East Coast skiers will love these videos.

[ski diva]

Outdoor Gear Exchange in Burlington, VT, is producing a series of short videos about a group of women skiing in the backcountry of the eastern US and Canada. Video 1 spotlights the Chic Chocs in southern Quebec, and the second, Smuggler's Notch. Both talk about what makes skiing with a group of women different than skiing with men, and why it's so special. The videos are pretty amazing. The second just came out today, and the third will be out on 10/26.

Here are the first two

Video 1:

Video 2:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10156707245364746

Video 3 comes out 10/26

 

[newboots]

These are great!

I need to learn to ski better!

 

[ride_ski]

Thanks for sharing. Those were great. I wonder where the next one will be.

 

[Obrules15]

I was enjoying these videos until I came to the end of the second one. The very last interchange is really bothering me. The woman states that she likes backcountry skiing because she doesn't have to worry about anyone sizing her up for the color of her jacket or what model of boot she's wearing or what she's skiing, that she can just have fun.

I know this is the reality, but why do we let it be acceptable to let what other people think of us bother us so much. I applaud her for backcountry skiing but she's saying she doesn't enjoy resort skiing as much because of other's opinions? She'd allow some random person that she doesn't know impact her enjoyment of the sport and send her off into the backcountry which has more hazards?

I'm not saying that I'm any better about this than anyone else but I want to be, I am aware, and I fight the urge to let it ever significantly affect me. Last year my first day of skiing was on Killington's WROD and it was awful. I had made some very, very bad boot modifications and didn't realize it and didn't realize how much a six month hiatus would affect my ability to ski.

I found myself going down turn by turn and had the mountain host lap me 2-3 x's, each time asking me if I needed help and trying to give me tips. A few people on the chair lift laughed at me. This was all super embarrassing (really) but I didn't let it stop me, I came back the next day with my boots fixed and then skied a third day which was amazing. Granted, I was really happy that I had a different color jacket but either way I wouldn't have compromised doing what was best because of someone else's opinion.

Even if we don't let it affect our choices or our behavior, just being upset seems problematic to me. It takes energy to be upset, if we focus on someone else's opinion, that's energy that's diverted from other things in our life which are way more important. If we get angry our BP goes up, our heart rate goes up, our adrenaline and stress responses are activated, which have all been shown to have a detrimental effect over the long term, so it isn't benign.

Am I over-reading or overthinking this? Is this actually not true? Or is this, as I suspect, an unintended side effect of the culture of political correctness?

 

[VickiK]

I think it's cool that both videos pointed out that one needn't be a pro or expert to participate, that it was a supportive group, and an opportunity to learn and share the experience. But it sure takes a strong body to do that, to get up there with a big backpack.

 

[newboots]

@Obrules15 I had partly the same reaction when she mentioned other people checking out your boots. It just felt somewhat adolescent to me. In adolescence, I was mortified on a regular basis. I’m almost over it! (I’m old enough to start collecting Social Security any day now.)

I’m having trouble making the connection with political correctness. It feels more like high school. Bullies who enjoy the discomfort of others, status snobbery.

 

[SallyCat]

@newboots and @Obrules15 I'm not sure I'm coning at this accurately at all, but when I heard her comment, I thought she was referring to being a young person living in a ski town and probably not making very much money. Maybe it's nice for her just to take a break from being around the sort of wealth and just enjoy something special that can't be bought and to be fine with the gear she has and not confront newer-better, shinier stuff all the time, and the fact that she can't afford it.

Sure, we should all, always, be grateful for what we have, and I'm not making any value judgement on anyone, but I've worked in the service industry in resort towns, and it even if you're pretty well balanced and down-to -earth about material things, you can't help seeing the place from a perspective that's just different from the people who have access to things you just don't. I bet having your own group of friends and your own special, backcountry places to enjoy is just a way to balance out that sort of life. Anyway, not saying I'm right, that's just what resonated with me when I heard her comment.

 

[newboots]

@SallyCat amazing how we read things differently! Your read on it sounds plausible too.

 

[ski diva]

Actually, my take on it was like @SallyCat 's.

 

[TeleChica]

Fantastic! Thanks @ski diva for sharing! Love the Chic Chocs--I recognize some of the areas they were skiing.

And they are so YOUNG! Love it.

 

[marzNC]

Here are Episodes 2 and 3 on Vimeo. Episode 3 is at Mt. Washington during late season with a mixed ability group on a warm blue sky day.

 

[DeeSki]

Loving these, especially video 3. The supportive atmosphere is obvious in all films, but especially in the last one where there is a real mix of abilities/experience (although they're all really solid skiers). You need to ski with people who are better than you if you're going to progress and you won't do it if you feel you're cramping their style. Of course the experts get to train up their ski buddies too! I think we need more of this kind of spirit in all aspects of life.

I'm not the only one here using ski videos as a life coach, right?