A WOW Ski deal for Senior Skiers!

The day before Alta closed for the season, a few ski companies were set up to demo products. One was Liberty Skis, a Colorado ski maker specializing in bamboo. I tried the Variant 87 and now own a pair. The “87” indicates the width of the ski under the boot, considerably narrower than what I’ve skied the past few decades in Western powder and occasional crud. But after a day on Alta’s corn-covered groomers, I knew that I had to have the Variant 87. The company representative gave me his card and the web address for their pro discount. This is where the story gets interesting and relevant to SeniorsSkiing.com subscribers. The Liberty Skis site currently lists the Variant 87 for $599 (in season MSRP is $725). Liberty is one of the companies offering discounts to SeniorsSkiing readers through Experticity, the pro discount program available to all readers who have registered to receive the weekly SeniorsSkiing.com editorial package. Through Experticity, the Variant 87 is $398.75!!!! (plus tax). The lesson here: If you’re looking for bargains, get thee to Experticity. Deep discounts on more than 40 cool brands await.

CALIFORNIA

Squaw Valley has had soooo much snow, it’s considering staying open through the summer.

CHINA

A cave painting in China’s Xinjiang region (between Mongolia and Kazakhstan) shows people hunting on skis. It is thought to be more than 10,000 years old — 2,000 years older than the next earliest ski artifact on record.

UTAH

Snowbird is the only resort still open, and it’s getting hammered. Almost three feet have fallen the past few days and more is forecast.

The University of Utah dedicated a new facility to support its ski racing program. The Spence Eccles Ski Team Building has locker rooms and gear storage fror the school’s Nordic and Alpine teams, as well as tuning facilities, meeting rooms, etc. The facility is named for ski team alumni and NCAA All-American Spence Eccles.

QUEBEC

Mont-Sainte-Anne closes for the season this weekend. The resort had 215″ of natural snow, 50″ over last year. Day-tickets sales increased 15%.

6 Comments

  1. Mike Dowling says:

    Jon,
    I believe Killington and Jay Peak in Vermont are still open.

    • Jon Weisberg says:

      Thanks for that info, Mike. I miss Spring skiing at Killington. It’s where I was hitchhiking when a cute girl gave me a ride. Tomorrow we celebrate out 45th wedding anniversary! Jon

  2. Harvey Alpart says:

    Michael, I always enjoy your articles and now I am very interested in the Varient skis on the latest post. Could you please send me the Expercity site log in info. It sounds that it would work well on snowy and groomed days in VT here in Vermont. Thanks , Harvey Alpart

    • Jon Weisberg says:

      Harvey, Thanks for the nice words. My Variant 87’s arrived yesterday and I’m about to go to the shop to get bindings. Here’s how to get the instructions to register for Experticity: At the top of the Home Page, click on “Community.” In the drop down menu, click on “Subscriber-Only Content.” Scroll down and click on “Discounts On Gear and Clothing From Experticity.” That will open a PDF with detailed instructions for registering for Experticity. Once registered, you’ll have access to Liberty Skis and many other brands. Please let us know how it goes. Jon

  3. I purchased a pair of Liberty Origin 96 along with AT boots and bindings this year. Used them for 5 days at Powder Mountain, Utah where we got lucky and caught one of Utah’s famous powder dumps, somewhere near 7′ in 5-6 days. At Powder we skied lifts, did some AT climbing up James Peak, and spent a day with the cats. Also really enjoyed them at Cannon Mountain in NH during our March 15 nor’easter and the following week on a classic spring, corn snow day, as well as AT only days at Cardigan Mountain and Temple Mountain. The complete AT package took some getting used to (boots much softer than my Technica Icons), but the ski was really great in all conditions. Definitely worth checking out.

  4. Harvey Alpart says:

    Hello Jon, Thanks for your reply with instructions for getting on to Experticity but the page that comes up asks for my e-mail and a password. I see nothing about Community or nothing else. Any suggestions would help. Thanks very much.

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