Most places either don’t charge anything or just a nominal fee for insurance purposes, and many have a very reasonably priced seasons pass for uphill travel. The problem is that it’s dangerous to have people traveling uphill when the groomers and snowmakers are active - lots of heavy machinery, fast moving snowmobiles, and even winch lines where the workers aren’t really looking out for uphill traffic.
Dawn Patrol (skinning up before the ski area opens for the day) is pretty common and you’ll find people doing so everywhere that allows it. Many ski areas allow uphill travel on a designated route during the day, and restrict it when the ski area is not active.
At least one ski area rewarded you for climbing. You could get a token from the upper lift station for one free chairlift ride for each lap, but I think they’ve discontinued that policy. The big problem is insurance, a closed ski area where groomers and snowmakers are operating is a dangerous place.
Yeah I agree. They even had a commercial or a bumper about how her being there was about overcoming pain and injury with her team of doctors, PTs and coaches. I’m pretty sure that would have been filmed before her ACL injury!
I was simply 5 inches too tight on my line when my right arm hooked inside of the gate, twisting me and resulted in my crash. My ACL and past injuries had nothing to do with my crash whatsoever.
Physically, I believe her. I believe whatever she says. But I bet there was a mental aspect related to her ACL and previous injuries that made her decide to go so close to the gate. I bet she was not relaxed at all.
I have never skied a minute in my life but watching those downhill races, it seems like you need to be loose and hard at a split second’s notice.
When I was diagnosed with a blown ACL ~25 years ago, one of the first things my orthopedic guy asked was, “What do you do?” He was trying to assess whether I needed surgery or not. He told me that if I were a pro level athlete who had the time and resources to do nothing but work out for 8-10 hours a day, he’d leave it up to me to have the surgery or not. He told me that John Elway blew an ACL in high school and played through college and a lengthy professional career without having it repaired, so an ACL replacement wasn’t strictly necessary to perform at a high level. He also told me that if I planned to sit on the sofa 16 hours a day, I didn’t need an ACL replacement because I would not be putting any demands on my knee that would make it necessary. If, OTOH, I was a weekend warrior who sat behind a desk for work but wanted to engage in any kind of moderate activity, he would recommend surgery.
In Elway’s case, he could keep the muscles that provide support to his knee strong and flexible. That plus wearing a brace made it possible for him, although I understand he was in near constant pain for a good part of his playing days. But the fact that he could makes me think that Lindsay Vonn’s attempt at the downhill was not an unreasonable risk for her to take. EVERY DH run is a risk, but I think she had good cause to think she could finish her run. It was an error in judgment that had nothing to do with her knee that made her crash. I admire her strength and fortitude.
Wow – curling on national TV (granted, it involved the US). Still not sure when you are allowed to sweep your opponent’s stone. Congrats to the folks from Duluth for getting silver.
And a bronze in Women’s Luge. I like it when the US wins in lesser known/sports the US is not known to be good at more than marquee events (though the I believe US is good at curling)
Important distinction – but he still would get my vote right now. I could see changing my mind if someone medas in something even more rare, or turns in a Eric Heiden like performance.
The Men’s Short Program in Figure Skating was broadcast this afternoon, and everyone who qualified (lots of skaters) did their routines. I started watching idly because I thought I’d be seeing a dozen or so and found myself hooked in for the whole thing, watching a bunch of great skaters I’d never heard of. I’m sure NBC will only be showing the top contenders on tonight’s primetime broadcast. No spoilers here, but you still might see some unknowns who clearly got the call and surprised everyone.
American ice skater Ilia Malinin performed a backflip, the first time that move has been performed legally in 50 years at the Olympics. (The ban was reversed in 2024.)
Kinda. Those Assholes played the first end live, then cut to something else. Okay, they are trying to get us to pay for Pisscock or whatever. So I set the DVR up to record the rest of the game when it broadcast later. I was excited to see this play out for The Gold…
And they Spoiled it. Showed the end result in one of the little wrap-ups after some other sport.
