Skiing and Snowboarding
 

Since there has been some discussion about this in the Calgary thread, I thought I would start a new thread to discuss it so we don't fill the Calgary thread with nod construction related discussions.

[sarcasm] This is an inappropriate topic. This board is for development threads. This is as bad as "Calgary Wedding Locations", or "Calgary 7-11's". [/sarcasm]

:cool:

C'mon be nice now.

I haven't been out this year yet, but as posted in the Cgy thread, I am going on a sweet sweet skiing holiday over the Xmas break: Silver Star on the 26th for one day, then to Big White for a day, then to Red Mountain down near Rossland for a day, then two days skiing at Whitewater over new years. Which reminds me, I need to wax & edge my tired old Volkls' sometime this week!

I fear that with each new thread like this that gets posted we'll wake up one morning and find the SSP: Local format will have appeared here!

I'm a snowboarder. I started in the late 80's when snowboarders were considered "malicious criminals" to most. I learned to board from a very old school skater who instead of giving me tips; literally strapped me onto a board; rapped my knuckles and pushed me down the mountain while laughing and calling me a big "pu$$y". Punk rock, snowboarding in the winter, skateboarding in the summer. It was the culture back then! We were different, that's for sure...

That's how things were done back then! I used to frequent the parks in Edmonton; made tons of trips to Lake Louise for their board park too... I can remember the day it opened, we all couldn't believe how cool it was that a major ski resort was accomodating to boarders. When ski resorts starting using "ski and ride with care" for their warning tags, we knew that snowboarding had gone mainstream (for the better)

Now I just ride because I love it. I'm too old for tricks... I do love to scream down off limits areas or find myself deep powder; but mostly I've tamed down and just ride for the view; haha.

I tried skiiing once but I hated it.. I do have some really excellent skiiers in my family (half of which live in Jasper); and I admire their skills/talent. Skiiing, IMO is hard.

Never been to Silverstar, but I was impressed with big White, that's a great resort.

I was at Sunshine Village yesterday and the conditions were awesome, there was fresh powder all over the mountain, and I actually got to make fresh tracks. I hear Kicking Horse is unreal right now, anyone been there this season?

^Big White is a good hill but socked in a lot.. hence the nickname "Big Whiteout" Personally, I think Silver Star is the better hill, Especially since they developed Putnam Creek (The backside, as it is known by the locals)

What's the lastest on Fortress ? That was my favorite 1/2 day hill when I lived down there. I heard it's basically done.

I ski alongside friends who are snowboarders. Many of them are decent people, but I must ask, why do so many snowboarders like to plunk their asses down on the middle of the hill wherever the hell they feel like, regardless of their surroundings?

I have a friend who just had a big chunk torn out of his skis because a snowboarder sat down right in front of him. My friend swerved to avoid him and went right into some rocks and tore the base right off his ski.

I don't know :shrug: and I see this all the time too. I hate it as well... there should be (if there aren't already) a rule/law against this - it is dangerous. Fines should be handed out for creating a major hazard.

It is usually the newbie snowboarders that do this. They SHOULD be pulling off to the sides.

I have come down a slope before and almost killed a group of people. I have yelled at people many-a-time to move to the sides.

Fortress is finished, the new owners failed a bunch of safety inspections or something and the Province shut them down.

went to panorama dec7-10 and it sort of sucked. only half the mountain was open and the conditions were pretty icy and cold. the top was alright, as usual.

can't wait for summer now though. panorama/kicking horse are awesome places to go to mountain bike/party.

Word on the street is that too many things went wrong with those inspections for it to be coincidental. I've heard rumours that somebody in the provincial government is friendly with the other resort owners and was doing everything possible to make sure that Fortress couldn't open.

I was at Sunshine over the weekend too, and I echo those comments. It was funny though, the guy loadin us in the gondola said they need snow badly :shrug: seemed pretty damn good to me!

In regards to Kicking Horse, Im going there on the 27th so I will give an update when I come back. :tup:

I'm a skier but from what I've seen with snowboarding, it's just the nature of the sport. Unlike us, where falls are somewhat rare (and often spectacular!), falling down on a board is just the inevitable result of a stop. It would be nice if more of them learned to pull over to the side when they do this, but I almost think many stay in the middle of a run on purpose - so that they're clearly visible from above, and also to keep the sides clear. I've noticed boarders really love to carve up the steep walls of a narrow run so they probably think they're doing everyone a favour by not blocking that area. They're possibly also expecting their buddy to shoot out from the trees above their head.

Also it's just more common for boarders to stop and rest, hang out, smoke a joint, whatever. I'm not among the strongest of skiers yet so on longer runs I often take a break or two - and I'm just about the only skier doing this. Boarders take breaks, skiers don't, or so I've noticed.

And of course the other place they congregate is at points where runs level out. When boarders don't get up enough speed to get over a crest or even a flat area, they pretty much have to walk. No poles = teh suck. :P I always know when I need to keep up some speed due to the nice massing of tired boarders congregating at the top of a ridge ahead. Suckers.

I'm just learning to accept their weird ways. Seems like there are more boarders than skiers these days so pretty soon they'll own the slopes once us old farts retire. Hardly anyone under 30 skis anymore. :(

To be honest, I've never skied or snowboarded.

Panorama is always icey, if the global warming predictions come to fruition, that place will go under. Anyone tried that new resort in Revelstoke? I know it's only a small hill right now, but it's supposed to be the biggest in NA when finished.

^Not yet, but I looked at the full build out on the runs......holy shit. The one thing Im hoping for, is to get out there before it really gets over-run. Im very excited about the future of that hill. 4 or 5 years down the road should be interesting.

^Doesn't open until later this week.

I figured it would be open already since Kicking Horse is already open.