NASJA 10: I'm Sick of Altitude

You've got to take the bad with the good.

While higher elevations make for lots of snow and good riding, they can also lead to altitude sickness. Normally my bouts are limited to sketchy sleep, though during a recent stay in Aspen I was just fine.

Crested Butte, however, is another 1,500 feet higher, making the possibility of altitude sickness more likely, and the symptoms more severe. Right now it's mostly tiredness.

As the Centers for Disease Control say, being in good condition is no protection against altitude sickness.

More on the subject later.

NASJA 9: Disco Fever

Here at the NASJA annual meeting, we're not all about exploring terrain and talking about the ski business. We also have a party or two. Tonight's theme: disco fever.

The disco ball is above the dance floor, the Bee Gees and Donna Summer are blasting through the sound system, and most everyone is wearing retro clothing from a costume shop.

But true to my early-to-bed philosophy (see: NASJA 8), I won't be long for the party.

NASJA 8: Alcohol, Late Nights, and Skiing

At dinner the other night we got into a discussion of "ski hard, party hard."

I don't understand how people can ski or ride all day, especially at high elevations, stay up late at night drinking booze (which compounds the problems of dehydration), and then getting up early the next day for another trip to the mountain. But some people can do it.

One school of thought is that you can do the long-day, long-night routine if you start skiing or riding at an early age. Perhaps. But whatever the truth is, don't ski or ride intoxicated. It's dangerous enough to yourself, which would be fine if that's as far as it went. But usually it will increase your likelihood of endangering others.

NASJA 7: T-Bar!

I've never liked surface lifts, whether I was on skis or on a snowboard. And for a snowboarder, face it, surface lifts were designed with skiers in mind.

But can a snowboarder make peace with surface lifts?

I struggled a long time to master tow ropes, but that's as far as I got in using surface lifts. Until now.

I spent the day touring the mountain, from edge to edge, with some other participants in the conference. By mid-afternoon, someone suggested we head up to an area that required using a t-bar. I was hesitant, but decided to take the effort.

First we went up the High Lift, and then, the North Face lift. Both lifts served diamond or double diamond terrain.

I did manage to make it up the two lifts. Here are some things that worked for me along the way. They may work for you. Though a t-bar can take two people uphill, it's best for you to go up solo.

1. Slide into place, on one side or the other of where the line will be. Your uphill foot should be in the binding; your downhill foot should not be in its binding. Note that you will also have an uphill hand and a downhill hand.

2. When the bar comes around, put your uphill hand on the line. With your downhill hand, push the bar into place. This means placing a butt cheek against the bar.

3. As you go up, you may be tempted to let your uphill arm do all the work, by grasping the line. That's a mistake; you'll tire out very quickly. Successfully using a t-bar requires letting the line do the work, through the bar, not you doing the work through holding the line in a death grip with your uphill arm.

4. You may find a tendency for the bar to slip away from you. That's not good news. To counteract this tendency, rest your downhill hand on the opposite side of the bar (where someone else would be standing), and periodically shove the bar closer to you.

5. As you ascend, maintain a slight bend in your knees. That way you can absorb small changes in the terrain.

6. Will your back foot slip off the board if it's not in a binding? Probably. The most important thing is to not panic. The second thing is to not over correct. Simply put your foot back on the board; don't stomp.

7. Note that the terrain may become more steep as you get towards the end of the ride. Stick with it and you'll be rewarded with new terrain.

NASJA 6: Onsite Lodging Vital

Critics of the modern resort industry, who range from old-school rugged types to new-age anti-capitalists, with ordinary folk in-between, find fault with the growth of second home ownership at ski areas. "Vailification" as it is often called, involves people spending sums of money on vacation homes that are beyond the reach of most people.

I've felt some effects from this trend. When I go to Aspen, I stay not at the Little Nell or the St. Regis or the Hotel Jerome or other such high-end hotels. Of course, even the cheaper sleeps in that town are expensive.

Twice in the last 5 years, the hotel at which we have stayed has gone condo, and not even condo, but fractional ownership. Think time share, on a large budget, as in $1,000 per square foot. And that's for partial ownership, mind you.

In a morning session, the owner of Crested Butte resort defended the growth of upscale ownership. There's no time to review his comments now, but they are worth hearing. The most interesting point: real estate buyers subsidize the mountain experience for everyone else.

That makes sense. After all, ownership carries extra responsibilities, financial and otherwise. And if the resort owner can make money by selling and selling real estate, that fronts money that can be used to upgrade operations (lifts, grooming equipment).

Then again, it all depends on the structure of the organization. I recall reading the annual report of Intrawest, the resort giant. It divides its business into real estate, hospitality (managing real estate) and mountain operations (lift tickets, ski school, meals, and so forth). Each division, if I recall correctly, was expected to turn a profit.

In any case, there's no use railing against the purchase of mountain homes. There will always be a group of people with the money to spend on them, and others willing to sell them.

NASJA 5: Employee Housing Programs

At dinner last night I spoke with someone about an employee housing program in Pitkin County, Colorado. Pitkin County is home to Aspen, so as you might expect, it's an expensive place to live.

Employees at the Aspen Ski Co live as far away as Rifle. According to Mapquest, that 68 mile trip takes an hour and 30 minutes. And that's in good conditions.

Housing for (some) employees is semi-socialized. There's a housing authority to which developers must contribute cash, or set aside units if they wish to create new housing. Residents who have full-time jobs for four years (in the same job, I think) are eligible to purchase a unit. Participation is limited by income level.

People can buy units from the authority at a market discount, but in turn can realize only a 3 percent per year gain on their purchase. How is that limit enforced? The deed to the property is restricted; the homeowner can only sell the property back to the authority.

I'll have to chew on this idea for a while, and get more information. At the least you've got to give the folks in Pitkin County credit for taking some initiative.

NASJA 4: Where do all the Employees Live?

Mountain resorts, much like beachfront property, becomes more expensive as the population and the economy grow. Why? "They don't make them anymore." A rising national income affords more people the option of buying resort property. Increased demand and a fairly static supply sends prices in one direction: up.

Generally, people who go skiing and snowboarding at destination resorts have above-average incomes. And people who work at destination resorts--lift operators, retail clerks, hotel employeess--don't have above-average incomes.

So where do they live? Sometimes elsewhere. To take one extreme example, the Aspen Ski Company released a marketing video this year that has profiles of a dozen or so people who live and work in the region.

One fellow, who works in a restaurant, rides a bus from somewhere "downvalley," for about an hour each way. I believe that he is from Mexico, which means that even at $8 an hour (or whatever he makes), putting up with that commute, on a bus, is a winning proposition.

In the case of Crested Butte, I suspect that the problem is not so severe. The base of the resort is actually in the relatively new of Mt. Crested Butte. It's got lots of condos. Crested Butte, the longstanding down, is a few miles away. I don't know if it's any cheaper there, though some non-spectacular houses could be seen.

Perhaps some people commute from Gunnison. As I've said before, it looks like a low-rent district.

How can resorts fill low-wage jobs in a high-cost area? There are several possibilities. One, they subsidize housing. Two, they offer an entry to opportunities to immigrants, who are willing to put up with more deprivation than the average American. And finally, they offer non-monetary compensation in the form of recreational opportunities.

Meet the ski bum.

NASJA 3: Gunnison

If you fly to Crested Butte, you'll probably be flying into Gunnison. By comparison with Crested Butte, it looks to be a tired town. Sure, the main street has two or three blocks that look neat, and out of a TV western: tall, flat storefronts with a sloping, overhanging roof.

But go beyond that, and you see a lot of poverty, or at least non-wealth. During the 30 minute drive up to Mt. Crested Butte, I saw at least two settlements of mobile homes that had seen better days.

A fellow participant in the conference told me that Gunnison had been "dolled up" in recent years. He must be talking about the two or three blocks that I saw.

NASJA 2: Flights into Gunnison v. Aspen

To get to Crested Butte, I flew into Gunnison, a small town about a 30 minute drive away. The flight was a reminder of how the mountains vary from place to place, and season to season.

I have some experience with flights into Aspen, and it's a hazardous place. It requires flying into a canyon. By contrast, Gunnison appeared to offer a more wide open approach. And by coming in from Dallas, we didn't have to fly over the continental divide. Both facts could mean, and I am only specdulating here, that flights into Gunnison are less troublesome than flights into Aspen. Perhaps the same is true of other mountain towns. If you have any thoughts on this, Send me and e-mail.

NASJA #1: How Many Snowboarding Journalists?

I'm at Crested Butte this week for the annual meeting of the North American Snowsports Journalists Association, which is "a professional group of more than 300 writers, authors, photographers, filmmakers and broadcasters who report ski- and snowboard-related news, information and features throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico, via the various media."

NASJA started out as the United States Ski Writers Association. The name change to "North American" reflects the fact that the group's membership extends beyond the USA. And of course "snowsports" is a nod towards that fact that snowboarding is an integral part of winter mountain sports.

Still, in my limited experience in the organization, I have yet to met a fellow snowboarder. Now, I have met several members who have given snowboarding a try, but they've all gone back to skiing.

I wonder how many snowboarders I will meet this week.

You Can Watch It, But Can You Describe It?

My freestyle ability is, to put it politely, limited. I add something new every so often, but mostly I like cruising on the mountain. That doesn't mean that I can't enjoy watching a freestyle competition.

On the other hand, I can't necessarily describe all that goes on. Take, for example, a recent story from Ski Press. It was about the results of the U.S. Open. The snowboarding one, not the golf one.

On the men's side, the winner of the slopestyle event was Travis Rice. What did he do to win? He executed "a frontside boardslide on the first rail to a backside 720 Japan air, frontside 720 melon grab, backside rodeo 720 nosegrab, switch backside 180 and a front boardslide to 270 off on the final rail."

Got that?

In the women's competition, Jamie Anderson's triumphant run include "a frontside 180 indy grab, Cab 540, frontside 360, method air and a nose press to tail press on the last rail."

I almost understand what happened there.

To be fair, this isn't one of those "Those darn kids" dribblings. Every sporting activity has its terminology. A fan of U.S. football, for example, will have no problem telling you the difference between a post pattern, a corner route, and a corner blitz. Actually, Ski Press did a good job of describing, for those who can unlock the language, just what happened.

I Hate Spring

Winter is great: you've got snowboarding, skiing, cross-country skiing, snowball fights, snowmen, snow forts, sledding, and so forth.

Fall is great, or at least early Fall: the leaves turn brilliant colors, football is in the air (literally as well as figuratively), and not-too-warm sunny days have a charm of their own. It's like your cheating on the impending gloom of the pre-snow (that is, gray and windy) Winter.

Summer can bring beaches, boating, golf, and long, leisurely evenings.

Spring brings us . . . . What, exactly? Cold winds, repeated rain storms, ice, and of course, the end of snowboarding season.

Now if we could switch from snowboarding to golf in a week, then Spring would be great.

Complete Your Turns

I gave a lesson today, to a young guy I'll call Robert. He told me that he has taken a snowboard out "in my backyard" a few times, though I wasn't sure what that went.

We went through the preliminary stuff, and then moved over to the bunny hill. He had a natural inclination to make toeside turns. But heelside turns? Those were another matter. I gave him some ideas on how to initiative and stick with a heelside turn, but he just couldn't do it.

That's not unusual; many new riders favor toeside turns. For one thing, you can see where you are going more easily. And it's more like the natural motion of walking forward, in a circle. Going heelside can feel like walking backwards.

Sometime after his lesson, another instructor came up to me and said "Did you have the kid in the blue jacket this morning?"

"Yes, I think so."

"Well you should up to the top of the bunny hill. He's doing some great jumps!"

And sure enough, he was doing jumps. Some boys had built a small kicker, and a lot of riders (all under 15, I would guess) took turns "getting air," anywhere from 2 inches to 4 feet.

"Hey, I hear you're doing some great stuff up here," I said to Robert after I arrived in the area.

"Should I do a 180 or a nose grab?," he asked.

"How about a 180? I like the way those look," I said.

He did a tail grab instead. Oh well, it was still enjoyable to watch.

I ended up making a few jumps too. Nothing major, but enough to participate.

I was glad that Robert was able to get in some enjoyment from making those jumps. Now if he could just get those heelside turns worked out.

His experience made me wonder: is it possible to become a serious (enough for a small ski hill) freestyle rider without being able to link turns?

More Boxes!

This might have been my last day of local riding. The conditions were slick in the morning, and soft by afternoon.

In the morning I went back to the little terrain park trail. It has a few jumps, a small rail, a pipe, and a flat rectangular box. Last week I tried going over the box, and only once had a clean landing. Today I had three in a row. I won't qualify for the U.S. Slopestyle Open anytime soon, but hey, it's progress.

The key to going over a box--or at least what I had to work on--is to stand with bent knees, but no bend in the waist. Bending over could make you slide off the box entirely before you really want to and it could also give you an awkward landing.

Check some speed before you slide onto the box, be centered from tip to tail, heel to toe, slide on and then off. A little mental trick somebody told me is to imagine that you have a flashlight on your belt buckle. Don't point it into the sky, or at the ground. Just straight out.

As for the landing, I have had no trouble sticking the landing as long as I have good form on the box itself.

News: Social Snowboarding Site

Are you ready for yet another social networking site?

One development on the web in recent years has been the proliferation of social networking sites. Some, such as Facebook, are geared for high school students. Others such as MySpace cast a wider net, and others, such as LinkedIn, are less social and more for professional networking.

In the age of niche marketing comes Go211.com, a new networking site for "action sports athletes and enthusiasts." It has the usual features, allowing users to upload and view each others photos and videos. You'll find the usual hip hop and clipped English ("Yo, me and some of my bros are hitting that up," and "give them a vid make them pop it in the tv and watch it with u there") that you might expect.

The site, which skews to a younger demographic, claims to be the place where you can "watch rad clips and listen to killer tracks. " Those killer tracks include genres that some grays on trays may not be be aware of, such as crunk, dub, and happy hardcore. Say what?

On the other hand, its portfolio does include some professional riders, including "old" riders Shaun Palmer (freeriding) and Seth Wescott (snowboard cross). Whether any of the pros actually write, we can't say.

All in all there seems to be little to attract at least some older riders. But it is a sign that snowboarding continues to be an attractive business, as well as a recreation.

In Defense of Step-in Bindings

A lot of experienced snowboarders have bad things to say about step-in bindings.

I'm going to be a contrarian and say that there ought to be more rather than fewer step-ins. I think they would help grow the sport.

Consider, for example, the cross-over skier. Someone's been a skier for a while, sees a lot of riders, and wants to give snowboarding a try. What's he used to in bindings? Step-ins. Toe, heel, click, and off he skis.

He then goes to the rental shop to get snowboarding gear. Straps? More work:
- Bending over for a prolonged time OR sitting down and then standing up with both feet in (neither are easy)
- Fidgeting with threading one piece of plastic through another (often requiring removing one's gloves--brrr!)
- Not stepping on a flopping rear strap while doing skating exercises.

I recently taught a very good skier how to ride. We did sessions at two different ski areas. One had step-ins; one had straps. The verdict? "Damn straps!"

I must say that step-ins don't always live up to their promise. More than once I have had to point out to one of my students the need to clear snow away from the binding on the board, the metal bar on the boot, or both. When I tried step-ins (admittedly, four years ago), I always had a hard time knowing whether I was "in" or not.

Count me in the "love 'em" camp of Flows. Adjust your settings on the dry land, slap that back lever into place on the mountain, and slide away. But even here, there are some problems, notably, a beginner getting into them on uneven ground. (One solution: enter toeside and then do a ground roll if a heelside ride-off is desired.)

In short, I think there's plenty of room for someone to come up with a newbie-friendly binding system that will work in a variety of conditions. Learning how to ride is difficult enough, especially if you're older than, say, 21. It's too bad that the equipment makes that more difficult than it otherwise could be.

Boyne Mountain Report

I recently spent some time at Boyne Mountain, Michigan. Boyne is one of the premier Midwestern resorts. And by resort, I mean that there's a lot more to do than ski or snowboard. I'll have more to say later.

But for now, I'll say that heading to the slopes at night can, under the right conditions, be great, and put snowboarding in a new light, figuratively and literally.