66 replies to this topic

[SLBunge]

NYT piece refers to some interesting data about skiing injuries.

On a personal note, I just bought some trail-breaking X-C gear this year. The backcountry X-C gear has come a very long way since the last time I had looked. Really excellent stability and float for the downhills. I chose a waxless base since I'm not going to use it in the mountains...hills at best.

It is finally snowing at Alta in UT. Only four weeks until my annual pilgrimage.

[mongo_jones]

trees want to kill us, you know. did you not watch "the happening"?

[ghostrider]

I don't ski or anything, but I've been watching the World Cup events on USN over the last several weeks. This is the first time where I will come into the Winter Olympics actually knowing something about the competitors.

Lindsey Vonn is just tearing up the slopes right now. She seems to be on a different level from everyone else.

[bloviatrix]

For NBC Lindsey Vonn is going to be to Vancouver what Michael Phelps was to Beijing. The fact she's gorgeous doesn't hurt.

Assuming she stays healthy, she's the one to beat.

[Behemoth]

So now that we're committed to staying in Munich, I've committed myself to 5 consecutive weekends of ski lessons. With trepidation. I've skied before but it was a very long time ago. Definitely buying that helmet...

[GG Mora]

So now that we're committed to staying in Munich, I've committed myself to 5 consecutive weekends of ski lessons. With trepidation. I've skied before but it was a very long time ago. Definitely buying that helmet...

The ski equipment that's been developed over the last 15 years – both boots and skis – makes a HUGE difference. You'll have a lot of fun.

[SLBunge]

So now that we're committed to staying in Munich, I've committed myself to 5 consecutive weekends of ski lessons. With trepidation. I've skied before but it was a very long time ago. Definitely buying that helmet...

The ski equipment that's been developed over the last 15 years – both boots and skis – makes a HUGE difference. You'll have a lot of fun.

So true.

For the past 10 years I've owned boots but rented skis because there has been incredible advances in the technology during that time.

I may start skiing somewhat regularly on the molehills around here this year and, if so, will need to actually buy a pair.

[SLBunge]

Got out on my freestyle XC skis last night for the first time this season. Probably skied about 4 miles.

It was about 14 degF when I got to the loop after dark. Conditions are very hard packed and icy. The guy I was with is just learning and was having a really hard time with the control of the spring because the skis wanted to run out on him.

I've got my fingers crossed for the fresh snow that may come tomorrow.

[Behemoth]

Not the cheapest hobby, but I am mostly sorted now. Equipment reserved for the needed weeks and I got some nice clothes. Snazzy helmet, too. I just need to make sure I don't break anything, at least not until towards the end of the season.

[Sneakeater]

You will be shocked at how much you love this.

[SLBunge]

...I just bought some trail-breaking X-C gear this year. The backcountry X-C gear has come a very long way since the last time I had looked. Really excellent stability and float for the downhills. I chose a waxless base since I'm not going to use it in the mountains...hills at best.

Got out on this new gear yesterday and it worked great. Stayed mostly on ungroomed but tracked sections of woods with some pretty tight turns and a fairly hard base. Did a little bit of bushwacking and the snow was crunchy from the Christmas day rain. Also skied some on the frozen Mississippi which had about two inches of light snow as cover.

The metal edges didn't help me in this terrain but I easily floated through the crud when crossing from one trail to another.

[Behemoth]

Fieberbrunn in the Tirolean alps yesterday. Awesome. Was sunny in the morning but then snowed in the late afternoon. I can't believe how quickly it all came back to me (i.e., I only sucked as bad as I did 15 years ago, but hey...no worse!)

eta: yes, awesome. The alps can legitimately be described as awesome.

[Behemoth]

In other winter sports news, went sledding last weekend. This is not the thing where you swipe a cafeteria tray and run down a hill. This is, after all, Bavaria. Well, actually it was Austria, but anyway. So you hike up this mountain for at least an hour, to reach the hut of the Rodelverein (yes, there is an association for this activity.) You get some goulasch and beer for courage, rent a wooden sled for EUR 2,40, and hurtle 20 minutes back down. Too far to the left you can bash your head on a rock, too far right and you fall off a cliff. If you're in the middle of the "track", as it were, the snow's worn away so it's a pure sheet of ice. A couple of trees on the way down have been helpfully swaddled in mattresses (to hide the bloodstains, we posit.) And oh yeah, there are a bunch of sledders (plus dogs and kids) walking up in the opposite direction.

Stupid and dangerous = fun.

[SLBunge]

Skied three days at Alta in Utah this past weekend. It had been some time since there was significant snowfall so conditions were hard and fast. Plus the snowfall total is well behind previous years so there was terrain that was different and/or inaccessible because of low snow conditions.

It remains my favorite place to ski by a very wide margin.

[GG Mora]

In other winter sports news, went sledding last weekend. This is not the thing where you steal a cafeteria tray and run down a hill. This is, after all, Bavaria. Well, actually it was Austria, but anyway. So you hike up this mountain for at least an hour, to reach the hut of the Rodelverein (yes, there is an association for this activity.) You get some goulasch and beer for courage, rent a wooden sled for EUR 2,40, and hurtle 20 minutes back down. Too far to the left you can bash your head on a rock, too far right and you fall off a cliff. If you're in the middle of the "track", as it were, the snow's worn away so it's a pure sheet of ice, no breaking. A couple of trees on the way down have been helpfully swaddled in mattresses (to hide the bloodstains, we posit.) And oh yeah, there are a bunch of sledders (plus dogs and kids) walking up in the opposite direction.

Stupid and dangerous = fun.

My best friend in high school was the daughter of a hilarious Italian who had grown up in a tiny village up in the Dolomites. Among his many tales of great amusement (always recounted at the dinner table in a jumble of rapidfire Italian and English and much gesturing), he would often recount the adventure of bobsledding down a local 'hill' one night with his friends and crashing through the picture window of the local hotel dining room, during dinner hour. I haven't thought of this in years, but this post brought it back to mind. Thanks.

Another favorite tale involved two cars traveling a narrow mountain road at high speed in opposite directions in heavy fog, quantities of alcohol, and the loss of several exterior door handles.

Clario Cecconi. Hello out there!