You can plan your vacation down to the nth degree, with one huge variable; the weather. Ski areas are prepared to continue operation under practically every weather condition with another big exception; the presence of high winds. When the winds are blowing hard everywhere on the mountain, both aerial and surface lifts can be impacted to the point where its unsafe to operate any of them, putting everyone, guest and employee alike, in a WIND HOLD situation. Great, you’ve planned thoroughly, traveled a long way, spent a fair amount of money and effort, and suddenly you don’t have any way up the mountain. Now what?
Archive for the ‘Cross Country Skiing’ Category
Spring snow conditions change rapidly through the course of a day and can present a challenge in making good tactical decisions on where to ski/ride. Unlike mid-winter conditions, the variables of freeze to thaw to freeze cycles in Spring can create some unique situations. Here are some general thoughts for interpreting Spring snow conditions:
Sunscreen protection is a must for those spring skiing days when the sun is high and bright. After a full winter of limited exposure, the strong spring sun can really do a number on your pale skin if you don’t take some precautions. Sunscreen is the #1 preventative and a personal favorite for sunscreen protection are products from the Bullfrog brand. Read the rest of this entry »
O.K., today’s blog is surely a pet peeve of mine in skiing; too many people have no idea how to carry a pair of skis comfortably! Let’s face it, the gear can be heavy and you’re probably wearing heavy layers of clothing and might be in your ski boots and it’s likely that you’re walking uphill or on uneven terrain and yeah, sure, it can be a challenge! With all that adversity, folks tend to make things worse by contorting their bodies and limbs in all sorts of combinations that usually aren’t very efficient and lead to almost immediate fatigue. These folks are almost human porcupines, in that their gear is sticking out in all directions and likely to hit anyone and anything close by. To learn how to carry skis comfortably, watch the professional skiers from your local ski school and ski patrol: they’ll show you how it’s done!
When moving down a slope, control requires turns and turns need to be efficient and efficiency comes from strong turns and strong turns come from good balance and good balance comes from steady edges and steady edges make a turn round and round turns give you control. As in all things in life, everything goes full circle! So, how do you accomplish any one of those factors? Forget that goal; you can have it all if you use the mental image of a train while making turns.
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The Boy Scout’s motto is Be Prepared and it’s a pretty good one if you’re going to be heading out into the woods in the winter. If you’re heading into the woods, you should always go with a purpose and that would include preparing for the possibility that things won’t go exactly the way you expect them to. Here’s a short list of items that would fit the Be Prepared mantra and are easy to carry in your pocket: Read the rest of this entry »
If you are one of the growing number of people who has a GPS device, a company called Mountain Dynamics now offers a product called SnowRanger which provide trail maps in electronic form on your GPS device.
The idea is this, let’s say you are planning to take a vacation to Steamboat, Colorado. You download the GPS map for $4.95 and install it on your GPS device. Then while skiing at Steamboat if you ever get lost or are just wondering how to get from one point to another you simply pull out the GPS and find your location.
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There’s an old saying that basically goes “That’s about as useful as yesterday’s newspaper!” The simple message is that if your news isn’t current, it isn’t really all that helpful. In skiing and riding, the situation around you changes by the moment and you’ll need to develop good mental awareness along with your physical skills. You’ll learn to know that you shouldn’t be concerned with where you are: you want to focus on where you’re going.
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If you’re going to ski and ride, it’s going to be something you’ll want to do safely. Things can change quickly on the slopes and keeping an eye on your environment is just common sense. You’ll contribute to everyone’s safety if you pay attention while on the slopes, all the time. It isn’t enough to know where you are and where’s you’re going; you’ll also want to focus on everything that’s around you and where it’s going.
Tony knows cross country skiing. And what is it that Tony knows? He knows that his toe, knee, and nose should always be in a straight line. (If you still don’t get the riddle, say “toe knee nose” a few times fast.
This is a good tip for those skate skiing. During the glide look out over your nose, down to your knee. Your toes should be invisible behind your knee if you are in a balanced position.
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