Any Catheites Who Ski??

[Gayle]

I'm extremely pleased to say that ski season here has FINALLY started as Killington opened for the season with top-to-bottom access on Monday. It was snowing further north in Vermont today, so hopefully other areas will be soon to follow.

Any other Catheites ski or board? Where's your favorite place? My favorite has got to be Mad River Glen - it's definitely a throwback to the past.

 

[cmiyachi]

I also ski and snowboard. I'm 40 and I picked up snowboarding two seasons ago and love it. My kids also snowboard but my daughter still skis with me.

That is exciting to hear about getting snow. I also live in New England. We ski at Smuggler's Notch - also a throw back in time with old chair lifts and great curvy steep trails. I love NE skiing - we got a foot of powder last year in January and didn't know what to do in it. My poor son only knows how to snowboard on ice / hard pack

I feel that doing Cathe has really helped my strength and balance in skiing and snowboarding and has given me the confidence to try a new sport. You don't see too many women my age snowboarding. Too bad - because it is really fun and easier on the knees. And really works the core muscles! So when my core is sore and tired, I ski, and then when my knees get tired, I ride. Cross-training

Think Snow!

 

[Jenne]

Sigh

We skied before we came back to the states. Over in Germany, it seemed about as common and affordable as having a bike is here. I get depressed every winter because we live more than a day away from any skiing (not just -GOOD- skiing, I'm talking -ANY- skiing) and we don't make enough to go anywhere.

I absolutely love skiing. My goal is to get my kids through college and established, then go be a ski bum with my husband (since the other plan of becoming a millionaire fell through-- heh.)

 

[Dani53]

We ski! We snowboard, we cross country, and we sled! Not to mention bon fires in the back yard after a day of building snow caves and snow men.......roasting marshmellows and sipping cocoa of course!! If you live where I do, you better find things you enjoy doing in the snow or else you won't ever be happy living in it. Did I mention we shovel?

 

[Buttercup]

I love skiing. Unfortunately, I love living in Florida, too. We try to go every year, this season we are going to Tahoe. With no kids! Yeah! Straight skiing from open to close with no breaks! At least not the time consuming little kid type.

I would like to try snowboarding, but we can rarely swing skiing for more than a 4-5 days at a time and I want to cram in as much fun on the slopes as I can.

My favorites, so far, are Whistler Blackcomb in Canada, because the two mountains had unique features and Steamboat Springs because the mountain was great and the people were so nice and friendly. Also, the Canyons in Park City was wonderful. Plus, I heard they are running a special this year if you fly in the morning, get to Park City in the afternoon and show them your canceled airline ticket, you ski the afternoon for free. Plus both Park City and Steamboat had free kids skiing and ski rentals. I don't know if that is so this season.

 

[Gayle]

Hi cmiyachi,

I've never skied Smugs, but I have a friend who lives near there and loves it. I definitely want to try it...it seems like a cool place. When you ski in the east, you certainly get used to the hard pack! On my first Western ski trip, it took me a couple of days to get used to powder, but when you do get used to it, it's so hard to go back!!

It's so cool that you've been able to pick up snowboarding. How did you find the learning curve to be?

I'm with you on Cathe's workouts improving skiing. When I first started doing her interval stuff a couple years ago, I was amazed at how much better my skiing got.

Gayle - Praying to the snow gods in Vermont

 

[Gayle]

If you live in the North, you gotta find something to make winter fun or it'll make you crazy!

A friend of mine and her husband moved up here from warmer climes with the intent that they'd be able to "tolerate" our winters. It worked for the first year, but has gotten harder to do every year after that. Getting more than a foot of snow during the first week of April last year certainly hasn't helped them!!

 

[cmiyachi]

Snowboarding Learning Cureve

Hi Gayle,

The learning curve for snowboarding was difficult. I fell almost constantly the first time I tried and was very bruised. I was going to give up on it but my husband wanted to pursue it so that helped.

When I tried again, I didn't even strap in the second foot just played around for a few hours on getting the feel. Then I spent a whole day on the bunny slope tried to do one "S" turn. I did it by the end of the day. Then the chair lift - getting off on a board not strapped in is tough and scary. But I mastered that was was able to practice and I got better. So did my husband. But it took about three solid days to really get that S curve down. The bruises are hard too.

But it is really fun - I can't give up skiing completely but I do love snowboarding. It is like being on a balance board - my core gets really sore from doing it 8 hours a day!

 

[Dani53]

RE: Snowboarding Learning Cureve

Good morning!

I do agree with boarding being tough to learn, but only if you go about it the wrong way. My experience, and the many many folks I know who do it, say that you can learn it in three days. That is the norm. The first day you hate it, the second you're in pain, and the third you are having a blast.

Here are my tried and true suggestions, and this comes from years of a ski patrol/instructor family....

Learn on a fresh powder day! If at all possible, try and time your first day out right after a storm. Falling on ice is no fun. It hurts and you can injure yourself more. Falling into snow new snow or powder is much better. It will receive you. Your knees, your elbows, your cheeks (you know which cheeks I'm talkin' about.....)

Get a lesson if you can. Much more than skiing, you will pick it up a lot faster with someone helping you the first day. It is money well spent if you can afford it at all. Most people can learn to ski without lessons, but I cannot say enough how beneficial it is to the beginnner snowboarder to get those pointers, mostly because it is SO different from skiing. It is not a crossover, it is night and day.

As scary as it is, try to get vertical mountain as quickly as you can. Boards like to be on an edge. They ride and carve toe side/heel side. You will catch an edge without even trying and be slammed to the ground hard if you are on flat hill. This is very different from skiing, and like I said, it is scary. On steep you can be on and edge much easier and really feel how to learn.

Have fun!

My funny story is my first day I took a chair up to the top. Was getting off the chair and caught toe side and fell on my face coming off. I looked up to see how I could crawl out of the way, and then got smacked in the back of the head with the chair. My husband was laughing so hard he fell over. The liftie was howling and thank goodness for the thick braid I was wearing because it could have hurt.

I will say that it can kill any pride you have. You remember what it is like to learn again and have a soft heart to all the folks who plow on skis. That is the fun part. I will also add that the demographic is changing, and any bad rep that boarders have can be wrong. I find them to be much nicer, and more helpful than any skiier ever was.

Did I say have fun?