those discounts are out there; you have to look. We know our annual listing will certainly help.
We’re busy designing the Free Ski list and getting it ready for publication. Stay tuned. Until then, you can still access last year’s listing under Subscriber Only Content.
This Week
We’ve been paying perhaps too much attention to the winter weather forecasts this time around. That ol’ El Nino seems to be hanging in there, and if it does, it will definitely play a role in what happens in snow country. So, just to corroborate what we’re been hearing from the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center, we branched off to collect some tradition folk nostrums of what winter will be. Find out what the old-timers looked to around this time of year to predict how much snow was in store for winter. We also checked the annual Farmers Almanac prediction. Read all about it.
Chile-based correspondent Casey Earle continues his series on skiing in Chile. He wrote some great articles orienting folks to what to expect down there and a recap of some of the principal resorts. This time, he zones in on Portillo, the venerable Chilean resort every skier knows about. Check out his resort review here.
Cross-country editor and XCSkiResorts.com publisher Roger Lohr brings us some breaking news on the xc ski binding front. He describes the brand new Rottefella binding with a Move Switch that allows you to adjust the weight distribution on your skis. This could be an important break thru for senior xc skiers because it can actually enhance both glide and grip. Certainly worth a look if you are thinking about new xc gear.
On a more serious note, we have a new article on Sarcopenia this week, a condition where muscles become less efficient in seniors. We found it remarkable that we never knew about this condition until we were introduced to it through a contributed article by one of our readers last year. If we didn’t know, then probably a lot of our readers don’t either. Study this one, dear readers. The good news is that the weakening effects of sarcopenia can be mitigated through weight lift training.
If you have any story ideas, or want to submit an article, please let us know at info@seniorsskiing.com. The season has started, and it is time to get ready.
Remember, readers, there are more of us every day and we aren’t going away.
