Author Topic: Skiing  (Read 3668 times)

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Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: Skiing
« Reply #25: January 15, 2013, 10:08:52 AM »
The drive to Snowshoe from the Beltway looks like an absolute terror :-/

you could do something like

hhttps://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=22314&daddr=38.571504,-77.3322204+to:38.2922269,-77.5739179+to:38.4295538,-78.1694232+to:38.3791707,-78.7981612+to:snowshoe,+wv&hl=en&sll=38.608018,-77.338943&sspn=0.109862,0.224876&geocode=FWQKUAIdvkxo-yk5b5mmBbG3iTF_yGgAbn9I7g%3BFfCNTAIdBAFk-ymtcf0SCvm2iTHJw5TOfmeEeg%3BFQJLSAId41Bg-ymZbbAxhb-2iTE_kboOSWD8IA%3BFXFjSgIdsTpX-ykVx9CTUjy0iTEZq2ZtKw4w2A%3BFaKeSQIdr6JN-ymtoqHRzY20iTG_SE0MJW1DwA%3BFYsmSgIdO2Y7-yk1Dr8vv3BLiDG9AjJrrmPyjw&mra=dvme&mrsp=1&sz=13&via=1,2,3,4&t=m&z=13

adds a half hour to the trip (assuming you're coming from alexandria/arlington), but you drive through scenic country, and if there is traffic on the beltway or 66, you may come out on top 

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: Skiing
« Reply #26: January 15, 2013, 10:09:11 AM »
Never been to Timberline & haven't been to Canaan in years, but that high valley around Davis, WV has always had some of the most consistent snow anywhere around the area...some combination of lake effect precipitation and elevation.  Snowshoe is very good by local standards, but IMO is only worth the ~5 hour trip if the backside (Cupp Run and Shay's Revenge) is open, as that is the only part of the mountain that has the full 1500 feet of vertical (the front side is really nothing special, at least no better than one would get 2 hours closer to town).  Blue Knob (a little over 3 hours away IIRC) has perhaps the best in the way of challenging terrain aside from the aforementioned Cupp run and Shay's Revenge at Snowshoe.  Also in PA is Seven Springs, which has a pretty good mix of terrain for different abilities and also a large amount of skiable acreage.  Wisp has decent snow, but is really too small for anyone other than a beginner or lower intermediate.  The really nearby places (Liberty, Roundtop, Whitetail) are crowded and generally pretty meh, but I suppose any skiing is better than no skiing. 

Once again, much of the country is really hurting for snow (including the central rockies, where places like Copper Mountain have had very cold weather but severe drought for months).  Pretty thin cover in New England as well from what I hear.  Tonnes of snow in Tahoe and the Pacific Northwest, but that's a lot of travel time.   

Timberline (Canaan Valley) is not plush but has great snow and a great mountain.  Longest beginner slope in the region, a number of really nice intermediate and advanced slopes.  The top is > 4,000 ft, lodge around 3,000.

Offline NationalHeat

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Re: Skiing
« Reply #27: January 15, 2013, 11:06:41 AM »
Ideally would only like to drive 2 or so hours. Is Bryce Mountain and or Massanutten worth it or just total crap?

Offline tomterp

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Re: Skiing
« Reply #28: January 15, 2013, 11:34:39 AM »
Ideally would only like to drive 2 or so hours. Is Bryce Mountain and or Massanutten worth it or just total crap?

Massanutten doesn't have great elevation or much snow. 

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: Skiing
« Reply #29: January 15, 2013, 11:53:38 AM »
No one has much snow at the moment.  Even Canaan Valley is only half open with very marginal conditions on the trails that are open. 

Massanutten doesn't have great elevation or much snow. 

Offline imref

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Re: Skiing
« Reply #30: January 15, 2013, 12:27:33 PM »
timberline is very very popular with scout groups (we'll be there this weekend), weekends can be very crowded.

Offline imref

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Re: Skiing
« Reply #31: January 15, 2013, 12:29:45 PM »
I'm going skiing at Whitetail this weekend with a few friends. I have only been one other time and that as three years ago. The whole day I was falling down up until the last hour were I got the hang of it. I look forward to this weekend. I'll probably fall for a good few hours before I get the hang of it again.

I need to start digging up some clothes for skiing, though. I guess I need gloves, windbreaker material clothes, sweats, hat, long sleeve shirt(s), double socks, tennis shoes, and can't think of anything else.

googles and a face mask if they are making snow (which everyone is doing right now).  A helmet is a good idea too.

I've been skiing a few times and never really liked it, but the kids love to go and did really well at Timberline last year so they talked me into taking them again.  I'll probably take the free lesson, maybe an advanced lesson, and then go sit in the lodge and drink hot cocoa.

Online Slateman

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Re: Skiing
« Reply #32: January 15, 2013, 12:46:27 PM »
A helmet? For skiing?

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: Skiing
« Reply #33: January 15, 2013, 12:51:41 PM »
Hell yeah.  I wouldn't ski without one these days.  Plus they keep your head warm.


A helmet? For skiing?

Online Slateman

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Re: Skiing
« Reply #34: January 15, 2013, 01:05:18 PM »
Or you coudl ... you know ... not fall

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: Skiing
« Reply #35: January 15, 2013, 01:06:39 PM »
Good point.  I wish I had thought of that every time I had a sports concussion  :mg:

Offline cmdterps44

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Re: Skiing
« Reply #36: January 15, 2013, 01:08:35 PM »
A helmet? For skiing?

I wouldn't wear one of those. The closest that I came to being injured last time I went was almost twisting/doing something to my ankle/leg because of those ski-leg guards. I also almost (well, felt like almost) fell into a ditch that was like 10-15 feet down. They had construction netting around the edges but I crashed into it and fell like the thing was going to rip off.

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: Skiing
« Reply #37: January 15, 2013, 01:14:29 PM »
The helmet stigma is gone, at least at any serious ski area (places around here are pretty much all amateur night).  One hardly ever sees a good skier or boarder out west without a helmet these days. 

Offline NationalHeat

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Re: Skiing
« Reply #38: January 15, 2013, 01:16:24 PM »
Massanutten doesn't have great elevation or much snow.

Same at Bryce Mtn, would you say?

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: Skiing
« Reply #39: January 15, 2013, 01:22:15 PM »
Masanutten is a lot bigger than Bryce (which is really, really tiny...~500 foot vertical, basically a beginner mountain).  Conditions are pretty crappy right now, but even a week of cold weather is enough for the snowmakers to pretty much cover everything at a place like that.

Same at Bryce Mtn, would you say?

Online Slateman

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Re: Skiing
« Reply #40: January 15, 2013, 01:25:25 PM »
So, like, just avoid the ditch? I'm confused ... how are you people falling so much? Tuck and go. When you want to slow down, just go side to side. Then get to the end, slam on the brakes, and rooster tail the crap out of your wife :lol:

Offline NationalHeat

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Re: Skiing
« Reply #41: January 15, 2013, 01:42:10 PM »
Masanutten is a lot bigger than Bryce (which is really, really tiny...~500 foot vertical, basically a beginner mountain).  Conditions are pretty crappy right now, but even a week of cold weather is enough for the snowmakers to pretty much cover everything at a place like that.

So at Massanutten, I could get a beginner and intermediate experience?

Offline 1995hoo

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Re: Skiing
« Reply #42: January 15, 2013, 04:30:46 PM »
Hey guys, the wife and I are looking to go skiing, ideally somewhere close to home, maybe in VA? Anyone have any places they recommend?

I've found Bryce Resort and Massanutten in my basic searches, what do you all think of those? We are looking for something that accomodates both me being a beginner and her being an expert, plus have other activities/couple stuff.

Thanks for your advice.

Seven Springs is an easy enough day trip with a lot of other activities off the slopes, but it does get quite crowded on weekends because it's easily accessible from Pittsburgh as well as DC and Baltimore. The vertical drop is rather short, though. I learned to ski there on Boy Scout trips in the mid-1980s and it was very good for that. The runs on the North Face part of the mountain were longer, though now I find them quite short after having skied in Vermont and Quebec.

Offline Dave B

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Re: Skiing
« Reply #43: January 15, 2013, 06:02:51 PM »
if one person is an expert skier and the other novice, you should both just take up snowboarding. the expert will be bored skiing around here. and the novice will get better at snowboarding than they ever will at skiing.  just make sure you have beer, advil, and a hot tub to ease the pain

Offline tomterp

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Re: Skiing
« Reply #44: January 15, 2013, 06:47:11 PM »
timberline is very very popular with scout groups (we'll be there this weekend), weekends can be very crowded.

Gonna sleep in the bunkhouse imref?      :crackup:

If you've never done that before, you're in for an experience.   

Offline imref

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Re: Skiing
« Reply #45: January 15, 2013, 09:44:45 PM »
Gonna sleep in the bunkhouse imref?      :crackup:

If you've never done that before, you're in for an experience.   

I was there last year, first thought was "so this is where they filmed schindler's list."  At least one of the toilets worked.

Online Slateman

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Re: Skiing
« Reply #46: January 15, 2013, 09:55:47 PM »
So wife was told today that the ski shop can not adjust bindings over 8 years old. Frankly, I think they were trying to make us buy new skis. Any truth to this?

If so, I'm pretty sure my skis are over 8 years old.

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: Skiing
« Reply #47: January 15, 2013, 10:01:25 PM »
Utter horse$hit.  A flathead screwdriver is all you need to move the toes/heels or adjust the DIN settings.
 
So wife was told today that the ski shop can not adjust bindings over 8 years old. Frankly, I think they were trying to make us buy new skis. Any truth to this?

If so, I'm pretty sure my skis are over 8 years old.

Offline tomterp

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Re: Skiing
« Reply #48: January 16, 2013, 05:01:05 PM »
I was there last year, first thought was "so this is where they filmed schindler's list."  At least one of the toilets worked.

1-Bring your own camp chair & reading headlamp.
2-Boys have to keep their own toilet functioning because they are forbidden from using yours.
3-Open windows a few inches from the top to vent the steamy heat better.
4-NEVER choose a top bunk, bottom is best.

Offline Dave B

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Re: Skiing
« Reply #49: January 16, 2013, 06:08:05 PM »
Utter horse$hit.  A flathead screwdriver is all you need to move the toes/heels or adjust the DIN settings.
 

I've heard things like this before for liability reasons. 8 years seems short though. It CAN be done, obviously. Some people dont want to be responsible for it