Short Swings!
This is the first issue of SeniorsSkiing.com...
Latest News
Don Burch’s Fun Times (at Mount Snow, Okemo & Stratton)
It has been decades since I’ve skied the East. Once I discovered Western skiing, I traded the long flight for the long drive, eventually moving to Utah to shorten the time to the slopes. But Don Burch is giving me second thoughts. He’s developed an appealing alternative ski video genre (shot largely at Eastern areas). His most recent, “Fun Times[Read More…]
This Issue
Unfortunately, Covid continues to impact our lives…even on the hill. Jon’s Short Swings! column explores the different ways two neighboring Utah ski areas – Park City Mountain Resort and Alta – are handling Covid. He also describes the time he was banned from a ski area in the 1970s. Don’t miss the link to an informative critique of the trails[Read More…]
Short Swings!
This is the first issue of SeniorsSkiing.com of 2022. I wish all readers good health, happiness, and peace for the New Year. But Covid’s omicron variant is challenging that wish for good health. It’s spreading fast, even among those who have been triple vaxxed. For most of the infected, it appears to be less taxing than Delta or earlier iterations. One[Read More…]
The Skiing Weatherman-January 7, 2022
New Year…New weather pattern… The 2021 holiday period provided epic snow conditions across most of the West with trails counts and surface conditions rather sketchy over the eastern half of the country. While storm after storm nailed the West, a typical La Nina upper level ridge over the southeastern states was enhanced by a sudden spike in the output of[Read More…]
Musings of a Greenie
SeniorsSkiing.com encourages readers to submit accounts of personal experiences on the hill. The following, sent in by Cynthia F. Jones, expresses her joy of returning to skiing following a 35-year absence. I ski only green runs. At 73, coming back to skiing 35 years after the briefest taste of its magic and delight many years ago, I’m having so much fun[Read More…]
Okemo Debuts New Express Lifts
Now in its 66th winter season, Okemo is one of the most technologically advanced ski areas in the East. This year’s installation of two express lifts maintains that tradition with the debut of an express replacement for the Green Ridge Triple and the new Quantum Six Express lift at Jackson Gore, providing greater and quicker access to upper Jackson Gore, home of[Read More…]
BLINDED BY THE (FLAT) LIGHT: SENIOR SKIERS CAN SEE CLEARLY IN SNOW
A version of this article first appeared in 2015 in Huffington Post. I was hardly able to move; disoriented on terrain I’d skied for years. Other skiers seemed to be managing fine. But the light was flat, and my eyes could no longer pick up contours in the white on white. “Flat light,” a version of whiteout, greatly reduces the[Read More…]
December Skiing Video
Don Burch sent in a video treat: “December Skiing.” It’s one of his signature short productions that makes you want to be back on the mountain. Click on the image to screen. I’ll also include it in the next issue, which will be distributed Friday, January 7. Many thanks to readers who sent notes of appreciation for SeniorsSkiing.com. Best wishes[Read More…]
Four Bucket List New England Cross Country Ski Towns
XCSkiResorts.com recommends these classic New England towns and areas for a cross country ski vacation: Stowe, VT, is quintessential New England with its white steepled church and main street lined with stores. It’s also the home of the Trapp Family Lodge of Sound of Music fame. Trapp Family Lodge has a 110 km trail network with 60 km of groomed[Read More…]
Skiing History Magazine
Covid-related delays at the printer and post office caused the November-December issue of Skiing History to mail a month late. The online version posted right after Thanksgiving, and you can read it here. Here’s what you’ll find: Aspen’s Anniversary: 75 years ago, Aspen built its first chairlifts and opened for business. Most of us are familiar with the story of[Read More…]
Test Your Skiing Knowledge
Each issue of SeniorsSkiing.com has a picture to help test your skiing knowledge. The pictures are from collections in a variety of participating ski museums, which we encourage readers to visit. This picture, submitted by The New England Ski Museum, shows a chair that serviced a New England area in the 1950s. It was the upper of two lifts that,[Read More…]
LUV2SKI (con’t)
Isn’t it fantastic what a good imagination can do with six or seven characters…especially when a passion for identifying with skiing is involved? These new additions to the license plate gallery came from Margery Martin, Minneapolis; Jack Whalberg, Cape Cod, and Hamlin “Ham” Pakradooni, Cape Cod. If you run across a skiing license plate and want to add it to the[Read More…]
The Skiing Weatherman-December 30, 2021
The Skiing Weatherman-December 30, 2021 The West is wonderful…Ol’ Sol causes problems in the East… After an exceptionally slow start to the season in the West, the past few weeks have brought an amazing and dramatic reversal of fortune to that half of the continent in terms of snowfall. An upper level trough has dominated the pattern from the Rockies[Read More…]
This Issue
This is being written from Salt Lake City, the day after 20” fell at Snowbird. It’s almost at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon and just a short distance from Park City, where the total was 10”. Compare that to Mammoth Mountain in California’s Sierra range… 44” in 72 hours! Jon’s Short Swings! column is a bit self-confessional this time,[Read More…]
Short Swings!
Yes, age does give many of us some advantages. Wisdom is often cited, but, I, for one have made enough errors in judgment to be exempted from checking that box. I’m probably not alone. Financial well-being is another frequent citation. Fortunately, along with about two-thirds of SeniorsSkiing readers who say they’re financially independent, I’m okay in that category. But I[Read More…]
The Skiing Weatherman-December 16, 2021
Colder, snowy pattern evolving coast to coast… As we hit the holiday season, the weather pattern is changing to one that will soon be dominated by colder than normal air. Cold air has been in relatively short supply for a couple of weeks now, but in the past week, a series of troughs have descended into the West, leading to[Read More…]
The Fear Monkey in Our Heads
When was the last time this happened to you on the mountain: you’re skiing down one of your regular trails, having fun, where you know every turn by heart, and then, as you approach a trail sign for a more difficult run than you’re used to, you think maybe it’s a good time to try it…but then you keep on[Read More…]
The Power of the Small Area
When I hear that people don’t ski in their local areas because they’re spoiled by skiing out West, I believe they’re missing something. A lot of world class ski racers cut their teeth on areas that have less than 1000’ vertical. Lindsey Vonn and Kristina Koznick both were raised on Buck Hill in Minnesota, under the watchful eye of Erich[Read More…]
Finding a Senior Ski Buddy
Finding someone to play with was easy when we were kids. “Can Johnny come out and play?” But as seniors, it’s not easy to find someone to ski with. Ski friends drop out, move away, or go to the great beyond. SeniorsSkiing.com is an amazing source of information. Here’s what happened recently: A skier emailed me saying: “I saw your stories[Read More…]
New To Cross Country? These Nordic Centers are Great Places to Start.
If you’re among the many newcomers to XC skiing, I suggest that you take a lesson. XCSkiResorts.com recommends starting at one of the following locations: Metropolitan Boston — Weston Ski Track, a county-owned golf course accessible by public transportation. Snowmaking guarantees good cover and lights allow for night skiing. A 75-minute session covers the basics (i.e. motion, turning and negotiating[Read More…]
Test Your Skiing Knowledge
Each issue of SeniorsSkiing.com has a picture to help test your skiing knowledge. The pictures are from collections in a variety of participating ski museums, which we encourage readers to visit. The hairdo’s scream late 1960s. But these co-eds weren’t the only students of the man in the middle. He trained members of the US men’s and women’s Olympic ski[Read More…]
LUV2SKI (continued)
Ski license plates are definitely a thing. The call for additions to the gallery published in the last issue received a healthy response from readers around the country. Margery Martin, who lives near Minneapolis, has been collecting pictures of ski-oriented license plates for years. Several of her favorites have been added to the gallery; more to follow. Boyd Allen, Exeter,[Read More…]
This Issue
We had an unfortunate reminder that “skiing is an inherently dangerous sport” with the untimely death of Ron LeMaster, ski writer/photographer and certified PSIA instructor. The 72-year-old was killed earlier this week after colliding with a snowboarder on Eldora Mountain (CO). May he rest in peace. Like so many things in life, sometimes fortune is not on our side, even[Read More…]
Short Swings!
We live in what some call an attention economy. Those who attract attention – regardless of how they go about it – appear to be the victors in our narcissistic new world. The companies making skis and related gear are no exception. One of their primary ways of competing for attention is producing short videos of pro skiers using their[Read More…]
The Skiing Weatherman-December 2, 2021
Pattern coming alive on both coasts… Thanks to snowmaking and a nice dump of fresh snow last Friday, I kicked off my season with a nice day on the trails of Killington this past Tuesday. The surface midwinter stuff and it was fantastic to be making turns again. The storm late last week helped out across much of the Northeast,[Read More…]
