२६ डिसेंबर, २०२०

"At French Resorts, Skiing Has Become an Uphill Sport/The government closed ski lifts, fearing they might spread the coronavirus. The skiers came anyway."

The NYT reports. 
“When you go out skiing in the cold, the first thing that happens is your nose starts to run,” said Miles Bright, an English mountain guide based in Chamonix. “And what do you do? You wipe your nose. So your gloves are covered in snot, you join in the lift queue, you touch things.” 

“I just can’t see how it can be hygienic, getting in and out of the ski lifts,” he added. “But for the nation’s health, I think it’s absolutely essential.” 
Bright, like the rest of skiers on the mountain, was ski touring — ascending the mountain using skins attached to his skis, then detaching them to descend normally. He estimated it would take him four times as long to go up than to ski down.

Will you ever think about a ski lift the same way again? 

६५ टिप्पण्या:

Political Junkie म्हणाले...

I miss snow skiing. Have not skied since since 2008.Afraid I will be too old and out of shape to ever ski again.

BUMBLE BEE म्हणाले...

Had a long conversation with an old timer who described his skiing passion's birth back in the early 50s. He was inspired by the exploits of the 10th Mountain Division in WWII. Some of those veterans founded the slopes of Vail CO. No GoreTex/Thinsulate for those folks. Hard Core!

exhelodrvr1 म्हणाले...

Occasional skier - this won't change anything.

Birkel म्हणाले...

Frozen snot is now a problem for people wearing gloves and masks?
No, it won't change anything because the assumptions are stupid.

MayBee म्हणाले...

I was surprised to see one of our extended family's "Stay at home for (name of their child with risk factors)!" were Up North skiing this weekend.

A Moveable Feast has Hemingway describing skiing in just this way. No lifts at all, just trudging up and gliding down the Austrian mountains.

Tank म्हणाले...

“Four times as long” cannot be correct.

Jersey Fled म्हणाले...

Looking forward to the day when we don't see everything as a mortal threat to our lives.

Jersey Fled म्हणाले...

Incidentally, also looking forward to tomorrow when my wife and I drive 90 miles to visit with our granddaughter.

No masks. No social distancing, lots of hugs and kisses.

tim maguire म्हणाले...

Everybody’s touching everything, but everybody has gloves on. What evidence does anybody have that COVID is transmitted this way? (There’s plenty of evidence that it isn’t, so the alternative is not simply “better safe than sorry.)

320Busdriver म्हणाले...

I spent three days at Keystone last week. While V Resorts is taking it quite seriously, you have to reserve your spot each day even with an Epic pass, I never gave a thought to what I touched with my gloves on etc. Biggest pain was you had to ensure your face cover was in place in the queue and when you boarded the lift. Probably safest place you could be. More fear porn. I’m bored.

Fernandinande म्हणाले...

Will you ever think about a ski lift the same way again?

Yes, Here's what I think about ski lifts: "Frozen".

Bruce Hayden म्हणाले...

“Frozen snot is now a problem for people wearing gloves and masks?
No, it won't change anything because the assumptions are stupid.”

What the snot worriers are ignoring, at least in CO, is UV. UV is why you come back with a suntan. And UV is a great way to kill viruses, including SARS-CoV-2 (causing COVID-19). The CO resorts had an early outbreak last winter, but it was traced to après-ski at the bars.

CO Gov Polis (D-VR) is the usual leftist whack job, with the distinction that when he was in Congress, the biggest private employer in his district was probably Vail Resorts (VR), which had four of its larger ski areas in his district (Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, and Keystone). Easily more ski acreage and lift capacity than anyone else in Congress. In any case, last winter, after the outbreak in the middle of his old district, he quickly shut down the ski industry in the state. It was supposed to reopen in a bit, and the smaller ski areas announced their reopenings, rehired staff, etc. But VR (which has advertised that it’s lifts are sustainably powered through energy credits bought from Al Gore for at least a decade now) announced that it was too dangerous, so Gov Polis dutifully shut down the ski industry again. But to top it off, he had CDOT plow in all of the turnoffs on Loveland Pass, so no backcountry skiing there either. This was very much like banning surfing in LA - you are probably going to have a quarter mile between parties, as everyone is bathed in virus killing UV in the bright CO sun in the mid and late spring when this happened. Did I mention that Polis is a left wing whack job? (And, yes, I voted against him for years).

Jessica म्हणाले...

Surface transmission has not been documented. Ever. Anywhere. (Google "surface transmission Washington boost" to verify). Open the ski lifts! And the playgrounds!

Jessica म्हणाले...

*post

Political Junkie म्हणाले...

Bruce - Is Colorado gone for Rs? In 2000 and 2004, Bush won Colorado somewhat easily, whereas New Mexico was close. Now CO votes more D than NM.

Lurker21 म्हणाले...

Bright, like the rest of skiers on the mountain, was ski touring — ascending the mountain using skins attached to his skis, then detaching them to descend normally. He estimated it would take him four times as long to go up than to ski down.

Will you ever think about a ski lift the same way again?

I'd worry more about the cannibalism.

Or is it just taxidermy?

Either way, we don't need more of it.

Lurker21 म्हणाले...

Frozen snot is now a problem for people wearing gloves and masks?

Please don't give Marvel Comics and the Syfy Channel any more ideas for new supervillains ...

Children are already having nightmares about the Frozen Snot Monster.

mockturtle म्हणाले...

This is sheer insanity.

CWJ म्हणाले...

Add me to Tank's comment above. 40 times would be closer to the truth.

tcrosse म्हणाले...

Talk about a slippery slope....

CWJ म्हणाले...

"Bruce - Is Colorado gone for Rs?"

It amazes me that people flee blue states, but don't adjust their politics accordingly.

Leland म्हणाले...

There is nothing inherent in skiing that causes runny noses. The writer has allergies, and their behavior is the same regardless if skiing, driving, or entering a building.

Sebastian म्हणाले...

"Will you ever think about a ski lift the same way again?"

Yes. As in, not at all.

daskol म्हणाले...

A very prominent Mexican died early in the pandemic last year at Vail. I suspect the highly covered death of this elder statesman and businessman was a factor in the hysteria around ski resorts. We were actually at Vail for President's Week last year, which turned out to be nearly the end of the ski season, and also the last time we went anywhere as a family. Looked into going skiing this year, and have some friends who are doing it, but it's a major pain in the ass: resorts are limiting access to season ticket holders and similar pass holders, who need to reserve their days in advance, and every kind of pass you can by has all kinds of limitations. And the passes remain astronomically expensive. Sounds like the Euros are being even harder on their ski resorts, though.

MayBee म्हणाले...

Leland- does your nose not run in the cold? Mine does.

Bruce Hayden म्हणाले...

“I spent three days at Keystone last week.”

I was on the trail crew that cut their original trails (about half the front of the mountain) in the summer of 1970. Great fun. Had a season pass the first season they were open (1970-71) and the next couple years, then a couple seasons at Copper Mountain, before moving to DC mid decade. Started getting season passes there again in the latter 1990s when my kid started skiing. A bit over a decade ago, I was working south of Reno, within sight of Heavenly Valley. Had a season pass that included Keystone, and then VR bought Heavenly Valley. Somehow I got a pass there at a discount as a result. It was really weird, because sometimes their computers thought that I had two passes, and sometimes one. Would routinely have to go to the ticket people to swap them back and forth, as I swapped areas. Then, the next year, they had Epic Passes.

Worked at Keystone their third season, right after college. Great job - I cleaned the base lodge, starting at 4 pm, which meant that I was on skis 7 days a week. Then we shifted to 5 pm when I started training for Ski Parol for the next season, and would ski sweep every evening first (to make sure no one had skied off into the trees and hadn’t returned). Didn’t get hired for Ski Patrol the next year, so started grad school instead. Good friend did go the Ski Patrol route, but over at Copper, where he ran the Patrol for a long time, before being hired away by VR, where he ended up as Director of Mountain Operations at Keystone in the 2000s. Left when he was passed over for president of the ski area. Thanks to him, my kid can claim skiing with the chairman of VR several times.

One of the things that I liked about Keystone was that the original trails were set out by Max Dercum, who lived at the bottom of the mountain (at his Ski Tip Ranch). We knew his son, Rolf, from coaching us ski racing in HS at Arapaho Basin, and his SIL Alf, from running the ski shop there. But saw a lot of Max that summer we cut the original trails. He would climb around the mountain flagging this tree, and that tree, for us to remove. Tweaking the outlines of the runs. Then, two years later, when working there, I got to ski with him a bit, and discovered the method to his madness. Each of the original trails had a unique rhythm. Optimal radius turns, and optimal line. He had spent several decades tromping the mountain, planning the optimal trails, in his head, for his skiing. Mostly it was fairly wide linked turns at moderate speed. Unfortunately, no one seems to see those lines of his, and they become impossible to ski on the crowded weekends.

One of the bad things about their layout, is that it doesn’t work well for early and esp late season skiing. Best skiing in the late spring is the Outback. But to operate it, it requires three ski patrol shacks, and better than a half dozen lifts, to get the skiers from the front back there, and then back out. Expensive. VR’s other area in Summit County, Breckenridge, is laid out on 4 consecutive peaks (7, 8, 9, and 10) in the Ten MileRange. That lets them run the top of one of those mountains with one ski patrol shack and maybe two lifts.

campy म्हणाले...

Surely sophisticated French people snot can't be dangerous. It's not like they're filthy deplorables or something.

Owen म्हणाले...

Tank @ 7:00 and CWJ @ 8:15: Agree, the climb time cannot be only 4x the run time. Do the math: a ski lift gives you, say, 2000’ vertical. In say 10 minutes. You then ski down in say 15 minutes (being conservative here). Are you now going to climb that 2000’ vertical in one hour? Good luck.

Bruce Hayden @ 8:34: Great stuff about your experience with Keystone and other areas. Thanks.

Caligula म्हणाले...

The risk of contagion from outdoor sports seems minimal. And, ski lifts may be filthy, but so what? It's not as if you touch any part of you that is not clothed ever touches it.

"He estimated it would take him four times as long to go up than to ski down." Unless he's a really slow skier I'd guess that ratio is far too optimistic. I can see people wanting to get outdoors during the pandemic, and thus going skiing even if the lifts are not running.

But without lifts downhill skiing would never have become a popular (although costly) sport.

Bruce Hayden म्हणाले...

Backcountry skiing can be a lot of fun. First started doing it a half century ago, off of Loveland Pass, in CO (we trained at A Basin, down at the bottom on the western side of the pass). That is, of course, cheating, since you use cars, instead of ski lifts, to get to the top. Used Alpine gear, which meant long stiff skinny skies. Did it a lot in the quarter century after I moved back to CO from DC in 1982. We have a male bonding ski group, the Geriatric Telemark Society, formed from four of us who were in the same freshman wing in college, joined the same fraternity, etc. some of us never really got the Telemark skiing - it worked well going up hill, but sucked, in my mind, going down. So, I was an early adopter of alpine Touring (AT) gear, which lets you “free heel” going up hill, but locks down you heels for skiing downhill. (Love it too for Ski Patrol stuff at ski areas - lets you go up hill easily, but you really, really, don’t want to run a toboggan on Tele gear).

There is a series of ski huts throughout the central CO mountains, anchored by the 10th Mountain Hut Association. First stayed at their huts in the late 1980s, when four of us started by Aspen and ended up by Vail, skiing hut to hut every day. I think that it was 4 nights, at a different hut every night, and 5 days. That was on regular cross country skiing gears, with decent sized packs. Not really fun, esp down something called the “iron edge trail”, which our skis did not have. But around then our male bonding ski group switched from area skiing to backcountry skiing. We would toggle between a 10th Mtn trip one year, and a trip to CMH’s Battle Abbey (out of Golden, BC, Canada) the next. CMH is the big heliski company in BC. If you can afford them, you can ski unlimited powder for a week. You ski down, get picked up by a chopper, taken maybe somewhere else for the next run. Rinse and repeat for a week. The connection here is that one of the CMH founders was a co owner of Battle Abbey, which is great for backcountry skiing. It is inaccessible in the winter except by chopper, but CMH had a bunch of those. So, they would fly us in on a Sunday, then out the next Sunday. During the week, we had two guides and a cook. For about 10% of what the heliskiing powder hounds were paying. You would then spend the week hoofing it up, and skiing untracked powder on the way back down. Then a lot of food, and maybe too much booze every night.

I should note that there are inherent dangers to backcountry skiing. One of the big ones is avalanches. First time I saw the after effects was when I was maybe 15, working as Jr Ski Patrol at Loveland Basin (on the east side of Loveland Pass). Three skiers crossed the ski area boundary, and got wiped as a result. The Ski Patrol there have been controlling the Seven Sisters avalanche chutes that run across US 6 as it starts up the Pass for at least as long as I have been skiing (60 years now). Never really had seen death or almost death, before, up close. One died that day, another a week later, and the third about six months later. CO (and NE UT) is the center of avalanche activity in the Continental US, partly because so many people are recreating in the central CO mountains. I look back to my early days of backcountry skiing, and realize how stupid we were. Most of us got caught in at least a little one. We weren’t really trained, and definitely weren’t equipped (beeper, shovel, probe poles, etc). But we were 20 and bullet proof. When my kid followed us into the backcountry, I made sure that they had plenty of avalanche training, and we had all the safety gear they needed. And, as a parent, knowing the dangers, still worry.

stevew म्हणाले...

How the nannies and Karens turned common outdoor activities and social gatherings into dangerous health damaging encounters.

Being a bit of a germaphobe I came to grips with the threat of being around other people many years ago. I dont think about this sort of thing any more. I'm 63 years old and rarely get sick - as in it has been a couple of years since I've had a cold.

Being off work next week I plan to go skiing.

Kate म्हणाले...

Had a Zoom call w extended family. My nephews wait tables in CO at an impossibly high-end restaurant you can only access by skiing. The seating is outdoors because people are in boots w their gear on. All of CO is shut down for indoor seating -- the regular schmoe places -- and this gig is still doing regular business.

Break the rules, or stretch the rules, or live beyond the rules, and you will economically survive this. Follow the rules and you're ruined.

jaydub म्हणाले...

Couldn't there be a compromise position wherein nursing home residents, elders with multiple Covid morbidities and persons with degraded immune systems are discouraged from traveling to ski resorts? That's the demographic that is at risk from Covid - or the flue, or pneumonia, or any other respiratory disease, so why ban everyone?

Asking for Karen B.

Bruce Hayden म्हणाले...

“Tank @ 7:00 and CWJ @ 8:15: Agree, the climb time cannot be only 4x the run time. Do the math: a ski lift gives you, say, 2000’ vertical. In say 10 minutes. You then ski down in say 15 minutes (being conservative here). Are you now going to climb that 2000’ vertical in one hour? Good luck.”

Can be done. Maybe. My next brother has been ski racing for almost 55 years now. He would get to a ski area (typically Copper Mountain at the time) at maybe 7 am, in order to get close in parking. He would put on AT gear and skins, climb to the top, and be the first one down. Changed gear to his race training Alpine gear, and meet his training buddies for the first lift of the day. Hard core. I should add that when he isn’t skiing, he is cross training, to build up his legs and his endurance: running, mountain biking, cross country skiing, etc. I have watched him, and he really moves going up hill. Not a leisurely saunter, but a serious aerobic workout.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves म्हणाले...

short cut - don't do that! don't touch things. wash up after.
I wonder if covid can live on the cold metal surface of a chairlift?

A fiend of mine said - If you go in the back of any restaurant- you'd be so grossed out you would never eat out again.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves म्हणाले...

Kate - glad to hear it! I can think of a few places that offer that experience.
One in Beaver creek.

Lucien म्हणाले...

One person per chair, glove sanitizer at the lodge entrance, encourage everyone to put scarves over their faces, lots of UV -- no problem for any sane human.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves म्हणाले...

Last winter/spring - when Covid was just beginning to spread around the nation - I do recall it all started here in CO at some of our fancy ski resorts.

Some Australians (?) or other international visitors had covid and it spread to places like Aspen and Crested Butte.

That grossed me out. I thought at the time - who is the unlucky persons/family who find themselves in their hotel room? or sit where they sat - around town.

Th covid spread was so serious in little Crested Butte - Gunnison shut down entry.

Browndog म्हणाले...

In April, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer banned the use of boats with motors. Reason? A landscaper said he thought he caught the covid from a gas pump.

who-knew म्हणाले...

Agreed, this is just ridiculous. You're not touching anything with your bare hands while skiing until you stop at the lodge for a post run beer. And to political junkie; you're never too old or out of shape to ski, I speak from experience. I'm almost 70 and an occasional skier. If I lived closer to the mountains and had more money I'd be a regular skier. I saw a t-shirt that said "I have a retirement plan, I plan on skiing" and I was tempted to buy it except I'm not too much for clothing with funny sayings on it.

Owen म्हणाले...

Bruce Hayden @ 9:42: “...Not a leisurely saunter but a serious aerobic workout.” Yes indeed. And after one climb and descent, what then? Another, and then another? It would be a sweat-soaked 10,000-calorie day. Impressive as all get-out but not the usual day of downhill skiing. On the other hand, think of all the money saved on lift tickets!

Ann Althouse म्हणाले...

“Agreed, this is just ridiculous. You're not touching anything with your bare hands while skiing until you stop at the lodge for a post run beer. “

But you are touching your own face with your gloved hands.

Joe Smith म्हणाले...

Do the French call it après ski? Or just, 'Hey, let's get a drink...'

AA is correct...you're smearing your snot-covered glove all over your face, goggles, clothes, etc...

Another reason of many that I don't ski.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves म्हणाले...

But you are touching your own face with your gloved hands.

Suggestion:

#1 - Don't do that.

#2. wear glove liners. Peel off your outer glove - (which btw- is thick, awkward and clumsy), reach into your pocket, grab a tissue, wipe your nose with the tissue, wearing your liner glove. *downside is if you do this while riding the lift, you risk dropping a glove. Happens a lot. Ever look down while riding a lift? hats, gloves, goggles... all sorts of items strewn about. I lost an ear-warmer once.
There are risks. you manage them.

I think getting out into the open cold air is probably good medicine. Just be cautious like in every other aspect of our covid lives now. If a risk bothers you, don't take it.
Only ride the lift with someone you know. bring hand sanitizer. Don't touch your face with your hand or glove. (recall the big "don't touch your face" push? - well - same thing) Let your drippy oozing nose run free!

Bruce Hayden म्हणाले...

¨Bruce Hayden @ 9:42: “...Not a leisurely saunter but a serious aerobic workout.” Yes indeed. And after one climb and descent, what then? Another, and then another? It would be a sweat-soaked 10,000-calorie day. Impressive as all get-out but not the usual day of downhill skiing. On the other hand, think of all the money saved on lift tickets!¨

That’s when he would start race training for the day. Which entails a lot of standing around, then bursts of effort when it is your turn to run the gates.

Bruce Hayden म्हणाले...

“Frozen snot is now a problem for people wearing gloves and masks?
No, it won't change anything because the assumptions are stupid”

I have worn a mustache for most of the last half century, since I was in college. Except that back then, they came with big mutton chop sideburns. And probably skied more over that half century than most here (though a fraction of what that one brother has done - never having been married, he practices patent law to afford his ski racing). One of the problems with skiing with a mustache is that it often freezes. Which means that I have spent a non negligible portion of my life breaking icicles out of my mustache.

effinayright म्हणाले...

It's a resurrection of that fucking stupid "miasma theory" of disease!

Somehow this magical virus can survive in UV-saturated sunlight, very cold air, and on snow and frozen surfaces.

Somehow the tiny droplets a skiier---unknowingly covid-infected and capable of exercising vigorously---puts into the air when he exhales remain suspended in that very cold air.

And somehow the people he's whizzing past on the slopes can breathe in his exhalations and get covid. And, of course, die from it.

NEVER MIND that elderly people with co-morbidities and with the greatest risk of dying from covid are not going to be skiing in the first place---and especially aren't going to be hiking uphill to do it.

After all, it's "science", doncha know.

This is just another example of the shocking, full-frontal STUPIDITY we're being forced to submit to.

Openidname म्हणाले...

"Jessica said...

"Surface transmission has not been documented. Ever. Anywhere. (Google 'surface transmission Washington boost' to verify)."

I found it, but I think you meant "surface transmission Washington Post."

Wilbur म्हणाले...

Ha. I people like it, I think that's great. I've been skiing - and never will - because:
A. I really am really uncomfortable in cold weather. One of my sisters is the same way. The cold has often been painful for us.
B. I could never see the wisdom in strapping a couple of slick boards to MY feet and hurtling down a hill.

MadisonMan म्हणाले...

My nose runs perpetually in cold weather. (Dad's did as well) I tell my daughter that this is why I am healthy. Pathogens get trapped in the mucus, and drip out. The chance that frozen snot on a ski transport contrivance has viable viruses is most likely zero.
Writers for the NYTimes know very little.

Clyde म्हणाले...

For me, stories about ski lifts might as well be about climbing Mount Everest. Neither one is something that I ever plan to do. I went skiing, once, at Crystal Mountain on Mount Rainier back in 1984. I spent the day falling down in the snow. Once was enough. And my own personal goal in life is to never see snow again. I went almost 30 years without seeing any until I got hit with an unseasonable snowfall in Traverse City, Michigan in October 2018. And again, that was enough to last me the rest of my life.

Todd Roberson म्हणाले...

Your "nose running" is water vapor not snot.

Clyde म्हणाले...

Ann Althouse said...

But you are touching your own face with your gloved hands.


Bingo! I never wear gloves at work (USPS); I wash my hands frequently, especially after dealing with especially dirty items like Express Mail bags. Some people wear the same gloves for hours. That just picks up whatever contaminants are on the objects they touch. If you touch your face with gloves you've been wearing for hours, who knows what you're transferring to your face?

Daniel Jackson म्हणाले...

I KNEW there was a reason to not go skiing and avoid skiers.

stevew म्हणाले...

wholelottasplainin' at 1:12 PM

Word.

walter म्हणाले...

Slicker than snot on a ski lift..
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
I bet the snot that gathers in my mask required to work outdoors with one is very healthy for me..and enhances the effectiveness of the mask expodentially.

walter म्हणाले...

Sonny Bono was actually killed by COVID.

Leland म्हणाले...

Leland- does your nose not run in the cold? Mine does

It doesn't run because of the cold alone.

अनामित म्हणाले...

I took a gondola once to the top of the world. It was cloudy at the the beginning. A 45 min ride. We pierced the cloud cover after 30 minutes. It was like approaching God. Closer. Out of the haze, the brightness appeared. No one was in any rush to get on with why we were there. Skis were planted in the snow, and men stripped down to their waist and leaned against their planted Skis to drink in this top of the world blessing.

Hungerberg. Austrian Alps.

I dove off this mountain into the clouds below, but here's the amazing thing...

Men built the gondola up this mountain, so other men could touch the face of God.

effinayright म्हणाले...

A runny nose isn't snot. It's not.

Bruce Hayden म्हणाले...

“B. I could never see the wisdom in strapping a couple of slick boards to MY feet and hurtling down a hill.”

I have a hard time explaining skiing to people, and esp adults. I skied because my next brother wanted to ski. We got strap on skis when we were maybe 5 and 7, then, he wanted real skis when he was 8, and I was 10. Our father was game, since he had skied a little before and after the war, but had to give it up when he got married - and broke a ski. He taught us the first season, then put us in ski school (at Berthod Pass) after that, when our skill caught up to his, until we started racing. Raced through high school and college, then was done. But by that time, I was decent enough that I could really enjoy skiing. The feelings can be indescribable. Bottomless powder. Or perfectly arced turns on CO soft pack. Things definitely improved with the advent of “shaped” skis, that were designed to arc from turn to turn, with no sliding between turns.

I have been in the position of a beginner, mostly just falling down, but not often enough to dissuade me. I remember one day on Silverton Mountain, maybe the steepest patrolled ski area in the country (2 black diamond runs, everything else double diamond), about a decade ago. Snow was wind crusted powder. Hard to ski normally, and worse on narrow trails that steep. But mostly, it is very enjoyable, and I knew I had to push myself, taking that sort of risk, to have the epic days. For example, a couple of us got snowed in at Snowbird, by SLC. They closed the team to the top for 2 1/2 days. We were on the first tram to the top, with about 8-10 feet of fresh UT powder, which is feather light on top, and got thicker as you put went deeper. It was effectively bottomless, because even standing still, you wouldn’t sink to the bottom. We had just spent 3 days tree skiing there with a fraternity brother working there, who knew where to go. You quickly discover that you can go almost straight down a steep slope, if the powder is deep enough the Steep and the Deep. First couple times you go off what seemed to almost be a cliff, it was a bit scary. But then, after the first turn or two you knew you were in love. Between turns, you feel almost weightless. That first run from the top was epic, because the 8-10 feet of new snow were untracked. We had our confidence up, and it was memorable.

Fumbling around for hours, with skis that don’t want to do what you want them to do, crashing, and having to get back up, while getting cold, tired, and sore, cannot be fun. If I were older than 25 or so, I doubt if I would have come back, if that were my first experience in skis. But if you do try it - take lessons the first couple times with a decent instructor can usually eliminate most of the negative early experiences. It looks easy for many people. If you see me ski, it looks easy. It is for me now. But I have easily over 1,000 days skiing under my belt. It isn’t easy, and a lot of muscle memory is involved. It’s hard for most people. Which is why you need lessons, because ski instructors know how to teach you to crawl, before you learn to walk, then run.

Finally, one place not to start skiing without lessons is Keystone. It’s main beginner’s hill, Schoolmarm, from top to bottom 3 1/2 miles, would be classed Blue/Green at Breckenridge. I worked as a volunteer there under the Ski Patrol. The fun part of our job was speeder control. The necessary part was getting a toboggan there when someone got hurt. But the laborious part was getting people down off the mountain who never should have tried that trail. They would get tired, take their skis off, and try to walk down. Then get too tired doing that, and just give up. We were there because if we weren’t, they would probably never try skiing again. And that is why I empathize with first or second time skiers over their heads - I have helped hundreds off the mountain.

अनामित म्हणाले...

Bruce, reading your comment, I just wanted to read more. In a few paragraphs, you opened the door to skiing, from baby steps, to taking on too much, to the glory, when the man and mountain meld. Not one to conquer the other, but the two becoming the fall, the abandonment to the abyss.

There's a moment, when a man has to let go, and become the fall. No control.

A Patent Atty. Allergic to paragraphs. For me, this is the best post you've written, although I read all of them. Thanks, Bruce.



Christy म्हणाले...

Yes, Bruce, your comments here have been a joy to read and brought back many good memories. I do confess, however, my most humiliating day of skiing was at Loveland. For some reason I couldn't manage the powder and found myself on a run on the front of the mountain under the lift in full view of the Interstate. I'd ski a mogul or two and fall down. Lost all my courage and became slower and slower getting back up. I stood there, psyching myself up for my next try, when suddenly, bop, bop, bopping on by went a one-legged skier. A one-legged skier! Shamed and determined I finally made my way down and skied directly into the lift line. The lift operator, who'd obviously seen that disaster of a run came over and asked, "Honey, are you sure you want to try that again?"

I'd been skiing Summit County for a week already so I have no excuse for my lousy day. I went back to the tamer slopes of Summit and Vail for the rest of my wonderful vacation. I'm choosing to believe Loveland is incredibly hard. Do not tell me otherwise!

Josephbleau म्हणाले...

I remember skiing at park city with my uncle. A cute girl went to the front of the lift line and butted in. He said in a loud voice, “ if they didn’t have pussies they would put a bounty on them and shoot them like coyotes.”