Holy Ticket Shock, Favorite Article of 2018, Belleayre, Ski Test Series, Flyin’ Mystery, Encore For Layering Basics, Sir Arnold Lunn. There is a reason SeniorsSkiing.com tries to promote reasonable pricing for seniors who have been supporting the sport for decades. News like the following is evidence that the voice of seniors is needed to get a lot louder in the[Read More…]
John Fry is an important thinker in the world of skiing. For many years he was editor-in-chief of SKI Magazine, and he was founding editor of Snow Country Magazine. He created Nastar and invented the Nations Cup of alpine ski racing by which the relative strengths of the world’s national ski teams are ranked annually. He was inducted into the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in 1995.[Read More…]
…But Close Enough To Enjoy The Day. Folks living in and around major urban centers, with the exception of places such as Denver and Salt Lake City, often find it difficult to plan a ski day within an easy drive. And while the population is graying, more seniors are skiing that ever before. So the hunt for ski areas within[Read More…]
This is the first in a series about Ski Magazine’s 1970s ski testing program called Ski Performance Prediction or SKIpp. Its methodology combined engineering analysis as well as a structured series of on the snow maneuvers designed to bring out the best and worst of a ski under a variety of conditions. Part one of the series Determining How Skis[Read More…]
Let’s Review The Basics Of Layering To Deal With Changing Weather. Here in New England, temperatures swing high and low a lot lately, with 50-degree-plus spikes and heavy rains interposing snow squalls and blizzards. This winter seems hell-bent on convincing the last climate change denier that something weird is going on. Accurately assessing atmospheric conditions for a day on the[Read More…]
Airborne Family Members. Who is airborne? Can you guess where? Hint: We can’t tell you the name of the museum that contributed this picture. Know why? Last Week Only one reader got this one. The enthusiastic boarder is Shannon Dunn-Downing, the first U.S. woman to win an Olympic snowboard medal with a halfpipe bronze in 1998. Shannon was the first woman[Read More…]
When this passage (below) from The Mountains of Youth (1925) by Arnold Lunn was published, “skiing” still had a hyphen and “ski” was both the singular and plural form. Lunn (1888-1974) invented downhill and slalom racing, introducing them when the sport was mostly jumping and nordic racing. Lunn was knighted in 1952 “. . . for services to British skiing.”[Read More…]
Last Minute Gift, Tell-Tale Hoar Frost, Jim Gaddis Profile, Mystery Boarder, Seasons Greetings. If you’re caught empty-handed and about to head to another senior ski friend’s party, consider ordering and instantly downloading a copy of Ray Conrad’s classic collection of ski songs, The Cotton-Pickin’ Lift Tower and Other Ski Songs. Ray wrote and recorded these songs ‘way back in the[Read More…]
Some interesting comments on last week’s Short Swings! asking if older skiers and boarders are invisible to the people making business decisions about skiing. Reader Rich Spritz, a Breckenridge instructor, wrote that seniors don’t spend money and it makes sense that, resorts, being businesses, don’t give seniors their attention. There’s no question that the group he describes exists. I see[Read More…]
A Tell-Tale Sign To Watch For In Avalanche Country. As the weather in the Northeast has gradually become colder over the last few weeks, I have noticed the soil in my garden develops into crystalized patterns such as those in the picture below: Of course, as the weather starts to turn cooler, I naturally start to think about skiing. As[Read More…]
[Editor Note: From time to time, we’re going to dip into our extensive archives for a story that might be useful, interesting, or entertaining. Here’s one from 2014 from correspondent Harriet Wallis.] Starting right sticks all season. My friend says the same thing every winter. She says wants to take a lesson as soon as there’s more snow on the[Read More…]
Who Is She? What Makes Her Special? A competitor, a snowboarder (obviously), a woman. See if you can put these clues together. Once again, thanks to the Colorado Snowsport Museum in Vail, CO., for this contribution. Put your guess in comments below. Last Week This artifact is a United States Forest Service avalanche control gun sight. It was used by[Read More…]
Advice Jim Followed: When You Come To A Fork In The Road, Take It. From the time Jim was a youngster, his single goal was to be an Olympic ski racer. He lived for that. He trained for that. But when he was shut out of the Olympics, it didn’t stop him. He generated ways to help others in the[Read More…]
Cozy Feet. Happy Skier. That’s the headline for the APEX Ski Boot System advertisement at the right of this article. It’s worth taking notice…especially with the unusual, limited time 20% discount to SeniorsSkiing.com readers. In a reader survey from a few years ago, we asked which new equipment you intended to purchase in the coming season. 25% of you responded[Read More…]
