The spirit of skiing

Last Friday, after I bombed down the Ridge Run, Heavenly, a ski
patroller caught up with me when I was to make a transit to the Powder
Bowl, wanted to have a "chat" with me.

"You are going too fast," he said.

Too fast on Ridge Run? Ridge Run is THE "Broadway" of Heavenly, and is
a wide and mild blue run, I frowned and didn't answer him.

"Do you understand?" he may think I was a foreigner, but he was quite
serious.

"No, I don't understand," I answered.

Well, at least I speak English, so he continued, "the way you fly down
the hill is too fast for the environment."

"Why?" I frowned.

"You should turn more," he said.

"I go faster if I turn," I told him.

"The way you flying and passing other skiers on the hill is too fast
for the environment."

"There's no sign up there to say how fast I can[/cannot] go?" I said.

And I told him that I came to Heavenly to ski, for the sport and the
speed.

"It's a tough call, maybe you can do straightlining at nine o'clock,
but... the way you straightline flying down the trail is reckless," he
was referring my open arms style.

I said, "No, I was not reckless. I made a precision run and it was
under control at the all time." Actually, the open arms is my most
stable and maneuverable posture, and I made two downhill/GS style turns
to avoid some skiers on the hill, and I think that's why he thought it
was reckless.

"You should turn more," he continued.

"I go faster if I turn," I continued.

......

I was not going to back down; it is my right as a valid ticket holder
and national forest user to ski what I want to ski, and you ski
patroller or the resort is not going to depict what style I must have
and how I'm going to ski.

Not sure what was he thinking, but he sensed it, then he suggested I
turn more when I near other skiers, and to tune down the conflict so I
said ok.

And he left, left me there wondering, there was no accident, not even
incident, and the run/path I skied was in no where near a skier that
can be qualified as "passing," just pure flatboardingly fast;
staightlining on a blue run is now "speeding"/"reckless," what is the
sport of skiing coming to?

Where did the spirit of skiing go?


IS

"yunlong" wrote in message

And he left, left me there wondering, there was no accident, not even
incident, and the run/path I skied was in no where near a skier that
can be qualified as "passing," just pure flatboardingly fast;
staightlining on a blue run is now "speeding"/"reckless," what is the
sport of skiing coming to?

Where did the spirit of skiing go?

You are the problem. Too many innocent people got creamed by idiots like
you. He has had to clean up the results too many times. He knew you were
full of **** as soon as you told him you went faster when you turned. Next
time don't say anything quite that stupid and maybe you can have some sort
of dialogue. Read (or get a translator to read) the back of your pass. Lift
privileges can be revoked without refund for irresponsible behaviour. That
means straightlining where there are other people close by. How close is not
your call. There are plenty of places you can ski fast without endangering
anybody else. Use your head.

On Sun, 27 Mar 2005 18:24:02 GMT, "Norm"
wrote:


"yunlong" wrote in message

And he left, left me there wondering, there was no accident, not even
incident, and the run/path I skied was in no where near a skier that
can be qualified as "passing," just pure flatboardingly fast;
staightlining on a blue run is now "speeding"/"reckless," what is the
sport of skiing coming to?

Where did the spirit of skiing go?

You are the problem. Too many innocent people got creamed by idiots like
you. He has had to clean up the results too many times. He knew you were
full of **** as soon as you told him you went faster when you turned. Next
time don't say anything quite that stupid and maybe you can have some sort
of dialogue. Read (or get a translator to read) the back of your pass. Lift
privileges can be revoked without refund for irresponsible behaviour. That
means straightlining where there are other people close by. How close is not
your call. There are plenty of places you can ski fast without endangering
anybody else. Use your head.

Uh-oh.

"Norm" wrote in message
news:6TC1e.817390$8l.192716@pd7tw1no...

"yunlong" wrote in message

And he left, left me there wondering, there was no accident, not
even
incident, and the run/path I skied was in no where near a skier
that
can be qualified as "passing," just pure flatboardingly fast;
staightlining on a blue run is now "speeding"/"reckless," what is
the
sport of skiing coming to?

Where did the spirit of skiing go?

You are the problem. Too many innocent people got creamed by idiots
like you. He has had to clean up the results too many times. He
knew you were full of **** as soon as you told him you went faster
when you turned.

OH! He's full of **** alright. But you can go faster by turning.

Next
time don't say anything quite that stupid and maybe you can have
some sort of dialogue. Read (or get a translator to read) the back
of your pass. Lift privileges can be revoked without refund for
irresponsible behaviour.

Really? That would be great if they pulled them for the irresponsible
behavior of taking your ****eaters into harms way. There are plenty
of things in this world that have been homoginized and to the lowest
common denomonator for the pussies that want to "look" like they are
doing something dangerous. I don't think skiing is one of them. There
are beginner areas at the bottom for what appears to be your type.
But to haul ass and miss everyone doesn't necessarily become a bad
thing.

Having read some of his bull****, and his "arms wide" thing this
may/probably not have been one of those circumstances.

That
means straightlining where there are other people close by. How
close is not your call. There are plenty of places you can ski
fast without endangering anybody else. Use your head.

I don't think he said he was straightlining. Remember the turn thing?
Now if you want to start calling on a certain distance for others to
stay away that's fine with me. But then I expect for the boogereaters
snowplowing at 2 mph to be disciplined for coming within that same
distance.

Just this week I was in some trees, about a 5' wide, and came upon
someone dawdling along in some sort of slow uneven traverses. No way
to see them until your upon them, I missed them by a few inches. And
got a little screech out of them.

It's a big boys sport and if you want to be a skier, deal. Or stay in
the family (crybaby) zone where you can be protected from most every
occurance.

And how can you even begin to complain about skiers if you frequent
areas that aren't boardfree? I would think that the lack of
manuverability even by "experienced" boarders, let alone what seems
to be their "rules aren't for us" attitude, would keep you off of
those hills.

In article 6TC1e.817390$8l.192716@pd7tw1no,
"Norm" wrote:

"yunlong" wrote in message

And he left, left me there wondering, there was no accident, not even
incident, and the run/path I skied was in no where near a skier that
can be qualified as "passing," just pure flatboardingly fast;
staightlining on a blue run is now "speeding"/"reckless," what is the
sport of skiing coming to?

Where did the spirit of skiing go?

You are the problem. Too many innocent people got creamed by idiots like
you. He has had to clean up the results too many times. He knew you were
full of **** as soon as you told him you went faster when you turned. Next
time don't say anything quite that stupid and maybe you can have some sort
of dialogue. Read (or get a translator to read) the back of your pass. Lift
privileges can be revoked without refund for irresponsible behaviour. That
means straightlining where there are other people close by. How close is not
your call. There are plenty of places you can ski fast without endangering
anybody else. Use your head.

That's quite an unfair analysis of the situation. I'm both an ex-racer
and ski patroller and I know perfectly well that you can straight line a
hill and do so without endangering others.

--
Alan Baker
Vancouver, British Columbia
"If you raise the ceiling 4 feet, move the fireplace from that wall
to that wall, you'll still only get the full stereophonic effect
if you sit in the bottom of that cupboard."

yunlong wrote:
Last Friday, after I bombed down the Ridge Run, Heavenly, a ski
patroller caught up with me when I was to make a transit to the Powder
Bowl, wanted to have a "chat" with me.

"You are going too fast," he said.

Too fast on Ridge Run? Ridge Run is THE "Broadway" of Heavenly, and is
a wide and mild blue run, I frowned and didn't answer him.

"Do you understand?" he may think I was a foreigner, but he was quite
serious.

"No, I don't understand," I answered.

Well, at least I speak English, so he continued, "the way you fly down
the hill is too fast for the environment."

"Why?" I frowned.

"You should turn more," he said.

"I go faster if I turn," I told him.

"The way you flying and passing other skiers on the hill is too fast
for the environment."

"There's no sign up there to say how fast I can[/cannot] go?" I said.

And I told him that I came to Heavenly to ski, for the sport and the
speed.

"It's a tough call, maybe you can do straightlining at nine o'clock,
but... the way you straightline flying down the trail is reckless," he
was referring my open arms style.

I said, "No, I was not reckless. I made a precision run and it was
under control at the all time." Actually, the open arms is my most
stable and maneuverable posture, and I made two downhill/GS style turns
to avoid some skiers on the hill, and I think that's why he thought it
was reckless.

"You should turn more," he continued.

"I go faster if I turn," I continued.

.....

I was not going to back down; it is my right as a valid ticket holder
and national forest user to ski what I want to ski, and you ski
patroller or the resort is not going to depict what style I must have
and how I'm going to ski.

Not sure what was he thinking, but he sensed it, then he suggested I
turn more when I near other skiers, and to tune down the conflict so I
said ok.

And he left, left me there wondering, there was no accident, not even
incident, and the run/path I skied was in no where near a skier that
can be qualified as "passing," just pure flatboardingly fast;
staightlining on a blue run is now "speeding"/"reckless," what is the
sport of skiing coming to?

Where did the spirit of skiing go?


IS


The spirit of skiing is in the hands of attorneys.

I would have strongly questioned his statement that skiing
fast is bad for the "environment". What the hell does that
mean.

The only place I saw dedicated speed control guys in the
Tahoe area was at Sierra at Tahoe. He was set up on a
beginner "road" where there was some switchbacks. I stopped
and chatted him up. Decent sort. Around here we only
attempt (it doesn't work, really) to control speed on
trails that are clearly marked as "SLOW" and a few really
dangerous intersections where expert trails cross
novice trails that are particularly heavily used.

VtSkier

"pigo" wrote in message
...


can be qualified as "passing," just pure flatboardingly fast;
staightlining on a blue run is now "speeding"/"reckless," what is the
sport of skiing coming to?

Where did the spirit of skiing go?

You are the problem. Too many innocent people got creamed by idiots like
you. He has had to clean up the results too many times. He knew you were
full of **** as soon as you told him you went faster when you turned.

OH! He's full of **** alright. But you can go faster by turning.

In a pretty narrow set of circumstances, maybe. But generally pointing em
downhill makes em go faster IME.




Next
time don't say anything quite that stupid and maybe you can have some
sort of dialogue. Read (or get a translator to read) the back of your
pass. Lift privileges can be revoked without refund for irresponsible
behaviour.

Really? That would be great if they pulled them for the irresponsible
behavior of taking your ****eaters into harms way.

Sure. No problem if thats actually the case. Do you think there exists more
of a problem at most resorts with people taking their kids where it is
unsafe or with people skiing too fast where its not appropriate?


There are plenty of things in this world that have been homoginized and to
the lowest common denomonator for the pussies that want to "look" like
they are doing something dangerous. I don't think skiing is one of them.
There are beginner areas at the bottom for what appears to be your type.
But to haul ass and miss everyone doesn't necessarily become a bad thing.


I don't want to see skiing go that way either, but I maintain there are
still plenty of places to ski fast. I love skiing fast. It would damn near
kill the sport for me if I couldn't do so. But, if its crowded or your in an
area where most people are skiing slowly, it is irresponsible. Yunlong
claimed there was room to be skiing fast where he was scolded. He also said,
if I understood him correctly, it was near a transition to another chair.
Those do tend to be the places which get congested, so I tend to think he
was telling only his side of the story.




Having read some of his bull****, and his "arms wide" thing this
may/probably not have been one of those circumstances.

That
means straightlining where there are other people close by. How close is
not your call. There are plenty of places you can ski fast without
endangering anybody else. Use your head.

I don't think he said he was straightlining.


I think he did. See the part of his post still remaining at the top of this
one.


Remember the turn thing? Now if you want to start calling on a certain
distance for others to stay away that's fine with me. But then I expect
for the boogereaters snowplowing at 2 mph to be disciplined for coming
within that same distance.


But now your looking for us to get out the measuring tapes. If the patroller
felt it was serious enough to take the time out of his day to speak to
Yunlong, then in his opinion, Yonlong was too close or too fast. Thats not
to say every patroller's word is gospel, but in most cases I think they have
enough to occupy their time that they wouldn't be stopping every skier who
isn't cutting short radius turns..




Just this week I was in some trees, about a 5' wide, and came upon someone
dawdling along in some sort of slow uneven traverses. No way to see them
until your upon them, I missed them by a few inches. And got a little
screech out of them.


I agree with you, they shouldn't have been there if they couldn't ski it.
Waste of good powder and waste of somebodies time rescuing them when they
get in trouble. But, sometimes people do stupid things. Like get into an
area they can't handle. Thats not the same as skiing too quickly in a
congested zone.


It's a big boys sport and if you want to be a skier, deal. Or stay in the
family (crybaby) zone where you can be protected from most every
occurance.

And how can you

even begin to complain about skiers if you frequent areas that aren't
boardfree? I would think that the lack of manuverability even by
"experienced" boarders, let alone what seems to be their "rules aren't for
us" attitude, would keep you off of those hills.


We've had that discussion, its really irrelevent to this one.

"Alan Baker" wrote in message
...
In article 6TC1e.817390$8l.192716@pd7tw1no,
"Norm" wrote:

"yunlong" wrote in message

And he left, left me there wondering, there was no accident, not even
incident, and the run/path I skied was in no where near a skier that
can be qualified as "passing," just pure flatboardingly fast;
staightlining on a blue run is now "speeding"/"reckless," what is the
sport of skiing coming to?

Where did the spirit of skiing go?

You are the problem. Too many innocent people got creamed by idiots like
you. He has had to clean up the results too many times. He knew you were
full of **** as soon as you told him you went faster when you turned.
Next
time don't say anything quite that stupid and maybe you can have some
sort
of dialogue. Read (or get a translator to read) the back of your pass.
Lift
privileges can be revoked without refund for irresponsible behaviour.
That
means straightlining where there are other people close by. How close is
not
your call. There are plenty of places you can ski fast without
endangering
anybody else. Use your head.

That's quite an unfair analysis of the situation. I'm both an ex-racer
and ski patroller and I know perfectly well that you can straight line a
hill and do so without endangering others.


Of course you can straight line a hill. But not just ANY hill. . Would you
do it in a congested area?
I know I can ski fast, in control, and there would be very little danger to
people around me. But did the patroller know Yunlong was good enough to get
away with it safely? How could he? In his opinion this was the wrong place
to be doing so and Yunlong should have respected his opinion, after all he
is the guy who has to pick up the pieces if Yunlong happens to
miscalculate..

"yunlong" wrote in message
oups.com...
I was not going to back down; it is my right as a valid ticket holder
and national forest user to ski what I want to ski, and you ski
patroller or the resort is not going to depict what style I must have
and how I'm going to ski.

Not sure what was he thinking, but he sensed it, then he suggested I
turn more when I near other skiers, and to tune down the conflict so I
said ok.

And he left, left me there wondering, there was no accident, not even
incident, and the run/path I skied was in no where near a skier that
can be qualified as "passing," just pure flatboardingly fast;
staightlining on a blue run is now "speeding"/"reckless," what is the
sport of skiing coming to?

Where did the spirit of skiing go?

Well, the spirit of skiing is alive and well. I love skiing within my skill
level and standing on top of a mountain and taking in the incredible views
and enjoying the sounds of people having a good time. Even a bad day, is
there one, beats the heck out of sitting in front of a tv playing with my
remote!

As far as being a ticket holder, everyone is sold a ticket with the
understanding that they will ski responsibly (it's a California/Nevada
thing) - in translation, if the way you ski is perceived by the staff at the
resort to be a threat to other skiers then you are not skiing responsibly.
It's their responsibility to minimize the risk to the most.

You said it was a blue run and called it broadway. Well, in my limited
experience, most blue runs are generally just advanced green runs and not
the place for speed. In some cases it's not a matter of whether, or not,
you are in control, it has more to do with the mix of skill levels from
beginners trying to advance to advanced beginners feeling good on the blues
but not having the greatest set of skills. There are plenty of runs at each
resort, again, in my limited experience, that are appropriate for skiing
fast, but the blue runs tend to require a more reserved approach for the
safety of the less skilled less experienced and younger skiers.

And bottom line, why argue with the ski patrol? It's their opinion that
matters, not yours or mine. Why not just say thanks for the warning and
find an uncrowded black diamond or double black diamond to ski fast on;
there's plenty of appropriate runs and times for skiing fast.

I'm not the experienced expert skier many of you are, but I'm bored (I'm
sitting in front of a tv playing with my remote) and just felt like adding
my own perspective to the thread.

yunlong wrote silly BS including this gem:
he was referring my open arms style.

Patrollers concerned about safety can almost always judge a person's
skill level, and therefore their danger to others, by observing how they
ski. You deliberately skied in a way so as to imply poor skills (you've
also bragged about these poor skills in this very forum, while trying to
pretend your poor skill set actually represented advanced skills, but we
shant revisit that discussion in this thread.) The patroller judged you
as potentially dangerous based on observed skills, and asked you to slow
down in a congested area. You argued. He should have pulled your ticket
and posted your picture in the ticket office so you wouldn't be able to
buy another ever, IMO. Patrolling is not easy and they shouldn't have to
put up with a doofuss.

This has nothing to do with whether skiing fast at a resort is
reasonable or within the spirit of skiing - sometimes it is, sometimes
not. I take my speed skis to the locker when ticket types start arriving
on the mountain and get out a turnier ski - there's a time and place. A
crowded slope is not the place.

You want to ski fast when the resort is crowded, go out of bounds and
knock yourself out. Literally.