Mid Season Blues

[LivingProof]

Liam authored the below and it's got me thinking.

With the paltry amount of snow we've had this season, I got tired and bored of skiing carvers and switched a week ago to skiing my fatter skis full time to keep things interesting.  Honestly, I like the way they ski and with a few modest adjustments, they perform as well as my thinner skis on firmer snow.  And today when the snow turned very spring-like (again!  It's been April all season!), they're vastly superior.

We've been skiing now around 2 months, at my local hill the electronic ticketing tells me that I've 19 days to date. Liam and I share a common malaise in that we ski a small hill with a limited number of trails. In my case, it's 8 trails top to bottom, and, we make 6 runs per hour. Admittedly, I'm tired of looking at the same terrain as the individual trails don't vary that much. So the question is "how do you keep it fresh".

Certainly, one method is just to change skis. Of all the reasons to have different skis, the ability to avoid doing the same-old-thing is powerful. I remember posting earlier that my 88 mm skis let me be "not me". I hate hearing skiers state "I'm bored", it's up to each of us find a way to reinvent skiing. Free skiing with members of the racing team has provided a focus this year as keeping up forced me to change the routine and ski faster.

For the Liam's and Bushwacker's who work at resort, I think that some days or nights get pretty long. I appreciate the need to go to a different ski. Not looking to turn this into another narrow vs wide vs real wide discussion. We start the season with energy and enthusiasm, but, it does become routine. Very simplified, skiing is turn right, turn left.

And, on a minor rant, if your are bored, ya don't have to tell all the people on the chair, or liftline or carpool. Don't ruin my great day.

How to do you "amp up" your daily skiing?

[Gary]

For me Mike it's about the friends I meet up with to ski...stories on the chair, discussions about skiing...

I like to switch up the skis too as conditions change....again.... just adds another dimension.

All in all, we here have been fortunate with a variety of snow conditions including some of my favorite sandy loamy snow and spring snow to ski in. Changes the challenge of the day.

I rarely hear any negative comments on the mountain other than it's been a light snow year but followed by, thank God they've done such a great job making snow.

Besides, anyone tells me they're bored on the mountain....I ski away very fast!

Keep um turning Mike and enjoy the ride to glide! AND if you're feeling the need for some positive upstate NY vibe....Our ski chalet has the heat on!

G

[jbotti]

I have actually been thankful for the low snow this year. I may have written before that I have used the lack of playground conditions to re-dedicate myself to doing drills and on trying to take my skiing to a new level this season. I do think that I have already accomplished this and this has made me even more dedicated to doing more drills and more work to continue to improve.

I do think you have to look at low snow in the right way. I find it incredibly difficult to pull myself away from snow conditions the are amazing, where every run I get to the lift and I jonesing to get back and ski some more. This usually happens with fresh snow and big pow days. So if I know I am not going to do drills on those days it really only leaves "groomer" bad snow/condition days to do drills. Hence if you aren't doing drills and working on your skiing on bad snow days, when will you?

I will also say that I find that switching to wider skis with a bigger turn radius on groomers never gets me to ski better. It almost always gets me skiing in super G arcs and I get real bored in these real fast because it becomes a park and ride day, and I am cruising and not skiing (To be honest I won't allow myself to do this because I really think it's bad for my skiing).

Anyway, enough of the sermon, but if you will view the poor conditions as an opportunity and re-dedicate, when the good stuff gets here you will be able to have that much more fun!!

[midwif]

I just came back from a small jaunt upstate New York to Windham Mountain.
Went with my friend, Irina, who took the avatar picture of me 5 years ago at Vail.
She found a deal for $79 at local Inn which included the 2 queens/room, lift ticket and continental bkfst deal (midweek)
Driving up the night before, instead of driving 3 hrs at the crack of dawn, was just a wonderful idea!

I didn't think conditions would be very propitious, but damn if they weren't better than some days out west this year!
I was very glad I committed to the day.
We had a great time. The mountain had made fresh snow (in anticipation of presidents week?)and the ice/boilerplate was almost non-existent.

The first few runs felt uninspiring and I wondered if I had gotten too spoiled by the terrain out west.

So, to keep this fresh??? Worked on whirligigs.

You know, turn, rotate on both skis and do a 360. Link a few together in a row.
We worked on this a bit with Glen at Sugarbush. Helping to find one's feet on the board and feeling edges.

Once Irina saw me do a few it was, "how do you do that trick?"
Worked on it bit with her. Every run she did a few to practice.
By the end of the day she had it down.

Just that little bit of sharing info, practicing a new "skill" made it fun for both of us!
Oh, a getting a few TFR drills in at the top of  most trails before catching up with her.

L.

[Liam]

I've toyed with the idea of getting a tele set up to spic things up-a fair number of guys I ski with have gone that way and haven't looked back.  We'll see, as a late comer to skiing I worked pretty hard just to get the meagre alpine skills I have, I'm not sure I want to got back to square one.  But, it seems the people who go to tele pick it up pretty quickly and few of them seem to want to go back to alpine.

Park and Ride?  Well, there is a sense of dominance that comes with high speed, uber-wide turns, and they remind me how much terrain exists even on the same trail I've skied a hundred times this season.  Whether or not it's good for my skiing I can't assess and don't really care to.  I think skiing is good for my skiing, and certainly good for my soul.

I watched that video that Max posted of Bachelor...looks wonderful, I think with my prejudice for big turns in soft snow over interestingly shaped terrain I would love to call Bachelor my home mountain.  You are lucky, Max-that's a great home hill and you undoubtedly benefit greatly from that.

Today was a pretty great day of skiing (as was yesterday) a series of groomers became very soft 'corn' runs (it was in the mid 40's mid day) with some bump-like formations on the side.  Around 3 pm, it started snowing (a fairly steady, slushy snow but snow) and that made the last two hours on snow equally excellent. 

[bushwacka]

I skied at a hill with 400 vertical feet for 4 years of my life. After always having fun at that place, stowe is easy to have fun at.

first when free skiing I almost always do something different. Everyday is hardly the same. I also love riding with boarders as they look at the hill alot more creatively than most skiers and that get passed on to me.

Today I did a mix of woods/bumps/groomers and park while just trying to find creative ways to ski the mountain. I love finding transitions everywhere to jump from doubling bumps to bonking stumps in the woods. I also love finding hip jumps ot side trail wall rides. I also love showing off for the pure humor of it and ot inspire others what can be done in this multifacted sport. Today I did one footed spins, worm turns, numerous spread eagles, charleston and one footed pivot slips, and literally did a run of switch bumps.

[Johnny2R]

Guess how much sympathy a skier like me, who gets out maybe 10-12 days a year, has for people who get bored skiing. 

[jim-ratliff]

AMEN.

[Gary]

Hey Lynn, were you doing your whirly birds on your new Ski Logics....?

[midwif]

No, the whirlys were on the progressors.
The Isis have a 90 waist. They are for softer conditions.
They haven't had much of an outing this year.

Depending on weather reports, they may even stay home for the 2 weeks of Colorado I have coming up.
LUVVIIN the progressors!

[HighAngles]

I'm with jbotti on this one.  One of the greatest gifts I've been given in my pursuit of PMTS training is the re-invigoration of my enjoyment of skiing on groomers.  Before delving into PMTS I almost quit skiing unless there was fresh snow somewhere to be found.  I now equally love dividing my time between the piste and the off-piste.  PMTS has taught me the skills to get so much more performance out of my skis.  The thrill of using World Cup skiing movements in my free skiing keeps me satisfied all season long - no matter the snow levels.

So there's your unofficial PMTS commercial in case you were wondering.

[HeluvaSkier]

As others have mentioned, it isn't the terrain that you have available to you that matters, but rather how you use the terrain you have available to you that matters.

[Gary]

AMEN!

AND this is the season to challenge ourselves here in the east with the boiler plate, sandy loamy snow, crud, granular....and even 45 minutes of carpet....

Gotta bring you best game to the party....caues ya get to play in it all..g

[dan.boisvert]

I only get 30-40 days per season, so I don't have time to get bored.  I'd imagine folks who get 150 days per season are ready to do something else by Spring, though.