Once in a year, it is not thought amiss To visit our neighbors and sing out like this: We wish you a Merry Christmas We wish you a Merry Chanukah We wish you a Merry Holiday And a Happy New Year! More Music And Snow Sports Here’s another holiday treat. The Colorado Snowsports Museum has compiled a YouTube music[Read More…]
The Busy Pattern Continues. Last week’s installment headlined a progressive pattern that has been sending ridges and troughs west to east across the continent at a dizzying pace. That pattern produced some meaningful snow in the West earlier this week and then unloaded a blockbuster on the mid-Atlantic and much of the Northeast midweek, jumpstarting the season at dozens of[Read More…]
What Snow Sports Stuff Do You Have On Your List? It’s not too late to write to Santa to request that single, elusive item you crave for your ski kit. What would make a nice present for you? A new knit hat? Expensively warm gloves? New boots? Our own research into reader wants reveals that underwear and layers are at[Read More…]
Master Making Those Modern Arcs. Ski instructor Paul Lorenz has a great instructional series on You Tube showing how to carve on skis. To properly execute this type of turn, it is important to consider the basics of balance. Those of us who have skied for a while know that it is most important to stand on the new downhill[Read More…]
From Wooden Skis, Wax, And Pine Tar Bases To High Tech Equipment in 50 years. Since the time that wooden skis were found in a peat bog in Sweden dating to 2,000 BC, there have been many milestones that brought XC skiing to where it is today. In the USA, the forefathers of cross-country skiing include people like Snowshoe Thompson,[Read More…]
Things Are Different. More Ideas For Successful Lessons. Correspondent Keller Minton’s article last week on taking a lesson in COVID times was praised by a ski world notable. Seth Masia, president of the International Ski History Association, long time ski journalist, active ski instructor at Aspen/Snowmass, and member of SeniorsSkiing.com’ Board of Advisors, wrote to us with some additional comments. [Read More…]
More Music And Skiing, Jackson Nordic, John Denver, Storms On Parade, Difficult Moments, Question: Handling Clutch Situations, Early Season Videos, COVID Lesson Advice, Old Maine Hotel. After last week’s discovery of the two musical events that are held in the middle of the ski world, we thought we’d explore the intersection between snow sports and the music world one more[Read More…]
States Of Euphoria The week before Christmas, 1980, I drove west from Cody, WY, through the rugged Absarokas, over Togwotee Pass, dropping into the northeast corner of Jackson Hole, then south to the town of Jackson. Deep fresh snow covered the landscape, with occasional bison, moose, and coyote tracks crossing broad meadows. The road parallels the Snake River. So do[Read More…]
Progressive Storm Threats Gets Underway Although it’s likely that the holiday period will be a Covid-induced quiet one across the country, it is now crunch time for opening terrain that will create adequate social distancing to fend off further operating restrictions. The past week brought about a pattern change that delivered snow to many resorts that had seen very little.[Read More…]
What To Do When Things Go Pear Shaped. Consider a ski run you’ve done before and which you found perfectly do-able with your present level of technical skiing skill. But conditions have changed, and the snow is less easy to ski; perhaps the temperature has fallen and the surface is now more crisp. Or the light has gone totally flat. [Read More…]
John Denver Composed The Lyrics On A Chairlift. [Editor Note: Correspondent LuAnn Snyder, a director of the Baltimore Ski Club and a big John Denver fan, contributed to this article.] Did you know that John Denver was an avid skier? John Denver wrote his classic song “Annie’s Song“, while riding a chairlift to the top of Ajax Mountain in Aspen[Read More…]
How Do You Manage Your…Apprehensions? Yesterday, you did fine on Wild Thing, that steep, narrow trail on the shady side of the mountain. Today, Wild Thing is crusty, heavy, or worse, boilerplate, and it’s the only way down. Or, the afternoon light has gone totally flat, you’re at the top of the mountain, heading through the trees to the bottom. [Read More…]
Yes, Take A Lesson To Tune Up Or Re-Connect, But Be Prepared. A good ski lesson especially at the beginning of the season not only makes for a good day, but many more good days ahead. Refining technique, snuffing out bad habits, and discovering new ways to explore the mountain help make future ski days that much more enjoyable. Here’s[Read More…]
Music In The Mountains, Question For You Redux, Snow Coming, Aosta Trattoria Interlude, XC Starter Kit, Mystery Tow, Dispatch From Wolf Creek, Rental Apartment Advice, Inspiration For Recovery, Utah Resort COVID Summary. Imagine our surprise when we were searching YouTube for tunes from one of our favorite bands when we found, wait for it, the “Gondola Sessions.” We love the[Read More…]
Let’s Try Again: What Is Your First Visit To A Ski Resort In COVID Times Like? A few weeks ago, we asked our readers to tell us how their first visits to a ski resort went in this unusual year. We wanted to hear reactions to constraints, regulations, and policies designed to keep visitors and staff safe. Unfortunately, we didn’t[Read More…]
The Weather Worm Is Turning, Especially In The East. If the optimist in all of us considers November 1 the start of the winter sports season, then the first month of this season was a dud in the eastern half of the country. Cold air masses were infrequent visitors, and natural snow was even harder to find. A persistent jet stream[Read More…]
This Might Be The Season To Get On Skinny Skis. [Editor Note: This article first appeared in XCSkiResorts.com.] Getting outdoors, going at your own pace, enjoying and sharing an outing with a friend or family member of any age, and getting some winter exercise are all good reasons for older folks to try XC skiing. You can have a purpose[Read More…]
A Military Epic Pass Discount Special Became A Big Motivator To Get Back In Shape. Last winter and spring, like many others, I watched the ski season melt away. For those who went before the big shut down, good on you. For, me, the only hopes I had of skiing was in late April or May or June at Mammoth. [Read More…]
Tips On Running A Rental And Finding Financing. Once you have reservations coming in, you have to manage the flow of people coming and going. Here are a few ideas we have found useful in making it easy and efficient for everyone. We could easily hire a cleaning service, but we do the cleaning ourselves to earn money in addition[Read More…]
SPECIAL EDITION: MAKE MORE TRACKS! Focus On Nordic, Snowshoeing, Fat Biking: Rationale, The Market Forecast, Videos: How To XC, Snowshoe, Fat Bike, Hidden Gem XC Resorts, Lesson Advice, Mystery Nordic Star, Trail Preferences. There’s more to winter besides downhill skiing. This issue will explore additional ways you can Make More Tracks. Let’s be clear at the top: We love Alpine[Read More…]
[Editor Note: Roger Lohr is SeniorsSkiing.com’s Nordic Editor and publisher of XCSkiResorts.com] The Older I Get, The More I Love Cross Country Skiing. I love the sensation of gliding on the snow through the forest, being outdoors in nature. I can smell the fragrance of the trees. I can hear the bubbling brook and the sound of a bird in[Read More…]
What Is Your Preference? We live across a little country road from a 900-acre conservation property. For years, we’d walk across the road, stumble over the stone wall bordering the street, and plod our way about 20 feet through tree-falls and heavy brush to a trail where we’d put on our xc skis. And then we’d break trail around our[Read More…]
Another Way To Go In The Snow: Fat Bikes. If you’re a cyclist, you will love the fat bike experience. You will most likely want to head out on a cold day so the snow is firm but not icy. Many xc ski resorts have groomed tracks for Fat Bikes as well as skiing. Deep snow: Fat Bikes don’t work,[Read More…]
[Editor Note: The following article was written by Kelly Davis, Snow Sports Insights. Kelly is a veteran snow sports industry researcher and a consult to the Cross Country Ski Area Association.] Alternatives To Alpine Skiing Are Expected To Blossom This Season. Participation in cross country skiing and snowshoeing is expected to increase significantly this winter for the second season in[Read More…]
Snowshoeing Is A Highly Accessible and Easy Way To Enjoy The Winter. Now here’s a winter outdoor sport that brings you in to the vibrant , snow-filled landscape and fresh air with a minimum of hassle and expense. From our surveys, we’ve noticed that those who snowshoe often bring spouses and grandchildren along into an easy way to walk in[Read More…]
