Stowe, VT: 03/14/15

'Zona's gonna get the WF boys in a huff:
"...The 1932 Winter Olympics had been held at Lake Placid, New York, but it was no match for the upscale winter resorts in France, Austria and Germany."

Well if they actually think comparing the WF experience to a European mega resort is actually plausible they are touching themselves.

I think I have said this before, east coast skiers can be so sensitive sometimes. I think this is where the if you can ski here you can ski anywhere bs comes from. It's sort of like little guys driving giant lifted trucks. I guess I could get worked up as well being an Arizona skier now but why bother?

raisingarizona wrote

Yep, except a few. Here is some cool historical stuff on Sun Valley.

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h2701.html

Nice one (if a little western biased), with a NY hero at it's center, Averell Harriman, a driving force behind Belleayre and Whiteface.

raisingarizona wrote

I think I have said this before, east coast skiers can be so sensitive sometimes. I think this is where the if you can ski here you can ski anywhere bs comes from. It's sort of like little guys driving giant lifted trucks. I guess I could get worked up as well being an Arizona skier now but why bother?

I think humans in general get vested in their life choices and often defend them beyond the point of reason.  Another example that comes to mind is Utards defending SLC.  Air pollution not that bad, culture stuff is easy to ignore etc etc.  People naturally want to feel that they have made good choices.  Maybe a bit delusional, but probably also practical in some ways.

raisingarizona wrote

Well if they actually think comparing the WF experience to a European mega resort is actually plausible they are touching themselves.

I think I have said this before, east coast skiers can be so sensitive sometimes. I think this is where the if you can ski here you can ski anywhere bs comes from. It's sort of like little guys driving giant lifted trucks. I guess I could get worked up as well being an Arizona skier now but why bother?

I don't know, there's plenty of good skiing here and plenty of snow but you talk to anyone on a lift west of the Mississippi and all they want to know is how you could deal with all the ice and whatever while crapping all over it.

It really does put a chip on your shoulder if you let it. It's one of the things that motivates me to write about stuff here.

Both of these last two posts are real good points.

I guess I have had people look strangely at me or say something sort of condescending to me when I tell them I actually like the skiing here and my initial reaction is feeling irritated and wanting to defend it.

Then again, if they feel the need to put down a place someone else is coming from or enjoys they might have the bigger problem? I don't know if that makes total sense but it sort of does for me.

My family has a lot of history in Harriman State Park. I used to go to my Uncles cabin on holidays and to go fishing, he was a ranger there and his cabin was on 7 Lakes Drive. I think I remember a big giant house built up on top of a mountain somewhere along Route 9 that I was told used to have a tram up to it and built by Harriman. It's been a while. I should read up on him, he sounds interesting.

sig wrote

I remember the single. Didn't they give u a blanket for the ride up?

In two days there, I must've had six different conversations about the wool blankets -- amazing what a lasting impression they made on people (follow the link in the article and you'll see that the company is still in business after 170 years!):
http://retro-skiing.com/2011/12/lift-blankets/

My two cents on Harriman and Draper:

http://directory.nyskiblog.com/Whiteface-Mountain-Ski-Center-td4646997.html

Early ski areas generally developed where there were train stations.  North Creek, Sun Valley, and even Plymouth, NH included.