I'm Spoiled

Free your heel,dress in black,grow facial hair,be a yurtbag.

Harvey wrote

Ok I'll drift back toward the original topic.

You skied out west and there was quiet snow right below the lift. Options:

• Keep doing what you are doing, maximizing ski days not quality
• Pick your days more carefully
• Start to appreciate and pursue BC and/or natural snow/tree skiing
• Move out west, as soon as you are able

Earning it takes many forms... hiking, flying, driving or maybe accepting lower wages and less long term "security" as defined by the masses. Just remember in most cases, the easier it is to get to, the more tracked out it is.

When all your friends are heading to grad school or into the workforce... get a job in waiting tables in a ski town.  My parents put the screws to me on that one and I didn't have the stones to fight them on it.

There are reasons people live in the East, live in the West, become ski bums or don't. Figure out what you want.

Boom. Done. I got nothing else to add. :)

The issue in my area is too many people and not enough terrain.  Weather plays a factor as well.  Mountain Creek actually has some terrain that is quite nice.  The runs on South Peak (before Intrawest flooded them with park features), Bear Claw, and the backside of Vernon Peak are some decent blue cruisers.  Kamikaze is a black, but basically a blue, but is frequently closed for racing.  When open, it is a pretty good run.  Grand Prix, Zero G, and the Straightaways are fall line trails with decent pitch, probably comparable to Hellgate at Hunter.

As Powass said, they need to expand terrain.  I'd love to see this, but it's expensive as hell since they need snowmaking and lighting on every trail and I'm not sure how long MC will be there as a winter business if we have more winters like this.  Can't increase lift capacity.  There are already too many people on the trails.  Only thing left to do is raise prices which would be terrible to the industry as the NYC area would have no inexpensive, close by ski area (Mount Peter is already ridiculously overpriced for what they offer).  MC charges $70 on weekends for adults.  If they raised it to 80, that would be as much as Hunter charges.  These prices would likely turn off new skiers from even starting, and I'm sure the places near me bring a lot of new skiers into the industry.

Sno, I rarely ever agree with you but your enthusiasm is still somewhat appreciated and you have become a good writer. I might not have the patience to read anything almost EVER so detailed about early season conditions at Mountain Creek but if you applied that detail oriented analysis to criminal law or something you could really fight the power. It'd be a 180, but truth is stranger than fiction.

#SnoForPublicDefender

Hey Sno, how long before you get your license?  I grew up skiing VV/GG every Thursday night and on weekends when I could get a ride.  No ride, my Dad would drop me at Campgaw.  I didn't complain (then again I didn't have computers to air my grievances).But I did appreciate the opportunity to get outside, wait in 45 minute liftlines to ski whatever I could slide on.  I got my license and went to Huntah to do the same thing.  Then I discovered Plattekill, Highmount, Mt. Cathalia and Bobcat and the world of crowded slopes and huge liftlines basically ended.  I don't mind waiting for 15 minutes for the single at Mad River (neither does anyone else in line because that usually means it's got great conditions).  I can appreciate your opinions and they definitely get responses, but you need to appreciate what you have and that you can choose to go out and ski or stay home and bitch.  I spoil my kids and there is nothing wrong with that either.  I hear a lot of people complaining that we should have blown here or opened up this trail before that one but hey, I'm sliding and that is all that matters.

Free...I now have a black jacket and facial hair...and my heels were free on the toll road for my first ski day of the year.
yurtbag? not until skibowl glades open

freeheeln wrote

Free your heel,dress in black,grow facial hair,be a yurtbag.

This is the right advice.

There is a closed ski area near snoloco that looks the other way when people skin. Sno, Get some AT gear, wait for some natural snow, and do laps in your own personal powder stash.

Actually, it'd be better with a friend or a girl, so be an instructor somewhere so you can meet some girls or dudes who like skiing as much as you, and then go into the backcountry with them.

Life isn't nearly as difficult or hard as snoloco is making it seem.

snoloco wrote

The issue in my area is too many people and not enough terrain.  Weather plays a factor as well.

Sounds like it might be time to re-evaluate the "100 day season". Why be miserable? Doesn't seem worth bragging you got 100 days in if so many of those days are as you describe. Go for less days, but better ones.

You can't control the weather, but you can control the crowds and terrain. Even in a crummy weather pattern, find something to work on to make it fun---skiing backwards, jumps, try a box/rail, ski on one foot, lap some trails that you'd never otherwise ski, grab a cup of coffee and veg out in the saddle, stop in at ski patrol shack to say hi and thanks, tell the park guy or the snowmakers they're doing a great job to their face, find a way to make the liftie laugh, chat up a total stranger on the lift. It is what you make it.

sudsnbumps wrote

Hey Sno, how long before you get your license?

Already have it

The post really speaks for itself on many levels.      Not busting, just East reality.  

That said, this quote was my concern, coming from a <20YO.      

" I'm wondering how long my back will last having to remove my equipment every run to ride the flying garbage can lift. "

Hoping that was spoiled exaggeration and Sno is not really complaining about the body impact of taking skis off and carrying them after each run.  Especially considering his stated and observed passion for the sport and the fact that I witnessed many one and no-legged skiers/riders this weekend lapping crowded greens.  One guy opted not to park in the handicapped space and hopped with his back pack, a good 1/4 mile.     Carrying his ski-tipped poles.    I would have helped him out, but I think I might have offended him based on the determination on his face.   I think it was his warm up.      YIKES.     Fat lady was also witnessed parking in a protected space, man I wished I had a photo to put on her windshield.    

Sno, this weekend notice how much muscle the guys/gals exert in slowing your chair or the efforts the snow making teams exert in trying to hike/walk though that crud all night.  Pain will melt away and a smile of gratitude will come over you while you gleefully pop out of your unfrozen easy removable bindings.    I am guessing there are some readers here who remember the froze trap bindings and those clasps you had to take off your gloves to melt the ice to get the straps off.    

Coming from a 52 yo who skated up a beginner training hill for hours while catching lil groms who are learning to ski this weekend.      

Free advice : just shaddup n'ski , realize just how  fortunate ur to have a daddy that still tolerates your 'tude and funds your fun.

Many have to struggle to exist ,while you continually bitch about First World Problems ...it gotten old anow .

freeheeln wrote

Free your heel,dress in black,grow facial hair,be a yurtbag.

Hey! You can click your heel and still be a yurtbag, dude!

warp daddy wrote

Free advice : just shaddup n'ski , realize just how  fortunate ur to have a daddy that still tolerates your 'tude and funds your fun.

Many have to struggle to exist ,while you continually bitch about First World Problems ...it gotten old anow .

I'm pretty sure these facts back up the title of this thread.

YUKON CORNELIUS wrote

freeheeln wrote

Free your heel,dress in black,grow facial hair,be a yurtbag.

Hey! You can click your heel and still be a yurtbag, dude!

 
👍

"The flying garbage can lift is really annoying, and the only run was this flat green.  Took a bunch of runs there and left.  I will not be going to South again until they get another trail open.  I'm wondering how long my back will last having to remove my equipment every run to ride the flying garbage can lift."

I'm sorry this is lol hilarious !!!!!  

This kid seems to raise a lot of dander around here, but he's a funny (intentionally provocative) writer.  He clearly and cleverly states opinions and gets ROASTED but keeps coming back. Yeah he comes across immature, like most people his age, but I like his enthusiasm and interest.  

I bet in a few years/decades that he'll appreciate the simplicities of life but for now he's full of brass in pocket.....

At least he has opinions and is intelligent enough to express them clearly.

snoloco wrote

make some effort to stay on-topic on the first page

I thought the topic was your spoiledness

I was spoiled at Mountain Creek, aka Great Gorge/Vernon Valley back in the day when I first skied there. Wasn't spoiled with the ski experience. Was spoiled by the great electro-mechanical pinball machines I always played before heading home after a day or night on the hill.

Pinball is my bag. I wound up purchasing and restoring pinball machines years later. Had 22 in my collection at the height of my quiver. I currently own 2 machines, both EMs. The most recent purchased was  2 weeks ago. Decided to get back in the game so to speak. Great Gorge had a machine I really liked by the name of Klondike. As you can see, it was a 1971 Williams machine, which was current at the time. I'm going to start a new thread in the off-topic area in hopes others out there either own or have interest in those old school electro-mechanical machines. I always looked forward to skiing "GG/Vernon Valley" and dropping my quarters after the lifts shut down at the end of the night.