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Do you like to study the landscape of a ski area before you visit? Looking at the trail map and reading descriptions (online sites, guidebooks, etc.) can help.

But maps are flat, and sliding on the snow requires, by definition, ground that is not flat.

At least one company, 3D Ski Maps, offers color-coded maps for a number of mountains in North America. These include Squaw Valley, Aspen Highlands and Ajax; Vail and Beaver Creek; SugarLoaf USA, and Okemo.

You can look at static maps or Java-enabled ones that let you rotate, scan and pan the map. The Java maps take a bit of work to maneuver, however.

Though the selection is limited, the site is worth a visit.

Arapahoe Basin expanded their terrain this season with the Montezuma Bowl. According to the Summit Daily News, success causes problems:

A-Basin is headed for a record skier-visit season, said spokesperson Leigh Hierholzer. March was a record month for A-the ski area in terms of skier numbers, she said.

There have already been several weekends this season when the available parking at A-Basin filled up completely, leading to traffic backups on Highway 6. Historically, the parking crunch peaks in the spring when the rest of Summit County’s ski areas close down.

In the works are plans for a new parking lot to add more parking space, a pedestrian tunnel to go under US 6, and a shuttle service to nearby Keystone.

Since we’re in the days when just a few lift-served areas are open, I’m sympathetic to the argument advanced by Scott Willoughby in today’s Denver Post.

He notes that most ski areas in Colorado are now closed, despite having record snowfall. For example, “Despite ample remains of the second-snowiest winter of all time in Vail and the deepest ever next door at Beaver Creek, those two areas are shut down until summer, with resort officials citing a lack of staff and interest to keep lifts running even on weekends.”

I suppose if you’ve had the opportunity to ride and ski all winter, and especially if you live within driving distance of the mountains, you’re going to say after a while “No, I think I’ll go golfing today,” no matter how much snow is left on the mountains. For you see, feeble customer demand closes many lifts before lack of snow cover does. For those of us who travel to the mountains for a visit, that is an especially sad state of affairs.

Though he may be–to toss in a summer metaphor–swimming upstream, he suggests that ski areas address their staffing problems by starting their seasons later, and running the lifts later in the spring.

“If,” he says, “the large ski resorts are in such a bind to find even a skeleton crew to man the mountains while there still is so much snow on the slopes, they should consider providing what most ski resort employees seek in the first place — more skiing, not less.”

The problem, he says, is that the calendar is out of whack.

“Ultimately, it amounts to timing, and a bit more flexibility on the corporate skiing front. As it now stands, the big-league resorts are all about opening days surrounding the Thanksgiving holiday — when snow is unreliable at best. It makes more sense to push the opener back into December — as Mother Nature forced many to do this season — and target a conditions-warranted closing date for at least a few lifts of, say, Cinco de Mayo, that will send employees off to mud season in Mexico with a bona fide fiesta. If the snow arrives early, skiers and staff will only be champing at the bit.”

I detect an anti-corporate feel to the article, which highlights the love/hate relationship that is easy for riders and skiers to have: deep pockets such as Intrawest and Vail Resorts install plenty of high-speed lifts to get us to the top of the mountains, but the accounting department rules the roost: not enough profit? Shut down the lifts.

Should there be a calendar shift? I’d like to see it. But unless “the market”–that is, the collective decisions of millions of riders and skiers–expresses an interest and more importantly buys the late-season tickets that are available, it won’t happen.

With my own riding in the Midwest over, it’s time to travel to other places for some snowboarding. And if that doesn’t pan out, at least think about snowboarding somewhere else.

That somewhere else lately has been Japan. No, I’ve never been there, but it offers riders plenty of opportunities. Lots of resorts. Lots of snow. And lots of options.

So where do you start reading about what’s out there? One place is Snow Japan. It’s a hobby site that has grown a lot over the years, with forums, maps and other features I have yet to explore.

This year I didn’t get the chance to snowboard and golf in the same day. But one ski area in Pennsylvania offered customers the chance to do both.

Larry Walsh wrote for the Pittsburgh Press-Gazette on April 4:

Hidden Valley and Seven Springs are offering snow sports and golf at reduced rates today and tomorrow. Guests can hit the slopes in the morning and the links in the afternoon. [snip]

A round of golf at Seven Springs 18 hole, par 71 public course will cost $32 this weekend, including cart. Skiers and snowboarders who present their lift ticket or season pass will receive a $10 discount for the 6,560 yard course.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to experience great skiing, snowboarding and golf on the same day or the same weekend,” said Dick Barron, the resort’s director of ski and snowboard operations.

Sounds good to me!

Some chip-on-my-shoulders snowboard riders don’t like to be lumped in with skiers. Even so, snowboarding is a cousin of skiing, which has a much longer history than snowboarding. A few museums around the country keep track of that history.

These museums include the New England Ski Museum, the Colorado Ski [and Snowboard!] Museum, the Mammoth Ski Museum, and the U.S. National Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame, which is, can you guess? Ishpeming, Michigan.

There’s a new page on ski museums on the GraysOnTrays web site. At this point it doesn’t have much more than some commentary on the sites listed above, but there may be more in the future.

In late March I visited Loon Mountain, New Hampshire. I just received some photos from their marketing department to supplement the ones I took. I’ll be rolling out a few of them here in this space.

There are three different base areas at Loon. You can of course plan your time on the mountain so that you ski from one to the other. But if you’ve got kids who aren’t interested in snow-time-all-the-time, you might entertain them by taking a small train between the Octagon Lodge and the Governor Adams lodge. As a bonus, it’s got a steam-powered engine.

(Photo courtesy Loon Mountain)

During the summer of 2007, Loon was clearing some land for new trails on South Peak. What happened to the wood? Some of it ended up powering the train.

You can get an even better view of the engine at New England Trip Planner.

One thing I enjoy about visiting different ski areas is seeing how the mountain management does things. Usually they observe the same practices, but sometimes you’ll see something different.

I’m used to seeing signs in Aspen/Snowmass that say “Easiest Way Down.” That makes sense; you don’t want a beginning snowboarder or skier to plunge down a steep blue if he is still working on the basics.

But when I was at Loon Mountain, New Hampshire, I saw something different. Some signs said “More difficult.” Some read “Most difficult way.”

Maybe it’s a way to boost the egos of intermediates? It doesn’t matter much, I suppose, and it serves a similar purpose to the “Easiest Way Down” signs. It helps beginners to know where to go, though unlike the case with Aspen, indirectly.

Around here, it’s that ugly time of the year. The lifts are closed. Soggy ground has replaced snow. Instead of white, you see a blanket of brown. Snow showers have given way to rain showers, and the skies are overcast more often than usual.

The ground is much too soft for golf and wind makes cycling unappealing. As for water skiing or wakeboarding? Don’t even think about it yet. The water is just too cold.

But Colorado, Utah, BC and other places Beckon. Even New England resorts remain open for another couple weeks.

Expect posting to become less frequent in this space from here on out. Maybe twice a week. Maybe once a week. At the least, once a month. There is plenty of material in draft form, but some of it will wait until the next season.

As part of a media junket, I visited several ski areas in New Hampshire and stayed in two different hotels.

Each night I received a few goodies in my hotel room after dinner. In writing up notes about the trip, I called these experiences “What’s in the swag?”

The idea of swag, of course, is for companies to place their products with journalists in hopes that they might in turn mention them to their readers.

We’re not talking new snowboards or jackets or anything expensive like that. Most of the stuff we got were small packets of skin care products or food.

Now that I’ve given you the disclosure, I’m going to talk about one specific item of swag: a hot chocolate powder (just add water) called “Holy Chocolate.”

Drinking a cup of hot chocolate after a few hours on the slopes is a standard of winter activities. You could use your standard products from the big boys such as Nestles. Or you could try Holy Chocolate, sold by Mar Toma Enterprise of Campbell, California.

Holy Chocolate is, roughly speaking (I don’t pay much attention to these things), an organic product. It’s also very good.

The story behind it is interesting. As the company’s web site says: “Father Stan loves God. He also loves chocolate. He combined his two great passions, and Holy Chocolate is the result. Holy Chocolate supports Father Stan and his ministry.”

So while some monks support themselves by making beer, Father Stan supports himself by peddling chocolate.

And it is good chocolate. I received a 12-ounce can of “American Chocolate,” which you can buy on the web site for $13.95 (plus shipping, I imagine). The can will give you seven servings. That’s expensive. But it’s good. You can choose from six flavors, which also come in 4.5-ounce bags.

Unfortunately I can’t give you detailed notes like a wine taster might. But try it.

Alas, I was able to enjoy only one cup. Blame the demands of air travel. I left the can in my hotel room when I checked out. I didn’t dare risk having chocolate powder spill all over either my checked bags or my carry-on.