Gaper of the Week

Yesterday I saw some kid with what seemed like every damn lift ticket he's ever bought all balled up on his ski pants. I've never seen anything like it, EVER! It was damn near the size of a volleyball. Seriously, who they hell does that?? I tried to get a picture but couldn't get my phone out in time as we were loading the lift....it truly was amazing.

Gapers do that. I also love seeing people putting their day pass on their jacket zipper. It must be very pleasurable having that thing fwapping you in the face all day.

Powder magazine had an article a while back postulating the premise that we are all gapers depending upon the context. I am now a gaper at Gore because I wear my pass on my chest zipper pocket. It does not flap in my face. Many years ago, I placed my pass on lower leg about boot high, but with introduction of scanning, moved it up to thigh high. This required me to stand on one leg for lengthy periods while someone fumbled with the scanner, so I attached it to my pant pocket zipper. but this year, according to rumors, someone complained about being groped around the waist/groin area while being scanned so the new edict was that the pass had to be above the waist. My biceps are not sufficient to keep my pass from falling off my arm and I thought placing the pass on my helmet like an old fashioned press pass seemed a bit goofy so the chest zipper won by default. I think it is time the snide remarks about gapers be retired. I'm happy to see everyone enjoying their time on skis.

frk wrote

 someone complained about being groped around the waist/groin area while being scanned so the new edict was that the pass had to be above the waist. .

actually it was the opposite way, liftie complained some guy had his pass in such a way that the liftie had to reach toward his crotch.kinda stinks, i keep my pass on my pants -dont change them but change jackets . just added longer lanyard and hold it up higher, only need it for the gondi.

frk wrote

Powder magazine had an article a while back postulating the premise that we are all gapers depending upon the context. I am now a gaper at Gore because I wear my pass on my chest zipper pocket. It does not flap in my face. Many years ago, I placed my pass on lower leg about boot high, but with introduction of scanning, moved it up to thigh high. This required me to stand on one leg for lengthy periods while someone fumbled with the scanner, so I attached it to my pant pocket zipper. but this year, according to rumors, someone complained about being groped around the waist/groin area while being scanned so the new edict was that the pass had to be above the waist. My biceps are not sufficient to keep my pass from falling off my arm and I thought placing the pass on my helmet like an old fashioned press pass seemed a bit goofy so the chest zipper won by default. I think it is time the snide remarks about gapers be retired. I'm happy to see everyone enjoying their time on skis.

I was talking about the main jacket zipper as in the one that goes up to your nose ya gaper! jk. None of this is very serious. Skiing is actually pretty silly if you think about it. And by that I mean it's sliding around with two sticks attached to our feet! The best part is how serious some skiers take themselves! Now don't get me wrong, I love it but sometimes when I'm at the lodge or in line I look around and I just start laughing. We all sort of look like gapers.

campgottagopee wrote

Yesterday I saw some kid with what seemed like every damn lift ticket he's ever bought all balled up on his ski pants. I've never seen anything like it, EVER! It was damn near the size of a volleyball. Seriously, who they hell does that?? I tried to get a picture but couldn't get my phone out in time as we were loading the lift....it truly was amazing.

Camp-

As a good bud was recently asked, "Are you a native, or did you actually move to Gapersville?" To which he replied;  " No, I'm the Rev. J.T. Poacher from Nipplehead, NJ."  His Sermons are most excellent, you'll almost feel the BC bud navigating your ski tips to awesomeness.  

Just sayin'.  Happy New Ski Year with all the best.

A couple weekends ago they had big signs saying tickets need to be ABOVE waist/belt level.  
I got chastised by two lift attendants about it being at my waist!
Apparently Gore wants all non-season pass holders to be Gapers!

An issue for me with the pass up high is the liftie pointing the laser. Once I had it flash by my eyes. So I moved the pass to the coat side pocket. Don't know if it's a laser that could damage vision.

Who gives a rats ass what tickets or how many they are wearing? Get a life and stop judging others that do things that have ZERO effect on you. You're just raggin on the guy to make you feel better about yourself.

Gapers are always stoked.

When I was a kid, I used to accumulate tickets on my jacket to show all the places I'd been that year. It always started conversations on chairlifts, in school, out shopping, etc. I thought I was pretty cool.

When I got older I realized that it's not "cool" to be excited about anything ever and the "coolest" people are the ones who don't give a shit and would never be caught dead showing off the places they'd been and the things they did (in any form - lift tickets, blogs, etc.).

If you're stoked about anything, that just means you suck at it (apparently).

Probably agree that tickets should be above the waist for the checkers.......but it sucks.  I too put mine on my pants, as I normally drop my coat sometime in the day, then there is the flap thing.   Lots of pant manufacturers have been putting what appear to be "ticket pockets" below a D ring so you can hide your ticket attached to your pant and not have it flap.    I was impressed when I saw these pants to the point I was going to look for that feature when I replace my pants.    

Rant:  I hate ticket checkers who insist their ray gun beep.    Resorts: Please either fix the barcodes so your guns can read the damm tickets fast (like the grocery store) or let the skier pass after looking at the date.   Granted I understand people can fake tickets, but don't hold the line up because your equipment sucks.     Moreover, dont try to beep me every run while you say....."oh crap, I hate your ticket,it does not read well"  You obviously recognize me, and have the awareness to know its a good ticket because we spent 2 minutes reading it last run!  Let me pass DOLT, go test some other smuck to get your reward for finding fake tickets.    

I am no doctor, but I venture a guess that these lazers may not hurt your eyes.    They appear to be the same ones at grocery stores....those shoot out at 2-3 different angles. The tellers routinely are bending down and get in their way with no eye protection.    

I'm surprised the ski areas allow more than 1 ticket on a jacket/pant.   Were I a checker, I would make the gaper dig though the pile and have it ready for me.     I have seen some very considerate checkers spend significant time sorting a pile of tickets.   Not me.      


Was I a gaper? Maybe  

Back in "the day" of sticky tickets, I would simply stick the new ticket over the old ticket.   Even after 20 days, the now laminated pack was thin; it flapped less too.  Beat messing with those damm wickets.  

 RFI (Radio Frequency Indentification)---Europe and some western resorts have it.    Our resort is looking now.  Main selling point will be a method to track kids on the mountain--for parents.   At Vail Resorts, they set up computer games for cell phone users to download an app.   Mountain photos are sent to the site, kids earn points for chair lift rides,  miles skied, etc.    RFI will end the easy method of identifying one type of gaper.

tBatt wrote

Gapers are always stoked.

I hope I die a Gaper then.

mattchuck2 wrote

When I was a kid, I used to accumulate tickets on my jacket to show all the places I'd been that year. It always started conversations on chairlifts, in school, out shopping, etc. I thought I was pretty cool.

When I got older I realized that it's not "cool" to be excited about anything ever and the "coolest" people are the ones who don't give a shit and would never be caught dead showing off the places they'd been and the things they did (in any form - lift tickets, blogs, etc.).

If you're stoked about anything, that just means you suck at it (apparently).

Being stoked is one thing and it's rad. Doing things to prove to people that you are rad isn't. I did that too as a kid but now that I'm older I think it's cooler to let others do the majority of the talking. Blogs are cool and telling a story is cool too but when the motivation behind our behavior is for proving something to others it's just not that cool. I was that kid and I was that kid into my early 30's, now I look at people that are talking and wonder about their motives.

I worked in the tourism/service industry for about 25 years now. I have learned a lot about people from this. I became jaded watching people that should be enjoying the actual experience missing the whole thing so they could document the "experience" instead of actually being there. It was all about the look at me and what I am doing but truthfully they were hardly there. We live in a culture now that is turning experience into material, in some ways I can see that as a positive but in many ways they are living a life of social media lies and never letting go of the material and actually living in the moment.

If you are sincerely stoked than hats off to ya, if you are counting numbers to prove to others how "core" you are or how much cooler you are than everyone else you might want to take a step back. That's all I was trying to say. In all honesty I got on this forum because from what I read was much more honest passion than other forums, there is some real life stuff here. For instance Coaches college thread, it has substance unlike a lot of threads you find on other ski related forums.

Ah yes, the " me me me " culture were the average is AWESOME!, everybody that shows up gets a trophy, kids can do no wrong, every T-shirt is a billboard, all boobs are exposed  and skiing wet snow is a POWDA ! day.

I have all my day tickets from the last five years on a nail. Not too many really.

I embrace my gaperdom. Blogging is part of the experience for me.  It's more one way than some other forms, but on the upside it allows me more control of my own trip man.

Actually some of this biggest blogs are going away from comments altogether.

raisingarizona wrote

Being stoked is one thing and it's rad. Doing things to prove to people that you are rad isn't. I did that too as a kid but now that I'm older I think it's cooler to let others do the majority of the talking. Blogs are cool and telling a story is cool too but when the motivation behind our behavior is for proving something to others it's just not that cool...

Meh. I like looking at cool pictures, whether the photographer is "proving something" or whether he was enjoying himself and just had time for a quick shot, doesn't really matter to me.

Like, if I was sitting in front of the fucking Matterhorn in the sun, relaxing, I would definitely take the pic that Jason took. There's no other purpose to that picture than to say: "look where I am" (if I wanted a pic of the Matterhorn I could get one). But it's still a sweet picture.

mattchuck2 wrote

raisingarizona wrote

Being stoked is one thing and it's rad. Doing things to prove to people that you are rad isn't. I did that too as a kid but now that I'm older I think it's cooler to let others do the majority of the talking. Blogs are cool and telling a story is cool too but when the motivation behind our behavior is for proving something to others it's just not that cool...

Meh. I like looking at cool pictures, whether the photographer is "proving something" or whether he was enjoying himself and just had time for a quick shot, doesn't really matter to me.

Like, if I was sitting in front of the fucking Matterhorn in the sun, relaxing, I would definitely take the pic that Jason took. There's no other purpose to that picture than to say: "look where I am" (if I wanted a pic of the Matterhorn I could get one). But it's still a sweet picture.

All that aside, RA's point was that it's not whether or not you or I like looking at someone else's pics or video, it's whether or not the simple act of taking those pic's or videos detracted from the "in the moment" experience of the individual. You might argue that it certainly extends the experience if that person gets great pleasure from sharing it with others or uses it as an aid to relive the experience.

I think his point is valid.

Yes, my argument is that it doesn't always detract from the moment and can actually enhance it (say, if you're looking around for a certain light and notice something cool that you would have missed otherwise).

Unless it's hurting someone else, maybe we should just let people do whatever they think is fun? Sure, it might seem as if they're "taking themselves out of the moment", or "looking like a gaper", but they seem to be having a good time, so why waste the energy to get upset?

While I find the gaper gap amusing I'd say let the tourists have their fun.  We need them to support the sport at less expensive prices for the minority of us more into it

The one exception is when safety is at risk.  People should not be on trails way over thier ability putting others at risk.  Yesterday some moron women takes her toddler up mixing bowl in a old fashion wooden sled and then let him slide down just missing me and my client and hitting our skis. It was a big sled and would have done damage.  The kid ended up in the Gondi line.  She runs after him and proceeds to walk back up to do it again.  I booted her out of there.  Definitely the Gaper of the week for me.