If You’ve Been, Tell Us So We Can Have A Vicarious Vacation. We have an interesting article this week from Dave Chambers, the “Traveling Australian.” He takes us to Appi Kogen, a resort in the north of Honshu, the big island of Japan. He spent a week skiing powder in the back end of the resort in perfect conditions he[Read More…]
Cascadia Contains Cross-Country Resorts Close To Metro Areas. [Editor Note: This article by Pete Wilson first appeared in The Nordic Approach.] The Pacific Northwest of the contiguous US is a wonderfully strange bit of geography. The Western edge is home to the fjord-filled Pacific Coast, where long beaches and towering seaside rock formations make for otherworldly getaways. Go the other direction, East[Read More…]
Skiers nimbly dodged a porcupine as he wallowed through deep snow to cross Alta’s ski slope. Some stopped to watch the prickly fellow tumble into a tree well and then start to climb. That’s all there was to see. The show was over. He was as prickly as the evergreen so his camouflage was perfect. He virtually disappeared. But[Read More…]
Looking Ahead, First Timers Tips For Europe, Personal Risk Test, Midwest Nordic Centers, DV/PCR Visits, Brunvand’s Journey, L2A Top-Bottom, Tune Up Kit, Okemo Founders, Harriet’s First Time, Emily And March. Outdoor author Patrick McManus said: “God invented March in case eternity proved to be too brief.” March, the elongated month, stretching from the cold of February to the sunshine of[Read More…]
Fresh Snow in Cali. Mild Temps Next Week. Last week’s installment touched upon the fight we usually see in March between lingering cold to the north and advancing spring warmth from the south. The fight usually takes the form of storminess, where it only a matter of whether there is enough cold air in the mix to produce snow instead[Read More…]
Are You A Hucker, Ripper, Park Rat, Or Just A “Sick” Planker? Sorry for the jargon. This week, we’d like to explore on which end of the risk spectrum our readers reside. We have a sense that some readers have slowed down, taken down the speed a notch or two, search for corduroy on on sunny days, and switched to[Read More…]
Here Are Five At The Top Of The List. [Editor Note: This article by Pete Wilson first appeared in The Nordic Approach, the site of the Cross Country Ski Area Association.] Generally speaking, the midwestern states make up an overlooked bit of the country—literally, the fly-over states. And sadly, this wild misjudgment often extends to the world of outdoor activities.[Read More…]
One Heck Of A Long Run. We’re getting hooked on these top-to-bottom videos. For one thing, they are showing us ski resorts we have not visited. That alone is interesting in a vicarious vacation kind of way. For us New England-oriented skiers, this video of the French Alps resort of Les Deux Alpes opens up a whole new world of[Read More…]
By Emily Dickinson Dear March-Come in How Glad I am- I hoped for you before- Put down your hat- You must have walked- How out of breath you are- Dear March, how are you, and the Rest- Did you leave Nature well- Oh, March, come right upstairs with me- I got your letter, and the Birds- The Maples never knew[Read More…]
Cross Country Bubble, Skiing Styles History, Aspen Top-Bottom Run, Gelati Apres-Ski, Norway Skiing, Yellowstone Yurt Resort, Goggle Fog, Weather Ahead. Across the street in Appleton Farms, we notice many disparate groups of xc skiers, snowshoers, dog walkers, and hikers have been descending in growing numbers whenever there is a decent covering of snow, a frequent occurrence this February. The stalwart[Read More…]
Late Season Powder. Rain And Snow. Although astronomical spring begins with the vernal equinox later in March, “meteorological spring” begins on the first day of March. That’s when the questions start to arise about how long the season is likely to extend. Those questions are more common for resorts over the eastern half of the country, where injections of milder[Read More…]
A Rustic Retreat In Remoteness. When skiers talk about great backcountry, they often cite the Tenth Mountain and Braun systems in Colorado; Sierra Club huts in California; Skoki Lodge, Assiniboine and Shadow Lake in the Canadian Rockies. I’d like to add a new destination, near Canyon in Yellowstone National Park. (Check an atlas, find Yellowstone in the northwest corner of[Read More…]
Here’s A Common, Perhaps COVID-Amplified Problem For Skiers. A question from SeniorsSkiing.com reader Steve Rosen: A new to me and persistent problem this season has been fogging of my goggles from the inside, particularly in the morning. It seems to be caused by local requirements to wear masks while in the lift lines, on the lifts, and skiing, all of[Read More…]
Why Support SeniorsSkiing.com, Ski Test Process, Flat Light Nemesis, Women Behind Pico, Sustainable XC Resorts, Snow In Literature, Skiing Weatherman. If you are of a certain age, you’ve probably figured out by now that people in business, sports, and marketing, who design, sell and market products and services, who have hiring responsibilities, and, generally, who are under 40, view aging[Read More…]
Warmer end to February. March Snow Looks Good. This has been an absolutely wild weather week across the country, with more heavy snow in the West, the worst run of cold and snow in the southern Plains since 1899, and two significant storms in the East, although the first one generated a fair amount of sleet earlier this week. As[Read More…]
[Please consider supporting SeniorsSkiing.com with a donation. We appreciate your help. Click here.] Is Flat Light The Bane Of Your Skiing Experience? Or Just One Of Those Things? No contrast, lack of depth perception, no tell-tale marks on the snow, flat light adds another dimension to deal with. Not welcome to many. Tolerable to some. We’ve had a couple of our[Read More…]
[Please consider supporting SeniorsSkiing.com with a donation. We appreciate your help. Click here.] [Editor Note: This article first appeared in XCSkiResorts.com.] Many cross country (XC) ski areas operate in an environmentally-friendly manner, and some of these operators, who are exemplars using the most sustainable practices, are models of sustainability in the effort to combat climate change. The operators at these[Read More…]
[Please consider supporting SeniorsSkiing.com with a donation. We appreciate your help. Click here.] (To hear us talk) By Robert Frost The tree the tempest with a crash of wood Throws down in front of us is not bar Our passage to our journey’s end for good, But just to ask us who we think we are Insisting always on our[Read More…]
Valentine To Our Readers, Loon Visit, Resort Liability-Less, Vicarious Swiss Ski Run, Marg’s Moment, Personal Ski, XC Ski Injuries, Skiing In College In The 50s, Take A Lesson, Herb’s Weather For The Week. [Please consider supporting SeniorsSkiing.com with a donation. We appreciate your help. Click here.] Here in SeniorsSkiing.com’s New England headquarters, we are feeling very gratified. We’ve been receiving[Read More…]
Busy Storms. Slopes in Good Shape. As I write this piece at the start of President’s Day weekend, the slopes from coast to coast are in fine to extraordinarily good shape, thanks to a very busy coast to coast pattern of storms that has played out in recent weeks. A push of arctic air delivered by the stratwarm episode that[Read More…]
A Recent Court Decision Changes The Legal Landscape For Skiers In Colorado. [Please consider supporting SeniorsSkiing.com with a donation. We appreciate your help. Click here.] Watch this video news story from Channel 7 News in Denver, CO. Basically, a recent December 2020 Appeals Court ruling has decided that skiers cannot bring action against ski resorts, expanding protection for resorts, releasing[Read More…]
Either Falls Or Pre-Existing Conditions Can Cause Problems. [Please consider supporting SeniorsSkiing.com with a donation. We appreciate your help. Click here.] Cross country (XC) skiing is a sport with a very low incidence of injuries for a number of reasons. It’s a low impact sport with low sliding speed, plus the free heel allows twisting if you fall. The ski[Read More…]
That’s the simple question, would you like to improve your skiing and enjoy it more? [Please consider supporting SeniorsSkiing.com with a donation. We appreciate your help. Click here.] Would you love skiing as much if you were a wedge skier? Probably not. What about a pretty good parallel skier, but anxious on the more challenging black diamond runs? Maybe you’d[Read More…]
Supporting SeniorsSkiing.com, Time For Gratitude, StratWarm, XC Ski Length, Reflections On Comments, Best Restaurant Ever, Odyssey Between US And Canada, And More Ski Art. About eight years ago, Jon Weisberg, a college friend and fraternity brother, mentioned on a holiday phone call that he had been thinking about starting a website for senior skiers. He even chatted up fellow senior[Read More…]
Hint: Cold Air Coming Your Way. [Please consider supporting SeniorsSkiing.com with a donation. We appreciate your help. Click here.] I assume that this week’s headline has many of you scratching your head wondering “What in the world is a stratwarm?” I will try and explain but the bottom line is that this phenomenon is in large part responsible for the[Read More…]
