Well the snow has hit... (NW suburbs, chicago)
Anyone into snowboarding or skiing?

Well the snow has hit... (NW suburbs, chicago)
Anyone into snowboarding or skiing?
Ha ha, funny you should ask....

http://www.rx8club.com/showpost.php?p=627652&postcount=33

^ wow great pictures, ive been snowboarding for 3 seasons (counting this year) but havent traveled farther than michigan. Id love to go to a "real" mountain

skiing here, never snowboarded. i usually head to wisconsin, forgot what the placed was called.

I was going to take a ride out to chestnut mountain (Galena illinois) this weekend, assuming a few runs are open. Only 10$ this month.

^ wow great pictures, ive been snowboarding for 3 seasons (counting this year) but havent traveled farther than michigan. Id love to go to a "real" mountain



Sometime you should make it up to Calgary. You have 5 different mountains with 1.5 hours and another two within 3 and another 4 within 5 hours.

What's snow?

I have skiied many places in Colorado, a few in Utah, and once in Canada (but I can't remember where exactly, somewhere above Ohio). The Rocky Mountains are incredible.

Some of my recollections:

Snowbird has excellent expert terrain, with steep cliffs and maximum snow (500 inches a year). Not as good mogul runs as Colorado, but the steeps are superb, and you are more likely to get into deep powder. You can ski between Alta and Snowbird, but why pay more for a combo ticket? You can get a full day skiing at either place. Great lift/tram coverage. Weak nightlife.

Alta is laid back, and they do not allow snowboards, which is attractive to the old-schoolers. Nice bowls, but require a bit of a climb to get to some of them (not good, my sea level lungs are straining enough already).

Winter Park/Mary Jane is my favorite place in Colorado. The closest resort to Denver, they have dual mountains ala Snowbird/Alta, but this one is worth the combo ticket. I love Mary Jane the best. Wonderful mogul runs, and sweet cruisers too. This is the best resort for families imo because of their excellent ski school and perfect combination of beginner/intermediate/expert runs. They have a great shuttle system, don't bother with a rental car.

Vail is huge, I believe the biggest resort in North America. The back bowls are incredible. Great nightlife. Fun place. Can't go wrong here if there is snow. Everything you could want is here. Ski in/out widely available.

Steamboat is quirky and interesting. Great ski school, wonderful tree runs.

That sounds pretty cool doc, I'll have to check it out if I can get enough time off. Right now I'm just snowboarding at big bear on the weekends which is nice, but I can't wait until next week when I get four days off. I'm planning to go to mammoth for those days off with some friends.

Anyone into snowboarding or skiing?

Yup. When I moved to Calgary in 1981 I was a part-time ski bum. For all of the first 3 winters I lived here, I only missed 2 weekends of skiing. Otherwise, I skied one or two days every weekend, mid-November through end of May (yeah, our ski season in the Canadian Rockies is over 6 months long - one year they had so much snow they opened again for July 1 weekend!). Averaged 55 days skiing per year back then! After those three seasons, I joined the Canadian Ski Patrol and spent 16 years on the ski patrol at Lake Louise ski area in Banff park (http://www.skilouise.com/). I retired from the Patrol about 4 years ago, when my daughter was 2, as I needed to start teaching her to ski and didn't have enough time for skiing with the family and patrolling.

Calgary area (Banff National Park) really is incredible for skiing. Along with Lake Louise, Sunshine Village is also a world class resort, and there are a bunch of smaller resorts (that still have huge terrain) that offer great skiing.

Regards,
Gordon

Love to ski. Go several times a year and can't wait to go this year! Have fun in the snow! :)

Yup. When I moved to Calgary in 1981 I was a part-time ski bum. For all of the first 3 winters I lived here, I only missed 2 weekends of skiing. Otherwise, I skied one or two days every weekend, mid-November through end of May (yeah, our ski season in the Canadian Rockies is over 6 months long - one year they had so much snow they opened again for July 1 weekend!). Averaged 55 days skiing per year back then! After those three seasons, I joined the Canadian Ski Patrol and spent 16 years on the ski patrol at Lake Louise ski area in Banff park (http://www.skilouise.com/). I retired from the Patrol about 4 years ago, when my daughter was 2, as I needed to start teaching her to ski and didn't have enough time for skiing with the family and patrolling.

Calgary area (Banff National Park) really is incredible for skiing. Along with Lake Louise, Sunshine Village is also a world class resort, and there are a bunch of smaller resorts (that still have huge terrain) that offer great skiing.

Regards,
Gordon


Its the one saving grace for having to live through Calgary winters.....lots of excellent ski hills close by!

I used to make trips all the time with the family to Colorado. My favorite was usually Keystone for the back mounthains, North Face and Outback. My friend and I would just spend all day back there in deep powder. Copper was a second favorite of the family. Lots of smooth runs and not a lot of lines (well before the high-speed quad there were lines). A-Basin was just too cold for me everytime I went there so I never really enjoyed it. As for Utah, Alta rocks. Fantastic place to go and just get your self lost skiing. Now that I've taken up snowboarding I probably wont get to go back there. I completely respect their choice to go no snowboarding. I might even strap on the skis again if I was out there.

Of course I live in Ohio and there's not much around here. I go up to Mad River Mounting for a total 300 feet of elevation change for the "mountain". Not quite up to the Colorado standards but plenty for learning how to snowbaord for me.

Whistler/Blackcomb......1.5hrs from the door. Great resorts. Just opened in the last week. Good snow already. Lookin good for this winter :D