End of season Rituals

[Jilly]

Do you have an end of season ritual? Last run of the season has be "X" if still open? Special dinner?

As most of you know the end of this torture year is all but over finally. But my ski buddies are still keepin up traditions. So its BBQ (in the rain) tomorrow night after skiing at a friends.

What are yours?

 

[snoWYmonkey]

I oddly seem to intentionally stay away from all the beautiful rituals that my colleagues and friends participate in. I think it is because saying goodbye to skiing and the work that I love is almost too painful while I normally love drawn out goodbyes with humans. Thankfully, the end of our season always comes with some other perks that have become traditions like going for the first bike ride on the paved Road inside the national park before it opens up to cars and going for a hike in the desert that's only an hour away before anybody else goes there.

 

[ilovepugs]

My end of season ritual is skinning up Spruce Peak at Stowe after mountain operations are closed for the season. This year I did it on Saturday with @jthree on a rainy day that turned powdery up top. It was a great time!

 

[jthree]

My end of season ritual is skinning up Spruce Peak at Stowe after mountain operations are closed for the season. This year I did it on Saturday with @jthree on a rainy day that turned powdery up top. It was a great time!

It was a fantastic time, so happy to be part of your end of season ritual this year!

 

[VickiK]

My ritual is not to say it's over out loud, until it's over. It's that 'IYKYK' feeling.

 

[Trailside Trixie]

I wash all my ski clothes and keep some nearby for my days when I go to the indoor place in Jersey over the summer.

I also set my widgets for fall/early winter so I have a carot as I bike ride and enjoy my way thru the summer

As I know I'm going down a particular run for the last time of the season I will pause, take an extra picture and reflect

 

[VickiK]

@Trailside Trixie , what do you mean? ... I'm curious to know what widgets.
"I also set my widgets for fall/early winter so I have a carot as I bike ride and enjoy my way thru the summer"

 

[Aerlind]

The end of my season overlaps with the heavy spring conditioning season for my summer horseback rides, so it becomes a balance of riding and skiing in April. I never had a tradition, but I think we’re starting one this year: Big Sky is bringing the Pond Skim back, so we’re going to go watch that carnage, and we’re driving my boyfriend’s restored 1974 Chevy truck and tailgating out of it in the lot! We’ll catch a few runs but hopefully we’ll catch a lot more rays and good vibes.

And then it’ll be 10+ miles on my horse on Sunday, because she needs to get in shape!

 

[RachelV]

... and going for a hike in the desert that's only an hour away before anybody else goes there.

What desert is this?

 

[snoWYmonkey]

What desert is this?

The badlands of Dubois WY

 

[kapowder]

I always take one super solo "SOUL" lap on the last day of lift operations. I wait until there is nobody around and then I just rip down a scenic groomer as fast as I can possibly go. I try to ride the chairlift alone a couple times to just soak in the views while taking deep inhales and savoring the subtle but present scent of the forest waking up. Spring definitely has more smell than winter does up in the mountains.

Then I put my alpine skis away and prepare my uphill gear. Today is the UPHILL OPENER at Alta and we'll have enough snow to ski tour from the base area around the resort until June or so. Here are some pics from last year's uphill season, my last ski day of the previous season was June 5, 2024

Uphill season for me will start tomorrow!

 

[mustski]

My season just seems to end one day without any pre-planning by me. There is a day where I feel the conditions weren't worth the effort and so I end my season. The rituals start before that. I've already started laundering ski clothes that I won't need again ... anything insulated for example. Skis have been tuned and I will just stick a coat of wax on them once I'm done. Other than that, I just sort of drift into summer without thinking about it.

 

[SnowHot]

I usually end the season and then someone [cough] @VickiK [/cough] entices me to go for one more spin at Mammoth.
[cough] @floridakeysskibum [/cough] July 2023


May 2024

 

[SnowHot]

Okay I just received a message from @elemmac that she's doing a late May trip and wants me to join.
See...there is no end of season ritual because my season doesn't seem to end.

 

[floridakeysskibum]

I usually end the season and then someone [cough] @VickiK [/cough] entices me to go for one more spin at Mammoth.
[cough] @floridakeysskibum [/cough] July 2023
View attachment 25027

May 2024
View attachment 25026

Sorry I missed it this year!

 

[skibum4ever]

I just closed up my ski suitcase and rolled it into the closet. I have reluctantly accepted that my ski season has come to an early end this year. Hoping to do better and ski more next season.

My DH might take another trip to Mammoth. But I will be leaving for Maui in a week and will be home on June 3. Though Mammoth may extend their season past Memorial Day, I don't think that the final week of skiing will be graced by my presence.

 

[Jenny]

Okay I just received a message from @elemmac that she's doing a late May trip and wants me to join.
See...there is no end of season ritual because my season doesn't seem to end.

Maybe this IS your ritual.

 

[polino991]

My crew always does a “final lap photo” at the top, no matter the weather, then we hit the same little lodge for chili and beers. It’s our way of closing the chapter for the season and already starting the countdown to next year

 

[kapowder]

Currently snowing my window here at Alta. We could see as much as 15 inches by Monday! There's fun skiing to be had if you're willing to walk uphill to earn it ;P

 

[Briski]

Definitely turns to had in CO still, but it is river and garden season.