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Ski Season 2024/2025


texasdago

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22 hours ago, HouTex said:

That’s it.  It’s off the Elk Camp lift.  The hike uphill isn’t easy especially with a foot or so of fresh snow and of course you are carrying your skis.  I was exhausted for the rest of the day but it was worth it.  

Yes it is.  We did that run early in the day and loved it.  It was a guys trip with about 8 of us.....varying degrees of skill level, and for sure varying degrees of cardio endurance.  Anyway, one of our buddies had to join us at lunch and we all bragged on that run and talked it up.  So he's all fresh and says lets do it again. Keep in mind im in good shape so no worries there, but some of the others not so much but we all agreed to do it later if we had time.

I could tell some of the guys were kind of bailing toward the end of the day and about half of us headed toward the run (and hike!).  We were pushing it toward 4pm and we had to hustle to get to the bottom (you know how long a run that is) so we could take that lift back up and traverse to the Snowmass Village base , ski rental return and vehicle..... needless to say, we were in go mode, but we had some 50+ newbies in tow.

 

A couple of the novice guys were really struggling and they sent us on ahead , knowing they would just have to get a ride back, no way they would make 4 pm cutoff.  So 3-4 of us boogie down and wait right until 4pm for them to come barrelling down.  We were having fun with the Lift Operator flirting with her to hold the chair and sure enough here comes our 3 old timer beginner buddies just hauling ass down like bats out of hell and we all hit cutoff at 4. 

Good times, we laughed all night about those guys coming in hot. It was so funny watching them come down , we got on the lift when we pointed out our buddies and were above them as passed under....we were laughing our asses off

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I have never cross country skied.  I would like to try it.  I run a lot. Seems like a good alternative to running when in the snow.  I was in Whitefish for 9 days over holidays and usually run in our neighborhood.  There was too much snow to do so this trip.

Downhill skiing was incredible. We skied 7 days.  I fell once.  On last run of the last day when doing something stupid.  Sprained/jammed my shoulder and now am paying for it.  I am normally a very sound sleeper.  But this damn shoulder pain messes that up.

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On 1/8/2025 at 9:24 AM, texasdago said:

Was looking at the Stevens Pass numbers.  Is it Cascade Concrete?  Yeah, pretty much but bruh, these numbers... 211 inches!?

image.thumb.png.e2260131481630aa29052a9b6831a7c4.png

Headed back up this morning. It’s finally supposed to stay below 32 all day at the base.  And it’s 222” now. 

Edited by Pato del Muerto
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I ski blue and blacks.  Prefer groomers.  
 

I ski well. But never have really carved.  Any good YouTube videos for drills on carving?

have work in Denver tomorrow.  Going to detour up to whitefish for weekend where I have a house.  99 percent of time I’m with kids.  So I’m doing a lot of waiting and watching. They are a level below me.  I want to spend my two days at whitefish solo to work on carving.  I think I can get buy on YouTube videos for drills as opposed to lesson. But there is so much content out there I was wondering if anyone here had reccos

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6 minutes ago, Frank Drebin said:

I ski blue and blacks.  Prefer groomers.  
 

I ski well. But never have really carved.  Any good YouTube videos for drills on carving?

have work in Denver tomorrow.  Going to detour up to whitefish for weekend where I have a house.  99 percent of time I’m with kids.  So I’m doing a lot of waiting and watching. They are a level below me.  I want to spend my two days at whitefish solo to work on carving.  I think I can get buy on YouTube videos for drills as opposed to lesson. But there is so much content out there I was wondering if anyone here had reccos

I thought this was pretty decent without it being half an hour long.

 

 

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57 minutes ago, GlenFromTheMailRoom said:

I thought this was pretty decent without it being half an hour long.

 

 

I was just coming to post these guys, too... https://www.youtube.com/@StompItTutorials

Now, I don't know about Whitefish and their ski school but I'm a big proponent of taking occasional lessons to work on technique.  You can get paired with a group that is blue/black.  Odds are that low season lessons you may end up with the instructor and maybe 1-2 other people, if that.  Even half a day might help you. 

Case in point... I signed up for a full day "group" lesson at Taos last year and I went to the highest possible class level.  I ended up going through the class by myself with two amazing instructors (different one in the afternoon).  Same thing has happened to me in Taos.  Much better strategy than going for a private lesson. 

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4 minutes ago, texasdago said:

Now, I don't know about Whitefish and their ski school but I'm a big proponent of taking occasional lessons to work on technique.  You can get paired with a group that is blue/black.  Odds are that low season lessons you may end up with the instructor and maybe 1-2 other people, if that.  Even half a day might help you. 

Case in point... I signed up for a full day "group" lesson at Taos last year and I went to the highest possible class level.  I ended up going through the class by myself with two amazing instructors (different one in the afternoon).  Same thing has happened to me in Taos.  Much better strategy than going for a private lesson. 

Quoting myself but this is what you want... again, you may end up in a small group of 1-2 people.  I don't know.  I'm not familiar with the crowds or vibe at Whitefish but that's what my gut tells me based on experience.  My solo experience at CB was during a spring break soooo... you never know.

image.png.132f102904f5166f903744f1f402c305.png

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17 hours ago, Frank Drebin said:

I ski blue and blacks.  Prefer groomers.  
 

I ski well. But never have really carved.  Any good YouTube videos for drills on carving?

have work in Denver tomorrow.  Going to detour up to whitefish for weekend where I have a house.  99 percent of time I’m with kids.  So I’m doing a lot of waiting and watching. They are a level below me.  I want to spend my two days at whitefish solo to work on carving.  I think I can get buy on YouTube videos for drills as opposed to lesson. But there is so much content out there I was wondering if anyone here had reccos

 

 

Immediate thoughts are two ways to translate what you're looking for.  There's "my style is carving I am a carver",  and there is "I like to make different types of turns and those turns are carved".      

Do you want to be a carver, or a skier who carves?  Two totally different skiers and it's usually the equipment that separates them.  Skiers who carve can ride carving skis just fine, but prefer not to be locked into turn shape.  That's what carving skis do.  They want to lock you into a turn shape and you ski that same turn all day long.  You can get forgiving carving skis, but that's the gist. 

All this being said, if you're going to turn up your technique a notch or several, it's time to get new equipment.  You'll improve faster.  Why start "youtube drills" or lessons on old gear?  How much do you weigh?  

 

Deb Armstrong Olympic gold bump skier.  Real bumpers are amazing carvers.  She's the real deal teacher.  Rabbit hole her videos.  They're very techy but real improvement means learning new language not just monkey see drill monkey do drill.  Check her youtube for drills and website for coaching clinics and privates.

 

Tube

 

Site

 

 

Also reminder that Great Northern Cats is 30 mins from Whitefish

 

 

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5 hours ago, PRONG HORN said:

 

 

Immediate thoughts are two ways to translate what you're looking for.  There's "my style is carving I am a carver",  and there is "I like to make different types of turns and those turns are carved".      

Do you want to be a carver, or a skier who carves?  Two totally different skiers and it's usually the equipment that separates them.  Skiers who carve can ride carving skis just fine, but prefer not to be locked into turn shape.  That's what carving skis do.  They want to lock you into a turn shape and you ski that same turn all day long.  You can get forgiving carving skis, but that's the gist. 

All this being said, if you're going to turn up your technique a notch or several, it's time to get new equipment.  You'll improve faster.  Why start "youtube drills" or lessons on old gear?  How much do you weigh?  

 

Deb Armstrong Olympic gold bump skier.  Real bumpers are amazing carvers.  She's the real deal teacher.  Rabbit hole her videos.  They're very techy but real improvement means learning new language not just monkey see drill monkey do drill.  Check her youtube for drills and website for coaching clinics and privates.

 

Tube

 

Site

 

 

Also reminder that Great Northern Cats is 30 mins from Whitefish

 

 

I am 6'2" and 190 pounds.  I want to be able to carve well.

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7 hours ago, PRONG HORN said:

All this being said, if you're going to turn up your technique a notch or several, it's time to get new equipment.  You'll improve faster.  Why start "youtube drills" or lessons on old gear?  How much do you weigh?  

Honestly, this reminds me of a conversation with an instructor in France back in 2018.  We spent three days together with him mostly guiding me around Les Grands Montets and doing some teaching here and there.  Anyway, on our first day, we went off piste to a back bowl and as he watched me ski, he said, you need to get off of those skis.  The next morning before we took the first lift up, he took me to our ski shop, got me off of what they had given me and onto Black Crows Orbs (which I later purchased on my own and ski today - you can see them in my video above).  

What does this mean?

Go with the half-day or full-day lesson I recommended and as you work with the instructor during the day and they see you ski and your goals, then ask what type of gear you should be using.   Like @PRONG HORN after a run or two of "adjustment" my skiing completely evolved and we were skiing up on the glacier the next day.  Gave me a lot of confidence and was the starting point of me becoming more aggressive as a skier even in my decrepit age.

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