Giant Resort Companies You Hate Are Saving Skiing

raisingarizona wrote

And yeah, 29 days isn't anything to brag about.

I wasn't - I made that clear I thought.  But I've looked at the ski tracking threads here.  Do most people ski significantly more than that?  That's not a function of snow but also of time and having triplet toddlers.  Would I have the time, the energy and the money, with trips to Adirondacks, Catskills and VT, I could easily rack up 100 days a year.

I know people who live in VT and ski over 100 days each year and never touch man-made.

In 50 to 100 years from now skiing isn't the only thing that will be going away. It's WAY bigger than that I'm afraid. We are talking about the end of this civilization as we know it. World wars and shit. Starving people tend to get a little crazy and violent. That's why I find these threads a bit funny. It's like everyone is still in denial. F- skiing man, and I seriously love skiing but that's the reality. We have time, enough for us to enjoy it and our kids will squeeze out some good years but after that the things are gonna get a little wild.

Triple toddlers!?

I take that back :D

You're killing it.

Cunningstunts wrote

raisingarizona wrote

And yeah, 29 days isn't anything to brag about.

I wasn't - I made that clear I thought.  But I've looked at the ski tracking threads here.  Do most people ski significantly more than that?  That's not a function of snow but also of time and having triplet toddlers.  Would I have the time, the energy and the money, with trips to Adirondacks, Catskills and VT, I could easily rack up 100 days a year.

I know people who live in VT and ski over 100 days each year and never touch man-made.

100 days in VT bc? I would never be that motivated to be honest. I'm a snow snob and they must ski some crappy snow. I've been here in AZ for 17 years now and there are a few seasons where I skied only a handful of days because the weather was better for mountain biking than skiing.

raisingarizona wrote

In 50 to 100 years from now skiing isn't the only thing that will be going away. It's WAY bigger than that I'm afraid. We are talking about the end of this civilization as we know it. World wars and shit. Starving people tend to get a little crazy and violent. That's why I find these threads a bit funny. It's like everyone is still in denial. F- skiing man, and I seriously love skiing but that's the reality. We have time, enough for us to enjoy it and our kids will squeeze out some good years but after that the things are gonna get a little wild.

I have more faith in humanity than that.

Something will happen to significantly reduce the world's population, I have no doubt of that.  It's wildly out of control.  Will it be the end of skiing?  No idea?  I highly doubt it.  Will it be the end of humanity?  I doubt it.  If it's either, its inconsequential as we'll all be bored and eating each other or dead.  I don't know which but I live life one day at a time or else I can't stand it.

Support the stuff you think can avoid these catastrophes and live your life the best you can.  It's all you can do.  Worrying gets you nothing and neither does complaining (hate to say it!).

I'm not complaining. Just sayin. I too like to roll day to day.

I do feel bad for kids these days. There's a real lack of hope for them and that's sad imo.

raisingarizona wrote

100 days in VT bc? I would never be that motivated to be honest. I'm a snow snob and they must ski some crappy snow. I've been here in AZ for 17 years now and there are a few seasons where I skied only a handful of days because the weather was better for mountain biking than skiing.

Yeah, but there's no reason.  Ski man-made when it's thin.

And I'm talking all types of skiing XC and DH.  If we're in a thaw and the snow's real bad, there's almost always flat terrain you can ski and not feel like you are going to die.

You have to remember when I make these statements it goes on the fact that most XC, even groomed, has not resorted to snow making... yet.

raisingarizona wrote

Triple toddlers!?

I take that back :D

You're killing it.

I used to ski about the same even before them.  It's time and energy too.

I feel pretty good getting 30 days in though.  I get almost 3x that on a bike, but I just expect that.  It's the way the climate is shaped here, even with the trend toward warming.  Also if I was truly motivated I could get double the days I do on a bike.

Cunningstunts wrote

You have to remember when I make these statements it goes on the fact that most XC, even groomed, has not resorted to snow making... yet.

A few years ago I skied man made at Mt Van HOevenburg. High schools train for XC at the Gore Show Bowl, on man made.  Around here, there's almost always a few days you can ski, but there's never any snowmobile trails anymore, and any serious XC training program needs snowmaking almost as much as alpine training.

You can't learn high level skills skiing just a few days a year. The number of skiers will shrink dramatically in the next decade.

mm

raisingarizona wrote

witch hobble wrote

IMHO you punish.

If that means some innocent priests or Penn State assistant coaches go down with the ship......so be it.

Maybe I'm missing a part of the story but I don't think Subway was trying to keep their spokesman safe from prosecution.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/08/28/subway-executives-knew-jared-fogel-pedophile-children-former-franchisee/71297640/

https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/jared-fogle-s-wife-sues-subway-knew-problems/306444/

They were protecting profits and image. He’s the pedo goose who laid their golden egg.  I was about to say I don’t want your shitty sandwich to taste worse than it already does.....but yes, I actually do.

I've been hearing the "I feel bad for kids these days" for 27 years.  I have and will continue to respond they don't have it any worse than you did as a kid its just different now.  OMG if I had a smart phone when I was a kid I would have been in heaven for obvi reasons.

Milo Maltbie wrote

A few years ago I skied man made at Mt Van HOevenburg. High schools train for XC at the Gore Show Bowl, on man made.  Around here, there's almost always a few days you can ski, but there's never any snowmobile trails anymore, and any serious XC training program needs snowmaking almost as much as alpine training.

You can't learn high level skills skiing just a few days a year. The number of skiers will shrink dramatically in the next decade.

mm

Oh I know some have started.  But they're all serious and stuff.  I'm not.  I'm not really trying to promote new skiers, although that's fine too.  I'm trying to let existing skiers know there are options.  I think most have been spoiled for far too long and they see a small slice of what's to come and are running scared.

I'm not scared at all.  I skied one day this season so far.  Oh well.  If I was so motivated, I'm pretty sure I could have two weeks or more under my belt.  And that's staying within two hours from my home.

tjf1967 wrote

I've been hearing the "I feel bad for kids these days" for 27 years.  I have and will continue to respond they don't have it any worse than you did as a kid its just different now.  OMG if I had a smart phone when I was a kid I would have been in heaven for obvi reasons.

That's not even related to anything I'm talking about.

there are a lot of words on this thread.  so if that's what y'all are going for mission accomplished.  

i don't hate big resorts.  in fact i sorta like them.

tjf1967 wrote

I was disagreeing with River.  he thinks big companies provide shitty jobs.  Well they do but they also provide opportunity to move up if you are any good.  I think they call it putting in your dues.

I was disagreeing with the article position on jobs. I never said big companies provide shitty jobs. Please reread my post. What I stated is that when big corporations buy out other companies, they can reduce the overall total workforce by combining jobs (i.e. if each company has 1 person handling Accounts Payable and "other duties as assigned -- i.e. broad based skills and applications rather than specialization -- then you can consolidate 10 companies A/P departments into one A/P department and maybe have only 2-3 high level specialists).

This not only reduces jobs, but it means that the people that are hired MUST be specialists because they are going to be operating at a high level. There won't be "other duties as assigned". So people will not be able to work their way up because the business is going to require that applicants have prior experience in their specialty. In smaller businesses and jobs that don't specialize as much, there is more opportunity to grow from within and get hired into a job in which you do not have experience. In bigger companies, more specialization means you must come into the position with top experience, thus decreasing the chances of internal hires.

There are lots of great jobs in the ski industry. Actually, there are better jobs (quality, not quantity) at bigger corporations by the very nature that it is a bigger business. But the jobs decrease in total when companies combine AND positions tend towards specialization which reduces the number of internal opportunities since more specialization means you can't get promoted into many positions without  high level experience. Compared to an indie area which may pay more attention to work ethic than previous experience.

tjf1967 wrote

OMG if I had a smart phone when I was a kid I would have been in heaven for obvi reasons.

So your mom knew where you were at all times right?

We live in a time of amazing technology that is only going to continue to advance at ever increasing rates.  I believe in my lifetime our scientists and engineers will solve the problems related to energy efficiency particularly related to conversion which in my mind is just as important as the creation portion and the replacement of fossil fuels.  

I also imagine that a permanent synthetic snow will coat resort slopes which will allow skiing year so skiing will become more popular and accessible not less.

Just hypothetically speaking, say in the future all slopes were coated with a synthetic snow or those plastic ski surfaces laid out.

During the summer, if you had the option of riding a mountain bike park or skiing on plastic, which would you choose?

why not do both?

Random thoughts......

I get feeling bad for what kids today are going to face in the future, but of course most kids who have it pretty good today aren’t thinking about that future.

I doubt skiing on synthetic services will ever appeal, no matter how great the future technology is......unless they can lay it down boot top in the woods.  Skiing synthetic “groomers” with the masses might be interesting once for the novelty, but generally....no thanks.