Skiing Spoiled
I think I have been a spoiled skier my whole life. My parents where big skiers in their day. Dad was on the UW downhill race team with my uncle as the coach. My Mom spent her winter quarters in Sun Valley as a waitress hanging in the scene back in the day. She even graced the cover of SKIING magazine which is bigger editorial coverage than I ever achieved.
They started me skiing at a very young age. I don't remember how old I was but I'm guessing 3, 4, or 5. They put me in classes when I was little and I eventually went on to race at Snoqualmie. Never had the patience for racing. Then one of my fathers friends was a K2 rep and we went and skied bumps and I dreamed of being a bumper. That didn't amount to much either. Then I went to MSU to ski some more and get an education. I got to ski 3-4 times a week through a long college career.
All the while I seemed to get hooked up with free or discounted ski gear. The family always went on ski vacations for Spring Break and sometimes for X-Mas. They always made sure I had enough good equipment and keep me going every weekend on a bus of some sort, or when I was old enough to drive, supplied me with enough funds for lift tickets. In college I worked at a ski/snowboard shop which allowed me to continue getting cheap goodies.
Then when I started working in the Wintersports Industry I got spoiled even more. Free equipment from just about any brand I wanted, cat skiing, heli skiing, backcountry on snowmobiles, going to the US Open and the X-Games, and skiing around the world became the norm. What a dream come true.
But never have I been as spoiled as the beginning of this season. I have a seasons pass at my favorite local resort. I'm still getting free equipment from my favorite brands like LINE, K2, HH, POW, and tid-bits from athletes I used to sponsor. But for the first time in my life, I have no school or work to get in the way of riding. Mother Nature decided that at the same time she would supply me with the most snow on record in the Northwest. Only now am I realizing how fortunate I've been. Skiing and snowboarding is not at all a cheap sport, it's truly a very expensive sport.
Today I went up skiing and it was only the second day I haven't ridden at least 4 inches of new snow. There was still new snow from a few days ago, no ice, but it just wasn't powder. For most people, especially those from the East Coast, today would have been epic. For this season, it was below average.
It was a blue sky day and we went in search of powder in the backcountry. Only ended up finding wind blown and hard pack conditions. I had a little scare with my ski buddy as we did a North Backcountry run and I lost him. I'll admit, I like going first all the time and push the pace all day long. I'm glad the people I ski with have patience for my nagging and fast pace. I stopped along the run and waited my usually time frame, but he just didn't show up.
Did he get in front of me some how? He must have... So I keep on down the run and out to the chairlifts. I also skied with my headphones as sometimes I like to ride with music. I learned my lesson and don't think I'll ride the backcountry or with friends and have my music playing. It's just not safe.
I then decided I had waited at the chair so long, that maybe he thought my impatience lead me to hop on the chair and him to follow. I went up and skied a couple runs on the chair we were sessioning. No ski buddy. I ran into a crew of Crystal Mountain ski buddies who wanted to go take a run, but I was actually getting a little worried. I almost asked them to go back to the run and do a sweep with me, but took off and decided I'd do the sweep myself and then if I came up empty, I'd grab the ski patrol.
Luckily, on that lift ride up I spotted my ski buddy. He had taken a wrong turn and had to ski down to the road and catch a bus back to the resort. Whew, glad the timing worked out and I spotted him under the chair when I did. Lesson learned, always keep track of your ski buddy and don't listen to music in the backcountry.
Hopefully the snow storms will line up and start dumping more powder. I think I enjoy being a spoiled skier.