Reflections on 2011-2012 (SOP - Self Obsessed Post)

Just looked at the weather forecast for Lake Placid and it's pretty apparent ... the fat lady has sung!

I'll be heading up for the last time this season on Thursday night. Planning to ski on Friday, though we'll have to see about the rain, and probably a couple of hours on Saturday morning, but then it'll be time to pack up the house, and close it all up for this year.

Throughout this season, I've tried to remain as optimistic as possible ... I really tried not to let the weather get me down, and I think that overall, I was pretty successful. It's easy to get pissed off and angry about things, and in the past I probably would have done so, but given my advancing "maturity", I'm learning to deal with things that I can't control a whole lot better. I'm finding I'm a lot happier this way.

The last four ski seasons have been a real roller-coaster for me.

In '08-'09, there was a serious health crisis in my family, which caused me to miss all of February, March & April.

In 09'-'10, everyone was healthy, but for those who remember, things were going real well until about this same time in March, when the big thaw started to set in. I have pictures of my son and I, skiing at Whiteface the first weekend in April, on a 70+ degree day in shorts and t-shirts, with bare spots showing through everywhere!!! Not the epic end of a season you hope for!

In '10-'11, I hurt my back in January, and ended up having season ending surgery on March 11. I can still recall reading all the posts in this forum about the great conditions and days in the slides all the way into April.

This year, once again, my family and I have managed to avoid any serious injuries or health problems, but Mother Nature has once again, turned what I had hoped would be a great season into what was ultimately, a mediocre one at best.

Through all of this, I've learned to be thankful for the opportunities I've had. Over the past few years, my kids have become fairly accomplished skiers, thanks to the great instructors in the Whiteface Cloudsplitters program (Coach Z this means you, and the others). They're not going to win any races, or dazzle anyone with technique, but we can now all ski together as a family, on virtually any terrain, having the opportunity to share experiences that are quite frankly, priceless.

I can only suggest that we all try not to get so caught up in the negatives, and try to focus on the positives. Life deals us enough problems, we should try to make the best of it and enjoy the days we get to spend on the snow, and not take them for granted. I continue to remain optimistic that next season will be the best ever!

Hear, hear!

The lack of snow in the woods this year made me head out to Greek Peak at least 3x a week this winter to work on my tele-turns.  I fumbled about for about a month, bit the bullet and took a lesson with one of the instructors, and finally the lightbulb went on in my head.  I spent these past two and a half months nailing down everything he told me to work on. So much, that when I was at Gore this past weekend, finally taking on the black diamonds for the first time, I felt more comfortable making tele-turns, than resorting to parallel turns, which is what I always did in the past when I hit hairy terrain.

While I missed gliding through the woods trails on xc skis quite a bit this year, I am really happy that I had the opportunity to really work on this, without having to try to divide my time between the two activities.  

Wish I'd had more opportunities to get to Gore to see all the new friends I've met this year and last, but there is always next year.  Had a blast this past weekend, thanks to you all, especially PDQ!

I was primed to call this a decent season before I got hurt.  

I had 27 days, with at least seven more planned:

• 2 days at Gore last weekend (looked SWEET to me)
• 1 day at Plattekill for the big partly this Saturday - (still going, come on down to the deck, I'm buying!)
• 4 days at Jay Peak - family was going to ski and hit the waterpark

That would have given me 34 days total (2nd best ever) with five new mountains checked off my list.

So it didn't work out as planned, but I got no complaints.  Skiing is a blast, and I had fun this year.

Good on ya, Face4Me and Snowmonkey too!

OK so frankly we can NEVER get enough, regardless of the season's circumstances .

Face it we are on a SKI forum here -- we are NOT normal , we live ,  eat  and breathe  this primordial need to SLIDE r azzes down a frozen runway !! Can't help it -- its in the genes dammit  Other will never understand what drives us , we casually laff off their misguided assumptions about our sanity in this regard  !

Ok with that as a basis - this season was less than anticipated, BUT,    damn !!!!-- people GET a GRIP -- it was fantastic too !!!!!!!!

We all experienced Some awesome days out there , with great friends and family !! We are all lucky enough to have the health , resources and friends and family to share this great sport with and to make lasting memories and kindle the fire in our bellies for NEXT season

Happy Trails !!!!!

W

Yes the weather sucked ..That's not in our control. This was a good season for me. I got out West and skied with my kids and friends almost every Saturday. We never had a bad day..

I had a great season.  I was consistently amazed with the conditions Gore was able to create.  I plan on skiing this Saturday, which will be day 31, an all time low, but that is OK.  We had lots of fun as a family, deepened existing friendships, made new friends and the kids all improved their skills.  No complaints from me.  

Had a great season myself as well-

only 14 days total (15 if my boss lets me come in late tomorrow to get some turns in in the morning), but my skiing has become so much more confident with dealing with the bad conditions. And I added two more mountains to my list of hills skiied: now 16 in total!

And this past weekend at Killington may just be my best ski weekend of the last few years: amazing conditions, first time checking out the apres-ski scene in VT, and a new ski buddy and friend.

Don't regreat any of it and I'm getting my hiking boots out for the hiking season to begin!

This is only my 11th year of downhill skiing, so I have a comparatively small sample size -- however, if forecasters are correct (blowtorch warmth for the next week), this will have to be one of the earliest closures ever, right?

Right on Man!  

You guys do come up in the summer and fall too, right?

ScottyJack wrote

Right on Man!  

You guys do come up in the summer and fall too, right?

Not nearly as often as I'd like. From Thanksgiving Day to St. Patrick's Day, my friends and family know that we "don't exist" on weekends, and we're able to get away with that. The rest of the year, life tends to "get in the way".

I usually come up for a day or two in early June each year with a friend to hike one or two of the 46 high peaks (aspiring 46er on the 20+ year plan!). This year, I booked a rafting trip with some friends on the Hudson in mid-April, so we'll spend a night at my place in Lake Placid (gotta love the LP Pub & Brewery). I also usually try to come up for Ironman weekend, it's awesome to be a part of that event, even as a spectator.

Last year my son and I spent a week in LP, as he attended the LP Soccer Camp ... we may do that again this year, depending upon the dates of the camp.

But usually, that's about it. Some day, I really do hope to call Lake Placid my full-time home, but I'm at least 7 or 8 years away from that point ... here's to dreaming!!!

I know at the face the goomers and snowmakers did a great job with what they were given. Slides were great when they were open this year

gottcha.  Hope you make that dream a reality!  

September is off the charts up here!  

+1

Always have fun on the WF!  2B or Not 2B was my highlight this season!  

Taking a half day at work tomorrow to get some last turns in before work in the Poconos..day 15 for me and calling it a season. :-(

all things considered i had a decent year...

no significant woods or powder days but still managed to squeak 40 days in, maybe a few more if it ends up being worth it to head north next week after our hockey tourney and tucks is always a goal.  quite a few good days in there just the same, as blue has done a great job with making snow right up thru last weekend and weve had great springlike bumps for over a month now

monday night beer league race team ended up third overall and the new race trail is fun as sh!t - i will figure out that second headwall. it was great seeing mrs snobunski start teaching, training and get her psia level 1.  it was both rewarding and humbling getting my arse kicked by my son in the bump n jump mogul comp and elswhere on the mountain - thankfully i think i still have gravity on my side for a year or two before he catches me on race course.

not enough days at greek for some runs and laughs with the a18 gang but the days there were spent well as a family skiing together - everyone healthy and (usually) happy!

only one xc day but it was a damn good one! also did a tele demo day , looking forwrd to next season to get out on my  light bc/tele boots that came yesterday

wf trip is doubtful for next weekend, may just push it back a bit to make it a fishing/mtb trip at this point.
oh well time to get back on the bike and get all the house stuff done that ive been blowing off!

This has been a very interesting and different year for me.  The writing of the instructional blog posts were certainly new and interesting for me.  I really enjoyed writing them and getting everyone’s feedback on them.  I look forward to doing more next season.  I’m sorry I didn’t get to all the ideas that people offered – I promise to get to them next season.

For me the biggest adjustment was giving up coaching the Cloudsplitter Club and working on the adult main ski school again.  I coached Cloudsplitter for 8 years since its inception and it was difficult to give up since I enjoyed working with the same group of kids so much.  On the other hand I really enjoyed working with adults again and I worked with some really nice new clients that I hope and expect will return to ski with me again in the future.  I met some of the nicest and most interesting people doing private lessons this season and I hope I was able to impact their skiing and love of the sport.

My reason for giving up Cloudsplitter was becoming a Nysef race parent.  My son did well in his races and got quite a bit better running the correct lines in the gates.  It was the first time I have not coached him myself since he was 5 so that was kind of bittersweet.  We did have a good amount of time to ski together including our week out west where he hung with me in the powder,  trees, bowls and chutes all day.  It was so much fun to share that with him that we are going to do it again during his Easter break at Vail.  I’m so proud to be raising a hard core skier who loves it as much as I do.

Certainly the skiing its self was all over the map.  We had good days and ugly ones.  Mother nature just didn’t ever truly get into the winter sprit this year and this will be the lowest total of ski days for me in a long long time.  My knee was bothering me the last month and I feared the worst even though I never had a bad fall or heard the dreaded pop.  I just got back from the Ortho Doc and he told me the MRI was clear and my knee is just tired. The ACL maybe streched but is still in tact.  I could have kissed him if he wasn’t a dude.

The sore knee prevented me from possibly trying out for PSIA-E Division Clinic Leader which was one of my preseason goals but that is ok.  I had more fun than I would have had cramming for that try out.

So after the ski school picnic Saturday and the Nysef one on Sunday at noon I’m going to pack up my locker and shut it down to rest my knee up for Vail next month.  I’m at 49 ski days currently plus this weekend and 4 at Vail will put me at 55 for the season total.  Lower than normal by at least 10 days but there is always next season.

Guys, it isn't over. This is best weekend of the year for Mount Washington. And maybe we'll get some refills yet. If not, there's also skiing all summer on the glaciers out west. All you have to do is pack the car and drive for a few days.

ml242 wrote

Guys, it isn't over. This is best weekend of the year for Mount Washington. And maybe we'll get some refills yet. If not, there's also skiing all summer on the glaciers out west. All you have to do is pack the car and drive for a few days.

Now THAT'S optimism!!!

You can pry these poles out of my warm hands in late May!