Alpine Downhilling
 

The other night I headed to a ski hill in the Rockies for some night
skiing. Being not an alpiner at all (haven't gone to a hill in more
than 20 years), when I v2 to the lift I felt the snow was funny, it
wasn't the kind of snow that I am familiar with when I xc. They were
more pellet-like, like those tiny styrofoam dust.

I took the quad to the top. What an experience! I actually didn't have
to climb first in order to ski downhill. I fell forward in less then 3
feet after I got off the quad. I thought, ok this was different. I
looked down, my skis sank and were caught in the snow. I worked my way
down, falling many times because of those pellet-like snow. If only
they were packed, it might have been better. I was surprised that
there were so many snowboarders. I must be behind the time, not
realizing this.

There were a woman and 2 kids, probably 7 or 8 years old. They were
working down near the fence. The woman was instructing the kids how to
ski. I made my parallel turn past them. Then I heard, "Mom, can I have
those thin skis too?" It didn't click until I was in the middle of the
hill. I then ha-ha-ha, and fell. I knew this was going to be a bad
night. I was skiing on my Madshus xc skis.

I thought to myself how could these people going up and down the same
hill again and again and again. I quit soon after.

-JP-

Alpine Downhilling
 

They let you on a lift with skinny skis? I've tried that once and they
turned me down. Will try again this wknd (no snow in the NYC area -
only the manmade stuff at the downhill resorts).


(-JP-) wrote in message . com...
The other night I headed to a ski hill in the Rockies for some night
skiing. Being not an alpiner at all (haven't gone to a hill in more
than 20 years), when I v2 to the lift I felt the snow was funny, it
wasn't the kind of snow that I am familiar with when I xc. They were
more pellet-like, like those tiny styrofoam dust.

I took the quad to the top. What an experience! I actually didn't have
to climb first in order to ski downhill. I fell forward in less then 3
feet after I got off the quad. I thought, ok this was different. I
looked down, my skis sank and were caught in the snow. I worked my way
down, falling many times because of those pellet-like snow. If only
they were packed, it might have been better. I was surprised that
there were so many snowboarders. I must be behind the time, not
realizing this.

There were a woman and 2 kids, probably 7 or 8 years old. They were
working down near the fence. The woman was instructing the kids how to
ski. I made my parallel turn past them. Then I heard, "Mom, can I have
those thin skis too?" It didn't click until I was in the middle of the
hill. I then ha-ha-ha, and fell. I knew this was going to be a bad
night. I was skiing on my Madshus xc skis.

I thought to myself how could these people going up and down the same
hill again and again and again. I quit soon after.

-JP-

Alpine Downhilling
 

I used to shred Breck on my racing skis. They work OK in spring corn bumps. I even did the highest
bowls. Fun. Show off. Bumpin under the lifts on racing skinny skis gets good response. Touring skis
are fine, too. When it's nice, sunny and soft you don't need much ski.

But the best fun was just skiing up and down the slopes. Take the greens, blues and cat tracks and you
can get LOTS of uphill in with a nice long descent. Great for both skating and classic. I recall going
up for 45 minutes straight.

--

Jeff Potter
****
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Alpine Downhilling
 

I moved to Canmore in '97. The Canmore Nordic Centre was a big reason
why we chose to live in Canmore -- I've XC skied for 30 years and it's
my favorite sport. Up to this year, I took 8-10 XC ski lessons every
winter from the Canmore Nordic Ski Club. This winter I decided to try
something different -- downhill skiing! -- and I've spent quite a lot
of time at the alpine resorts (Louise, Norquay, Fortress, Fernie). I'm
firmly convinced that what I have learned on alpine boards this winter
has done more to improve my XC skiing than another series of XC
lessons would have. Evidence of this is that last weekend I finished
in the top 3 of my age class (50-59) in the Lake Louise Loppet (20 km
classic) -- my first top-3 finish since moving to Alberta in '97.

Alpine skiing is all about balance and weight shift -- fundamental
skills that definitely transfer to XC. Another big plus is that
downhills that used to intimidate me on XC skis now seem quite
straightforward (this has probably done more to improve my loppet
times than anything else).

By the way, don't let anybody tell you that alpine skiing is
physically easy, just because you get carried up the hill. Yesterday
we skied black diamond and double black diamond runs on the backside
of Louise for 7 hours, and last night I was completely used up
physically. It's true that this work is essentially all muscular
instead of aerobic; but the fact that alpine skiing works different
parts of your body than XC makes it a superb complement to XC -- this
morning I did a long fairly hard skate at the Canmore Nordic Centre
(2-1/4 hours -- excellent spring conditions!).

-Everett