SKI Magazine Ski Testers Meet The Sundance Kid. Back in the early ‘70s, SKI Magazine (remember it?) developed a program called SKIpp that stood for “ski performance prediction” developed by the late John Perryman. He was a talented engineer who spent years in aerospace and worked with Howard Head at Head Ski Company. SKIpp had two parts, the laboratory analysis[Read More…]
Weather Factoids, Driving School, PA Trail Names, Utah Poet, Special Birthday For Klaus. Busy week here at SeniorsSkiing.com. We attended the Northeast Winter Weather Summit at Stratton Mountain, VT, and met with meteorologists, ski resort operators, and lots of journalists to discuss matters of mutual interest. And we picked up some amazing fun facts from hanging around with some weather[Read More…]
An Eye-Opening Lesson From Team O’Neil Rally School About Spinning Tires And Traction Control In Snow. At this past week’s Northeast Winter Weather Summit held at Stratton Mountain, VT., we had a chance to do some driving, spinning, skidding, and generally driving like a cowboy home from the range on a controlled, enclosed test area with mixed conditions: gravel, ice,[Read More…]
A Wonderful Cartoon From Mike Roth, Ski Journalist From Albany. Mike writes and draws cartoons for the Albany Times-Union Ski Blog. This one is about Smuggler’s Notch’s Doc Dempsey’s run.
Extrovert, Powder Puff, and The Elevator Spend a little time looking at resort maps and you’re sure to find some attention-grabbing trail names. When I looked at Pennsylvania resorts I found some beauties. Powder Puff and The Elevator at Jack Frost along with Extrovert at Blue Knob topped the list. Among the best is High Hopes also at Blue Knob.[Read More…]
Who Is The Airborne Skier? What’s His Story? Do You Know His Hometown? This week, we made the Mystery Glimpse a little more challenging. Name this high flyer. Tell us about him and (hint) how he met his unfortunate and untimely end. Okay that’s hard. Here’s another one of this celebrated personage. These photos come from the collection of the[Read More…]
A Senior’s Introduction To Some Of The Best Skiing In Japan. The Hakuba Valley sits three hours west of downtown Tokyo and boasts some of the best skiing in all of Asia. Host to the 1998 Winter Olympics, Hakuba offers a unique combination of diverse terrain spread out over 11 resorts, 12 meters of annual snowfall, world class facilities, and[Read More…]
An Undergraduate’s Parody Ski Song Led To An Academic Achievement. As an undergraduate at Michigan State University in the early 1950s I joined the ski club, and I learned, among other things (like how to kick turn), a bunch of ski songs. We sang them driving up to Caberfae resort near Cadillac and apres ski in a local[Read More…]
Skiing Binds Friends Together; Don’t Skip A Trip. One of the great things about the sport of skiing is that it is a conduit for friendships. There is nothing like the anticipation of the weekly get together with friends or the ski trip with pals that you have skied with for over 40 years. There’s a buzz: the excitement, the[Read More…]
Free (Or Almost Free) Skiing Directory, Skis For Seniors Recommendations, Chile Wrap, Trail Name Series, Ski History Gala, Skiing In Skirts. Happy Thanksgiving On The Snow! For the first time in recent memory, there are plenty of lifts spinning in New England areas and in Colorado and other places in the West. The recent East Coast Nor’easter brought a snow[Read More…]
Finding Good Days In A Disappointing Snow Season In The Southern Hemisphere. The 2018 season started on time in June, after a serious drought, but sputtered out before it ever really got going. The Chilean Central Zone ended with a 54 percent precipitation deficit, despite ENSO-neutral conditions. For a ski area in Chile not to get to the Sept 18[Read More…]
Idiot’s Delight, Fun Bubble and Crisis. [Editor Note: Last week, we launched Don Burch’s Trail Name series with a round-up of trail names from resorts in California. This week, we move to Michigan. If you have some trail names that stick in your memory, please let us know in the comments section below.] Look at some resort maps and you’ll[Read More…]
Their Behind-The-Scenes Work Makes The Winter Sports We Love Even Better. Soft-spoken Howard Peterson grew up in a skiing family in Maine, became the ski director at New Hampshire’s Bretton Woods, and then moved west where he became the executive director of the U.S. Ski Team. He was already making an imprint on the ski industry. Then, while the 2002[Read More…]
It Looks Royally Uncomfortable. Here’s a picture from long ago. The woman on the right is the mystery lady. Who is she? You can probably guess the era from the skiing “costumes”. Probably foreign. Last hint: Think Scandinavia. This week’s picture was contributed by Vesterheim, the National Norwegian-American Museum & Heritage Center, in Decorah, IA. The center has over 33,000 artifacts,[Read More…]
Fifth Anniversary Party Bash Report, Revised Free Ski List, New Trail Name Series, Big Bell Mystery, November Poetry From Robert Frost. The Upper West side of Manhattan reverberated with the laughs and chatter of the SeniorsSkiing.com’s Fifth Anniversary Bash at E’s Bar and Grill last Wednesday. This Week We have[Read More…]
Practical Advice On How To Regain And Maintain Your Confidence On Snow. [Editor Note: The Ski Diva (Wendy Clinch, our friend and colleague) has given us permission to re-print a transcript of advice on confidence in skiing. The Ski Diva site is a community of women who love winter sports and the outdoors. The site has been honored by the[Read More…]
Yes, It’s A Big Bell. What’s the significance of this old bell? Do you know where it came from? What it was used for? Who used it? Your guesses below most welcome. This week’s Mystery Glimpse was contributed by the Alf Engen Ski Museum, Park City, UT. The museum was established in 1989 with the mission to preserve the[Read More…]
November Is A Forerunner. My November Guest By Robert Frost (1913) My sorrow, when she’s here with me, Thinks these dark days of autumn rain Are beautiful as days can be; She loves the bare, the withered tree; She walks the sodden pasture lane. Her pleasure will not let me stay. She talks and I am fain to list: She’s[Read More…]
Off To The Ski Show! New Mystery Glimpse, Updated Free Ski List, Snowshoeing With Grandkids, Another Non-Skiing Snow Activity. The annual go-to-the-ski-show ritual is about to take place. We’re headed down to Boston to see what new and different this year and to connect with some friends and fellow ski journalists. We know this is a great annual family/friend outing[Read More…]
Who Are These Folks? Hint: It’s New England. Another Hint: You’ve undoubtedly seen one of these folks in action. This week’s Mystery Glimpse photo comes from the archives of the New England Ski Museum with headquarters in Franconia, NH, and a new branch location in North Conway, NH. The New England Ski Museum collects, conserves, and exhibits elements of ski[Read More…]
Other Things To Do In Winter (Part 3): Ride The Snow In Style. There IS a way to experience skiing, even if you don’t ski. Or close to it, since you will be coming down an actual ski slope, keeping up with skiers. Only thing is you will be sitting down. The device that enables this experience is called a[Read More…]
ReaderReport, Free Senior Ski Listing, Mystery Glimpse Returns, Sample Song From Ray Conrad, Fifth Anniversary Bash Coming Up. Last week, we put out a call to our readers to submit stories, photos, and videos about their own snow sport experiences. Memories, history, adventures, recommendations, you name it. In response, reader Alyce Perez sent in pictures of her skiing at Mt.[Read More…]
Guess What’s Going On, Submit Under Comments Below. Our popular Mystery Glimpse feature is returning after a summer respite. The basic idea is that we publish a photo of a person, place, or thing, and you guess who, where, or what. Most of these photos have been submitted to SeniorsSkiing.com by some very excellent ski museums around the country. We[Read More…]
Halloween Skiing, Nor’Easter Brings New England Snow, Contribute To SeniorsSkiing.com, Stein’s Studebaker, Ultimate Ski Quiz. For the first time in a while, there will be skiing on Halloween. Resorts are opening in BC, Colorado, Vermont, Maine, and more snow is on the way this week in New England. Here’s the forecast for this Wednesday 10/25. Get your costume ready. We[Read More…]
Having A Studebaker In Common With A Legend Prompts A Sherlockian Pursuit. Stein Eriksen bought a new Studebaker in April 1953. That much is certain. I’d like to know which model Stein bought, what happened to it, and if there is a photo of Stein with the car. Why? Because my father-in-law bought a Studebaker that same spring, and my[Read More…]
