Better than the Olympics.....?

[ryjan]

I was going to watch the olympics but then decided to just carry on with my life.

 

[YellowJacket]

I have been skiing for 41 years .... going down the runs they are at those speeds is very difficult and a fraction of a second of lack of concentration could change everything. Skiing fast is easy, having control is a very different thing.

I've been skiing 46 years.

Stephen Skiing fast is easy? In some ways I agree But you cannot ski fast and not have control.
If you do you'll hurt yourself or worse someone else.
Mid week is the only time to "cruise", weekends are too crowded. Out west I found you can't really go fast as it's too wide open.
Here we have trails and now one will be popping out of the trees unexpectedly.
I raced some Slalom and GS in my youth but never got the chance to do a downhill they just didn't have them.
(One year in hs I was on both the ski team and ice hockey team.)

I ski bumps, powder (when we get it), groomed, off trail skiing (skiing the woods out here is NOTHING like out west.
Much much tighter and little to no room for error- it's more like following a foot path than having the freedom to go wherever you want).
Bottom line you can't ski fast unless you know how to ski everything. Oh jumps/ and air time is a lot of fun too. I just like to cruise more than anything these days unless we get the snowstorm where it's then more fun to go where others haven't been yet.

IMHO the best skiers in the US are those from the east. If you can ski here you can ski anywhere.
Quite few years ago on a perfect packed powder day we get off the lift. Guy up top is saying "gee it's a bit scratchy today", jaws drop. Everyone is in shock and cannot imagine where he finds it scratchy. Someone asks, "where you from" he answers "Colorado".
The guy was probably used to powder and didn't know how to use his edges.

Haha. In my experience, skiing on the prairies is definitely easy but when you get up in Whistler in a black diamond bowl full of powder, it is an entirely different animal. I hear there are some nice hills out east but nothing could have prepared me for the west coast. Now I have some freestyle skis and am getting my boots fitted, hopefully to get a few more runs in before I potentially find myself out on the east coast next year. I have a cypress pass and we all know how that mountain is fairing for snow. =-( 'Hopefully' it reopens after the olympics . . .

 

[stephen sawall]

I grew up in Detroit and have skied all over the US and a good chunk of Canada. I agree the bowl at Whistler is amazing. I ski at Steven's Pass here in Washington most of the time for the last several years. I always buy a year pass .... I go up middle of the week 15 times or more a year. I hate the crowds on the weekend. I really like to check out some of the slopes in South America, they look great.

 

[YellowJacket]

Been to Baker? Man, the variety of terrain up there is epic!

 

[stephen sawall]

Been to Baker? Man, the variety of terrain up there is epic!

Baker is great.

 

[Heritage Softail]

Anybody see the very unfortunate downhiller that took a gate right in the walnuts?? Hear about it?? You could hear him scream on the broadcast, then when he went down there was another wimper. Every male viewer doubled over in sympathetic agony.... :shock:

 

[YellowJacket]

How about that? Canada vs the USA hockey redux for the olympic gold. The US boys have been on a rampage and Canada was slacking off, going into their third match of the elimination. They tried to lay back and coast to victory against the Slovakians but instead escaped by a hairs breadth from being trounced by their goalie.
This is going to be an interesting game Sunday!

 

[TFridgen]

Good show by Miller and Parise, just not enough to dismantle the CROSBINATOR!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait for the rematch in 2014!!

 

[Mongo1]

Anybody see the very unfortunate downhiller that took a gate right in the walnuts?? Hear about it?? You could hear him scream on the broadcast, then when he went down there was another wimper. Every male viewer doubled over in sympathetic agony.... :shock:

Somehow I expect that will make an appearance on YouTube