I don't know but if you're from Philly, it's a law you have to wear jeans when you ski.

[Edited on January 3, 2010 at 12:51 PM. Reason : stay classy philadelphia]

1/3/2010 12:49:21 PM

^^^If you go to Copper Mtn I HIGHLY recommend taking the Snow Cat to the top of some territory not served by lifts*


*then again, if you don't have the skill to tackle anything that could be there maybe I wouldn't do it.

^Well you're not that far from the Poconos, maybe check out Camelback, Blue Mtn, or Montage. And don't forget your jeans.

Quote :

"I've seen the cell phone gig at least three times. However, on one jaw dropping occasion, I've seen the cell phone cigarette combo in all its glory. Phone to the ear in one hand, drags from the cigarette in the other, poles dangling from each wrist. I couldn't rationalize it. I guess skiing was just eating way too much into her (yes, it was a chick) realty time. Hell, it was getting in the way of her nicotine addiction too. So much for recreation."

On several occasions I've held my camera in one hand, both polls in the other, and skiied down the mtn videotaping my friends. And I've done this just about anywhere, including black diamonds in CO and Lake Tahoe. If you're a good skier its not that difficult.

1/3/2010 12:53:11 PM

haha, im not wearing jeans. its like 5 degrees here. I need to wear my long johns and ski pants to walk the dog more than one block!

Recommend beginner ski lesson or just figure it out myself?

1/3/2010 6:07:47 PM

take one lesson. I took one and just went from there, been skiing for years since. Fortunately, I can pick up stuff like that with ease...don't know if you're one of those or not. Good luck!

1/3/2010 6:16:57 PM

just booked my tickets to colorado!

1/3/2010 10:33:39 PM

Quote :

"On several occasions I've held my camera in one hand, both polls in the other, and skiied down the mtn videotaping my friends. And I've done this just about anywhere, including black diamonds in CO and Lake Tahoe. If you're a good skier its not that difficult."

I think you completely missed the point.

1/4/2010 2:01:15 AM

lol, I think he did too

1/4/2010 2:09:36 AM

Skied Vail yesterday...very strong contender for my new favorite mountain. Spent about 2/3 of the day in the back bowls, then messed around the front side a little while because I felt like it was kind of silly to go ski there and not even check out the main part of the resort.

Overall, of the 3 places I went on this trip, Vail was easily my favorite. I'd say Copper Mountain was my #2, with Breckenridge close behind. Nothing against Breck, it's a good place to ski...I just liked the others more.

1/4/2010 11:08:58 AM

Additionally, the lack of fat people here in Colorado is striking.

1/4/2010 11:47:42 AM

^^I heard the highest peak at Breckenridge was closed since it didn't have enough snow cover. That still the case?

Quote :

"I think you completely missed the point."

crap I guess it flew right over my head

1/4/2010 2:14:56 PM

Snowshoe has seen 3" giver or take everyday sense New Year's, should see the same for the next two days, and a ~50% chance of precipitation every day until Saturday after Tuesday night. Snowshoe honestly has better conditions than anything in Colorado for the short term...

1/4/2010 2:46:05 PM

25 days till I'll be driving up to Snowshoe

1/4/2010 3:05:07 PM

Just got back from snowshoe,

Fun time terribly cold

Also,

I don't like V rocker/reverse camber, i get it, i can see why people would like it, but i dont.

1/4/2010 4:08:33 PM

Quote :

"Snowshoe honestly has better conditions than anything in Colorado for the short term..."

Just got back from there, and yeah the conditions are wonderful. Excluding night skiing in -5 degrees + lots o wind, conditions were great.


How would you all compare the single black diamonds at snowshow and the single black diamonds in colorado...specifically Breckenridge?

1/4/2010 4:16:52 PM

Haha, I like snowshoe for what it is, but there is simply no comparison between it and the Rockies.

^to answer your question, I would say that there is roughly a disparity of one level of difficulty between greens/blues/blacks/double blacks in nc/va/wv and out west. Never skied new England, so I can't commen there.

1/4/2010 4:22:53 PM

^^^I don't get it, entirely, so maybe you could fill me in. What advantage is it supposed to give you? Stability? Seems like it would be detrimental to carving altogether.

1/4/2010 4:29:29 PM

All I know is after one weekend I love my Banana. MTX and RC = win!

1/4/2010 5:39:56 PM

We're doin Blue Mountain on Friday. Do you think we will get bored being stuck on the beginner slopes all day or is that about all you can handle the first time?

1/4/2010 10:01:01 PM

lol, 4 hours at that place was enough for me when i was 12.

1/4/2010 10:11:27 PM

Snowshoe on Thursday!!! Stoked bc they are getting snow right now... but I am nervous about how effing cold it's gonna be. We go every year at this time and this will be the coldest I can remember in the past 4 years (at least on the weekends I've been).

1/4/2010 11:46:07 PM

looks like i'll be at snowshoe saturday with BigT716

1/5/2010 12:29:04 AM

^^I just got back from snowshoe. Its FREEEEZING...even with two layers of gloves and hand warmers I could only get 2 or 3 runs in before having to run inside and regain the feeling in my fingers. But the conditions were awesome...it snowed the whole time we were there.

1/5/2010 8:47:27 AM

The Reverse camber makes it damned hard to catch an edge (it would be awesome doign jumps and tricks ectra), for just bombing down the mountain i don't see the point.

I actually stayed pretty warm this year, I was amazed with how much difference good gear makes.

Last few times ive went i wore my motorcycle pants and a cheap zeroXposure jacket i got for about $25 in fort collins.

I bought a full kit for Christmas.









I have a get lifted ticket im willing to sell as this weekend was a blackout week. $40


[Edited on January 5, 2010 at 9:12 AM. Reason : dd]

1/5/2010 8:58:54 AM

how do you feel about ICS?

1/5/2010 9:29:17 AM

i'm all ready to go. all i'm waiting for is the perfect storm to call in sick to work and hit up snowshoe for 2 or 3 days.

1/5/2010 9:52:44 AM

You mean EST channel mountings.

Im not really a huge fan of my bindings, they are really high quality, but i don't like the toe cap straps, they seemed to come loose (that being said i wear a size 13 boot).

The channel system on the other hand was great, i played with my binding setup on the side of the mountain a few times to tweak it to my liking.

1/5/2010 9:56:33 AM

I have stayed fairly warm the last few trips. I'm wondering how I'll fare at Jackson Hole though. That place is for real cold as far as I can tell. My gear consists of:
- Marmot base layer top and bottom to wick away moisture.
- Insulated Burton coat. Not the thickest thing in the world, but it was fine for ~freezing temps at Snowshoe this year and Lake Tahoe last year.
- Insulated Spyder pants.
- Seirus Balaclava + insulated Bern Helmet (+ Goggles). The biggest problem I have with this combo is keeping my head from sweating. Half the time I have to take the balaclava off my head and just use the helmet or else my head sweats way too much in the conditions I've experienced in the past.
- REI gore tex gloves. These things got soaked last year and were pretty miserable. It was a wet snow though. I might buy some new mittens just to have two pairs available to me.

I'll probably add a second layer shirt and possibly a sweater on top of that for Jackson Hole. I think I'll take a Polartec vest to add a little more warmth to my chest if I need it. I'm wondering if I need a heavier weight base layer on my legs though. My Marmot stuff is the thin stuff you use to wick away moisture, not to insulate your body.

[Edited on January 5, 2010 at 10:05 AM. Reason : s]

1/5/2010 9:59:11 AM

Everything i got this year was gore.

The jacket and pants were just shells,

it was like -1 or something degrees at snowshoe.

I wore

Undershirt, fleece base layer, hoodie, then the [ak] Gore Shell

for bottoms i wore 2 layers of base pants (one without pads one with). and then the [ak] shell

I work one of them balaclava hats and a [red] helmet on top with goggles

Gloves were some burton gore-tex with the liners inside.

I was good except for the lift, my legs would get a little cold, but none of my outer layers were insulated. I think next time i would go with something like true thermal underwear.

I never zipped my jacket and pants together, but i should have, the skirt on the jacket worked well though.

I read that if you washed the gortex stuff you were supposed to put something special int he wash to water proof the outer layer. That way it doesn't get saturated and block up the breath ability, theryby causing you to sweat soak your crap

I will say i stayed completely dry.

[Edited on January 5, 2010 at 10:11 AM. Reason : dd]

1/5/2010 10:07:28 AM

Quote :

"Its FREEEEZING...even with two layers of gloves and hand warmers I could only get 2 or 3 runs in before having to run inside and regain the feeling in my fingers. But the conditions were awesome...it snowed the whole time we were there."

I didn't think it was THAT bad I was there at the same time...and only wore a single pair of gloves, and no liners or warmers and I could stay out there for a few hours at a time. the only possible exception to that might have been Saturday night when it was -5 and windy, but I didn't night ski that night so i dunno.

Quote :

"I would say that there is roughly a disparity of one level of difficulty between greens/blues/blacks/double blacks in nc/va/wv and out west. Never skied new England, so I can't commen there."

thanks for the info, i'll expect to have my ass handed to me then on the blacks...I was handling them with relative ease at snowshoe but i expect the same won't be true out west. i'm not the biggest fan of moguls either.

Quote :

"The biggest problem I have with this combo is keeping my head from sweating."

If your helmet doesn't have vents, maybe you want to look at one that does. Most of the Smiths have them, I assume most of the other ones do too

1/5/2010 10:31:40 AM

My head only sweats if I wear the balaclava + the helmet. The helmet alone is fine for most weather, but when it gets really cold the balaclava is nice.

1/5/2010 10:39:58 AM

The coldest weather I ever skiied in was at Snowshoe about 8 years ago. The ambient temperature at noon was -1° with a wind chill of -30°. I had to go inside every 30-45 minutes to warm my hands and face. But this was way before I had a helmet and the gear I do now.

Now I don't worry much what the conditions are, I can handle it (within reason )

1/5/2010 11:04:26 AM

I had no problem staying warm at snowshoe over New Year's. It had to be ~8-10 degrees the night of the 1st at silver creek. I stayed out until they kicked me off the slopes.

Top layer: Under armor (snug fit), fleece pullover, DC snowboard shell with minimal insulation.
Bottom layer: Under armor, DC snowboard pants.
Gloves: A really good pair of Dakine with fleece liners, long cuffs, and awesome shell.
Head: Balaclava, helmet, goggles.

I would say that the balaclava and the nice pair of gloves were the key parts. Another fundamental part is to keep your core warm enough that it has the ability to heat the parts of your body that may get cold.

1/5/2010 12:30:01 PM

Quote :

"I didn't think it was THAT bad I was there at the same time...and only wore a single pair of gloves, and no liners or warmers and I could stay out there for a few hours at a time. the only possible exception to that might have been Saturday night when it was -5 and windy, but I didn't night ski that night so i dunno."

Saturday was the day I was referring to. Thursday and Friday weren't bad at all. I was out there pretty much the whole time with no breaks in between, same with night skiing. Saturday on the other hand was a totally different situation.

The only problem I've had with being cold was my finger tips for some reason. I have great gear in terms of keeping my feet, legs, body warm but my gloves for some reason aren't doing the trick. I have spider gloves with a 2nd layer of north face lining gloves that are supposed to keep you warm. I think I'm going to try mittens next time as I was told its easier to keep your fingers warm when they're all bunched together. which makes sense.

[Edited on January 5, 2010 at 3:04 PM. Reason : .]

1/5/2010 3:01:45 PM

Why can't it be the weekend? I'm ready to hit the slopes!

1/5/2010 7:24:11 PM

I wear a 10 year old pair of Columbia ski pants, and a 15 year old Columbia ski jacket. I have a $3 neckwarmer fleece and $5 pair of gloves (40g Thinsulate) from Wal-Mart, and an inexpensive helmet I bought about 6-7 years ago. On that helmet, I have a $30 set of Smith goggles. I have a set of underarmour thermals, and if it's really cold (like about 20 degrees or less), I wear my issued drysuit liner on top of the thermals. Otherwise I'll just wear a sweatshirt under the jacket.

You don't need any super fancy high-dollar gear, in my opinion.


[quote]thanks for the info, i'll expect to have my ass handed to me then on the blacks...I was handling them with relative ease at snowshoe but i expect the same won't be true out west. i'm not the biggest fan of moguls either.
[/quote

That's another thing about the black diamonds out west...I'd say that more often than not, they aren't groomed. The first time I skied out west was kind of a humbling experience...I went from smoking pretty much everyone on the mountain to getting burnt by 12 year olds. You'll really improve your skills by skiing out there, though. Unfortunately, you'll also get spoiled--it'll all but ruin NC/VA/WV skiing for you.

1/5/2010 10:27:48 PM

[Edited on January 5, 2010 at 11:05 PM. Reason : ]

1/5/2010 11:03:51 PM

Quote :

"I wear a 10 year old pair of Columbia ski pants, and a 15 year old Columbia ski jacket."

haha I'm glad I'm not the only one with old ass gear. My jacket is crossing the 10 year mark this year. But it's starting to look kind of gross so I might cave and buy a new one when they put them on sale at the end of the season.

1/5/2010 11:10:33 PM

haha, my jacket is 15 years old. I had to sew one of the velcro straps on the sleeve back on after the first day of this last ski trip. it has a couple of other little holes where the metal buttons have worn through the liner. haha, I'll probably keep it for years to come, though...it works just fine.

that's nothing, though...take a look at my ski poles in that above picture...they're the piece de resistance of my gear.

my boots and skis are two of my newest pieces of gear, and they're actually probably two of the things I'll replace first.

My boots are Dalbello Avantis. They're probably 7-8 years old, and work fine, except that the liners have compressed and they don't fit quite right anymore (read: they hurt my feet worse than normal ski boots). I could get new liners/orthotics, but for what it would cost, I'd rather just buy a new pair of boots. I figure I can sell the Dalbellos for $50-100.

My skis are great--they're 4 years old (bought 3 years ago in the off season), and only skied on for 2 seasons (in Iraq last winter, and really only skied 3 days this season so far). They're Nordica HotRod Eliminators. The only thing is that they're 178cm, and I'm thinking about doing a demo day to see if I like slightly shorter skis (I'm 5'8" and 185 lbs). I still ski aggressively, but not quite as into balls-out speed as I used to be (don't feel like breaking any major bones). I've gotten more into tackling the whole mountain rather than just constantly trying to break the sound barrier on groomers. I think I can get something that turns a little snappier while still have all the high speed stability that I will really ever need.

1/5/2010 11:25:05 PM

Quote :

"Im not really a huge fan of my bindings, they are really high quality, but i don't like the toe cap straps, they seemed to come loose (that being said i wear a size 13 boot)."

Really? I'm totally digging the convertible toe strap on my new bindings. I think you get much more response having the strap over your toe as compared to the top of your foot. It did take a few runs to figure out how to set the strap so it doesn't move around, but after that it was pretty much like buttahhhhhh. I do miss the convenience of Flows, though. Out west I wouldn't care so much, but east coast riding = 50 x the strapping in of west coast riding.

1/6/2010 12:48:05 AM

The one thing I hate about my friends snowboarding and me skiing is I spend most of the time waiting at the top of the slope for everyone to strap in after getting off a lift since runs are so short around here

1/6/2010 3:09:04 AM

^ haha I just tell them I'll meet them at the bottom since I'm a pussy and go slower than them anyway

1/6/2010 5:50:48 AM

^Well the problem is I'm always first down too because I'm a lot faster getting down so I have to wait regardless lol

1/6/2010 7:45:51 AM

Duke I dunno how you get by with those cheap gloves. Perhaps it has something to do with me having horrible circulation in my hands and feet, but after a few trips to VT in near 0° weather I had to upgrade. I got some badass gloves that go halfway up your forearm and have removeable fleece liners and a vent blow hole. They cost me around $90 but are very solid. I can't recall the brand, will check later.

For your body core and legs I don't feel like a lot of insulation is needed as long as nothing is exposed. If your core is cold something's pretty wrong

Duke, is that you and C-Note at Copper? He's coming with us to Snowshoe in a few weeks.

1/6/2010 10:44:02 AM

Quote :

"The factory wax will be properly applied and work fine, but know that it will just be a really cheap wax. It'll be fine for making a couple of trips if you want, but a better wax will definitely make it faster. If you don't mind making a mess just pick up some wax ($10-$15 for enough to do a bunch of boards, a thrift store iron ($5 or less), and a scraper ($5) and do it yourself. Of course, Vertical Urge can do it for $20 so it's probably worth just taking it to them once per season and letting them handle it."

Yeah, I got my boots from Vertical Urge and loved their customer service much better than Alpine Ski. They charge an unGodly amount for tuning and waxing and such. They wanted 60.00 to put on my bindings and I was like "I can figure it out myself thank you." So yeah it would be worth it for them to wax my board :-)

Sugar this weekend was very much tolerable besides the 8 degree base and 2 degree top and the snow blowers blowing crap in my face. I wiped out cause it stuck to my goggles and I couldnt see at all :-(. But its the best I have seen NC as far as boarding goes.

Love my Burton Emeralds! I highly recommend those. Its worth spending the extra $$$!
And I love my board too. Felt amazing!

1/6/2010 3:32:51 PM

Quote :

"They charge an unGodly amount for tuning and waxing and such. "

Who? VU or Alpine Ski Center?
I think VU is $20 for tuning and ASC is $30 iirc.

I gotta find some P-Tex to fill in some scratches on my base. I'll probably swing by VU tomorrow after work.

1/6/2010 3:35:40 PM

Alpine Ski Center is the one i was referring to. They may have changed, but this was like in 2006 when i first bought my first board. Those things really stick out in my mind so I make note to not support those expensive places.
I dunno? I just know that I was satisfied with VU...

1/6/2010 3:39:45 PM

Yeah, I'd stick with VU. If ASC is already 50% more expensive on a basic tune I'm sure everything else there is pricey.

1/6/2010 3:42:26 PM

wtf, they don't just put the bindings on??

Every place around here that's just part of the deal if you are buying the board and bindings at the same time.

1/6/2010 7:23:41 PM

Quote :

"also, so i can jump into the "new gear look at me" crew i'm trying to get some new (08 or 09 model) flows between now and when i go to snowshoe on 1/29. DON'T WORRY i'll post pics when i get them!"

now i'm officially in the new gear look at me crew.

anyone ever been to cataloochee or wolf ridge (near asheville, NC/TN border)? they're the closest slopes to me, like 45 minutes, and i'm thinking about hitting a cheap afternoon or night session this weekend. i don't know if it will really be worth my time or not.

[Edited on January 6, 2010 at 9:55 PM. Reason : .]

1/6/2010 9:54:56 PM

^any boarding >>>>>>>>>>>> no boarding

1/7/2010 12:45:15 AM