Skiing

Review of G3 Alpinist climbing skins for splitboard, tested in Alaska and they passed with flying colors.

Maybe it’s Thanksgiving break. Maybe it’s pre-season marketing. Maybe it is the Forest Service permitting system for ski resorts. Maybe it’s the insatiable human psyche to move on to the next thing. Whatever it is, for some reason most skiers and snowboarders don’t ride when the snow is at its best. I’m not talking about ski bums who live to ski, and chase the last scraps of snow in the springtime before going to the southern hemisphere for the southern winter. I'm not talking about backcountry skiers who wait all year for the big alpine descents to come into condition in the springtime. I’m not talking about the CMH Heli-Skiing guests who plan their dream ski trip a year in advance. I’m talking about the skiers and snowboarders who are chomping at the bit to make some turns in October and November and risk their knees and teeth riding thin snow when there are still elk grazing on the ski runs. I’m talking about the ski areas that blast artificial snow all over the hills in November, but then close in early April when snowpacks are at their deepest. This year in Colorado was an exceptional demonstration of this phenomenon. The skiing was marginal most of the year. Yeah, we know, Revelstoke got dumped on the entire winter and Jackson Hole and the Pacific Northwest had snowy winters. But that’s not what I’m talking about. In November, it was hardly cold enough to even make snow in Colorado but areas jousted to open first and bag the precious Thanksgiving skiers at the end of November. It was March before the backcountry was really worth skiing in much of the state. Then in April, on almost the exact weekend that most of Colorado’s ski areas closed, it started dumping, and snowed in the high country for the next month straight. It was painful to watch. Some people were actually complaining that it was snowing because they wanted to go ride their bikes, go climbing, hiking or other warm weather activities. But aside from our calendar-based expectations, it was winter! I drove by the ski area to take my kids backcountry skiing (photo above) in a kiddie sort of way. The lifts stood silent, base lodge buried in deep snow, trees cloaked in storm after storm of fantastic powder. My daughter asked me, “Papa, can we go turn on the lifts and go powder skiing?” How I wanted to. We had a blast, it was great for the kids to suffer a bit boot packing and earning our turns on a little hill, but even the 6-year-olds saw the irony in it. This year in Colorado was unusual, but not unusual to the extreme. We quite often have our best snow after the ski areas have closed. The best skiing in Colorado is typically from March through May, but most ski areas have limited permits from the National Forest Service; however, I don’t think that’s the biggest reason ski areas close when the skiing gets good. I think the biggest reason is that like any business, ski areas are beholden to the whims of their customers. Snow doesn’t matter nearly as much as people buying lift tickets and booking ski holidays. I think we cause the problem ourselves by jones-ing for the winter long before winter even gets going, and then being over it before winter even ends; for taking our families on ski trips at Christmas when really we should be taking our ski holiday during spring break; for even buying lift tickets in November when some years there is not a single natural snowflake to be found anywhere south of the Canadian border. Ok, maybe it's not that bad, but you get my point. If we all just stopped visiting ski resorts before Christmas unless the snow was great, and then packed the ski areas in April, maybe we could change the ski season to match the snow season. What do you think?

Cranmore Mountain, located in the heart of North Conway Village in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, only 2.5 hours from the Boston area, opens for its third summer season on Saturday, May 25, 2013....Read Full Post

The 35th Annual Mountainfilm Festival is the first of two awe-inspiring fests that take place in Telluride, Colorado Memorial Day weekend. That means there will be more hiking boots, bike racks, and Subaru’s in the mountain town than celebrity sightings, entourages, and paparazzi. Mountainfilm showcases filmmakers who focus on the outdoors—everything from documentaries about climbing epics like K2 and Everest to character studies and short films about skiing, surfing, climbing, cycling, photography, conservation, and cultural studies. In addition to 91 independent films, there will be educational seminars, and Friday night (May 24), an in-town gallery tour that will showcase some of the best paintings, photography, and drawings inspired by the outdoors. Here are a couple films we're excited to see: The Crash Reel While training in Park City, Utah for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Halfpipe competition, snowboarder Kevin Pearce fell and suffered a traumatic brain injury that left him to relearn everything. Twice Oscar nominated filmmaker Lucy Walker tells the intimate story of the tight-knit Pearce family as they support Kevin through his long and arduous healing process and struggle with the fragility of his recovery. The Crash Reel - Official Clip from BOND Film on Vimeo.Director Lucy Walker talks about the making of The Crash Reel - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5czVHdYQvks High and Hallowed: 1963 Fifty years ago this month, Jim Whittaker, Tom Horbein, and Willi Unsoeled became the first Americans to ever summit Mt. Everest. This film tells the step-by-step story of their harrowing and heroic journey, as well as the 2012 attempt by Charley Mace, Jake Norton, David Morton and Brent Bishop to replicate Horbein and Unsoeled’s first ever ascent of the West Ridge route.High and Hallowed: 1963 - Official Trailer - Premiering at MountainFilm in Telluride from High & Hallowed on Vimeo.Keeper of the MountainsElizabeth Hawley has never climbed a Himalayan mountain. Instead, she has taken the task of chronicling every detail of the adventures of those who have for 50 years. Hawley travelled to Nepal in 1960, and never left—the 87-year-old has made her home in Kathmandu since. She got the scoop on the first American team to climb Everest in 1963 while working for Reuters and is considered to be the most respected mountaineering journalist in the world. This short film by Allison Otto (2012 Mountainfilm Commitment Grant recipient) puts Miss Hawley’s wit, determination and quirkiness on display. Keeper of the Mountains Trailer from Allison Otto on Vimeo.

The weekend storm dropped well over a foot of snow at Snowbird, making for some unreal skiing and riding conditions this late in the season .  Now if you missed this past storm and you’re sitting in your cubical this morning beating yourself up over it, don’t worry, I have a simple solution for you.    Sunday night, after the lifts closed for the week it snowed another 5”!  Snowbird is closed all week long but will be reopening at the end of the week for one last throw down during Memorial Day weekend. So you know what that means right, last night's snow is just going to have to sit and wait all week for us to ski it. By no means do I expect to find powder turns next weekend but hopefully we will be skiing some great untracked corn snow to kick off the unofficial start to summer next weekend.   Click here to find out the scoop on all the great bands playing on the plaza deck this upcoming weekend.  Don’t forget Snowbird is offering some serious discounts on lift tickets right now as well.

News roundup covering backcountry skiing and mountaineering, May 2013.

Park City Mountain Resort, located in the heart of Park City, Utah and only a 35-minute drive from Salt Lake City International Airport will open for summer season on Friday, May 24 for Memorial Day Weekend and daily summer operations are scheduled to continue through October 20....Read Full Post

Summer snow has such a good smell :) Skiing with no shirt = awesome. [...]

While spring gradually gives way to summer and the very last remnants of winter finally melt away, a few lingering strips of snow in the higher reaches of the Whites, Dacks and at several northeastern ski areas are still tempting a handful of skiers. At this point, while the turns are still fun, the skiing [...]