Where did you learn to ski?

[ski diva]

I'll start this trip down Memory Lane:

1968, Snowbowl Ski Area, Milton NJ: 400' vertical. Opened in 1962 by a Princeton psychiatrist (crazy about skiing, I guess); closed in the mid seventies. Two double chairs, two T-bars. A two hour drive from my home at the Jersey shore. I'll never forget the heated pool they had at the base lodge -- the rising steam and the people swimming while there was snow on the ground. I'd never seen anything like it before, and it just about blew my 13 year old mind!

 

[num]

an answer or a ramble? both!

Ski Diva, is that place still around?

My first time on skis was at Cascade Mountain in Wisconsin. I had a one hour private, fell in love, got a few runs in, and had to leave against my will (I was attending a conference in nearby Madison).

Unfortunately, that was in March 06, right before everything around here closed up for the season, making me wait 9 (long) months before I could get back on the hill. You guys know how dicey the beginning of the season was this year. Excruciatingly hard to get a fix...so rewarding once you finally get it :D

My first season's been a hill hopping tour, 9 so far in Wisconsin, one place in Illinois, and one place in Indiana, in search of one to call home.
With the lessons and breakthroughs being scattered throughout them, I'm having a hard time picking where I learned to ski.

 

[SkiMonster]

Stratton, Todd (husband, then boyfriend) had worked there years ago; so it was sort of his default place to go. We did one of the midweek deals they have - haven't been there on a weekend & not inclined to pay a fortune & try it ;)

I had a great time; it was a really good place for him to teach me, since I was very nervous about heights & chairlifts, so he could take me to the top in the gondola and have me go the easy way down a few times to get used to it all before sticking me on a chair lift and adding that in to the mix. I am really glad he taught me that way rather than having me hang around a bunny hill and be nervous to go to the top, I think it was a factor in getting me to learn quicker. I had no choice if I wanted to get down, and the trail was so long that I had plenty of time to practice; but the trail (Mike's Way) was perfect for me - not at all like when "friends" take people to the top and send them down the steep way

I grew up on the Jersey Shore too - Ocean City. Mountains were a new thing to me!

 

[persee]

Cranmore, in Conway NH, week after xmas 2004.

I wanted to ski since I was in junior high school, but it just never happened. Finally husband decided he wanted to get back to skiing so we both went and got boots. He got skis (a pair of former demos on summer clearance) and the week after xmas I booked myself a set of 3 lessons - they had a deal where if you took 3 lessons you got a free season pass. I picked up the basics on the bunny hill fast and was anxious to do more. Got on a mild green after my second day and was flying. Decided the skis they rented me were too short so I got some longer ones for the 3rd day. I was hooked.

 

[Pequenita]

Winter 1982 at Holiday Mountain in Monticello, NY. I skied there weekly from 1985 to 1989.

A cemetery was right across the street from the lodge. We always joked that moguls were overflow from the cemetery. Kids....

 

[Jilly]

1962 Snow Valley - Barrie Ontario. "Uncle Bob" taught me how to ski. The family started the following year at Oak Hills Ski Club - Stirling Ontario. 3 rope tows, bear trap bindings, screwed-in edges, wooly mitts the works. The place had great "steamed" hot dogs and real - milk and cocoa - hot chocolate. Snow Valley is still going strong, but like alot of the small hills in Ontario, Oak Hills went bankrupt in the early 70's. No snow and no snowmaking back then. Now its really big houses and a golf course. We could even get there on the YMCA bus!! Modest beginning, since I've had the chance to ski all over Canada and US, plus France. Down under is still to come!

 

[altagirl]

When I was in 5th grade, my elementary school had a ski club that took you to Mt. Brighton (Michigan) for after school night skiing. I only had one friend who had ever skied, but it sounded fun and I begged and pleaded until my parents bought me a $250 season pass (outrageous! said my parents) and gave me the money for the lessons. The program required that you take a lesson every afternoon until you had "passed" them all. You got a colored patch for each level, and then your "black patch" that certified you as an expert or something. I still remember my lilac down ski jacket (with princess sleeves no less) with the rainbow of patches on it.

I think when you can get addicted to night skiing in Michigan, on a manmade hill covered in manmade snow, you've really got the bug.

 

[Quiver Queen]

In a cafeteria line! I knew I was going for my first day skiing & asked someone I knew had skied his whole life for a couple of pointers; it just happened we were standing in line for a cafeteria breakfast. He demonstrated shoulders downhill, weight on the downhill/outside ski, and heel pressure for wedging, and I demonstrated the moves back to him. My ride came, so off I went to the mountain, Bogus Basin outside of Boise, ID. Once there my friend took me on a lift to the top & said "see you at the bottom!" and left me alone to practice my cafeteria line pointers all the way down. (Funny thing is, they worked then and they still work now.) I was hooked & bought gear the very next day.

 

[cyn]

learned in the woods

My first "Dark Ages" skiing experiences were in the '50s and early '60s, in the woods, near my grandmother's house in the Laurentian mountains, north of Montreal.
My sister and I were laced into leather ski boots, strapped into ancient cable bindings on wooden skis ( no binding release back then!) and off we tromped into the woods, where we'd climb up hills and ski down, dodging the trees. Winters were very cold then, and our clothes were usually woolen and soggy and freezing.
My first "real" ski hill experience was on Mount Royal in the city of Montreal. There was a small, scary rope tow, which wore out the underarms of our jackets and our mittens.
A few years later, we graduated to a small Laurentian Ski hill called Mt. Christie, where they had a whopping two T-bars!
It was all wonderful.

 

[SnowGlider]

Mount Royal

Cyn, I skied the downhill slope on Mount Royal in the early 70s---but on cross-country skis! That shows that what I really longed to do was downwhill skiing, but that had to way until 2002 at Gunstock Mt. in New Hampshire when I was 49.

Remember those incredible snowfalls in Montreal in the early 70s? There would be snowmobiles on Sherbrooke Street. I would go out on my cross-country skis before the streets were plowed and ski all over the city, from Bernard Street to Old Montreal and back up over the mountain. I guess I had the energy to ski uphill in those days.

(Sorry to be off topic. Nostalgic . . . )

 

[cyn]

70s snow

We did have some serious snow back then, and unfortunately, school was hardly ever cancelled!
And the ice skating - outdoors. I only got my skates on once this winter here in Rhode Island, and I was all alone on the ice. No one here skates anymore.

 

[Jilly]

Come back North - except the Canal was really late opening this year in Ottawa. Its too bad that those small hills closed in the 70's. Mt Christie, Mt Savage. Mount Olympia is still running. Not everyone can afford to ski (and learn to ski) at the Tremblant's of the world. That's what I keep reminding people about Batawa Ski Hill. We're a breeder and feeder hill. We breed skiers and feed them to the world!

 

[cyn]

the way it was

I remember how gnarly Tremblant used to be: ice, rocks, and that cold!!!
Most of us went there only in the spring.

 

[Jilly]

Still can be cold, but with state of the art snowmaking hardly any rocks or ice any more. Still can get some on the North side - expo etc. They are planning to stay open till April 16th!

 

[Pequenita]

And the ice skating - outdoors.

I learned how to ice skate on my parents' driveway! Hahaha! I didn't skate on Zamboni'ed ice until I was 12, and I had no idea that ice could be that smooth!

 

[NewEnglandSkier]

I started at Tremblant in March '06. When I booked the trip I really had no intention of skiing-- was going to partake of the many other winter activities offered; but then I figured since I was going to a ski resort, I should take a ski lesson. I ended up really loving it and skied every day I was there-- and I've been sking ever since.

 

[snowgirl]

I'm still not perfect but the first time I skiied was this winter at Blue Mountain in the Poconos (PA). It's close to my school so it's easy to get to

 

[ski diva]

 

[Bumblebee]

First time on planks as a child was at The Lecht (Scotland), then nothing until a miserable and failed trip to Lenzerheide (Switzerland). Vowed not to be beaten by cold, white stuff and took myself to Lake Louise (Canada) the following year and got the hang of it.

 

[ChgoSkier]

I was at Devil's Head in Wisconsin (1996, I believe) the first time I put on skis. My boyfriend took me there & showed me the basics. The following year we went to Steamboat and I took a one-day lesson. I've been hooked ever since!