Will you ski in any conditions?

[ski diva]

I draw the line at rain and seriously bad fog. One day last season the fog was so dense that I could hardly see past my ski tips. Took one run and called it a day.

That's the beauty of a season pass. If the weather's too bad, you can pack it in without feeling like you've wasted your money.

 

[tcarey]

I will ski pretty much in any conditions.The skiing in the rain is really good.Soft carvable snow.Last year I skied alot in the rain.

We had one day last year that was unbearably cold. You could not expose any skin. Riding even the lower chair lift was ridiculous. You had to get off the chair and ski down to lodge and go in.I was giving a lesson at the time and I could not even talk.I had to use hand signals.

What amazed me is that parents put there kids in all day lessons. There was alot of crying going on that day!!

Fog is a pain in the butt but I will still try to navigate. I would go ski bumps or trees.(if there is snow in the trees)

T

 

[snowflake]

I agree with the fog thing. That does suck, as does rain. If it's raining i'm probably not skiing. Super cold, windy that's ok raining not ok.

 

[SnowHot]

Thick fog is the only thing that keeps me away from the hill.
I've skied in rain more than once. with water proof ski gear, Rain days are awesome!
Blizzards, Great!
Sunshine, phenomenal!


However, If you're wearing a Rain coat and fall, don't count on stopping until you get to the bottom

 

[liquidfeet]

Snowy days are great! Love skiing in a blizzard (wish we had more in New England), and under the guns is just as good, if not better. Rain is OK now that I have Goretex pants and jacket and high Goretex snowboard mittens that keep the water from seeping uphill along my arms. Frigid days are fine, 0 degrees Farenheit with 25 mph wind is fine because I have a face mask and all the warm stuff elsewhere also to take care of it. All that gets cold anymore is my toes, and I just take a break and warm them up, then put new toe warmers inside my boots. Boot gloves help the most. Batteries don't do diddly.

I once skied in fog so thick I couldn't see beyond my ski tips. I am not exaggerating. I crept down with another skier for a long way, one yard at a time, trying not to slide off the side of the trail, while teenagers and 20-somethings barrelled down the slopes as if the fog wasn't there. That's just plain stupid. I don't believe they had X-ray vision, nor that their eyes were that much better than ours, even if they believed that was the case. Once down at the lodge, I went inside to protect myself from them, and will the next time that happens. So I guess that's where I draw the line.

I don't get the fascination with "bluebird" days. Some people judge the quality of the skiing by the color of the sky. I judge it by the condition of what's under foot. Honestly, I don't look up much. Focus is down the hill, eyes on the prize. Here in New England, mostly it's gray anyway.

 

[Marigee]

I won't ski when the fog is too thick to see more than 3 feet ahead. Like Liquidfeet - I am more scared of others running into me than anything else.

I have never skied in the rain. The thought of driving 1 1/2 hours to our closest "hill" to ski just never occured to me. I'm not really a go outside in the rain person. I'll go to the gym or walk at the mall for exercise if it is raining. However, I will kayak, canoe, swim, hike etc. in the light rain if it is relatively warm out.

 

[liquidfeet]

Marigee,

Now hiking in the rain, I've found that's not an optional choice. It happens. You're on the mountain two hours in, three hours in, closing on the summit, and the clouds come up, and there's nothing to do but keep going. On the way down it rains for hours. Some of my best hikes have been in light rain. One day I'll get dumped on, and I suspect that won't be fun.

 

[ISki]

I'll ski anything, but only because it's at a 3 hour drive. Easily add another hour or two if the weather is bad. If I lived closer, I'd be more picky.

Around last Easter, it was raining-snowing this thick, wet, knee-wrenching, tendon-pulling cement all day long, a miserable blizzard. My skis wouldn't slide, they just would not slide, and I got kicked and bucked around all day. My knees were whipped. My clothes were soaking wet. The kind of day I wish I could just make a couple of runs and go home.

Rain is the worst. Fog is bad too.

 

[cnewbound]

Yep, i would definately ski in any conditions.

UNLESS.. its a thunder storm. We typically get at least 1 per season here in Oz where all lifts are shut down ASAP.

 

[SnowHot]

Yep, i would definately ski in any conditions.

UNLESS.. its a thunder storm. We typically get at least 1 per season here in Oz where all lifts are shut down ASAP.

Yea, I'm thinking being grounded to a chairlift is not a good place to be in a thunder storm.
But skiing in rain, can be a lot of fun.

 

[liquidfeet]

So, I've always wondered, what is Oz like? I presume you are finishing up skiing right now. Tell all!

 

[Jilly]

I don't like rain or fog either. It's the visiblity thing. I don't want to hit anybody and vis-a-versa. But snow days, no problem. Season passes are great too. Once you hit free days, do don't care about the weather. One perk we have is that we can get on the chair before the regular paying public. Gives us about 1 hour.

 

[ski diva]

Anyone else care to comment?

 

[altagirl]

For me, there's no such thing as too cold, snowing too hard, too windy or visibility being too bad IF the snow is good. I can dress warmer, warm up as needed, and ski by feel if I need to... In fact, I always prefer a good powder day in a blizzard to a bluebird one. I'd rather ski blind than fight crowds.

But if the snow is crap, I go home. I'll search around a bit, try different aspects, bring groomer skis if nothing else seems likely to be good... but on days when nothing is to my liking, I'm out.

 

[Sheena]

I prefer not to ski in rain, and really frigid conditions. But definitely have skied in both. The one thing that can make me miserable is just bad conditions, but have skied half a day in bad slope conditions just because of the limited mid-atlantic season.

 

[Greeley]

I'll ski in anything since I am limited to my trips to the Rockies. The only thing that has ever driven me off the slopes was thundersnow at Alta a few years ago.

 

[abc]

For me, there's no such thing as too cold, snowing too hard, too windy or visibility being too bad IF the snow is good. I can dress warmer, warm up as needed, and ski by feel if I need to... In fact, I always prefer a good powder day in a blizzard to a bluebird one. I'd rather ski blind than fight crowds.

But if the snow is crap, I go home. I'll search around a bit, try different aspects, bring groomer skis if nothing else seems likely to be good... but on days when nothing is to my liking, I'm out.

You said it exactly the same way I would! Our sport is called "snow skiing" for a reason: it's all about the snow, not the sky!

Now, if I can only figure out how to get my bearings in the thick soup they call "fog/white-out/blizzard"... I'll be all set!;)

 

[volklgirl]

Snow, not weather, conditions are my guide also. I've skied in weather from 70deg to -30deg and from crystal clear blue skys to rain and whiteout blizzards. It's all good.

I've only bailed on 2 days and both were in the last 2 years. Day 1 was the first day of the season last year and we were jumping dirt patches, mud puddles, and rivers of melting snow - 2 runs was plenty :( . Day 2 was my last day this spring. It had snowed a bunch the night before but it was thick, wet, heavy cement. We literally couldn't get our skis to move more than a couple inches at a time, and by the end of 2 runs my quads and knees were screaming. We went boot shopping for a friend instead (so glad we have season passes!!).

 

[abc]

Actually, now I remembered, I've been forced to quit more than once! And it's always ICE. I don't mean just being "icy" but just ICE.

Once I got to the resort and was puzzled as to why everyone was just sitting there. And occasionally, I would see one odd skier came down, and nobody was going up on the chair. The condition board was the usual "frozen granular". So I went up and found out for myself...

I had the sense to came down on the bunny slope on the front (because that's the only run I saw ANY skiers on at all). And I had no control! I'm not one who shy away from icy conditions and I thought I was pretty good at icy condition. But not that time! I literally slide all the way to the bottom and only the flat runout saved me from crashing into the lodge! :(

White out and pure ICE. They're too dangerous to even try. When I tried as hard as I could and still couldn't get an edge in, that's when I quit. Or I think the slope quit on me?

That was the worst I ever remembered. One single run. And I was glad I survived that single run unhurt.

 

[num]

I've get to encounter really serious fog, so I dunno about that. Rain, however, makes for awesome skiing! Always keeps the crowds at bay, sometimes keeps the snow soft. I love skiing in the rain.