West Coast vs. East Coast Skiing

[Albertan ski girl]

I so am, can't wait. Thank you @Albertan ski girl for the beautiful pictures too. I am very excited to do that run. Wooh hooh

Yes - unless we're super snow starved (hopefully not!), all you'll need is your volkl 98s...

 

[surfsnowgirl]

Yes - unless we're super snow starved (hopefully not!), all you'll need is your volkl 98s...

The 90Eights are excellent carvers also which is partly why they appealed to me so much. I bought a sportube 2 so can fit another pair of skis so might bring a narrower pair "just in case' but I'll touch base with you, check snow reports etc before we get there.

 

[Gloria]

T-bar, platter lift and yes there is a J bar all pull you up a slope. Don't sit on any of them.

Worst T bar's - Jet T bar at Jay and Sutton. Jet T bar was just that - fast. The Sutton one was a wind up with a rope.

Riding a T bar does take some skill and patience. Riding with kids is painful.

I was insanely impressed the first time I read this because I read the does in the last paragraph as down. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how you rode the tbar down. Glasses must be next in my life.

 

[Jilly]

Thanks for my morning laugh!!

 

[vanhoskier]

The button lifts aren't usually difficult. There's normally a lift person to help you get on. I've fallen off once, pretty near the top, so 'just' (lol) walked up the last bit!!

T-bars, however, are another matter!! Much harder to get on, off, and ride.

I find the main downside of both these types of lift is that you don't get a rest in between skiing down.

I made the mistake of riding the t-bar at Blackcomb Glacier with a woman MUCH shorter and smaller than me. We were so lopsided, that we both fell off, and rolled down the small rocky cliff! Of course, with t-bars and Pomas, they don't stop if you fall off, so you gotta ski back down and get back on. I prefer Pomas....a lot easier than t-bars.

 

[nopoleskier]

ah T-bars.. that's all there was growing up in my area.

I agree when on w/a tall (or shorter) person can feel like your leg is getting pulled out of it's socket. On ski team our coach was over 6ft, if I wasn't on the right side I'd get wicked sciatica from the lopsided ride... but he'd say 'now you just need to learn to ride both sides" NOT.. needless to say I would be fixing my boots or something to avoid riding w/him..
when I was little riding w/friends it became a chair lift it! we didn't weigh enough going up one part!! Then when my Sister's kids were little we'd put them between our legs for the ride up.. yes that was a work out!! I'd rather have a poma any day..

 

[RedinChicago]

I'm a Midwest skier. My ski jacket is specific for skiing, but the rest of the winter gear gets worn for various cold weather activities. My base layers have been work to commute to my office job during Polar Vortex I and II.

We ski if it's skiable. Waiting until next weekend will run your out of weekends ASAP.

 

[SallyCat]

This thread needs sounds effects. The fear-inducing, sweeping scraaaaaape of a snowboarder trying to correct some terrible mistake mere inches behind you on Pennsylvania hardpack, the high, dull "clink" of dozens of Bud Light cans bouncing off the rim of a an under-chairlift trash bin...why, it makes a person feel lucky to be alive! Is there any Western complement to that life-affirming adrenaline-rush of danger?

 

[bounceswoosh]

This thread needs sounds effects. The fear-inducing, sweeping scraaaaaape of a snowboarder trying to correct some terrible mistake mere inches behind you on Pennsylvania hardpack, the high, dull "clink" of dozens of Bud Light cans bouncing off the rim of a an under-chairlift trash bin...why, it makes a person feel lucky to be alive! Is there any Western complement to that life-affirming adrenaline-rush of danger?

The only thing I can think of is the pre-avalanche "whump" sound .. but that's not so much life-affirming as very bad news!

 

[Christy]

An under-chairlift trash bin???

 

[SallyCat]

An under-chairlift trash bin???

Oh yes; with a wide-mouth funnel to make it easier to hit from the chair. Full of, and surrounded by, beer cans. It's a 50-50 split between Bud Light and Keystone Light by my reckoning. I'm comforted by the low alcohol content and the fact that the drinkers of those cans will soon have to leave the slopes for the restroom...

 

[Jilly]

I just like the idea of the trash can......As for beer...you don't buy that stuff, you rent it.

 

[COchick]

Well there's an East vs West thing right there... trash cans under the lifts (what?)... IF there were such things in the West, they'd surely be filled with PBR over Bud Light or Keystone Light. Ha!

 

[Christy]

But aren't they a hazard on the slopes? The trash cans I mean. I'm sure the skiers are.

 

[SallyCat]

But aren't they a hazard on the slopes? The trash cans I mean. I'm sure the skiers are.

They are only under the lifts in non-skiable areas. For some reason, the barrels aren't there in the summer so for lift-served MTB, people seemed to all throw their empties onto a particular pine tree so that a sort of crappy-beer-canopy formed.

I have a very active job search underway that I hope will take me to northern New England. If it pans out, I don't imagine I'll miss the Poconos too much.

 

[SallyCat]

I make fun of PA a lot, mostly because I moved here from New Orleans so I was in massive culture-shock for a couple of years. But I really do like it here; good job, great friends, easy access to lots of outdoor fun. Night skiing has helped me progress just by sheer time on snow, and I'm SO happy to have access to it. But this is the view under the six-pack lift at Blue Mtn!

 

[Jilly]

We need those at Tremblant!

 

[Christy]

Honest to God I don't think I've ever seen anyone drink a beer on the slopes in the PNW. Light up a joint? Absolutely. That was common even before pot was legalized in Washington. Pull a flask out of a coat pocket? Of course. But drink a beer and throw the can off the lift??? No. How can anyone litter in beautiful mountains?

 

[SallyCat]

I think that if you're healthy enough to be skiing and drinking beer, then you're healthy enough to have better free throw aim that that picture seems to indicate. Step it up, PA/Jersey knuckleheads!

 

[Jenny]

Honest to God I don't think I've ever seen anyone drink a beer on the slopes in the PNW. Light up a joint? Absolutely. That was common even before pot was legalized in Washington. Pull a flask out of a coat pocket? Of course. But drink a beer and throw the can off the lift??? No. How can anyone litter in beautiful mountains?

I haven't seen anything like that at all in Michigan either.