Ski / Snowboard thread

PiñonJ

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Sometimes I do some teaching or coaching. Here's a funny method I made up that usually has surprisingly good results to help people become stronger skiers. It's always fun anyways and sometimes pretty entertaining to watch. Definitely not CSIA sanctioned but who want to ski like a ski instructor anyways;)!!

The Incredible Hulk technique.

Very simple, whatever technique and body positioning you've been taught or are working on forget it, put it out of your mind completely. Try to imagine yourself as the Incredible Hulk, nothing can knock you down and you've got the strength and power to handle anything you ride into.

That's it, have fun, a helmet might be a good idea.

Do that for a run or two every now and then. Think and practice technical stuff some of the rest of the time and the hulk will automatically begin to merge into technique.
That's interesting. I gave my wife similar advice, though not so broad, or worded so colorfully! She was struggling a little in the moguls. I told her she'd have a much easier time of it if she went faster and just reacted to whatever came, instead of over-thinking every turn. When she finally tried it, it worked like a charm!
 

AlainK

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Unfortunately, my back prevents me from such sports now, but here's a photo taken in Scotland, in July 1978. There was still snow on a slope and I tried extreme road sign gliding. I managed to straighten my glasses at the bottom of the slope, used some iodine on the bruises, and went to the pub where me friends bought me pints of "McEwans Specials":

Scotland_07-1976a.jpg

A couple of years later, I worked in Avoriaz, in the Alps, as a "perchman" for a winter season, but unfortunately, I have no photos left.

Never had a cold or caught the flu, even when it was -25° C in the morning and we had to shovel away the snow so that the line could work, but that was the birthplace of my beer-belly because of the friendly meetings we were having every night when back from work :rolleyes:

Ah, nostalgy...

I'll roll another cigarette and open another can of beer :p
 

leatherback

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On wednesday you will find me here: http://www.skiliftkarussell.de/aktuell/webcams.html.

With a 3 hour drive, the closest to my place where you can pretend to be skiing. Strue skiing is about 12 hour drive from here. As my wife is not a fan of spending a week on skis.. I do not often go to France/Austria for skiing anymore.
 

JoeR

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I'll be taking a skiing trip in two weeks for my birthday, but I have to decide where to go. Anyone have suggestions for skiing in NC, SC, VA, or maybe even TN?

Normally we go to Winterplace in West Virginia but I would like somewhere new for a change.
 

Wilson

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Unfortunately our winters are getting less and less reliable for good snow, but I still get passes for the family. Without some time on the hill winter would be depressing!
 

wireme

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On wednesday you will find me here: http://www.skiliftkarussell.de/aktuell/webcams.html.

With a 3 hour drive, the closest to my place where you can pretend to be skiing. Strue skiing is about 12 hour drive from here. As my wife is not a fan of spending a week on skis.. I do not often go to France/Austria for skiing anymore.

Yeah that makes it tough to keep it up. I see families coming from out of town. Travel, accommodation, ski passes, sometimes equipment rentals and lessons too. Insanely expensive, I can't imagine.

For me I can be sitting on the lift within 5 minutes of leaving my house...so easy. It's not the most exciting ski hill around but there's all the surrounding mountains for backcountry touring too.
I skied a couple small resorts in Germany back in the racing days. Can't even remember the names, old Bavarian villages, very nice.
 

plant_dr

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I live in the greatest snow on earth, but I don't ski due to my disability. :( I know there are adaptive things they can do for paralyzed people but thats just not for me. I tried snowboarding once but ran over a girl and felt pretty bad about it so I didn't continue.
 

M. Frary

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We have skiing and snowboarding here too.
But the big thing is snowmobiling. Hundreds of miles of groomed trails through the National Forest.
I don't own one anymore though. I just keep wrecking them.
 

rockm

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I'll be taking a skiing trip in two weeks for my birthday, but I have to decide where to go. Anyone have suggestions for skiing in NC, SC, VA, or maybe even TN?

Normally we go to Winterplace in West Virginia but I would like somewhere new for a change.
You're talking my neck of the woods. In my younger days, I taught skiing in Va. at Massanutten. Went to college nearby and skiied from November to late March (this was in the late 70's early 80's when VERY VERY cold winters were common every year--not so much now).

I've skiied the mid-Atlantic from the Poconos down to N.C. (as well as New England and more than a few western states).

By far the best place to ski (and board) in the mid-Atlantic from N.C. to New England is Snowshoe near Slatyfork, West Va.

It's one of the highest, snowiest places on the east coast. It's on Cheat Mountain at 4,848 ft. The place is as close to Western state skiing as you can get. It has almost 60 trails, seven lifts, some high speed and traditionally has ALOT of snow. Just looked and it has 31" base--which is on the low side this time of year. Typically, it gets more (it says it averages 180 inches annual snowfall) and low temps dip into the subzero double digits in February.

The amenities are pretty nice too. It was redeveloped by the same company that owns Blackcombe/Whistler resort in British Columbia.

No, I'm not a sales rep. Just been skiing there for more than 35 years on and off, starting back when it was a sparse hard-core remote skier's destination. It is in the toolies, though. As the crow flies, it should be a two and a half hour drive for me to get there from DC. It takes five hours to drive there from my house because of switchbacks and backcountry roads once you get out of the Shenandoah Valley and into the Appalachian ridges..

https://www.snowshoemtn.com/
 
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JoeR

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You're talking my neck of the woods. In my younger days, I taught skiing in Va. at Massanutten. Went to college nearby and skiied from November to late March (this was in the late 70's early 80's when VERY VERY cold winters were common every year--not so much now).

I've skiied the mid-Atlantic from the Poconos down to N.C. (as well as New England and more than a few western states).

By far the best place to ski (and board) in the mid-Atlantic from N.C. to New England is Snowshoe near Slatyfork, West Va.

It's one of the highest, snowiest places on the east coast. It's on Cheat Mountain at 4,848 ft. The place is as close to Western state skiing as you can get. It has almost 60 trails, seven lifts, some high speed and traditionally has ALOT of snow. Just looked and it has 31" base--which is on the low side this time of year. Typically, it gets more (it says it averages 180 inches annual snowfall) and low temps dip into the subzero double digits in February.

The amenities are pretty nice too. It was redeveloped by the same company that owns Blackcombe/Whistler resort in British Columbia.

No, I'm not a sales rep. Just been skiing there for more than 35 years on and off, starting back when it was a sparse hard-core remote skier's destination. It is in the toolies, though. As the crow flies, it should be a two and a half hour drive for me to get there from DC. It takes five hours to drive there from my house because of switchbacks and backcountry roads once you get out of the Shenandoah Valley and into the Appalachian ridges..

https://www.snowshoemtn.com/
Wow, looks like a really great place! But, alas, it's over a six hour drive from where I live...:( I'm certainly not a pro, far from it, so maybe it's for the best that I don't get to go there and hurt myself lol
 

wireme

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Here's a YouTube clip of the sport I used to do, 10 years on the World Cup circuit.

The soundtrack is unfortunate but the video is not bad in that it shows all the elements of a telemark race. It's not your typical ski race, gates, jumps, skating, the roundabout dealy... Watching it makes me nostalgic but at the same time kind of grateful that I don't subject myself to that anymore!
 

wireme

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hey @wireme, why does everything look cooler on tele? https://gfycat.com/SelfreliantSmoothBlacklemur

I just got a job at my local hill, which happens to be owned by Vail. so now I have the "epic pass" which lets me ski any Vail resort! Hoping to make a road trip out to CO in March or April.

Tele does look cool under the right skiers, opens the door to some different unique tricks for those park jibber types too!

I've pretty much converted back to alpine now, got sick of all my friends calling me a fag on x-country skis!

(Sorry, not a very PC joke but it's still a pretty funny thing to call a telemark skier, you should try it sometime, see what kind of response you get. Even better if its a québécois tele skier then it's "tappette en ski du fond" they'll love it!)

Really the tele gear is just wore out and busted up, it's alright, alpine is much less tiring.

I signed up for the local Thursday night race league this year, converted the old tele race skis back to alpine. Gotta share the pics of my ski technician and her helpers hard at work changing up the binders. Ha, love these pics, dog and elephant in the background is hilarious to me. image.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg
Enjoy the epic pass man! That's awesome, hope you are able to take advantage of that.
 
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