Cat Skiing, A Record Number Of Resort Visits, Naming Ski Trails, Putting XC Skis To Bed.

How does lunch in the French Alps compare to the cafeteria line at your local resort? You kidding?
Credit: Richard Pazara

We think we may have struck a nerve in last week’s editorial on whither senior lift ticket prices in the age of resort consolidation and collaboration.  Check the comments. Will big-league destination resort prices be pushing seniors to less-traveled, second-tier areas? How will second-tier resorts react? Will you be looking for deals in your local area when your favorite spot snaps into line with corporate-no-senior-discount pricing? This is going to play out this summer at big and small ski areas when pricing settles down. Meanwhile, we suggest you look for season pass deals right now while early-bird discounts are in season.

We know there is another whole universe of Alpine skiing where there are no lifts, no lines, no crowds. Beyond Pluto? Nope, it’s just cat skiing, where a big machine takes you into untracked high country and picks you up at the bottom. In this week’s edition, correspondent Suzie Winthrop tells us what it’s like to yo-yo in perfect powder in a week of cat skiing in BC’s Selkirk Mountains.

We got an email from Richard Pazara, a retired executive, who wanted to know if we’d be interested in his adventures skiing around the world. What makes Richard’s story astonishing is that he’s skied at 1,241 resorts from Dubai to New Zealand.  Richard is a big league traveler. Not only has he racked up ski resort visits, he’s visited all 3,144 counties in the US over a 40 year span. And, all 32 states in Mexico, all Canadian provinces and 144 of the world’s 193 countries. He is ranked 78th of the world’s most traveled people. And he reports it’s mostly on frequent flier miles. He says he has a “strange accounting gene” that pushes him to remain in motion and keep track of every step.

Correspondent Don Burch brings us an interesting note on how ski trails are named or got their names. Have you noticed a theme to the trail names where you go skiing? What’s your most remarkable, notable, provocative trail name?

What’s in a name? A few resorts create a theme for trail names. Memorable. Cutesy. Provocative (?)
Credit: Don Burch

Finally, Roger Lohr of XCSkiResorts.com and Andy Gerlach of SkiPost.com team up to tell us how to put away our XC skis.  Please don’t just put them down in the basement next to the furnace. A little care goes a long away when next season’s snowflakes fly.

Meanwhile, we are getting our end-of-season Spring Survey 2017 ready to distribute to our readers.  Please watch for it soon in your email box.

Thanks again 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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