Skiing

When is it? I go to Aspen nearly every year and have never heard of it!

 

Been to Italy, France, Sweden & Finland skiing. Awesome fun, prefer it to hot holidays!

 

I've only just started, my first time being January of 2011. I took to it like a duck to water, and I've loved going ever since.
The only place I have gone to ski at is Winter Place, at Flat Top, WV.

 

Yay! I love skiing!
I've been to France (3 Vallee's) a couple of times, and also to Germany and Austria, I have to say that France ski-wise is the best, but smaller resorts are great fun as well because they're less tourist oriented and less busy.
I've been skiing from... my 11th I think, so from the top of my head.

 

I hate the ice (bad experiences) but I love deep snow, even if it hurts my legs after a few days!

 

The trails in Aspen are the nicest I've ever been on! (Although I've only ever snowboarded in the United States.) A typical blue trail in Aspen would be as difficult as a black trail in Upstate NY, to give you an idea. I tend to be there earlier in the season when a lot of the snow is manmade, but by January, all of the mountains are completely open. I recommend either Ajax or Aspen Highlands if you're good.

 

I'm a huge fan of cross country skiing. Unfortunately there aren't many great trails out here in the middle of the prairie.

 

Yeah, a lot of the bigger resorts out west have some kind of Gay Ski Week thing. As far as Colorado ski areas go, Crested Butte, Vail, and Telluride do to (if you're going to go to CO, of those places, I'd recommend CB ... but I'm biased), so does Lake Tahoe and I'm pretty sure Whistler has something too ... would have loved to have gone to that.

Aspen is pretty overrated, IMO, for the price. Any place out west is better than any place out east though. Little Cottonwood Canyon in Utah is the best backcountry terrain I've ever ridden (knuckledragger here )
Never skied anywhere outside North America, and from what I've heard about the Alps, I don't think I'd actually ever go there. I spent waaaay too long riding the 4% moisture content champagne powder to ever be able to adjust to slush/cement/ice =P

 

Love skiing - skied in Val d'Isère, Val Thorens, Alpe d'Huez and Morzine in France, and Schladming in Austria. All amazing. I've still not skied in Scotland yet, eek. I want to blow my own trumpet here - I'm pretty good at it and in the last three times I've been, I don't think I've turned down a run because it looks too difficult.

It's just the most ridiculously expensive sport/hobby ever. At ~£600 for a week, once you've included gear hire, food, alcohol, accommodation, the 27 hour bus journeys from Scotland, and obviously the lift pass, it really does drain your money. Well worth it though!

I often see cross country skiers back at home, as I live on a fairly flat but high area that catches a lot of snow. You can even do 'alpine' skiing in England.

 

Solution to the "skiing is expensive problem:" Live in a ski town, work at the resort as a liftie or whatever for the free season pass. I guess if you live in New York that might be a bit more difficult. It's a good life though.
Also, if you take good care of your equipment -- wax it regularly, fill the deep gouges with ptex or whatever, and keep your edges sharp, it will last a while. Of course, this is assuming you bought some quality gear to begin with But if you're desperate you can make cheap crap work too -- I've had the same pair of snowboard bindings for like... 9 seasons now, and they weren't anything especially good.
Also, if you go to Aspen/Vail/wherever for gay ski week that's one thing, but if you just take some random trip out west, there's absolutely no reason to go to one of those big resort places ... just costs extra money. In Colorado, if you're lucky enough to visit when they're getting dumped on, the snow will rock your world no matter where you ski, so smaller mountains like Monarch/Loveland/Purgatory are the place to be.

 

I really need to go skiing far more often than what I have been...

I've only been skiing 3 times. First time was for 8 days at Falls Creek in the Australian skifields - the only ski-in ski-out resort in Australia. Great weather and the conditions were great when I was there (in 2004). Second time was in St. Anton, Austria. I was there for 2 weeks and definitely want to go back, as the 2007 season was the warmest in a long time, so the conditions weren't so good. The most recent time was in January of this year where I went skiing for the day at Hlíðarfjall in Akureyri, Iceland. That was really awesome there - it was just a small resort with a few pomas, a t-bar and a chairlift, but it was only a 10 minute drive from the centre of the town and there was also night skiing. The best bit about Hlíðarfjall though was the price - 1 day skis, boots and pole hire AND the lift pass costed $47. BARGAIN!

 

I live 30 minutes out of Aspen! The skiing is great up here. Most of the tourists get caught up in Copper, Colorado, so we only end up with those determined to get here. I would go to Snowmass, because it's huge, and you get things from a ton of greens, to the Wall, and all of the super cool glades beneath it. Gay Ski Week is something Aspen's super proud of, which is cool. It's pretty fun to see all of the skiers snowboarders(I like tourist watching), but unless you're old enough, you can't really do anything. I've been snowboarding for 6 years. Colorado is pretty much the bomb as far as getting into the sport!!

 

Oh yes, Harve, Val d'Isere is great as well! Usually when we go to 3V, we're in Val Thorens as well, I just like the area there. The pistes are terrific!
I just love powder skiing <3 it's like floating on clouds or something!

 

There's nothing more satisfying than carving a fresh powder trail on the first run of the day<333

 

Lol, that's why you drink beer on the lifts ... keeps you warm and gives you a little confidence boost Or you just need to ski out west where the snow is fluffy enough that your clothes aren't soaked through after like 4 hours. :lol:
But yes, there is absolutely nothing in this world better than fresh tracks. Nothing.
One of the areas near where I live now stays partially open during the evenings on weekends (mostly blues and greens though, they don't have lights on the whole mountain) ... anyway, one Friday I was there, it just kept DUMPING, and even though it was blues I was getting faceshots at 6pm -- absolutely unreal.

EDIT: Ok I just realized you guys are like teenagers, haha ... ummm so when you are of age, drink beer on the lifts, lol. Until then ... uhh just wear warmer clothes?