Category: Articles

Articles, NE Ski Blogger Summit

Social Media, Blogging, & Skiing

Social media allows for communication between persons, groups, and organizations. These communications are generally either peer to peer or business to consumer (and consumer to business). Facebook has been (willfully and profitably) co-opted for commercial purposes and is a hybrid of these two frameworks: peer to peer communication combined with opt in advertising which is also shared with friends whether they opted in or not. From a marketing perspective, it is the best dodge of the CAN-SPAM Act available. Facebook has become the ultimate buzz generator for business to consumer communications.

Ten years ago, a company or organization was not legit without a web page. Now you are not legit without a Facebook Fan Page. Ski Areas on the cutting edge are blogging and tweeting. Lift status updates, snow conditions, and accumulations are reported real time in text, photos, and video.

Before these impressive communication developments, skiers had to read newspaper updates, call snow phones, or watch Weather Channel Ski Reports (none of which were in depth nor could be trusted). Now skiers and riders read forums, blogs, or social network feeds to see accurate conditions in real time. Ware the resort that fluffs a report which is contradicted by multiple live reports from skiers and riders on the mountain. Total buzz kill.

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Articles

Skiing on the Cheap: 2010-2011 Edition

The skiing industry is somewhat bizarre in its pricing structure. The most absurd pricing practice is setting extremely high premium prices only to then offer deep discounts. Often times, discounts can be found for more than half of the walk up rate. Two customers at the same ticket window on the same day are often paying vastly different rates. The only difference between those two customers is that one customer did their homework and the other did not.

My benchmark for cheap skiing is $40.00 per day (excluding season passes which lock you into a specific mountain but allow for a substantially lower average daily cost). With a little work, a seasonal average of $40 per day or better is easily attainable, especially when you factor in early and late season reduced pricing. Many great deals fall into this $40 price point. Here are my favorite discount offerings that any skier or rider could take advantage of if they so choose:

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Articles, Big Jay Coverage

Vermont Life Weighs in On Trail Cutting

A Response to the Vermont Life Magazine Article on Trail Cutting

The Big Jay trail cutting incident continues to create discussion about so called “illegal backcountry trail cutting.” Vermont Life Winter 2009 edition presents an article that fails to fully flesh out the issue and generally focuses on only one side of the “problem” and “solution”. So lets delve into this subject in detail using the Vermont Life article as a launching pad for a more in depth discussion.

Is Cutting a “Backcountry” Problem?

First, I would like to address this common concept of blaming “backcountry skiers” for illegal cutting and thinning. I propose that the majority of illegal cutting occurs at established ski areas within or adjacent to ski area boundaries. While there are those that cut and thin lines that are strictly accessible by earning turns, most thinned areas are lift service accessible or at least slackcountry accessible from a lift with a short hike. This is not strictly a “backcountry” problem and I would suggest that the problem is actually significantly bigger at and around ski areas. The Vermont Life article (or at least those quoted within it) confuses ski area gladed terrain with backcountry terrain (or at least is written in such a way that suggests confusion).

Second, all skiers and riders currently recreating in illegally thinned out tree lines are culpable and have provided defacto approval and endorsement of the activity. This likely even includes many if not most of the persons quoted in the Vermont Life article that suggest “skiing without a saw”. Perhaps prior to the Big Jay cut, there could be no guilty mind despite the guilty act because cutting and thinning of lines seemed very acceptable and the way things are done. But since the Big Jay cut, any one that skis a line that has been thinned illegally is providing their tacit endorsement of the activity. This likely includes many skiers and riders who have decried cutting and thinning the loudest.

Perhaps many do so without even knowing that the line was thinned illegally. However, I think it is a safe assumption that unless a ski area actively promotes boundary to boundary (or perhaps even beyond the boundary) tree skiing, most tree skiing not on a trail map is likely the result of illegal or unauthorized cutting. Essentially, most tree skiing off the map is likely maintained without the approval of the adjacent ski area.

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Articles, Gear

Boot Fitting with Jeff Bokum of Profile Orthotic Center

Here is my boot fitting experience with Jeff Bokum (C-PED) at Profile Orthotic Center in Concord, NH.

After exchanging a few emails, Jeff Bokum was able to setup an appointment for me on extremely short notice (two hours). When I entered the Profile Orthotic Center, I had no doubt that despite handling orthotics for a variety of athletes and sports, skiing is definitely Jeff’s specialty. From the ski boot holster for a heat gun to a signed posted of Glen Plake along with plenty of random ski boots kicking around, his shop oozes ski culture.

Jeff affectionately refers to his work space as a theater for skiers. Customers take their seats on one of two giant steps facing each other that lift the skier high up over the stage that Jeff plies his trade upon. The benches place the skier’s foot at working level. Skiers in this theater are not meant to be spectators but rather Jeff draws heavily upon audience participation.

Having been fitted once before at a different shop, I knew the drill and expected the expert to run the show. But Jeff was not having any of that and ensured this was a team effort. Jeff guided me through the process with his detailed knowledge and provided ample physiological descriptions regarding the what, why, and how of the fitting process.

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