What were your goals for the (2010-2011) season?

I was thinking about the season today.  A LOT of amazing things happened. Many of them, most of them, were unplanned.

But I did start out with some goals in mind. Nothing as formal as riverc0il's List, but I did think about some things I wanted to accomplish this season.

I'm batting 1000 on the six I can remember.

Ski on my birthday, fresh snow was a bonus...


10 inches of snow on January 8

Ski Hickory for the first time...


Hickory's 4th Annual Telefest

Ski as family. Gore ski school - got 'er done. I'd kill for a pic of all three of us on our first run down Sunway...


Jay Peak, VT: 3/2/11

Ski the Slides at Whiteface...

Wooohooo! photo by riverc0il

And get 35 Ski Days in...


Ski Day 35

While my powder days were definitely limited ... I'm thinking I had a great season.

Did you set any goals this ski season? Did you achieve them?

Whether you are done for the season or not, how'd you do?

Since hubby and I have been together well over 30 years we do things as a team.  We wanted to collectively ski 100 days but alas, we fell two days short.  A real bonus was the day I skied with my two brothers.  We live far apart and it has been years since we have skied together.  This reunion was a blast lapping Sagamore.  Finally, the best Christmas present ever was the gift certificate our kids gave us for a vacation to Killington.  Love love love every minute of that trip!

We had an absolutely wonderful ski season.  Sorry it had to end with nice snow still on the mountain because it's easier to bid farewell when you’re skiing on rocks, mud, and brown slush.

Congratulations on meeting your goals!!  That's great!  

I found myself thinking about this a lot on Saturday.  I didn't have a formal list so to speak but the following are what I had in mind and a few that I always have:

My first goal is always the same:  Ski as many days as possible.  I had mixed results there, although I skied more days than I ever did before, in hindsight I passed on a few days in Jan. and Feb. that now I regret.  

Second goal was similar to the first:  Exceed last year's total number of days.  I met that one easy!  I skied 10 days last year (a new personal best) and this year I've reached 29!  I'll call that record "SMASHED!"  Many things contributed to my total this year and it may be a long time before I can match it or beat it so I'm savoring this accomplishment.

My third goal was to get better:  Again, mission accomplished.  I pushed myself to improve all aspects of my skiing and to challenge myself on tougher terrain.  My confidence level is higher now than ever and I skied trails and conditions that I had only dreamed of in the past.  I'll attribute a lot of my improving to skiing Hickory....I had to get better to ski that mountain!  (although it also taught me how much better I still have to get too).

Stay healthy:  I have a history of back problems and a couple of years ago my doctor questioned whether I would even ski again so I'm always paranoid about my back problems reoccurring but I'm also extremely thankful for every day that I get to spend out on the slopes.  I finished this year feeling good with no back issues or other injuries so "goal achieved".

Ski someplace new:  I added Hickory and West to my list of mountains skied.

Ski the Olympic runs at Whiteface:  Done.

I've already started to put a more formal list for next season but for now I'll sit back and enjoy this year's accomplishments!

I would have liked to ski with Harv, and more with James. It was great skiing with Sud's and his crew.
Hopefully next year...

I didn't ski as many days as I would have like (never do) but, still a solid season...

My goals were

1. Ski my age in days - I have 4 days left before I achieve my goal.  If Killington stays open until May 1, I still have a chance.
2. Learn techniques that allow me to ski steeps with confidence. Check. I gained SO much confidence this year as my techniques improved.  I skied Lies at Gore and loved it.  I also skied Double Dipper at Killington.  Now, if someone will lead me/encourage me down The Rumor next year, I will be a Happy Skier.
3. Learn techniques to ski better in crud and deep snow.  Check.  Getting my Volkl Kenjas helped immensely.
4. Ski Sugarbush, Sugarloaf, Stratton, Whiteface and Bromley in 2010/11.  Didn't happen.  DH was injured by an out of control skier back in January, resulting in TWO torn MCLs, so we didn't get to explore other resorts this year.  Putting it on the list for next year.

I would've liked to have hit 30 total days this season but came up short (23 days, but I may hit killington this weekend). That being said, I had 8 powder days this season. The sad part is this is the first winter since 92' that I didn't ski at Whiteface.

Start skiing again after a 20 year layoff.  Check!  

Didn't actually have any formal goals, but being that I've only been skiing with a serious passion for it for only 3 years now, I would say I accomplished a lot!

I skied at 12 different areas this winter!: Mount Snow, Okemo, Killington, Stratton, Whiteface, Bellayre, Hunter, Mount Peter, Mountain Creek, Campgaw, Camelback, and Shawnee.

Tried and succeeded at some low pitch moguls and had a BLAST doing it. I also got a bit more comfortable with steeper pitches and even noticed a difference going back to some places from beginning to the end of the season.

Found some of the best deals to keep my habit affordable. ;-)

Next Year's goal mountains to add to my list: Gore, Plattekill, and Mad River Glen. I also want to try some low pitch glades for the first time...

I don't really have any goals anymore, except to have fun and ski with my friends as much as possible.  I can never catch up with the old Colorado ski bum days of 100+ days a season, or the two years in Colorado that I skied at least once a month for 24 months straight, but I did get 52 days in this season (so far), while working full time.  Hitting Jay this weekend and Mt. Washington the following weekend, then maybe I'll put storage wax on the skis and start biking.

Mine was to have a good time and I’m happy to say I was very successful.

Highpeaksdrifter wrote

Mine was to have a good time and I’m happy to say I was very successful.

LOL...took the words right out of my keyboard

Long time lurker, first post. Successfully completing the season without having another run named after me was my goal. I accomplished it.

Entering the (2010-2010) season my usual goal of 40 days was one objective, staying in one piece was another since I had rotatorcuff surgery in July and the doctor suggested no skiing for one year. I racked up 44 days and I am in one piece!

Getting out for a couple (sometimes hard to find) powder days  was  at the top of my list. This winter has allowed.

However having 4 children and fulltime career some opportunities just do not work out. We hike a nature preserve in the spring and fall that would just ski beautifully but the timing and snowpack just never worked out. Also calling the Catskills my home mountain I really wanted to ski with everyone at Platt on facebook day.

All in all 2010-2011 was a ski year Easterners long for and soon will not be forgotten.



Skiing on my Birthday was still fun after 2" rain storm

My daughter learned skiing and had some 25-30 ski days. Not that it was a goal, but she really liked it and that what's matters.

jimvdak wrote

Next Year's goal mountains to add to my list: Gore, Plattekill, and Mad River Glen. I also want to try some low pitch glades for the first time...

jimvdak, try Twister, Tahawus and now Chatterbox glades at Gore. For me first two were perfect introduction to glade skiing.

My goal was to get 50 days in, for the first time ever. Unfortunately, I only got in 32 before injury ended my season in February. I'm not sure whether I would have made it to 50 or not without the injury, but it sure would have been fun trying!!! There's always next year!

I'd like to extend a word of thanks to all of you who have been posting your trip reports and pictures throughout March and April ... Since I wasn't able to be out there myself, I at least got to enjoy things through your reports. I hope to meet up with you all next season, and get a chance to take some runs with you.

Enjoy the off-season everyone!

My goals

ski lots of powder - 7 certified powder days, 5 of them truely epic

ski a lot with my son - check

ski at least 4 runs in the slides in one day - check

ski jay peak on a powder day - nope but but did get some really nice glade skiing in there

60+ days on snow - check

learn to tele - the skiing was so good i didn't get out on the tele skis as much as i had planned but did get to where i can tele on the face lift

keep getting better and learning new things - check

all in all a really great season

Hmmm... goals.  Guess I had just one:  to ski every weekend with my family and make skiing as fun, exciting and challenging for them as it is for me, especially for my 7-yr-old son.  We had a great season start to finish, missing just one weekend in March and closing weekend in April, and I now have a ski demon son who can ski the mountain top to bottom, trails trees and glades, and loves it as much as I do.

I haven't counted, but I must have gotten in 40+ days on skis.  Conditions were really great this winter, so the quality of those days was high, perhaps my best in a decade or so.  I would have liked more XC and backcountry days, didn't get a WF slides day, and missed the Hickory tele-fest, but those are all pretty minor misses in an overall great season.  I put together a short summary of my season's highlights, and the fact that I had a hard time chosing which highlights to include is a good indication of a great season.

The real challenge will be incorporating our daughter, now 3 yrs old, into our ski season when she gets on the snow next year.  But I've already got some good strategies in mind for that...

I didn't start the season with any goals, per se. But as the season progressed there were a couple milestones that I notched:

-got the 4yr old ripping. Wasn't sure he'd make it this year, but he did and he loved it! From the carpet to a (hesitant) Otter Slide Glades in 1 season--awesome and couldn't be prouder. 6yr old finished her 3rd season and is absolutely shredding. Not a tear or a whine from either all season, even with the 545a wake up calls....

-drop a certain cliff in a certain glade. Both remain nameless. I'd spent more time the past 3 seasons standing at the lip and trying to work up the courage. Finally went for it this year....6-7 times. Never as bad as I was afraid of--it's just a mental thing. A tad over 6 feet drop--not huge for a lot of kids out there, but for a 35yr old father it was intimidating. And amazingly, I never saw signs of anyone else hitting it all season!

-cleared the stepdowns in the park. Again, more mental than anything. But I found myself spending lots of afternoons on Wild Air and I figured, "hey, why not work on these this year?"

My only goal for this season was to not wreck myself again like I did last year (tore my ACL last season, that was fun  ).  I was successful!  And I didn't take the easy way and only ski blue groomed trails all winter, I spent a lot of time skiing bumps and trees, which was much more than I was expecting to be able to do at the beginning of the season as ungroomed stuff was a big question mark this season with the new ACL.  I also finally got to ski the few glades at Gore that had previously eluded me and got in quite a few powder days.  It definitely was a great season!

My goals were not met.

I only had two skiing related goals this year: Make a sweet season long ski edit, and ski at least 5 backcountry days.  I only got 1 bc (and a half, I guess) day and I didn't shoot any video at all (focused more on my photography).

I'm not bummed, though.  I was up around 60-65 days, I had a bunch of great powder days, great spring bumps, and a ton of tree skiing.  Plus some successful trips to VT, and a PSIA Level 3 pin for tele.  Overall, it was a great season.