Son of a gun, I had my fist ski injury of the season last week. Came down on the front my palm (a horizontal snow fence got the better of me). Figured it would feel better over night. Figured wrong. The first of the next half a year of minor aches. At least every ache will have a good memory.
Vitamin I is your friend.
I’ll be heading to Angelfire for Thanksgiving,we rented a house by the slopes. No skiing but may be able to sneak something in if there is any snow.
If it looks good we may head back for Christmas, it’s a bit closer to Houston than the Park City 24 hr drive.
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Yeah, our technique is far from perfect, but we are both in our late 50s, I’ve had multiple surgeries on both knees/ankles (no moguls for me, thank you!), and she’s had cervical fusion - so we’re happy just putzing along w/ big old grins on our faces.
I’m pretty comnfortable w/ a lot of blue, so I convince my son to come down to my level and spend some time w/ the old man when we are together, but this time will be just me and my wife.
Beaver Creek really impressed us with the amount of wide open green up top.
Got some material in the mail from both Sunshine and LL - expect to make a decision soon. May go last week in March instead of early Feb.
Sheesh. It’s been in the low 80s around here and not a cloud in sight for the next week. Not a good looking November at this point - and each day that goes by we get further in the hole for water. Hopefully this annoyingly nice weather will go dry-out somewhere else soon. Bring on winter already!
I have a good friend who lives in Sacramento as well, and she’s bumming about the Tahoe snow pack already. And she works for the CA Water Board. Might be a long winter/spring.
If anyone heads up to Schweitzer this year, let me know. I work up there a couple days a week. Some snow so far this year but has been melting at the village level. That should change this week. Getting cold.
Last year we had record setting snow, leading to this cool, inbounds, controlled avalanche.
Thanks for all the info so far. Hoping you could help me make final plans.
So far, our 2 available weeks are the first full week of Feb, or the last week of March. Wondering if any of you had thoughts on the snow/weather we might expect to encounter at Whistler/Blackcomb, Lake Louise, or Sunshine those 2 weeks.
Right now, my preference is Lake Louise, the end of March, staying at the Chateau. I LOVE the look of those big greens looping down from just about every lift, and taking you to the back bowls and over to Larch and back. Just really look like the sort of runs my wife and I could really enjoy putzing along on. And my wife really likes glamorous old hotels, and it looks hard to beat the Chateau. And she’s a BIG skater (me, not so much). So evening skating on that lake w/ the ice sculptures would be neat. But I think I saw something that said the sculptures were through mid-March, which made me wonder if we’d be chasing the tail end of the season…
Would we expect to still encounter good snow at LL that late? I see that LL makes snow, but they get considerably less than Sunshine or W/B.
Yeah, we could gear up for frigid temps, but we really do enjoy spring skiing, so warmer temps would be a plus. I heard somewhere that in the spring the lower parts of W/B get foggy and slushy.
To remind you, we are flatlanders and really enjoyed our last 2 trips to the well-groomed Beaver Creek and Deer Valley. So while we enjoy powder as much as anyone, our expectations for snow are probably less than many of you. We really just want to avoid the extremes of ice or mashed potato slush.
Appreciate any ideas you might be able to offer.
You won’t have a problem with snow in Banff through late April - https://www.j2ski.com/snow_forecast/Canada/Lake_Louise_snow_history.html
They make snow mainly down near the bottom and in high traffic areas. But unless it’s a drought year you won’t have a problem finding coverage. Fresh snow is another story, but it sounds like you’re mainly staying on the groomers so that’s not a concern.
You da man - thanks!
Anytime I can return the favor by providing forecast info re: the flatlands of Chicago’s western burbs, don’t hesitate to ask!
Last week of March will have good snow on the groomers, but more people out skiing due to it being school March break.
First day on snow this year, amazingly good conditions in southern NH for Dec 1. First we took a couple of top-to-bottom runs on groomers with excellent conditions. Legs held up surprisingly well and we all felt pretty solid. Then we went on a few runs with natural snow, ungroomed, pretty unheard of in Dec up there. Great work getting the legs ready for Montana at Christmas, and no one got hurt.
Skied from 8 to 1 with one short break. I can accept that.
Where’s the like button on this thing?
I’m a relatively new skier. Actually, I’ve been trying to learn my whole life (intermittently, with gaps of a decade or more between attempts), but it wasn’t until about three years ago that I finally got the hang of it.
Before that point, I never really made it off the bunny slope, and usually fell down and hurt myself. It wasn’t until 2015 that I finally had a good experience (due to perfect conditions, very short parabolic skis, and a patient instructor). I had the same good experience the next year, and skied three more times that winter. The following year I skied 15 days, and last season I skied 21 days by the end of February…when I fell and injured my knee (partial tear of my left MCL).
I usually ski here in New England, but last season I went out west and skied four days at Breckenridge. This upcoming season I have a trip planned to Park City with my sister and her family. I’m really looking forward to ski season, and hopefully won’t be too gun-shy after that injury last year.
Overall, I think I’ve really progressed the last few years. I mostly ski on blue trails now, and can do some blacks if they are simply steep and/or narrow. I don’t particularly like bumps. (I was hoping to learn how to ski moguls last year before I got hurt and my season ended.)
Here’s to a fun and safe season for you. 
Gun control in Thunder Bay, Canada.
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Thanks! 
I was hoping my first day this season would be Founder’s Day at Mount Snow on 12/14 ($12 lift tickets!), but my wife is recovering from back surgery, and her recovery has been slower than we expected. I’m hoping she’ll be recovered enough for me to leave her for a few hours next weekend. I have a leftover ticket for Wachusett from last season that expires on 12/24.
Did my 1st day of the season on Dec 9. Was more like a morning, at Heavenly, with the “early season” boards. CA side mostly closed and they were making snow, but they allowed people to park there and ride the lifts in order to get over to the NV side. A couple of decent groomed runs, but thin cover and anything not groomed was a little choppy. Light crowds tho, so was able to do quite a few laps without lift lines, until my legs started to complain. There has been some natural snow since then and looking to check-out Kirkwood or Heavenly next weekend.
I’ve been pounding Heavenly for a couple days, and probably headed up tomorrow. Lots of rocks on Little Dipper, but I’ve got it figured out for the most part, and mounted some beaters so I don’t wreck my All-Stars. I always park at the tram, so I start and finish the day with a few runs on Waterfall. Not so many rocks there.
Not much snow, but what is there is very fast! And the place is deserted. Big fun!
Getting ready to head out to Whitefish MT in a few days. Looks like we might be bringing our powder skis.
Hauled the kid up today and we got there and realized he didn’t load his boots in the car. :rolleyes:
Our shells are the same size, so I let him go with mine. I tore off about 6 fast runs when he got done. Kinda creepy putting on warm boots.