One week before the end of the ski season in Jackson Hole, a 71-yr old veteran ski instructor, was hit and killed by another skier. Both were skiing the intermediate trail, “Rendezvous”. This should never have happened, especially in mid-April when the season is all but over and crowds have thinned. The Teton County coroner has ruled it a homicide,[Read More…]
Not as well-known as its neighbor, Zermatt, Saas Fee is a good bet for snow in April. Taking advantage of my granddaughter’s Spring vacation, we planned a week’s skiing on one of Europe’s largest glaciers. But make no mistake about it, there are no closeout bargains in Switzerland. A senior discount for the ski pass, is an unknown concept and[Read More…]
Thanks to late season storms, some downhill destinations will be skiing and riding into August, while others have closed and already starting construction on new lifts. Here’s what we know now about the 2024/25 season, including pass price changes, so you can put these resorts on your bucket list – or not. Prices Going Up for Going Downhill Don’t wait. The[Read More…]
The aging process does weird things to the mind. We remember days of yesteryear winding down through moguls on a steep run all day, thinking it was fun. Or floating through knee-deep powder all day from when the lifts open until they close. Today, in my dotage, when confronted with a steep pitch full of knee-high, well-rounded moguls, I go[Read More…]
Powder Mountain is about to embark on a private/public ski area development venture. In a bid to sell more real estate, a large segment of the mountain will become the exclusive domain of the on-mountain home owners. Like Homewood in California and Windham Mountain in New York, Utah’s Powder will be a hybrid model with major changes for longtime devotees.[Read More…]
If you are like me, whenever I think about holiday gifts for my adult kids and grandkids, I immediately put the thought away, thinking I don’t have the time right now and will do it later. That turns out to be around December 15th, when panic sets in. Not anymore. Now, I gift my adult children season passes, so we[Read More…]
Three cheers for spring. It means longer hours to linger in the sunshine, wearing fewer layers, ditching goggles for sunglasses, and also enjoying oodles of end-of-season events and early bird discounts for next season, including new season pass options. Here is a round-up of what to check out before you pack away your skis, snowboards, neck warmers and base layers for[Read More…]
With Ikon and Epic season passes costing around $1,000, and some walkup day passes hitting $300, a $6,000 Lifetime Pass sounds like a great deal. That’s what’s being offered by Loup Loup Ski Bowl, a small and fiercely independent ski destination in Okanagan, in central Washington State about 125 miles northeast of Seattle. It’s an innovative effort to create a cash[Read More…]
As a young ski racer, I learned the importance of properly tune skis. Now as an old a recreational skier, I can assure you skiing “tuned” skis makes the sport more enjoyable. Tuning a pair of skis answers three questions. One, do the bindings work as advertised? Two, are the bottoms flat, not convex or concave? And three, are the[Read More…]
Riding a chair lift last month, I saw them on a skier below. Ten days later, I saw them again, this time at an area 2,000 miles away. CADS… Constant – force Articulated Dynamic Struts … the odd looking, butt-to-boots device designed to keep skiers with knee and other lower body strength and stamina issues on the slopes and skiing[Read More…]
This week Don Burch brings us A very personal account of what skiing means to him. Enjoy!
When one thinks of the first ski areas in the U.S., one thinks of Sun Valley or Stowe. Few know that in 1936, in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains east of Santa Fe, NM, Robert Nordhaus installed a rope two to haul people up the slopes of what is now Ski Santa Fe. It was used as a training area[Read More…]
Way back when in the last century, after I started skiing, ski bottoms were wood. Then, Kofix, the first polymer bottom, came out in 1956 followed by P-Tex 2000 in 1966. Since then, every ski has a polyethylene bottoms. The lure, besides better gliding over the snow, was that with P-Tex, one didn’t have to ever wax your skis again.[Read More…]
So, I was surprised this week when my friend Eric, from Tahoe (formerly of Vermont), mailed me some pictures from way back when we skied Tuckerman Ravine together. Looking at these 40 year old photos, I thought back to a time when we laid down the only tracks one day in Dodge’s Drop ( and Eric had a cast on his[Read More…]
Days are getting longer and warmer, and spring skiing is the reward we downhillers get for braving frosty fingers and toes until now. Let’s hope the snow holds until April or May. Until then, enjoy these events and deals happening at the destinations we love. Here are bits and pieces from here and there for March for skiers and riders. Sugarloaf The[Read More…]
Let’s face it, unless you’re an active ski instructor trying to instill key concepts to your students, or a parent/grandparent trying to explain this thing to a relative or grandchild, when’s the last time you actually read this “Code”, now with 10 points? Instead of reading each numbered point, let’s think about the most important messages we’re trying to convey[Read More…]
Editors Note: This article comes from SeniorsSkiing subscriber Ron Rosen I love to ski. (My wife says I live to ski). Most of my adult working life I was too busy to research new ski technologies and techniques. It is why I wound up skiing the same pair of Head Monsters for a decade until they wore out, and how[Read More…]
Every time I drive Route 23A to Hunter Mountain, I am reminded of a lifetime connection to the area. I learned to ski here, and so did my kids, but I started visiting Tannersville long before the ski mountain opened in January, 1960. My family spent two weeks each August at the Rose Garden Hotel when I was little. It[Read More…]
by Stacey Smith I have been a ski instructor for 18 years. I am also a parent to two grown adults who learned to ski as children by going to work with me. Keeping all of us warm and comfortable for entire days on the slopes was my responsibility, and I make sure my clients, at any age, are warm[Read More…]
The first Lake Placid Olympics in 1932 generated a lot of interest in skiing in the USA, especially in New York State – enough to prompt creation of a special ski train. 2024 is the 90th anniversary of that train, the North Creek Snow Train. On March 24, 1934, 378 downhill enthusiasts rode along the Hudson River from Schenectady to the Adirondack[Read More…]
Looking for a traditional French village with a ski resort, I came across Val Cenis in Savoie, at the southern side of the highest paved mountain pass in Europe, Col de l’Iseran, 2,764 meters. In winter the closest airport is Turin and then the Frejus Tunnel. Flying to Geneva is also a possibility. We sought the French atmosphere of a[Read More…]
Add another mountain to the growing list owned by Alterra – Colorado’s Arapahoe Basin, which everybody calls A-Basin. A favorite of locals and those who prefer an old-fashioned, low-key destination, A-Basin has been part of the Ikon Pass system since 2019. Devoted fans hope Alterra won’t change it into a glitzy resort like its neighbors, Vail and Breckenridge, which are[Read More…]
This week Don Burch brings us a compilation of footage from this and the last few seasons. Skiers are from the Mountain Laurel Ski Club, friends from the North American Snowsports Journalists Association and seniors he meets on the slopes. Enjoy.
Editors Note: This article comes from SeniorsSkiing subscriber Rob Scharf I have been on two skis 55+ years, including as a patroller and volunteer mountain host. So trying a monoski was a challenge that became exhilaration – and just plain fun. I learned to ski at Mt Lassen Ski Area in northern California, where there were two rope tows and one Poma[Read More…]
High speed detachable quads, gondolas, six-packs and eight-packs, bubble chairs and heated cushions are all part of the growing race to get us uphill faster, even warmer. And then, there is Titus, an independent family-operated, family-friendly destination near the Canadian border in upstate New York. Titus Mountain Family Ski Center is a 1,200 vertical ski area tucked an hour’s drive north of Lake[Read More…]
