A Purpose Driven Ski Season

Most; make that all, of my skiing friends put in 30+ days, many of them a whole lot more. They ski every opportunity they get. If something gets in the way of their regular skiing schedule they are pissed.

Example: “What do you mean I have to take you to the hospital…we just got 6 inches of fresh…freak that …call a cab.”

During the course of the season I meet many nice people who get out skiing when they can, ski when conditions are near perfect, maybe they’ll go next week maybe not…kinda folks.

Example: “I like to ski sometimes, but there’s more to life.”

10 = 1st description
1 = 2nd description

10 to 1 where would you grade yourself and tell us why.

I'd rank myself an 8, maybe a 9.

Once Thanksgiving comes, my friends and family at home, as well as my boss, know that they pretty much won't see me again (on weekends) until mid-April. There are very few things that will keep me home once the snow starts falling.

Last season, I got off to one of the best starts I've ever had. I had visions of 50 days ... until ... I hurt my back pretty badly (not a skiing related injury) in early January. I continued to ski for a few more weeks until I REALLY hurt it (this time skiing) at the end of January. Had to take a few weekends off, reluctantly, and then got the bad news ... severely herniated disc, requiring surgery. With that news, I figured, what the heck, how much more damage could I do ... skied another seven days, including a spectacular President's week, right up to the weekend before my surgery.

The good news ... all healed now, and hoping for my first 50 day season this year!!! (Mother Nature ... a little help please!!!)

9.5

50+ days every season for the last 20 years except for two seasons which were due to knee issues

I have a wife and kid that is totally on board for this but unfortanately that pesky job that pays the mortgage gets in the way sometimes

I would put us at an 8 or 9.  We put in about 40 days last year, which is pretty good, considering we come from Suffolk County on Long Island, both work full time jobs and have kids with busy schedules. Some of it has to do with the fact that things are deathly boring down here in the winter, but we all love to ski and we love Gore. The kids are banned from playing any sports that interfere with this (basketball in particular) and we warn the soccer coaches that they won't see our kids till April.  I have a a super high mileage lease on my car to handle all the trips to North Creek and back.

9.5+ 70 plus days last 3 yrs. Every day the main concern is whether conditions warrant banging in. Pow days of course are the worst, like an addiction. Wife who skiis still doesn't get it. End of the season is bad too, how many days left, can I get in a few more turns at the end of the day? Hiking closed areas after the end of their season, rocks and dirt, who cares, look for the good corn in between.

I'm in the minority; I score myself a 3.

My score is a function of the fact that I live in the city, I do not own a car, and I am picky.  Getting to the slopes is a pain and expensive. I could rely on ski buses to rack up days on the slopes, but that would force me to make compromises such as skiing at hills that I loathe, or on days when the mountains are crowded.  Instead, I prefer to ski when I have access to the terrain that I enjoy, or on powder days when I can get a friend to drive.  The result is 10+ days per season.

I am more preoccupied with increasing my percentage of high quality days on the slopes.  I plan on spending a greater percentage of my ski days out west since I have easy access to major airports.  I'll supplement those trips with some well timed day-trips to the Catskills, and a trip or two to Gore or Whiteface.

I ski every day I possibly can.  I drive 275 miles in each direction to ski for a weekend in the Adirondacks. I would do it every single weekend from open to close if I could. If I can only ski Saturday I'll do 7 hours in the car to hit Plattekill or one of the other Catskill mountains for 7 hours of skiing.

I started a freakin website about skiing and I post pictures of snow and skiing all summer long. I have no idea why I like skiing so much, but the evidence is clear -  I am certifiably insane. Is there a number for that on the scale?

takeahike46er wrote

I'm in the minority; I score myself a 3.

My score is a function of the fact that I live in the city, I do not own a car, and I am picky.  Getting to the slopes is a pain and expensive. I could rely on ski buses to rack up days on the slopes, but that would force me to make compromises such as skiing at hills that I loathe, or on days when the mountains are crowded.  Instead, I prefer to ski when I have access to the terrain that I enjoy, or on powder days when I can get a friend to drive.  The result is 10+ days per season.

I am more preoccupied with increasing my percentage of high quality days on the slopes.  I plan on spending a greater percentage of my ski days out west since I have easy access to major airports.  I'll supplement those trips with some well timed day-trips to the Catskills, and a trip or two to Gore or Whiteface.

Question....would/could you now ride the Snow Train to Gore ?

poindexter wrote

I would put us at an 8 or 9.  We put in about 40 days last year, which is pretty good, considering we come from Suffolk County on Long Island, both work full time jobs and have kids with busy schedules. Some of it has to do with the fact that things are deathly boring down here in the winter, but we all love to ski and we love Gore. The kids are banned from playing any sports that interfere with this (basketball in particular) and we warn the soccer coaches that they won't see our kids till April.  I have a a super high mileage lease on my car to handle all the trips to North Creek and back.

I'm more of a 7 as I do the driving...

I would say I'm a 9.   I can't wait for the season to start and I hate it when it's over.  Reached 31 days last year which was good cuz I work Saturdays. Dam job. Hoping to do more this year.    Let it snow!

Snowballs wrote

Question....would/could you now ride the Snow Train to Gore ?


I would consider it.  My parents live in Saratoga, and I usually borrow their car to go skiing when I visit.  They'll probably appreciate it the most!  Not having to drive back after a hard day of skiing is a nice perk, too.

Harvey44 wrote

I ski every day I possibly can.  I drive 275 miles in each direction to ski for a weekend in the Adirondacks. I would do it every single weekend from open to close if I could. If I can only ski Saturday I'll do 7 hours in the car to hit Plattekill or one of the other Catskill mountains for 7 hours of skiing.

I started a freakin website about skiing and I post pictures of snow and skiing all summer long. I have no idea why I like skiing so much, but the evidence is clear -  I am certifiably insane. Is there a number for that on the scale?

Harv - you need to step up your game and commitment to a higher level - how is that you say I'm already driving 500+ miles a weekend.  I did that for 10 years until i decided to the sane thing to do was to just move to the mountain since the mountain was not going to move to me.  Given your electronic skills get a telecommute job and live here then you can ski during your lunch hours.

I'm broke. Like super broke. I rent my skis for the season and buy my gear on sale in the spring. I'm paying $700+ in student loans per month and have other bills on top of that.

BUT..I skiied about 30 days last season. I LITERALLY cried when my family wouldn't let me ski on Easter sunday because I had to spend it with my family. Pretty sure my ex dumped me because he was tired of risking his life in his crappy car to get to my house at 5am for a powder day. I booked my January trip to Whiteface last year in July. I couldn't wait for the Catskills to start turning their lifts last year, so I booked a hotel last minute and made my way to Vermont last December. I started bugging Camelback Mountain in August about their frequent skier card. And I'm currently logged into this blog at my work computer. I need serious help and only the lift operator is qualitied.

I'm an addict and I love every minute of it. I would be a 10 if my wallet let me, so I would say I'm about an 8.

Probably a 5 for me. I get 20-25 days a year which I consider pretty good for a Jersey resident with an active family. The whole family skis but not as much as I do. 9 hours in the car is too much for me to do every weekend.

tom

Maybe an 8.5. I get 40+ days a year.  Twice I have been close to the magical, yet elusive 50 day mark.  The one thing that gets in the way of my skiing is my kids.  At least once a winter we are in North Creek and someone gets croup/strep/flu, the big ones that you just have to stay home and deal with.  Twice I have been in the Glens Falls Hospital. Tough to ski when your kids are in the hospital.  One time I went to the ER at midnight and got home at 7am.  I did not ski that day.
IMHO, it is much easier to get these days in when skiing on a season pass.  If I were buying lift tickets on a daily basis, I might reconsider certain conditions before I lay out cash.  With a pass, there is nothing to lose, so I always go out in the morning.  People at home know we are gone for the winter.  We do not attend birthday parties, scout events, lax, soccer, etc.  At work, I keep my ski life as private as possible.  I never talk about it, so when I pull strategic days in the winter to be out, people cannot put two and two together.  

8.5

100 or more days a year for the past 13 years. body hurts bad now so i only really shred hard like 15 days a year. All the rest I just cruise for fun. I live for those powder days though.

Guess I shouldn't be surprised that people posting in a ski forum in the off season are averaging around an 8 or 8.5.

Some real chuckles in here too. CMR on the driving. Goreskimom = LOLZ! Awesome.

Raymo, I remember you crying last season about a pow Saturday. What are your days off?

Takeahike ... your description puts you higher than a 3 IMO.

JVD this is about your desire not your wallet. Actually it's HPD's thread ... what the official call?

Freshy ... come down to Gore to ski ... we'll go easy on ya.

Had 16 days in on Jan 8th when I broke my arm in 11 places during a close encounter with an ash tree at WF. Much to the dismay of my family I started skiing 3 weeks later after the insertion of a bunch of titanium hardware. It was tentative at first but by mid-March things were ok. I only got to 29 days but given the circumstances I would say 9. I do have a question though. If you have a pass and you go to the mountain and ski a few runs do you count it as a day? If not how many do you need to ski before it counts or is it the amount of time spent on the hill. If I go and ski less than a half a day I have a hard time counting it.

I get between 15-20 days..
Hard to get more with only one weekend day off and active teenagers..

I wouldn't ski in the rain or if temp is bellow 15f with high winds..
so I guess I'm around a 4/5...

I don't count it as a day unless I've skied 4 hrs or more, usually it's 5-6 hrs for my days. That's skied. As in not being inside having hot chocolate and hoping Harv shows up to buy some cookies. In other words, time on the snow. I rarely go inside and any days with less than 4 hrs I count as halves then tally them that way unless it crapped out and 2 hrs skied then I discard it from the count. Some people count an hour as a day then brag they've skied blah, blah blah number of days. Truth be told, all day on the snow is worth a week of those type of days.

To each their own, new math or not.