Snowboarder, Skier Agree: Let Mad River Stay Snowboard-Free

You've probably heard that Taos opened up its terrain to snowboarders during the last few weeks of the 2007-08 season. The reaction was remarkable, with an unfortunate display of immaturity, animosity and ignorance among both skiers and riders. Within a day or two of the management of Taos making its announcement, the site was flooded with comments--100 pages in Microsoft Word, 12 point Times-Roman.

I've been meaning to say more about this topic, and was recently reminded of it when I spent some time with ski and snowboard journalists and industry professionals, including Eric Friedman, the marketing director of Mad River Glen, New Hampshire.

One afternoon, I was part of a group of five, three skiers and two riders, roaming around Cannon Mountain, Vermont. A few times the riders would get into challenging terrain--by which I mean almost entirely flat. Depending on how much speed I carried into the flat--itself a function of the terrain preceding it and how I handled it, whether I'm with a group of people or solo and other factors--I can slide through it with no problem or a few problems. (Sometimes I have to give up and walk.)

As the five of us were traversing one of the flats, Eric extended his ski pole to each of the riders, offering to pull one or both of us along until we had gained enough speed.

It turns out that neither of us riders required the use of the pole, but I loved the comment Eric made in a light-hearted moment: "Don't say that I've never helped snowboarders."

For the record, Mad River Glen and anyone else who wants a skier-only (or snowboarder-only) "ski" area should be free to do so. MRG is a co-op, not a profit-seeking organization, and as such isn't going to put profit above principle. I expect it to ban snowboards indefinitely, which is just fine.

Snowboarders who are adults should, among all riders, be most sympathetic to the right of an organization to decide how it wants to run itself. After all, we've been around long enough to know that you can't--and shouldn't--go through life expecting that everyone will cater to your whims. Riders, not being able to take your snowboard to 3 lift-served terrains out of 500 or so isn't going to ruin your life.

Extended Season!

One thing that's remarkable about this season is that so many different ski areas are getting great snow this season. It's a national phenomenon. For example, Okemo (Vermont), Brundage (Idaho), and Aspen Highlands (Colorado) are all extending their seasons.

The ground may be turning brown or even green where you are, but there is riding to be had, so get out there and enjoy it while you can.

Meet the Snowboarding Competitor with Grandchildren

I'm always open to adding new snowsports-related blogs to my reading list. A new one on my list is Skiing and Snowboarding by Martin Griff, published by NJ.com. Griff writes a regular ski column for the Times of Trenton, and added the blog in December of 2007.

I haven't had time to browse the collection, but it has a mix of photos, short commentaries, and links to full-length columns he has written. Check it out.

One blog entry that caught my attention is "That gray haired guy is a competitor!" It's about Dick Schulze, a retired attorney who teaches snowboarding in Tahoe--and competes in snowboarding events. Somewhere in one of my e-mail boxes, I have a letter from him or from someone else about him from a few years ago. It's good to see that he's still going strong.

Now if you were going to be a 62-year old competing in snowboarding events, which would you pick? Slopestyle? Halfpipe? Big air? Boardercross?

Gear: Obermeyer Spring Gloves

It's springtime, which means that your cold-weather gloves may just be too hot for riding. So what do you take on the mountain with you for that snowboarding session? Spring gloves.

I've been trying some Obermeyer gloves. They're lightweight but cover your hands well. The shell is 96% nylon and 4% polyurethane, mostly around the wrist. The topside of the hand is nylon, while there's an extra coating of leather on the underside--on the palm, fingers, and wrist.

The gloves have a cinching strap that hooks across the top of the wrist, with velcro. Truth be told, I have worn them more driving about town than on the slopes, so I can't tell you how water-repellent on the slopes they are. I do know that they don't hold up too well if you try to fish chunks of ice out of standing water, as I did about a week ago. I had to let them dry overnight.

If memory serves, they do a good job with a casual amount of snow. Just don't expect them to stay dry if you're always wiping out in spring slush. (Overly pessimistic? Perhaps. I prefer to be on the cautious side in writing a review.)

They come in both black and silver. (I'm showing the silver since it displays better on the screen.) Unfortunately one glove is already showing a bit of wear: there's a stray thread near the cuff, and there's a slight separation of nylon and leather on one of the fingers.

I also have a pair of spring gloves from the North Face.

They're mostly polyester with some spandex to help promote a snug fit, but they feels cheap, and are more suitable for even warmer weather than the Obermeyer glove.

Ski Scotland? Aye!

My favorite places for snowboarding are in the Rockies. But how about ... Scotland? Yes, there's a trade association called Ski Scotland that will tell you all about skiing in the land of kilts, bagpipes and haggis.

Not that I'd expect a Yank traveling across the ocean to hit the slopes go to Scotland rather than the Alps. But if your business needs send you to Glasgow or Aberdeen or if you're fascinated by all things Scottish, why not.

You'll immediately notice some differences from the U.S. For one thing, the trails or slopes are called "pistes," which are colored in terms of easier to more difficult, go in this progression: green, blue, red and black. The bunny slope, as far as I can tell, is called the nursery. Ouch! Talk about wounding your pride!

You may be surprised to learn that the vertical drop is respectable, though not spectacular: 1,900 feet for the Nevis Range, for example.

But there's one fact of these resorts that problem won't appeal to U.S. riders: surface lifts dominate in Scotland.

Mad River Glen and the Burton Problem

Three "ski" areas in the country are still ski-only: Snowboards are not allowed. That's quite a change from the late 1980s.

The three are Alta and Deer Valley, in Utah, and Mad River Glen in Vermont.

Mad River Glen is a co-op, and its members like it just the way it is. That's fine with me, but a certain snowboard company has encouraged riders to take their equipment to the Glen (and the other holdouts) and ride them.

I'm not a great fan of the idea--it just strikes me wrong on so many levels--but the marketing director of Mad River Glen isn't bothered. He belongs to the school of "any publicity is good publicity."

Martin Griff reports.

Resort Review: Welch Village

Welch Village is a small but pleasant place for riders and skiers in southern Minnesota, northern Iowa and western Wisconsin. Now if it only would have a more honest trail map.

Welch is one of the several ski areas in the Twin Cities area. It's southeast of Saint Paul, beyond land that is still home to corn fields and cow pastures. A friend of mine says "In Minnesota, we don't ski down mountains; we ski down to rivers." And that's certainly the case for Welch Village. Its 330-or-so vertical feet aren't of the "Mount Trashmore" variety, in which a bump on the land is created through the development and then closure of a landfill.

Instead, Welch's slidable surfaces come about because you descend into a river valley, take a lift up to the "normal" altitude for the region, and then take your snowboard or ski back down. Hey, at least you've got the scenery of a river, on your short (one intersection) trip through "downtown" Welch.

A recent trip to Welch Village the day after a major snowstorm convinced me of this fact: It wins the award in the Twin Cities for "most treacherous last-3 miles of approach." The trip from the north is on County Road 7, two-lane, twisting road that goes both down (and sometimes back up, temporarily) and side-to-side on its way to the Cannon River, "downtown" Welch, and then to the ski area. It's a great drive on a summer day when the sun is shining and you're in a convertible with the top down. But the drive can be a bit uncomfortable during the winter when the roads are snowpacked and slippery.

Welch isn't the largest ski area in the Twin Cities, nor does it have the longest runs. But I do like the feel of it. I can't explain why or what exactly. Maybe it's the drive there, both on County Road 7 and 240th street, which goes straight but which has a series of 50-foot peaks-and-troughs. Maybe the trees are more interesting. It could be that the base village looks marginally more attractive than those found elsewhere. Again, I'm not sure why, but I like it.

Welch faces north, with 3 major sections. From the top of the middle grouping of lifts, you can descend into any of those sections. You can also, if you get the right lift, go from east to west in one lift ride and one run. But you can't make the west-to-east trip in just one trip; the layout doesn't allow for that, and the permanent closure of one run--more on that later--doesn't help matters.



My favorite part of Welch may be the eastern section. It's got a couple of country-road runs through trees, both which open into a meadow suitable for trying ground 360s, small jumps, or the maximizing-snowboarding-time maneuver known as riding from one edge of the meadow to the other.



The east also has a couple of green runs that require some skating to get to from off the lift, but which can reward you with powder (along the edges) after the good stuff has been smashed down elsewhere. But these beginner trails actually require some intermediate skills to use properly, as they empty out into a long nearly-flat road that has a slight incline just before it drops down into the meadow. If you're going to avoid a quarter-mile walk, you better keep up your speed, which newbies can find unsettling.

The east is also the home of the promised "future back bowl." This has been on a feature on trail maps for at least 3 seasons if not longer. Two years ago I was told that the timber harvesting was going to start soon. During my recent visit, I did notice a construction fence beyond the easternmost lift. And sure enough, I did see a space that appeared to have been cleared of trees, at the top of a ravine. I wished I could have gotten a better view of what the terrain might look like, but I respect private property, so I stayed within the fence line. The day was overcast so I couldn't see far into it. I'm looking forward to riding into this terrain should it ever open, but I suspect there's a lot of work yet to do, including installing pipes for snowmaking (an essential around here), installing lifts, and before all that, the enduring the environmental review process.

The east section of Welch is also home to Madd Jaxx, the place to enjoy an adult beverage. Tailgating commonly takes place in the parking lot, which is accessible to the main base area by a dirt road. Jaxx has the usual collection of ski bar kitsch: old skis and snowboards nailed into the ceiling; a license plate from a state (Montana--Minnesotans seem to love Montana) blessed with far better terrain; and advertisement after advertisement for beer and hard liquors. That latter--including a 4-foot tall poster of Captain Morgan--is a bit over-the-top for my preferences, but then again, I don't own the place.

Moving from east to west, you have a couple of decent diamonds that are used for slalom racing, which is a big deal in these parts. There's also a bumps run--which I tried but didn't handle too well--and a sorta-kinda halfpipe. Welch did have a very good halfpipe two or three years ago, but it's gone, replaced by more kickers and other park features.



The steepest section among the always-open slopes is called Chicken. It's reasonably gentle on top and becomes more severe until right before the end. I don't straightline it.

After you ride the top fifth of Chicken, you can take a short path to the east and another trail. The name of that path: Chicken Little.

If you keep riding on Chicken until just before it drops off, you have another opportunity to leave, to the west. The name of that exit: Chicken Out. A sense of humor is also evident in the name of a beginner's trail of "Mary Jane." I'm not thinking of reefer so much as the bumps run at Winter Park that has the same name. What a contrast.

Welch also has a decent-sized terrain park with rails and kickers. It used to be home of the halfpipe, as I said, and even before that, Eurocarvers used to love the space as a place to do their magic. No more.

Terrain is what it is, and I can't fault Welch for not being Whistler. But if there's one thing that I can fault it for, it's the trail markings. Welch, like a lot of areas, inflates its trail count.

The marketing material boasts of 50 runs. But in the five years that I have been visiting (at least once a year, some years, often), a few maps on the trail have never been open. These include (for those of you in the area): Southern Cross, Eastern Star, Adam's Rib, and Cedar Fork. There are also two double-diamonds that I have never seen open. I've been told that they do get used on powder days, though truth be told I'm not sure that I'd want to try them. If you would, get there exactly on the powder day; if you're there the day after, you'll be out of luck.

Another problem with the trail count is that things that should never have a separate name do. Two short trails start at the top and then merge to form a single trail? Three names.



One unique feature of Welch is that none of the eight lifts are rope tows. That's good for newbies, and for snowboarders generally. Speaking of newbies, Welch has a solid area for novices, complete with a mini-terrain park in which the features are mere inches above the ground.

Make sure you know what lifts are running before you start; in non-peak times, the eastern slopes are closed, and the closure of some lifts can leave riders with a long walk back to a chair.

Snowboarding and Golf: Two Seasons, One Location

This snowboarding season I've had a season pass at an area that also has "mountain" biking and golf in the summer. As with lift tickets, you can pay for your biking or golfing on a per-day basis or for the whole season, with a season pass.

In a promotion called "Snowballs to golf balls," winter season pass holders get a substantial discount on a season pass at the golf course. Substantial, as in 65 percent or so. Sounds interesting. I think I'll bite. It's not the best course around, and it's a bit quirky. Don't hit that chair overhead with your approach shot! But it may, for someone of my limited abilities, a good value.

But for today, it's all about snowboarding. I'll be paying a visit to a local area where I used to have a pass, and get some photos for a review.

Don't expect any blog updates tomorrow. I'll be taking the day off to observe Easter Sunday.

First-Person Account from Canada

Here's one of those themes that should get old, but doesn't: A 40+ year old adult takes on snowboarding. This one is from the Calgary Sun.

An excerpt:

One of the best things about the sport is being able to share it with her daughters.

"It was amazing to be riding up the chairlift with Vanessa on her 16th birthday. I wouldn't have believed it four years before."

Now her younger daughter, Sydney, is also hooked on boarding.

Her advice for wanna-be boarders -- "give it seven days and be prepared to get hurt, dust yourself off and get hurt again." Don't get too worked up about that; the "hurt" is more to the pride than anything else. She recommends taking time off in the week to snowboard with a partner. It's a short, sweet read. Check it out while you can.

Gear: Obermeyer base layers

This season I decided to add to my clothing collection. So I bought some base layer clothing from Obermeyer, both a shirt and a pair of pants. Now I wish had I bought more.

The shirt, a zip-T, is oh-so-comfy, especially compared with the Marmot shirts I have been riding in for years; no scratchiness here. (To be fair to Marmot, perhaps the shirts have just aged.)

The Obermeyer UltraGear Pro base layers come in 3 models: 50, 75, and 150. Each number is successively heavier, and all use Polartec fabric. The shirts come either in a crew neck or zip-T style.



The pants are very snug around the waist, or as the company call it, they are "performance fit." Perhaps the ski heritage of Obermeyer calls for a super-tight fit, but I could recommend buying one size bigger than you might otherwise (I picked mine off a chart in the catalog).

Tahoe in the Midwest

It's late in the Midwest season for snowboarding, which means that it just may be time to head to Lutsen, along the shores of Lake Superior. It isn't Tahoe, but it does have this in common with it: get in the right position and you can slide with a great view of water right in front of you.

In this case, Lake Superior is the largest (by surface area) freshwater lake in the world.

Here's a clear shot of the lake, though taken with a disposable camera:



And a photo with better resolution, though not showing the lake nearly as much:

How to Tell You're at a Place with Beginners

Midwestern ski areas have their virtues, including being cheap (you can stay at home) and accessible (you can stay at home). They're also places where beginners and novices can feel comfortable on much of the terrain.

Even so, there's a difference between "beginning snowboarder" and "pretend snowboarder." Even the cheapest, true novice snowboard has edges. Anything else is a sled.

Ski Clutter

You may read about clutter on the slopes--that is, a lot of snowboarders and skiers. But how about the clutter of equipment near the lodge? Here are some photos I took at Moose Lodge, at Lutsen, Minnesota, earlier this year.

Despite the tattered reputation that snowboarding sometimes suffers under, nearly all the clutter I saw on this trip was ski clutter. Then again, most of the customers I saw were skiers, too.

Yet Another Directory of Ski/Snowboard Areas

On the Internet, directories of ski areas are a dime a dozen. Scratch that; they're usually free. (In fact, Grays on Trays has one.)

But some resort directories are a better read than others. One that I came across today is SkierNet.com. It offers the usual list of statistics for each area (acres, vertical drop, etc.)

What sets it apart is opinionated commentary of each area, starting with whether "wanderers" and "hotshots" might think about a particular mountain.

The opinions can be sharp. Here are some examples:

• "If you enjoy a ski/winter shopping mall/resort/development with lots of shoppes, people movers, elevators, escalators, clock towers and resorty shnizzle-shnazzle, you will love Beaver Creek."
  
• "If you're concerned that Crested Butte doesn't offer a lot of alternative entertainment, don't go...you don't ski hard enough."
  
• "They like to tout Bohemia as Western skiing in the Midwest, but you'd be hard pressed to find many places like this where you can ski legally in Colorado."

The site definitely takes an "old school" approach that seems to scorn anything but hard-charging skiers who want nothing but skiing out of a vacation, and no amenities at the base. (I've read a fair amount of text, but still only a sampling of the site.)

When I say hard-charging skiing, I mean skiing only; a strong anti-snowboarding (and anti-rider) attitude rears its ugly head from time to time throughout. Still, for the wide scope of coverage and distinct approach to giving an opinion each mountain, SkierNet.com is worth a visit for anyone looking for information on a new place to slide. A lot of sites seem to simply reformulate press releases. This one doesn't.

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Since the comments function has gone kerfluey, I'm amending this post by pasting in a comment left by Erica, who publishes www.snowboard-women.com:

It is really upsetting when people are still so anti-snowboarder... I have had skiers on more than one occasion tell me that skiing was basically moribund before snowboarding made people step up their game, and reinvigorated the sport. In my experience, it's mostly the "old school" (read: older) skiers that have the snowboarders-suck attitude. Have you noticed the same?

My response: No, I've not seen much over anti-riding bias. In fact, the people I hang out with when I go to Aspen are mostly in their 60s and 70s. I got a comment or two the first year I switched from skis, but then I got some comments on how well I was riding. Maybe the personal connection kept the negativity at bay? I will, here in the Midwest, occasionally be asked by an adult "So how's that snowboarding working out for you?" They then listen politely.

Cry Me a River

It's late season for snowboarding here in the Midwest, which means that ski area employees have to shuffle snow around. During most of the season the lifties brush snow off chairs. Towards the end of the season, they may have to replenish the snow that's melting in the immediate vicinity of the chair lift by taking it from elsewhere.



The snow at the base of a ski area will be among the first areas to melt, leaving big puddles of water that, at night, might freeze into sheets of ice.

So workers dig into the snow, creating trenches that will store an accumulation of water.

Just another sign that the end is near.



By the way, some folks were warming up at a nearby driving range yesterday.

Take up a seat on an old chair lift

I'm a sucker for alpine kitsch. Not that I have any at home--save my father-in-law's 50-year old skis--but I think ski and snowboard areas ought to play up some of their obvious qualities.

One thing they can do is recycle their equipment. Sports stadiums do something like this when they replace all the seats and sell the old ones to fans. A couple years ago I played the last round of golf anyone played on one particular course slated for a housing development--but only after the management had auctioned off the yardage markers and other objects on the course.

What do ski areas have? Chairs, for one thing. What other outdoors activity involves being suspended in air while being transported from point A to point B? The only thing I can think of is skydiving. Like snowboarding or skiing, the point isn't so much the trip up (though that can have its own pleasures, such as looking at the scenery or engaging in conversation) as it is the trip down.

In the Midwest, the typical snow slider will spend much more time on lift chairs than actually snowboarding or skiing. So what better way to welcome customers to a snow hill than to put a few chairs near the chalet?

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Erica leaves the following note. The comment function is broken and I can't figure out how to fix it. Until that point, I'll paste in comments as they arrive.

Erica: I've seen old chairlifts at random places around some resorts... I agree though, there has got to be more use for the old stuff, recycle the materials at least - think Green! At Mammoth they just replaced an entire lift with a huge 6-person express, but I have no idea what they did with the old ones.

Me: There's got to be a customer somewhere who would love to buy something like that. More likely, they sold it to another ski area.

A Sign that the End of the Season is Near

Here in the flatlands, the season for snowboarding and skiing is coming to an end. It's hard for the areas to stay open until St. Patrick's Day, let alone later.

This morning my driveway was more than half uncovered.



People at ski areas have a hard time convincing the public that even if there's no snow at home, it is on the slopes. They're right, of course, at the beginning of the season, when cold nights and snowmaking equipment combine to make sliding possible.

But towards the end of the season, their job may be even more difficult, as thoughts turn to golf, tennis, cycling, gardening and other outside activities.

Back on Skis for a Day

This season I've taken the cross-country skis out a few times, to a neighborhood park and the playground of a nearby school. The sensation of gliding on the skis is quite different from that gained by sliding on a board. I made just enough very small turns along the way to remember that making turns on skis is different, too. So how, I wondered, would I do back on downhill skis?

We're coming near the end of the season here in the Midwest, and I've felt the need to mix things up a bit. Call it the Colorado comedown. In February I took my board out to mountains with a vertical drop of 2,000 or 3,000 feet. Now that I'm back home my terrain has 300 vertical feet and I'm looking for a way to make it look more interesting. Oddly enough the desire to spice things up is one reason I started snowboarding a few years ago. So maybe it was time to complete the circle and try a little downhill ski action.

One powerful way to learn anything is to make comparisons. Maybe it was time to advance my snowboarding knowledge by putting in some time on skis. Compare and contrast, you know.

So I pulled the ski boot bag off the shelf in the basement, where it has remained untouched since February, 2005. I was pleasantly surprised at how easily I could put on my ski boots, and I wore them about the house for an hour or so.

A few days later I decided it was time to bring the skis out of the office closet, where they've been standing, unused.

When the appointed day came, I gathered my stuff. Getting everything out to the car was a bit of a struggle. Skis are heavier than any snowboard, and the boots are heavier, too. Then you've got poles to deal with, too, leading to some clutter in the hands.

But I got everything into the car just fine and drove to a local hill. Once there, I was able to get my boots on without any trouble, step into the bindings, and start skiing.

So what was it like?

The experience was both more pleasant and a bit more awkward than I had anticipated. It was more pleasant in this way: I had no foot pain, much unlike the last time I was on skis. Then again, the last time was on 2-mile runs out west, not the 45-seconds-and-you're-done trips we have here. So there would probably be some adjustment for my feet--a toughening-up time--if I spent a lot of time on skis again.

I started out on the bunny hill, since I wanted plenty of room to play with the skis before diving into something steeper. Getting on to and off of the chair lift was no problem. But once I started heading down the hill, uncertainty crept in.

How do I turn? I'm doing the splits! One foot is turning this way, but my other foot wants to go another!

When skiers start snowboarding, they sometimes feel uncomfortable with the fact that the feet don't move independently of each other. Now I was feeling uncomfortable with the fact that on skis, they can.

It didn't take long, though, for me to start moving my feet into something resembling parallel turns. I'm sure that my form wasn't ideal, and I slowed down more than I wanted to. But I was skiing, and even started making some short-radius turns.

There are still more conclusions to draw from the day, but here's one immediate one: Each season I should spend a day or two back on skis. I don't want to relive those first awkward runs. Besides, "compare and contrast" isn't just for college and graduate school exams; it's a way to learn and appreciate the different qualities of all that is good.

Mixing it Up on Cross-Country Skis

Early spring can be a good time to break out the cross-country skis. There's a "been there, done that" feeling to the hills that I call my "mountain home." And driving to the gym for a workout loses some of its appeal when the sun is out and the temperature has warmed up a bit.

So over the last few weeks I've taken old the old skinny skis. They're so old that nobody makes those kind of bindings anymore. But I do like the fact that they're easy to get into and out of--easier than some of the new bindings that I tried one day last season. The cross-country boots aren't necessarily more comfortable than snowboard boots, but they're even easier to don, since they are glorified shoes, though with not as much padding in the soles.

But those skis. Oh my. They're fine for straight glides on flat terrain, though they're probably quite slow. Still, sliding down a slight hill can give me a sense of not-being-in-control. Unlike a snowboard, skis allow (and sometimes seem to force) you into doing a version of the splits. Time to get back to the gym and hit that adductor machine! I could feel that I had been working my inner thighs with some of those desperation snowplow moves.

A second adjustment of stepping off the snowboard is that the skis are so much longer. Downhill skiers have adopted the parabolic shape of the snowboard, but cross-country skis--or at least the relics I am using--are straight, and long.

I never learned how to make turns on straight skis, so the length of the skis leaves me in an awkward state. Granted, the "turns" I am making on the cross-country skis are barely noticeable on downhill skis. But then again, these aren't downhill skis. There are no edges!

So taking out the cross-country skis almost--though not quite--brings back the delight and frustration of being a newbie, and the question of what the experience of downhill skis would be like after being exclusively on a snowboard for four seasons.

More on that later ....

Not Exactly the Best Way to Promote Winter Sports

There probably isn't much snow accumulation, typically, in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which is why a recent snowfall made the broadcast of a local TV channel. It ran a story about residents taking sleds and other devices out into the snow for some sliding.

But the headline of the article made me think that the cause is poorly marketed in the city: "Residents Head to Hospital Hill for Sledding Fun" (WBKO, 8 March 2008).

Sledding and hospital? In the same sentence? Bad idea.

Granted, the hill is probably near a hospital, or on the site of a former hospital. Still, it's an amusing juxtaposition of words.

Equally amusing is a segment of the interview in which a snowboarder talks about the good old days of years ago.

He appears to be 8 years old.

Beware of Your Kids Taking Up Snowboarding Competition

If you’re a snowboarder, your participation in the sport may not be limited to your own turns down the mountain. You may find out that your children want to participate in competitive events. Watch out; that may break the bank.

The Pocono Record makes this point in an article published earlier this year. ("Snowboarders pay price for fame, glory," January 7, 2008)

It mentions a series of competitions at the local and regional level that culminate in a national event held in Colorado. The competitions are sanctioned by the United States of America Snowboard Association (USASA), the leading organization for amateur events.

"But many children who qualify for nationals don't get to go," we read. "Why? Their parents would have to spend a fortune to take them there."

Consider that as a parent taking your children to regional events you’re already paying a significant chunk of change for lift tickets, food, gas, gear, team fees, event fees and hotel bills. The costs multiply at the national level:

"Stephen and Shirley Messina of Churchville in Bucks County estimate they spent $10,000 to bring their sons Stephen, 17, and Christopher, 13, to the 2007 Nationals in Lake Tahoe, Calif."

The reason: hotels, tickets, registration fees, and food, among other things.

Another Snowboarder Developed?

This weekend some members of the extended family came to town from a state where they don't get much snow. Parents, grandparents, and little kids enjoyed some time at a sledding hill. We had saucers, a Flexible Flyer, and one rectangular (and slow!) sled.

Though the hill had a mere 35 (or was it 50?) vertical rise, walking up it made me appreciate modern technology. As I told a few people: "God made snow; man made lifts."

But of course I had to take my snowboard, too. It made me think of the old-school snowboarders, who had to hike everywhere they went. I didn't have nearly as many trips down as I would have had even with a rope tow, and it was a lot more work. But then again, it was a different experience, and had its own joys. So old school.

This afternoon I introduced another member of the family to snowboarding. His young son made jokes about how his dad was going to "get killed," but the old man did very well. I knew our time was limited, so I gave him an abbreviated lesson that was short on some elementary skills (skating, sliding with one foot in) and long on just riding down the hill. He started working on the j-turns fairly well, especially on the toeside. I could see the usefulness of his ski background as he talked about the pros and cons of going down the slope in one particular direction.

As I said, it was a short session, and we soon returned to helping the kids hurl themselves down the short hill in plastic sleds. My family member / student may in time take a lesson when there's more terrain (e.g., Colorado). It would be great to see the little lesson of today result in another adult snowboarder, and riding companion.

Book Review: Open Your Heart With Winter Fitness

One great thing about snowboarding is that it can provide the motivation to get fit. And if you want to get into shape, one good guide to doing so is "Open Your Heart to Winter Fitness," by Lisa Marie Mercer.



I'm only sixty or so pages into it, but it provides both inspiration and instruction. The techno-babble can be a bit heavy in a few spots, but if you can understand that, you'll have a better appreciation for what the exercises will do for you. If you're not interested in understanding biomechanics, read the first few chapters and then plunge into part 2 for specific exercises.

Gear Review: Dryguy Circulator

When I went to a local ski and snowboard shop to see what they had left on closeout, there wasn't much. But I did make one purchase: a package of DryGuy Circulators.



They're easy to use. Plug them into an AC outlet, stick one in each boot, and wait. They make no noise and get the job done.

How do I know? It's my second pair. I bought this model to take on trips so that my companions can have a set, too. Storage is no problem, as they're both small and light, but effective.

At least on boots. I've tried them on some gloves, but they don't get the job done in the fingers. Your mileage may vary on mittens, however.

The International Safety Code

The International Ski Federation - or FSI - offers its advice to skiers and boarders in the form of a 10-point "code of conduct" for the piste / slope / trail. Here's what it says:

Respect: Do not endanger others.

Control: Adapt the manner and speed of your skiing to your ability and to the general conditions on the mountain.

Choice of route: The skier/snowboarder in front has priority - leave enough space.

Overtaking: Leave plenty of space when overtaking a slower skier/snowboarder.

Entering and starting: Look up and down the mountain each time before starting or entering a marked run.

Stopping: Only stop at the edge of the piste or where you can easily be seen.

Climbing: When climbing up or down, always keep to the side of the piste.

Signs: Obey all signs and markings - they are there for your safety.

Assistance: In case of accidents provide help and alert the rescue service.

Identification: All those involved in an accident, including witnesses, should exchange names and addresses.

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This same code, with some modifications, is called the Responsibility Code in the U.S. It says:

Always stay in control, and be able to stop or avoid other people or objects.

People ahead of you have the right of way. It is your responsibility to avoid them.

You must not stop where you obstruct a trail, or are not visible from above.

Whenever starting downhill or merging into a trail, look uphill and yield to others.

Always use devices to help prevent runaway equipment.

Observe all posted signs and warnings. Keep off closed trails and out of closed areas.

Prior to using any lift, you must have the knowledge and ability to load, ride and unload safely.

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How do the two codes compare?

Only the U.S. code mentions knowing how to use the lifts and using devices to prevent runaway equipment.

Only the ISF code mentions walking up or down a slope, or what to do after an accident.

Both mention obeying signs, but only the U.S. code specifically mentions trail markings and trail closures.

The U.S. says that you should "be able to stop or avoid" others, while the ISF has more general language of not endangering others.

Both advise looking uphill when merging trails and give the right of way to the person downhill.

Both say that when you stop, do so in a place where you're visible. Note: Neither says "don't stop in the middle of a slope." On the other hand, it's a courtesy to stop near the edge rather than in the middle anyway.

Pull Up a Chair in the Parking Lot

If you're on a ski vacation in a town that offers a bus service to the slopes, you put your gear on in the hotel room. But what if you drive?

You'll have to drive in street shoes, most likely, and swap them out for boots once you arrive. You could carry your boots to the chalet and change there. You might be able to change while sitting inside your vehicle, if there's enough space.

Or you could put an old folding chair in the trunk.



Then you've got a stable platform for sitting on, and changing into your boots. During mud season, you might wish to set the chair on a piece of cardboard.

Ski Area Review: Trollhaugen, Wisconsin

While Twin Cities riders and skiers don't have much terrain to work with, they do have several lift-served areas to choose from.

Trollhagen, like other ski areas in the region, has modest terrain that tops out at about 300 feet. It does a good job with the terrain park, which of course makes the place attractive to younger riders and skiers.

Troll, as some people call it, gets the award for the best atmosphere and services. The chalet has good views of the slopes and looks like a ski lodge should more than any other in the Twin Cities. It also has a coffee shop, with sit-down service that has more of a "casual dining restaurant" feel than coffee shop. The downstairs part of the building isn't as fancy, though: food is for sale through a stadium-style window; the tables could have come from a school cafeteria; and the floor is cement. On the upside, cement floors mean no 20-year old carpet.

An adjacent building houses a ski shop that is leased to a private concern. This specialization of service serves the customer well; the shop had the best selection of gear and accessories that I've remembered encountering in these parts. On my visit here, I bought some goggles for night riding.

Unlike any place I've been to, you have to pass through a guarded fence to get to the slopes. There's a single gate that you use, and a resort employee watches to make sure you have a ticket. This "feature" is perhaps simply a belt-and-suspenders approach to making sure that people pay up; after all, lifties aren't always diligent in checking for tickets.

One odd quality of the lodge is that it sits higher than the lifts. After passing through the gate, you must drop about 30 feet. For skiers, this isn't such a bad thing; step into the bindings, slide down, and then you're at the lift.

Snowboarders, on the other hand, could have trouble. They must either walk down the hill to a lift, or buckle/strap/step in just beyond the gate, and then unbuckle or step out after a very short ride. Some snowboarders could ride towards the lift with a single foot in the binding, but I wouldn't recommend it for the novice or intermediate rider.

Trollhaugen has two learning areas, Minibakken and Mickenbacken. I saw only Minibakknen, and even then I didn't take the rope to the top of it. What I saw, however, looked too narrow for learning snowboarding.

Ropes play a large role at Troll. Of the 8 lifts listed on the trail map, 5 are ropes. One entire section of the resort is, unfortunately, served only by a rope tow. I did not venture over there, and stayed with the chair-served terrain. One skier I met said that if you "go up that thing three or four times, your arms will fall off." As a result, four named runs and (judging from the map) about 25 percent of the skiable area is off-limits.

Only two of the 18 named runs that are not in the learning center are green. One, I believe, is the entrance to the halfpipe, The other green run, Bjorkedahl, is perhaps the longest run (though still of course short). But its "playability" gets nicked by the presence of a halfpipe. I did not ride through the pipe--for one thing, getting to the top of it requires a fair amount of hoofing--but the time I was there, it looked well constructed.

As you might expect from a small Midwestern resort, there is plenty of room for freestyle riders. Valhalla is a terrain park with kickers (one rather large) and some rails. It is served by a rope tow, as is a small unnamed area that offers beginning jibbers two different rails. Oddly enough, I saw no rainbow rails or fun boxes. Perhaps they were over in the rope-only region.

There are only two named runs suitable for what passes for cruising in the Midwest. Storebakken has a somewhat tight launching area that leads to a short steep section that flattens out; Galende is an under-the-lift run that narrows towards the bottom.

One of the blues, Lee's Run, has two branches; one has some rolls and swells, but both let you get to The Chute and Jumpen Judy, two black diamonds that get their rating not from the pitch as much as from their narrow width.

Nissenbakiken is a blue offers riders a little chance to play with a mini-bowl at the top before it leads into something approaching a couloir. Juliebakken, another blue, has several mounds, though I'm not sure if those are natural features or caches of snow.

Trollhaugen also offers snow tubing, which is common for Twin Cities resorts, and a cross-country area (2.5km), which isn't.

A Cool Tool: SkiBonk and Google Maps

GraysOnTrays.com has a directory of North American ski and snowboard resorts. It lists most if not all places with a web presence, sometimes giving a snapshot from Google Earth so that you can see where the places are in relationship to each other.

But here's a tool that may be even better: the Ski Bonk directory. (Here's a look at Colorado.) It uses Google Maps to give you a map of a given state, with icons representing some lift-served terrain. It even gives, for each area, snow conditions and the number of lifts open. Click on the icon to get even more goodies, such as trail maps and a weather forecast.

The About page says the service is "a mashup of SnoCountry, OnTheSnow, Weather Underground, the National Weather Service, and several other data feeds to provide a graphical view of worldwide skiing conditions on a google map."

The service appears to use your Internet address to provide the default map, but you can type in the name of a state, city, or even a ski area. (Be sure to put the name of the resort in the appropriate box, or you'll get invalid results.)



Try it out!

Riding Over the Road

Why did the snowboarder cross the road? To get to the powder on the other side!

Brian Head Resort (Utah) is composed of two mountains divided by a state highway. It opened a new chairlift and a new bridge recently, and both cross the road. Slide your snowboard or skis across the road via the bridge, and then cross it again on the lift.

Here's how the change is announced on the resort's web site: "The Interconnect System includes two new triple chair lifts, expanded snowmaking, and a beautiful new skier bridge over State Highway 143 that connects the previously divided Navajo and Giant Steps mountains. Skiers can now access the entire Resort without removing their skis. Guests travel down the east slopes of Navajo mountain and cross over the highway on the skier bridge to the base of the new lifts."

Mini-Hill Profile: Yawgoo Valley, Rhode Island

The nation's smallest state also has one of the country's smallest ski areas. The Providence Journal ("Area Ski Resorts Say: Let it Snow," January 3) offers a quick review of three ski areas. Blue Hills Ski Area (350 vertical feet) and Wachusett Mountain (1,000 vertical feet) are both in Massachusetts. Rhode Island's only downhill area is Yawgoo Valley (240 vertical feet).

The folks at Yawgoo get credit for truth in advertising when they call their business a valley, not a mountain.

Says staff writer Katherine Imbrie, "Yawgoo isn’t a mountain at all. It’s a 240-foot valley approached by a road that dips and drops right along with the ski runs next to it. Driving in, you can look to your right and watch the skiers and tubers go from top to bottom."

That description sounds like a few ski areas (Afton Alps, Welch Village) I have been to. Put the car into low gear and start moving.

It's hard for places with limited terrain to hold your attention for long. But they do offer a place to slide, and snowboarders, especially beginners and freestylers, will make use of what they have available. Yawgoo has been around for 45 years. Here's to another 45 years of introducing people to the joy of snow.

Death and Desire in the Backcountry

Oceans and lakes provide pleasure to countless people--but can also kill. The same holds true of snow in the mountains.

In Final Tracks: Earlier this winter, three men went snowboarding in Crystal Mountain’s backcountry. They haven’t been seen since. What happened? And what makes the backcountry so alluring?, Courtney Nash talks about three Washington men who disappeared in a snow storm and were presumably killed in an avalanche. Nash provides a little information about avalanches themselves, but even more about the appeal of the backcountry, taking risks, and the most important piece of safety equipment.

Why do people bother going into dangerous situations? Says Nash:

In the backcountry, you feel more alive because you're wholly responsible for your own survival. Surrounded by beauty that could kill, every moment is heightened. Combine that with thousands of feet of untouched powder, and the draw for any skier or boarder becomes even more apparent.

Are such people reckless? Not necessarily: risk is all around us, and something we accept as part of our everyday lives. When it comes to the backcountry, says Nash, there is a wide spectrum of possibilities.

What is the most important piece of equipment to have?

The hardest thing to acknowledge after people die in the backcountry is this: Being caught in an avalanche is not an accident. It is the result of a combination of terrain, conditions, and human judgment. Your brain, not an avalanche beacon, is the most important piece of equipment to bring into the backcountry.

Nash brings a personal dimension to the story, both as a backcountry skier generally, and as someone who ended up in avalanche country while researching a story on avalanches.

It's a great read, even if you never have plans to leave the groomed slopes.

The Midwestern Connection

The Midwest has plenty of good qualities, but great snowboarding terrain is not one of them. Even so, the region develops plenty of skiers and riders, as the Chicago Tribune describes ("Midwest resorts excel in ski lessons," January 20, 2008)

It mentions that there are “more than 100” ski resorts in the region. You can, by the way, see the web site of all of them through GraysOnTrays: see the Great Lakes page for Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, and the Midwest page for Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and the Dakotas.

According to one official of Vail Resorts (which owns Vail, Breckenridge, Keystone, Heavenly and Beaver Creek resorts), Chicago is once again the second city—this time in providing the most number of customers to the company.

The Tribune article describes regional ski areas, including Wilmot (Wisconsin), Grand Geneva (Wisconsin), Shanty Creek (Michigan) and others.

If you’re interested in a long-weekend getaway to introduce your children to skiing or snowboarding, the article is especially useful, because it describes the children’s programs at various resorts.

Did you ever wonder how the number of snowboard instructors compares with that of ski instructors? Wilmot has 240 instructors, of whom 60 are snowboarders. Assuming that nobody among the 240 teachers both skiing and snowboarding (most likely an invalid assumption, but close enough to the truth), that’s a ratio of 3 ski instructors to every 1 snowboard instructor. That sounds similar to industry averages for the customer base, but I digress.

Are you ready for a magic carpet ride? The director of the snowsports school at Grand Geneva says they "have really revolutionized the learning process" for helping students—especially children—spend more time trying to make turns and less time grappling with the rope. I certainly would have benefited from a carpet too, as it took me quite a while to handle a rope tow during my early days on a board.

Five Tips for Snowboarding

In the Sierra Sun (February 13), Max (Margaret) Shu Teasdale offers 5 tips for beginning snowboarders. Depending on where you live, you can probably do two of them in your back yard or at a local park. No lift required.

They are:

• Practice your stance.
  
• Practice skating
  
• Try some J-turns
  
• Try some C-turns
  
• Learn to get on and off the lift.

I would add one other item: practice straight glides. That is, find a very, very small hill--so small that it doesn't even qualify as a small bump. Put your foot in the front binding, and start sliding until you come to a stop.