Who's Still Not Skiing?

On Wed, 5 Jan 2005 16:16:37 -0800, "Bob" wrote:


"Gary Jacobson" wrote in message
...

"Ken Roberts" wrote in message
...

Then the next day Andrey and I did something bad -- so bad that I
cannot
say it on this newsgroup without permanently damaging our (remaining)
credibility. It was a breakthrough day in badness on snow for Andrey.

Ken

Don't tell me you guys waxed up and skied classic. No, please, no.

No... he's probably trying to avoid saying that he went snowboarding. Oh the
horror, the horror.

I was sititing near one of the older guys from the Saratoga Biathlon
Club last week last week and he was talking about how his son or
grandson didn't like cross country skiing but instead did something on
snow that I couldn't understand. The guy kept using a word that
sounded like a curse word or something but that I'd never heard. He
kept calling him a "scretcher" or "screwer" or something like that. It
sounded terrible or at least embarrassing to the family. Now I
realize the guy meant his grandson was a snowboarder...

JFT

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Andrey wrote
we all did go snowboarding at WF on the 2nd

It was all Andrey's idea. Sharon and I only went along to be social. And it
was worth it, to see a strong athlete like Andrey helplessly plow slowly
into a marker at the side of the Whiteface beginner area and keel over.

Later he's had enough of that baby-slope, and we're three-quarters of the
way up on the gondola lift to the top of a big 600 vertical meter / 2000 ft
downhill ride, and he says to me, "Is this really a good idea?"

WF = "Ice-Face" indeed delivered: Before noon the layer of manufactured snow
had been scraped off from large areas of the trail, and we were scraping our
metal edges into authentic Northeastern US hardpack. One local skier in the
gondola said to me, "That's why the best downhill racers come from around
here -- if you can ski here you can ski anything."

I bought snowboarding boots the same night.

Somehow Andrey survived the ice, and by the time he made it down to the base
he was a vaguely competent snowboarder. Then Sharon and Tony and I stopped
for lunch, but Andrey had to ride back up the gondola again. And again.

Over the boundary into the depths of Badness.

Ken

P.S. I do acknowledge there are currently two snowboards stored in Sharon
and my bedroom. But they're not actually mine -- I'm holding them for a
friend.

Mark - did 10 feet of snow fall at the summit last weekend or only 9?
I've heard conflicting reports. See you this weekend, unless 80 is
closed because of, well, another blizzard.

bt

On Wed, 05 Jan 2005 10:09:07 -0500, Ben Kaufman
wrote:

snip
I am seeing snow fall outside my window as I type this but I am not too hopeful
since it is supposed to turn to rain. If we are not going to get any, might as
well move right on to Spring.

Ben

I think we got about 2 inches of snow with a side order of frozen junk so I'm
going to the ball field today with the rock skis just incase this is "it".

Ben

Finally!

Did a nice night ski on flat rail trail double poling on perfect snowmobile
packed granular snow.

It was so dark I thought I was in Italy skiing Marcialonga, or maybe Sweden
skiing Vasaloppet.

Folks say we should be on snow for three more days.

Gary Jacobson
Rosendale, NY

Wow,

It's been snowing all morning and I bet we have a 1/16 of an
inch....and it's still snowing!
I gotten get out of here and wax some skis.

Jay Wenner

On Thu, 6 Jan 2005, Gary Jacobson wrote:

It was so dark I thought I was in Italy skiing Marcialonga, or maybe Sweden
skiing Vasaloppet.

You skied Vasaloppet in the dark? Were you travelling with that guy who had
to make his mark by doing all the world loppets in a single year?

-Mitch

No, not at all.

Though when I skied Vasaloppet I saw many finishing in the dark.
I was referring to the fact that when I was skiing on the rail trail it was
dark and flat, and therefore I could have been anywhere.

That guy is Stuart Stevens and he is (was) a New York Stater.

G
"Mitch Collinsworth" wrote in message
rnell.edu...

On Thu, 6 Jan 2005, Gary Jacobson wrote:

It was so dark I thought I was in Italy skiing Marcialonga, or maybe
Sweden
skiing Vasaloppet.

You skied Vasaloppet in the dark? Were you travelling with that guy who
had
to make his mark by doing all the world loppets in a single year?

-Mitch

Gary Jacobson wrote:

That guy is Stuart Stevens and he is (was) a New York Stater.


"Mitch Collinsworth" wrote in message
rnell.edu...



You skied Vasaloppet in the dark? Were you travelling with that
guy who
had
to make his mark by doing all the world loppets in a single year?



Stuart Stevens skied all of the Worldloppet races in 1984. He started a
couple of races earlier than the field so he could catch planes. He's a
Republican strategist living in D.C. now. He writes occasionally for
Outside Magazine and a few other zines. Every once in a while, he's on
TV as a political commentator. He doesn't seem real comfortable on TV
though.

Jay Tegeder
"Stick around this sport long enough and you'll beat everyone at least
once!" JT

"Gary Jacobson" wrote in message
...
Not a day, maybe a few hours of skiing here so far, but I haven't skied
once
this year.

Could have driven 2.5 hours to ski in ok conditions a few days, and
haven't
been interested in skiing up and down ski slopes on days I could ride, or
run in the forest.

My sense is that within 3.5 hours drive from here only Lake Placid has had
nice skiing this year.

Nothing really on the horizon.

Gary Jacobson
Rosendale, NY




The Nordic Ski Patrol is meeting at High Point tomorrow to get some training
in. There was between 4 and 8" inches on Wednesday, only to change to
freezing rain on Thursday. I could see the stars as I was tying my pulk to
the ski rack on my truck 1/2 hour ago, but they're insisting on freezing
rain after midnight. I threw a tarp over the back of the truck just in
case. It's bad enough when the weather forcasters are wrong. It's when
they're right and you don't want them to be I get annoyed. I'd be happy if
they screw up a forecast once in a while in my favor. I was sitting in the
office yesterday and imagining if all that rain were snow. If that were the
case we'd be up to our necks in the white stuff. That's the problem with
the middle eastern seaboard. The weather systems that bring us our moisture
also come with warm air.

Here's something interesting that I didn't know until I read about it in
National Geographic. The picture we usually have of Holland in the winter
is that of an ice skaters' paradise. Remember, Hans Brinker and the Golden
skates? However, the typical winter weather there is cool and moist like
England. Only about every 7 years or so an artic blast comes through and
everything freezes. Then people pull out their skates and worship the ice.
I suspect that those folks know how to savor their favorite pasttime when
they can get it. We can all learn a lesson from that, I think.

I like being in the woods and nordic skis are just the way I get around when
snow is on the ground. I like snow in the winter, but I'm not going to sit
in a corner and feel sorry for myself when it's not there.

If the conditions are right tomorrow, Hans (the area owner, not Brinker)
might decide to take the groomer out. In that case we might get some skiing
in.

John Rovetto
Wantage, NJ