Steep and Deep: The Snow Skiing/Boarding Thread

[Goatnapper'96]

We bought a couple of Mountain Collective passes for this coming winter, two days at Targhee, Big Sky, Jackson Hole, Snowbasin, Sun Valley and Snowbird. I upgraded my skis and boots and looking forward to a season of alpine skiing. We've been doing the skinny skis for a few years now and decided to try a winter of this. I skied a lot growing up and in college but backed off of it once I got married so I'm looking forward to this winter for a change.

I am in Island Park next week for Thanksgiving. I want to go skiing on Friday, 25 Nov. I will be equal distance from both Big Sky and Targhee. I have never skied at Big Sky so I kind of want to go there, but Targhee opens tomorrow so I figure that there will be more groomed runs up there and more ready for the season than Big Sky will be as it opens on 23 or 24 Nov I think. Also weather indicates it will be unseasonably warm in Driggs on 25 Nov so like skiing Targhee when it is double digits is not something one should take likely.

What is your take-where would we have a better early season experience?

[RC Vikings]

I am in Island Park next week for Thanksgiving. I want to go skiing on Friday, 25 Nov. I will be equal distance from both Big Sky and Targhee. I have never skied at Big Sky so I kind of want to go there, but Targhee opens tomorrow so I figure that there will be more groomed runs up there and more ready for the season than Big Sky will be as it opens on 23 or 24 Nov I think. Also weather indicates it will be unseasonably warm in Driggs on 25 Nov so like skiing Targhee when it is double digits is not something one should take likely.

What is your take-where would we have a better early season experience?

I'm always learly of skiing Targhee early because they need a really good base to cover the rocks, in the summer other resorts runs look like a golf course fairway, Targhee is just a big pile of rocks. Having said that I think they have had good snowfall and that may not be a problem but if you have a chance to go to Big Sky I would do that. It's a really nice resort.

[clackamascoug]

I've got to disagree with AA on this one, the new stuff makes a huge difference. Back in high school I skied on 203 Rossignols and they tracked great going fast on the groomed stuff but it was work in the crude. The new wider skis turn so much easier and are great in the powder and crude but you need to be turning because they don't track as well, little squirrely. Golfer comparison would be going from a set of 70's Haig Ultra irons to a new set of TaylorMade Stealth irons, night and day.

I get this analogy - I could have enjoyed "game improvement skis" on the upper moguls of Snowbird. I wondered why modern skis are wider - I guess stability goes a long way to the casual skier. I would say - back in the day - I used to be a 12 handicap skier - when at the same time I was a 5 handicap golfer. April in Utah is heaven when you can do both in the same week.

[clackamascoug]

I'm always learly of skiing Targhee early because they need a really good base to cover the rocks, in the summer other resorts runs look like a golf course fairway, Targhee is just a big pile of rocks. Having said that I think they have had good snowfall and that may not be a problem but if you have a chance to go to Big Sky I would do that. It's a really nice resort.

The best three days of my life was at "Grand Targhee" - A guy in the BYU 112th ward - his family had a cabin there - would invite us up there for long weekends. Skiing/snowmobiling. They had a 6 person sauna and we would cram 10 people in there. That's where I met the most beautiful girl in the world.

[RC Vikings]

The best three days of my life was at "Grand Targhee" - A guy in the BYU 112th ward - his family had a cabin there - would invite us up there for long weekends. Skiing/snowmobiling. They had a 6 person sauna and we would cram 10 people in there. That's where I met the most beautiful girl in the world.

Sounds like there may be more to this story. You can tell me when we play golf sometime.

[Bo Diddley]

Sounds like there may be more to this story. You can tell me when we play golf sometime.

clack's not one to kiss and tell
but he's been seen with Farrah...

[Shaka]

Bindings no. Skis have changed significantly. Shaped skis (parabolic they used to be called) changed the industry when they started getting popular in the late nineties. They carve better, ski crud better, and float in powder much better. The best part is you can downsize your skis significantly and still get similar performance. For example, in my teens which was my skiing heyday, I rode 205cm Kastle National Team SL which is the exact ski the Pirmin Zurbriggen used at the time. I was an all-mountain guy but loved skiing bumps. In my mid-twenties, when I blew out my left knee (the right was torched in high school), I switched to snowboarding full-time because the long skis were just too much for my knees. I kept up with ski tech and eventually one of my buddies who worked at Copeland Sports in Provo convinced me to give a pair of mid-fats (Rossignol Bandit XX) a try. Mid-fat means they have a wider waist than normal with even wider tips. The best part is my ski size went down to around 185 which put far less rotational force on my knees. The mid-fats were a revelation. They didn't ski bumps as well as my old Kastles (I'd mostly given up bumps anyway) but they carved extremely well and ripped in the crud and powder. Powder became far less work and a lot more fun. I now ski about 80% of the time and save snowboarding for powder days.

[Commando]

They’ll tell you yes.

the real answer is, not really, no.

lol.

[Commando]

I skied a lot in the 70's and 80's - K2's and Tyrolia 360's - has equipment changed (improved) since that time. Is modern equipment that much better than the old days?

Absolutely. It's improved so much it's almost not even the same sport.

[clackamascoug]

Bindings no. Skis have changed significantly. Shaped skis (parabolic they used to be called) changed the industry when they started getting popular in the late nineties. They carve better, ski crud better, and float in powder much better. The best part is you can downsize your skis significantly and still get similar performance. For example, in my teens which was my skiing heyday, I rode 205cm Kastle National Team SL which is the exact ski the Pirmin Zurbriggen used at the time. I was an all-mountain guy but loved skiing bumps. In my mid-twenties, when I blew out my left knee (the right was torched in high school), I switched to snowboarding full-time because the long skis were just too much for my knees. I kept up with ski tech and eventually one of my buddies who worked at Copeland Sports in Provo convinced me to give a pair of mid-fats (Rossignol Bandit XX) a try. Mid-fat means they have a wider waist than normal with even wider tips. The best part is my ski size went down to around 185 which put far less rotational force on my knees. The mid-fats were a revelation. They didn't ski bumps as well as my old Kastles (I'd mostly given up bumps anyway) but they carved extremely well and ripped in the crud and powder. Powder became far less work and a lot more fun. I now ski about 80% of the time and save snowboarding for powder days.

I could have read that all - even if it was three times longer. Like PAC - you're such a good writer.

As I look back on my life - the funnest days - were the skiing days. Best of all - there was a 7-11 at the mouth of Little Cottonwood and we would stop there and get 16 oz bottles of Dr. Pepper. No drink ever tasted so good as after a day of skiing. Night skiing at Sundance with a date was the best. I wonder how Ms. Mendenhall is doing nowadays.

Nod to Copeland reference.

[Shaka]

I could have read that all - even if it was three times longer. Like PAC - you're such a good writer.

As I look back on my life - the funnest days - were the skiing days. Best of all - there was a 7-11 at the mouth of Little Cottonwood and we would stop there and get 16 oz bottles of Dr. Pepper. No drink ever tasted so good as after a day of skiing. Night skiing at Sundance with a date was the best. I wonder how Ms. Mendenhall is doing nowadays.

Nod to Copeland reference.

If only I know what a paragraph was.

I hit the same 7-11 every time I came down.

[RC Vikings]

I am in Island Park next week for Thanksgiving. I want to go skiing on Friday, 25 Nov. I will be equal distance from both Big Sky and Targhee. I have never skied at Big Sky so I kind of want to go there, but Targhee opens tomorrow so I figure that there will be more groomed runs up there and more ready for the season than Big Sky will be as it opens on 23 or 24 Nov I think. Also weather indicates it will be unseasonably warm in Driggs on 25 Nov so like skiing Targhee when it is double digits is not something one should take likely.

What is your take-where would we have a better early season experience?

What did you end up doing and how was the weekend?

[Joe Public]

If some beginning skiers were to choose between some combination of Brighton, Solitude and Snowbird over two or three days in December, what would you choose and why?

[Jeff Lebowski]

If some beginning skiers were to choose between some combination of Brighton, Solitude and Snowbird over two or three days in December, what would you choose and why?

I learned to Ski at Brighton. Love that place.

[All-American]

I learned to Ski at Brighton. Love that place.

Same here.

What are the ages? I understand Brighton has some fantastic rates for kids.