To celebrate Black History Month we���ve rounded up some of our favorite stories that highlight diverse voices.

Historically, skiing has been a predominantly white sport, which makes it more important than ever to highlight new faces in the industry. Through perseverance and passion, these individuals are breaking barriers on the slopes and helping to foster a more inclusive and welcoming environment within the skiing community.

I met Stan Evans in the winter of 1998 when we were on one of our first feature assignments for a new ski magazine devoted to the wild and aberrant freeskiing movement that was taking off as a ski subculture. This made us misfits by choice, and while I wasn���t aware of any other Black ski photographers, it didn���t occur to me that there was anything historic about our assignment. The following winter, Stan organized and produced the first snowboard magazine story featuring all Black riders, shot by a Black photographer. That this had never been done makes it objectively historic, and it stands as a benchmark of winter sports diversity. At the time, however, very little mainstream attention was paid to the quantum gap jump that Stan had just helped the sport clear.

, a Bend, Ore.���based skier, and filmmaker, decided to throw out the rulebook with ���The Blackcountry Journal,���泭a short film that mixes backcountry freeskiing with his lifelong passion for jazz. Beneath the smooth soundtrack and savory facade is a complex story about race in skiing, although the nuance may take a few views to rise to the surface. Shot in monochrome and structured in three parts, the film abstractly follows Duncan���s story as a black man trying to find his place in the white ski industry.

We sat down with Duncan upon his return from the Banff screening to learn about the making of ���The Blackcountry Journal.��� Be sure to泭泭when it���s released to the public on Nov. 8.

On a spring morning at Vail, laughter fills the entire dining room of a restaurant lounge as a group of people gather around a stone fireplace. They clap one another on the back, cackling to inside jokes and generally enjoying each other���s company. At first glance, you might think you���ve stumbled into a reunion of some sort.

The truth is, most of us have just met each other this morning, brought together by an organization whose mission is to encourage, teach, and inspire Black, Indigenous, and people of color to participate in mountain sports by creating spaces for enjoying the outdoors. This convivial group is here for a ski day with the Denver-based 泭(詁紼唬).

An Oral History of the National Brotherhood of Skiers

The nation���s first Black ski group, the Jim Dandy Ski Club (named after an R&B song by LaVern Baker), formed in Detroit in 1958. By the early 1960s, a handful of U.S. cities had similar clubs, like the Snow Rovers in Boston and the Chicago Ski Twisters. In New York, there was the Four Seasons Ski Club, run by an NBC cameraman named Dick Martin, who owned a ski shop in Harlem and often played ski evangelist to his peers, screening films and proclaiming that a skier need not be a ���blond-haired, blue-eyed Norse god.��� Martin organized weekend ski buses that rolled out of Manhattan at oh-dark-thirty to wend their way north to the mountains of upstate New York. In 1964, a 25-year-old New York University graduate student named Ben Finley climbed on board.

Read the rest here.

Soft Life Ski, has a unique mission built on a combination of unlikely passions: skiing and Afrobeat music. The UK-based group hopes to increase inclusion and diversity in the winter sports space by organizing music-themed trips to ski resorts. ���Soft life,��� a term for an easygoing and relaxing lifestyle, is the feeling the group hopes to bring to the slopes. In short, SLS is a traveling music and ski festival aiming to introduce the joys of winter to its Black and African audience.

The post Our Favorite Ski Stories in Honor of Black History Month appeared first on 窪蹋勛圖厙 Online.

The sun was setting over the South Face of 12,972-foot Mount Robson, the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies, when Canadian professional ski mountaineer Christina ���Lusti��� Lustenberger and IFMGA guide Guillaume ���Gee��� Pierrel decided to bail on their climb.

The two were attempting a first descent of the peak’s Great Couloir on February 13, and were just 650 feet shy of the summit when they decided to turn around.

“At that point we thought ‘Oh my God, future me would wanna go back, but I need a break from this.'” Lustenberger told泭窪蹋勛圖厙.

Lustenberger and Pierrel, hot on the heels of their astounding泭set of first descents on New Zealand���s 12,218-foot Mount Cook, were attempting to put their stamp on a face that has tested mountaineering greats for generations. Famed Canadian alpinist Barry Blanchard established a route called “Infinite Patience” on the mountain���s Emperor Face 2002, and in 2016, the late Marc-Andr矇 Leclerc climbed that route solo.

Canadians Ptor Spricenieks and Troy Jungen skied the first descent of the peak in 1995, a line that would later enter the book . Their line, the North Face, has only been skied once since, by .

���Robson holds the names of so many legends of skiing and climbing,��� Lustenberger said. ���It���s iconic in so many ways and for Gee and I to put our names up there with those greats is incredibly meaningful.���

Lustenberger and Pierrel���s descent on that first attempt would prove to be much more difficult than the climb. The skiers had to reverse several pitches of mixed rock and ice climbing, ski some of the worst snow they���d ever encountered, and rig seven rappels through sections of decaying sedimentary rock and vertical ice���all in the dark.

The pair began their first attempt on February 13, and had attempted to climb the south face over two days, setting up camp halfway up the mountain while temperatures dropped below minus-13 degrees Fahrenheit.

On the way down, they packed up their camp and descended carefully. The Great Couloir is shaped like a giant funnel, and the further Lustenberger and Pierrel descended, the greater the risk that falling rock and ice could injure or kill them. The two ski mountaineers exited the lower gully through a section of trees so tight they had to remove their skis. They finally returned to their motor home at 10 P.M.

“On that first attempt, the snow was so bad,” Pierrel told泭窪蹋勛圖厙. “Hard, icy, all the stuff fell down the chute that day made little bumps and waves. The skiing was terrible.”

After regrouping in the nearby town of Valemount for a few days, Lustenberger and Pierrel returned to Mount Robson with a film crew. The team flew to the east side of the mountain and began climbing the Kain Route, a world-famous alpine climb, on February 15.

It had snowed during their break in Valemount, and conditions were much better for skiing when they returned. ���Mt. Robson creates its own weather system,��� Lustenberger said.

The skiers set out in sub-zero temperatures���ideal for keeping the rock and snow glued into place. ���That���s why I invited Gee to come in February,��� she said. ���Robson has such a big South Face that we wanted to limit solar radiation. The sun is so intense in March that it would shed. Earlier than February, the days are too short.���

Luckily, the snow didn���t hide the rappel anchors the duo had placed on their first attempt a few days prior, which sped up their descent from the summit. This proved to be key for their safety in The Great Colouir.

���It���s like playing Russian Roulette, a game of chance,��� said Pierrel. ���We called the lower part of the descent the Cascade. You���re funneled through these little gullies. We can control how fast we move through those gullies but not what comes down on our heads.���

In recent years, Lustenberger has skied lines that have previous ski mountaineers haven’t even considered���Robson, Cook, the Great Trango Tower. These ski lines are essentially ice climbing routes that Lustenberger has descended on skis.

窪蹋勛圖厙 asked her and Pierrel how they approach these routes, given the increasing danger around each objective.

���When you step into that line you���re accepting a huge amount of consequences that you can���t control,��� said Lustenberger. ���I think that���s part of being in the mountains. But I felt like Mount Robson was an important part of my vision and journey. It was something I felt viscerally compelled to do.”

Lustenberger said she’s assessed the south face of Mount Robson for a decade. “I decided to go this season because my requirements lined up. After skiing with Gee in New Zealand, I knew I had a partner that I trust completely and move really well with in the mountains,��� Lustenberger said.

Pierrel is a guide, and he is accustomed to operating with much wider margins of safety. ���This was so far from the style of risk management I often use in the mountains as a guide,��� he said. ���At one point I said ���I���m too old for this shit, I���m not made of iron like you Lusti.������

Pierrel said that by the end of the descent he was physically and mentally exhausted from the stress of being exposed to falling rock and ice. ���Personally, I pushed pretty close to the maximum,” he added.

On February 16, after their painfully close attempt three days prior, the two ski mountaineers reached the summit and then carved their signatures down the South Face of the Rockies��� most formidable peak.

“Robson is the King of the Rockies,” Lustenberger said. “It’s elevation relief and scope is real, Himalayan-style terrain sitting in the Canadian Rockies. I am so relieved to be on the other side of this project. It���s been a dream in the making, one I had thought about for years. My ski partner Gee was a force and we worked hard as a team. Constantly pushing ourselves and each other to another level.”

Their film about the expedition, produced by production company Sherpas Cinemas, will come out in late 2025. As for what���s next? Pierrel hinted his interest in attempting to ski Mount Everest���s Hornbein Couloir, a line he describes as extremely similar to Robson���s Great Couloir���if it sat on the Roof of the World.

But first, both skiers told 窪蹋勛圖厙 they needed a relaxing trip to the sauna.

The post The South Face of Mount Robson Sees a First Ski Descent appeared first on 窪蹋勛圖厙 Online.

Robert Baker clicks his flame-orange Tecnica boots into his bindings on the summit of Rendezvous Mountain, the high point of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. Folks are just waking up in the valley below, but at 53, with bristling gray eyebrows, perma-rosied cheeks and a mariner’s beard, Baker wastes no time.

I watch Baker drop into Rendezvous Bowl, his skis cutting clean arcs through the wind-scoured snow. He moves with the ease of someone who���s skied this line for more than three decades���light on his edges, unbothered by the chop. A cloud of powder trails behind him, then settles as he stops below, looking back upslope for me.

Baker has skied like this for decades, a local who built his life around the mountain. Until five years ago, he was running a plum and grape farm in Fresno so he could spend his winters here. Only in the last few years has he started tracking vertical feet, out of curiosity. By the end of last season, he logged 5.8 million feet���a full million more than the next closest skier at Jackson Hole. If this winter is anything like the last, he���ll take more than 1,100 tram laps, spending the equivalent of a week of his life just riding back up the mountain. Unlike the younger skiers chasing single-day records, Baker���s approach is about sheer accumulation���stacking vertical, day after day, all season long. The Jackson Hole app will track nearly every foot. In classic ski bum-ese, Baker, called ���Buddha��� by the locals���says he doesn’t obsess over stats.

���You get what you get,��� he says. ���I just go skiing.���

The post How Vert-Tracking Apps Are Reshaping Ski Culture appeared first on 窪蹋勛圖厙 Online.

When Lindsey Vonn announced her return this past November, alpine racing fans were stunned. In 2024 Vonn turned 40 and also underwent a partial knee replacement. There is no precedent for a downhill ski racer to return to the World Cup circuit at that age, with an artificial joint. A comeback like Vonn’s is by and large unprecedented���in any professional sport.

But some of Vonn’s colleagues on the US Ski Team weren’t so surprised.

���When you���re an elite athlete at the level that Lindsey was, ski racing is just a part of your character, it���s in your blood,��� Tom Kelly, a long-time spokesperson for the U.S. Ski Team who has known Vonn since she was a junior racer, told 窪蹋勛圖厙. ���You get great satisfaction being in your competitive field, in her case, being out on snow. She didn���t want to retire when she did. She just couldn���t do it anymore. And now she can.���

Here’s what to know about Vonn’s comeback:

Why Did Lindsey Vonn Retire?

Vonn’s career on the ski racing World Cup circuit began in 2000. She excelled in the speed events: downhill and its more technical cousin, super-G. Over her 19-year professional career, she won more combined downhill and super-G races (71) than any other ski racer, male or female, in history.

Along the way, Vonn became American ski racing’s first celebrity to attain mainstream fame. She graced the cover of major magazines, was a guest on the泭Tonight Show,泭and yes, even dated golfer Tiger Woods.

But Vonn also suffered a litany of serious injuries throughout her career. One of the worst came during 2013 world championships in Schladming, Austria, when she crashed in the super-G and tore multiple ligaments in her knee and suffered a tibial plateau fracture. Although she would eventually recover, and go on win another 23 World Cups and an Olympic bronze medal, Vonn was never truly the same. She has said that she suffered regular knee pain after that injury.

On February 10, 2019, Vonn announced her retirement shortly after earning her eighth world championship medal, a bronze in downhill. She was ���broken beyond repair,��� she said at the time. She had hoped to catch Ingemar Stenmark���s record 86 World Cup wins���a mark since surpassed by Mikaela Shiffrin, who stands at 99���but ended her career with 82 wins.泭Vonn has said she was devastated to miss the goal, but her body “was telling her to stop.”

Vonn said that she was unable to fully straighten her right leg for several years, which caused additional problems in her hip, back, and neck. “I ended on good terms���it wasn’t perfect but it was still my terms,” she recently .

How Did Vonn Return to Ski Racing?

Only a handful of elite athletes have returned to professional sports after undergoing a major joint replacement: Bo Jackson came back to baseball after undergoing a hip replacement in 1993, and tennis star Andy Murray did so after a hip resurfacing in 2019. But no one has done so in ski racing.

Last April, Vonn had a lateral uni-compartment knee arthroplasty ���medical-speak for a partial knee replacement. Doctors removed a small section of bone and replaced it with titanium alloy.

Vonn had the operation to address the knee pain that nagged her in her daily life���not so that she could return to competition. “I’d go on a hike with my friend’s seven-year-old and Aunt Lindsey has to take a break after ten minutes,” she told NBC News.

But the operation exceeded even her wildest dreams. A few months later, Vonn returned to the gym. At first, she had to retrain her nervous system and musculature, which for years had compensated for pain.

���You have to retrain your body to say, ���yes, I can bend my ankle or knee or hip the way I used to before I had this pain,������ explains Tyler White, a certified athletic trainer at iSport in Killington, Vermont, who has helped athletes return to skiing with joint replacements. ���This neuro-patterning is time consuming. You have to be diligent and consistent.���

But Vonn said that after the surgery, she could do exercises and drills in the gym that she hadn’t been able to do in eight years. She played tennis and lifted weights without pain. Over the ensuing months, Vonn regained strength, and in August she traveled to New Zealand to try skiing. That’s when ski racing fans began to think that she might return to the sport.

���With this new knee that is now a part of me��� I feel like a whole new chapter of my life is unfolding before my eyes,��� she posted on Instagram from New Zealand, concluding, ���I 餃棗紳���t know exactly what lies ahead, but I know I���m healthy, happy and grateful.���

Shortly after her 40th birthday in October, Vonn traveled to S繹lden, Austria, to do her first actual competition training. She felt good, and in November announced her plans to return. Just eight months after surgery, she skied down the women���s downhill and super-G courses at the Beaver Creek World Cup in Colorado���not racing, but at full speed. Her times would not count, but she would be racing full-length World Cup courses near race pace. Her finishing time would have placed her inside the top-20.

���The replacement went so well, and I have no pain and no swelling,��� Vonn told reporters at Beaver Creek. ���It feels so amazing to be back. I can���t tell you how big a difference it makes to be able to ski without pain. It���s a completely new world for me. I haven���t felt this good in 15 years.���

���It was the happiest I had seen her in years,��� says Kelly.

Can Vonn���s New Knee Survive Ski Racing?

But are partial knee replacements designed for the forces imparted by ski racing?

���We don’t really know,��� says Dr. Melbourne Boynton, long-time U.S. Ski Team physician, knee surgeon, and medical director of the Vermont Orthopaedic Clinic. ���The number-one failure of partial knee replacements is caused by repeated impact.���

The success rate for uni-compartmental knee arthroplasty is good: 95.3 percent of people who get one are still using it after five years, and 91.3 percent at 10 years. Of course none of these individuals are World Cup-level downhill ski racers. During a Downhill race, Vonn may surpass 75 miles per hour, and at that speed her knees and joints absorb two-to-three times her body weight in G-forces. Downhill racers encounter bumpy, rutted ski runs, and they must also soar over rolling jumps and then land back on the snow at high speeds. Ski racers without artificial joints face serious injury when crashing at that velocity.

If Vonn’s implant does loosen, doctors can fix it, with either another partial or full knee replacement. And if the bone breaks around the implant, that is fixable too. But this level of injury would likely prevent Vonn���or any elite athlete���from returning to a high level of competition again.

After the Cortina races, Vonn was emphatic when asked if she can trust her knee.

���I 餃棗紳���t think about my knee at all,��� she said. ���It���s crazy. I used to think about it every day, when I woke up, when I went to bed. It was always there. Now my knee is the last thing on my mind, which I���m really thankful for.���

Can Vonn Win Again?

Vonn faces stiff competition in the speed events. Many of the younger racers she competed against later in her career are now in their thirties and are dominating the sport: Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland, and Federica Brignone泭and Sofia Goggia of Italy, to name a few.

Vonn���s body is not the same one she once had. She has been diligent in the gym, but there���s gym strong, and then there���s ski racing strong, and the latter takes months, if not years, to rebuild.

American skier Picabo Street, who won Olympic gold in the super-G in 1994, told泭窪蹋勛圖厙 that Vonn is ���Having to decide, A) how much risk to take, and B) whether or not she���s physically capable of charging down the course, and if her body is going to give her what she needs to be there.” These decisions can determine the margin between victory and defeat in a sport where hundredths of a second often determine final placings.

Vonn is also adjusting to new equipment. She used to race on extremely stiff and aggressive skis���she was strong enough to turn them. Although downhill skis and boots have not changed much in the past six years, Vonn���s strength is not the same. A representative from Head, Vonn’s ski sponsor, said she’s racing on a less-aggressive set-up this year.

It���s a lot to figure out. But, as Street points out, the logistical puzzle is泭part of the fun for Vonn.

���She loves being challenged,��� says Street, who skied with Vonn in Europe in January, ���and she loves figuring out how to win a challenge, whether it be with herself, her equipment, or the rest of the girls on the World Cup.���

Another challenge Vonn faces is the order in which she starts each race. The highest ranked skiers get the earliest starts when the course is still relatively smooth. Vonn was once one of the first racers on course. But after her five-plus-year hiatus, she must start later in the day, after thirty or more skiers have torn up the course and left Vonn with a bumpy, rutted surface.

Before Christmas, Vonn entered her first World Cup race���a super-G in St. Moritz���wearing bib 31 (finishing a respectable 14th). In mid-January, she competed in a super-G in St. Anton, Austria, and finished fourth, winning the Bibbo Award, the prize given to the ski racer who makes the biggest jump from their bib number to their finish (27 places for Vonn).

By the end of January, Vonn was starting inside the top 30���but just barely. It will take more consistent top finishes in World Cup races until she gets inside the top ten. And crashing has not helped. She crashed in training in Cortina and again in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, downhill.

But Street sees these crashes as a good thing. ���Having a crash and walking away from it, knowing you���re okay is very, very valuable,��� she says. ���It���s another rung of the ladder.���

Could Vonn Qualify for Her Fifth Olympics?

In Mid-December, after several World Cup races, Vonn told reporters that she did have a long-term goal: returning to the Olympics. The 2026 Games will be held in Cortina, Italy���a course Vonn adores.

But earning a spot on the U.S. Olympic ski team will be tough. Team USA will likely have four women’s spots for speed events at the Milano Cortina泭Olympics, and officials will choose the team based on how many podium finishes World Cup races in 2025 and 2026. In Vonn’s absence, other American women have become competitive on the international stage: Lauren Macuga, who won St. Anton super-G this year, as well as Jacqueline Wiles and Breezy Johnson, who have made it to the World Cup podium in the past. Mikaela Shiffrin will likely aim to compete in the Olympic super-G as well.

Street thinks Vonn is on course to get back on the World Cup podium soon and also qualify for her fifth Olympics.

���She���s hungry to win again and does not love that she���s not,��� Street says. ���I���m going to go on the record and say it won���t be long now.���

The post Lindsey Vonn���s Comeback to Ski Racing, Explained appeared first on 窪蹋勛圖厙 Online.

Like many New York City millennials, my partner and I moved upstate with our two rescue dogs early into the pandemic. We ended up in the Catskills near a ski mountain and I wasted no time applying for an instructor role. I���m now in my third year as a private ski lesson instructor, and I still work full-time during the week, as a remote writer and editor. But in season, my weekends are spent on the slopes, teaching private lessons to both adults and kids.

Even though my livelihood doesn���t necessarily depend on teaching these private lessons, I���ve found that泭 offers a wide range of physical, social, and monetary benefits for which I���m eternally grateful.

Below are the many reasons you should consider joining your local ski mountain���s staff if you have the time.

Clinics and Training Sessions Have Made Me a Much Better Skier

Many ski mountains offer frequent and . Sometimes athletes from other mountains come to lead them, and other times, higher-ups are in charge. If you aren���t already scheduled to work at that time, or if your lesson is a no-show, they strongly suggest that you participate ��� you���ll , learn new teaching techniques, and make sure your form is up to snuff. I���ve certainly felt that my skills have vastly improved from skiing alongside more experienced skiers over the last three years on staff.泭

I Get to Ski All the Time

Adulthood hasn���t brought me nearly enough time on the slopes, especially compared to my high school racing days. Living in New York City in my early 20s earned me only a couple of trips annually. Now, though, I���m skiing several times per week ��� whether I���m teaching a weekend lesson, or catching up with a fellow instructor over some morning laps before logging into Slack. I���m skiing more than ever ��� which means I���m always improving.

I Get a Free Season Pass���My Fianc矇 Gets a Discounted One

There���s no denying that skiing is a wildly expensive sport ��� and as avid skiers, we���re always looking for . As a part-time ski instructor, I get a free season pass, and my fianc矇 gets a steep discount on his (which is major, considering how much lift prices cost!). It ultimately ends up saving us up to a few thousand dollars per year, if we were both to pay for season passes ���泭which is definitely a wallet win for us.

Get Discounts and Lift Tickets at Other Mountains

Another wallet win: instructors get access to a wide range of pro discounts. Every year, my mountain has a ���pro night��� where the staff is invited to peruse steeply discounted gear from a wide range of major ski brands. You can also get buddy discounts at mountains across the U.S. ��� just ask your superior to write a recommendation for a ���buddy pass,��� and bring it to the ticket office at your mountain of choice. More often than not, they will give you a discounted lift ticket, which is always appreciated.

It���s Supplemental Income (Private Instructors Often Get Tips!)

Obviously, teaching ski lessons comes with a little extra income, and what you get paid is generally contingent on what kind of lessons you���re teaching (whether it���s ski or riding school, private lessons, a seasonal program, etc.). It can also vary based on your level of expertise ��� as an instructor, you tend to get paid more if you get (and there are multiple levels). You may or may not also as a ski instructor ��� although it generally is not required for patrons to tip, it���s strongly suggested.

I���ve Made So Many New Friends

After moving upstate from New York City, I didn���t know too many people in my small Catskills town. But through working at the mountain, I���ve made tons of . Every adult knows that making friends after college can be somewhat challenging, however, joining my local mountain staff has helped me find awesome new friends with similar interests (and as we all know, most skiers are cool as hell).

Ski Instructing Can Be Extremely Rewarding

As you can probably imagine, there are days that bring an unthinkable amount of frustration, for both you, as the ski instructor, and the student. However, most days on the slopes are . The second something new clicks for your student, or when you see them start to realize how much fun skiing can be, it feels like you���ve just passed on your passion to someone else. Whether you just effectively taught them how to carve, or to simply transition from pizza to french fries, it���s a small victory that you can bring to your apr矇s drinks, and more importantly, it���s something that your student will be able to look back on forever.

The post Why You May Want to Consider Teaching Skiing as a Side Gig appeared first on 窪蹋勛圖厙 Online.

Everyone knows a skier who prides themselves on , only to fuel up on pocket jerky and maybe a PBR on the lift. But during a long day on the slopes, we���re never opposed to warming up our toes and refueling in the lodge.

Of course, many lodge cafeterias offer an exceptionally average $30 plate of a burger and fries, but in recent years, some have started providing unique dining experiences (at often more affordable prices!). And while no one can argue that chicken tendies 餃棗紳���t taste amazing after crushing laps sometimes we���re craving something a little bit more. That said, we���ve hunted down the best and most Check out our picks, below.

Green Chili Dogs from Ptarmigan Roost Caf矇 (Loveland Ski Area, CO)

While shredding at , Ptarmigan Roost Caf矇 is undoubtedly a worthwhile pitstop. Cozy up with a can of Rolling Rock and a green chili dog either next to the wood-burning stove, or on the observation deck, which provides 360 views of the area at 12,000 feet of elevation. After a day of exploring the bowls or hitting the glades, the combination of the spicy green chili ��� with a glizzy ��� is truly unmatched.

Bacon Bloody Mary and BBQ from Black Mountain Lodge (A-Basin, CO)

Although you may have to roll back down to the base lodge afterward, taking a mid-mountain break at is practically a requirement during a trip to Arapahoe Basin. Even though the pulled pork sandwich happens to be a household favorite, you really can���t go wrong with ribs or brisket, either. Make sure to wash it all down with one of the lodge���s iconic Bacon Bloody Marys, and you���ll likely be full until just before your morning laps tomorrow.

Veggie Ramen at Miso Hungry (Jay Peak, VT)

There is truly nothing more satisfying than cozying up with a steaming hot bowl of ramen after a few hours on the slopes (hey, even during a long day on the slopes!). But it���s safe to say Miso Hungry���s Veggie Ramen does not disappoint. You can choose between spicy and regular miso (we���re always opting for spicy��夷t���s a quick way to warm up!) and top it with a little fried tofu for some extra protein. You can even make it vegan by asking to swap out the marinated egg for extra veggies.

Curry Fries from Roundhouse (Solitude Mountain Resort, UT)

 

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Indian-Himalayan fusion might not come to mind when visiting the state of Utah, but mid-mountain restaurant, Roundhouse, has a mouthwatering menu (think: dals, butter chicken, and lamb curry) that���s worth flying in for. But if you���re looking for a big plate to share, curry fries may be the way to go, and definitely ask for extra napkins. We can���t think of a better way to warm up amongst friends.

Jerk Chicken from Jerk Jamaican Mountain Grill (Killington Ski Resort, VT)泭

During those extra cold days on the slopes, a tropical lunchtime vibe may be the way to go to get the feeling back in your fingers. One repeat recommendation for the best mountain food on the Reddit page was the famous Jerk Shack at , and needless to say, we���re dying to try it. ���There���s a jerk chicken shack slopeside at Killington that is so good it���s hard to believe,��� one user泭writes in a rave review. ���Easily the best food I���ve had at any resort, ever.���

Barbacoa, Chicken Tinga, or Tofu Chorizo Tacos from Phlox Point (Timberline, OR)

Even though Portland tends to be Oregon���s primary food hub, one ski area along has a ski-in, ski-out taqueria that could just as well be in the city. Phlox Point at offers affordable and flavorful tacos, which beat any .

���Our personal faves include the barbacoa, a tantalizing shredded beef version braised in stout with ancho and chipotle chilis, oregano, and cumin,��� , behind Mount Hood���s Alpine Chalet. ���The chicken tinga is also a standout, marinated in IPA, green chili, cumin, and garlic. And for the veggie peeps, they have a rotating option (currently tofu chorizo).���

The Reuben from John Paul Lodge (Snowbasin Resort, UT)

John Paul Lodge serves up what they claim to be ���the best Reuben in Utah��� ���泭and the Internet seems to wholeheartedly agree. In response to , one comment read: ���Couple more weeks till I fly in for my Reuben,��� while another added: ���Best Reuben of all time.���泭And if you���re still not convinced, then , who voted Snowbasin one of the top ten resorts in the West for dining in our annual SKI Reader���s Survey.

Fondue from The Roundhouse (Bald Mountain Ski Area, ID)泭

Fondue is a relatively common slopeside staple, but evidently, has nailed the art of melty cheese and crudit矇s. Not to mention, a pretty stellar view from the top of the resort, only accessible by gondola. Not to mention, The Roundhouse claims to be the original on-mountain dining spot in the U.S.

The Roundhouse is popular amongst skiers and nonskiers alike, so if you���re planning on visiting make sure to make reservations ahead of time.

Deer Valley Turkey Chili (Deer Valley, UT).

You know a food is iconic when a quick Google search ranks copycat recipes to make at home higher than the resort���s website. Deer Valley���s Turkey Chili is certainly that type of dish and a staple at the Utah resort. You can snag this famous bowl of protein-packed goodness at several of Deer Valley���s onsite lodges, and even . Don���t forget to embrace toppings the Deer Valley way by adding cheese, sour cream, red or green onions, or even some sliced jalape簽os.

Not into Chili? No worries, Deer Valley has plenty of other favorites like rich and silky smooth hot chocolate, and a whole variety of desserts guaranteed to please your sweet tooth and give you the energy to carry out your day.

Latin American food from Nob Hill Cafe (Sugar Bowl Resort, CA)泭

Situated in Village Lodge is the Nob Hill Cafe, a casual spot to grab some Michelin-starred chef-created meals. This season, the cafe is bringing the heat with a flavorful Latin American-inspired fare. Between laps, you can choose from a tasty menu that includes birria braised beef, pollo asado chicken, vegetarian Pozole Verde, and veggie pupusas ��� yum.

Waffles from Corbet���s Cabin (Jackson Hole, WY)

If you���ve been skiing for more than a few years, you���re likely accustomed to a grab-and-go waffle before hitting the chairlift. But, Corbet���s Cabin at Jackson Hole is no run-of-the-mill Waffle Cabin. Skiers can grab a freshly made waffle reminiscent of weekend mornings and choose toppings accordingly, like bacon, peanut butter, or whipped cream. All that extra sugar pairs perfectly with a death-defying run off the cabin���s namesake, Jackson Hole���s famous Corbet���s Couloir.

The post These Are the Best Meals You Can Eat While Skiing appeared first on 窪蹋勛圖厙 Online.

Seasonal reading���that���s my boring-but-apt term for enriching the mood and meaning of a certain time of year with the addition of a certain text. Each April, I reach for the ���Spring��� chapter in Walden. Every July, I take a lap in E.B. White���s ���Once More to the Lake.��� And in November, when the brown ground freezes and the weatherman predicts five months of blizzard, I cozy up on the couch with a mug of chamomile tea and ���The Ascending Spiral,��� a short, dense essay by the legendary snow scientist Ed LaChappelle.

Lynne Wolfe, editor of The Avalanche Review, which published ���The Ascending Spiral��� in 2005, calls the essay a seminal work. I got turned on to it a decade ago by my friend Jerry Roberts, a retired avalanche forecaster for the Colorado Department of Transportation and self-described ���snow-viewer.��� (Seventeenth-century haiku poet Matsuo Basho: ���Come, let���s go / snow-viewing / till we���re buried.���) Roberts and LaChappelle were colleagues and pals. They worked together in the San Juan Mountains in the 1970s and shared a bottle of pisco a mere week before LaChapelle suffered a fatal heart attack at Monarch Pass���skiing, of course���in 2007. ���Required reading,��� I was told.

LaChappelle frames泭his essay as a contribution to the never-ending discussion among snow-viewers, both professionals and hobbyists, regarding how best to ���evaluate avalanche hazards, consider human factors, and communicate (or execute) decisions.��� There is much practical wisdom in these pages, actionable advice for telemarkers, splitboarders, snowmachiners, alpinists, and gonzo backcountry tobogganists. But the really special thing���the reason I���m drawn to ���The Ascending Spiral��� each November���is the brief and tantalizing treatment of rheology and the Deborah Number.

The what and the what?

My initial reaction, too.

Rheology is a branch of physics that deals with the deformation and fluidity of matter. For instance, gummy bears���pop a few in the microwave and behold the freaky carnage. Snow is another fine example, defined by LaChappelle as ���a granular visco-elastic solid close to its melting point��� that subtly, constantly, and complicatedly responds to its environment, fluctuations in temperature and pressure in particular. He asks us to envision a peak in winter. ���From the external perspective of a passing observer, snow on a mountainside is just sitting there, apparently dormant. The snow cover, however, is neither static nor dormant, but a positively seething mass of activity.��� Learning to see it as such���to see it as dynamic, as lively and perhaps even alive���is the challenge and the fun.

Enter the Deborah Number. Proposed in 1964 by the pioneering rheologist Markus Reiner, the concept (it does not refer to a specific, fixed number) takes its name from a Biblical prophetess who sang of the mountains ���flowing before the Lord.��� LaChappelle sums it up like this: ���In the limited time frame of human perception, the mountains are static and eternal, but for the Lord, whose time frame is infinite, they flow.���

LaChappelle was a Professor of Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Washington and a co-inventor of the modern avalanche transceiver, whereas I flunked Algebra 2, confounded by the damn TI-82 graphing calculator. Nevertheless, this stuff greatly excites me. Per my layman���s understanding, the Deborah Number is an expression of the relationship between time spent observing natural phenomena and perception of flow���high D equals scant time and we 餃棗紳���t see the flow, low D equals tons of time and we do see the flow. A hastily dug snowpit on an unfamiliar slope (high D) yields ���a static view of what actually is an active (���flowing���) snow cover.��� LaChappelle continues: ���In other words, stability evaluation has to be an泭ongoing process, the longer the better.��� Ideally, it starts on a given avalanche path with the first flakes of winter.

Meticulous and relentless monitoring of this sort is the hallmark of an avalanche泭forecaster���s job. As Jerry Roberts told me in 2016, during an interview I conducted for the Buddhist magazine Tricycle about the Zen-like aspects of patrolling (meditating on?) the sketchy San Juans and their avalanche-prone high-mountain passes: ���You���re afraid to go shopping at the supermarket an hour away because you might miss a wind event. You can���t be absent from your place. You have to be totally present.��� I recall him chuckling, shaking his head, seemingly amazed by the stamina and focus of his younger self. ���You 餃棗紳���t think about Christmas or your wife���s birthday. You 餃棗紳���t go on vacation. A series of storms in ���05 lasted ten days. I got very little sleep.��� Chuckle, shake. ���From November through May, paying attention is what you do. It���s who you are. There���s no difference between on and off.���

Indeed, for the snow-viewer whose entire existence is devoted to detecting and registering slow-motion transformations occurring at both micro and macro scales, whose sacred daily mantra is lower the D, lower the D, lower the D, lower the D, the on-versus-off question is moot. Case in point: After a career in the field researching glaciers, LaChappelle retired to a remote cabin in McCarthy, Alaska and busied himself tracking���surprise, surprise���the nuanced behavior of his local glaciers.

I���m sporadic and undisciplined when it comes to studying the ever-shifting details and ever-morphing character of Colorado���s Elk Mountains, my home range. Hence my need to sit with ���The Ascending Spiral��� each November as the thermometer���s mercury plunges and the touring gear beckons from my mudroom���s cobwebby corner. I skin up and float down a couple mildly dangerous peaks most winters���beacon, shovel,泭probe, goofy buddies, and lots of laughs���so in part I read to humble myself: Pay attention, boy, or else! According to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, one hundred and forty-nine people got caught in slides last ski season and, sadly, two didn���t survive. The or else is exceedingly real.

Ultimately, my enthusiasm for rheology and the Deborah Number is less utilitarian���a means to the end of protecting my vulnerable ass while poorly carving powder 8s���than it is aesthetic and spiritual. I like to poke around the valley floor and gaze at the intricacies of the snowscape. I like to sculpt a drift into a chair, crack a beer, and stare. I like to approach perception as a kind of basic yet mysterious adventure. I like to notice, and notice that I���m noticing, and keep on noticing, and keep on keeping on. So in part I read to be humbled, yes, and in part���in large part���I read to be inspired, encouraged, nudged toward a cool way of inhabiting my place: Pay attention, boy, because lowering your D is a worthy end in itself! An awesome pastime! A beautiful and demanding practice! A raison d’礙tre!

Do I aspire to godliness, an omniscient and infinite vantage? Nah, too grand for my earthly tastes. But looking through those eyes now and then, on occasion, is a huge thrill. Stealing a glimpse of the perpetually changing, fleeting, flowing planet. Feeling that glimpse, at my luckiest moments, as an electric tingle racing the length of my spine.

I felt the tingle recently, following my annual twenty-minute check-in with dear old Professor LaChappelle on the couch. Five or six inches of snow had fallen in the high country the evening prior and I suspected that, unlike the flurries of early autumn, which disappeared quickly from the summits, this coating of white would stick. Or maybe I hoped it would stick, eager for the schuss, the glide, the burn, and the turn.

The essay finished, at least until next year, I drained the dregs of my tea, stepped into the yard at sunset, lifted my binoculars, and scanned the wilderness of ridges and faces and bowls that rises abruptly to the west of town. Conditioned by my quasi-ritualistic re-reading of ���The Ascending Spiral,��� what I saw had the quality of epiphany. It was ���a granular visco-elastic solid close to its melting point.��� It was gummy bears in the microwave, a quintillion protean crystals. It was the foundational layer of a new winter���s breathing, pulsing, growling, tail-whipping snowpack���a snowpack guaranteed to spawn the avalanches that Jerry Roberts and other animistic snow-viewers call ���dragons.��� It was simple and complex, common and strange, mundane and magical.

I pocketed the binos, zoomed out.

What I saw was a paradox, tingle-inducing for sure���the whole world perfectly still, not a bird, not a cloud, not a hint of a breeze, not a single trembling blade of grass, and there on the horizon, washed pink with alpenglow, something deep inside the stillness beginning, secretly, to move.

The post Every Winter, I Read the Same Brilliant Essay About Snow appeared first on 窪蹋勛圖厙 Online.

UPDATE: Late on January 7, Park City Mountain Resort and the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association announced that they reached a tentative agreement for a contract that will extend through April 2027. ���The tentative agreement addresses both parties��� interests and will end the current strike,��� reads a joint statement from both parties. ���Everyone looks forward to restoring normal resort operations and moving forward together as one team.��� 窪蹋勛圖厙 will continue to provide ongoing coverage of this story.

Labor negotiations continued on Tuesday between Vail Resorts and the union representing ski patrollers at Utah���s Park City Mountain Resort, owned by Vail Resorts. This is the second day of negotiations this week amid an . Around 200 Park City ski patrollers walked out of their locker room on December 27, during the resort���s peak holiday season, to form a picket line in their fight for higher wages and better working conditions.

���Negotiations have been dynamic and fluid, with things changing rapidly,��� says Teddy Zerivitz, who���s on the executive board for Park City Mountain Resort���s ski patrol union. ���We���re hopeful that we���ll be able to reach an agreement as soon as possible. We love our jobs, and we want to be back out there. Once we have a fair contract, our skis are in our cars and we���re ready to get back to work.���

Since last April, the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association, the labor organization representing ski patrollers at Park City Mountain Resort, has been asking the ski area���s parent company, Vail Resorts, for an increase from $21 to $23 an hour for new patrollers and higher compensation for more experienced patrollers, as well as enhanced benefits and educational opportunities. (Veteran patrollers currently earn 35 percent more than entry-level patrol, according to Vail Resorts.)

Vail Resorts agreed to 24 of the 27 contract items the union requested, but negotiations stalled. The patrol union filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board, citing that Vail Resorts refused to bargain and engaged in coercive behavior. During the strike, the patrol union has urged locals and visitors not to spend money at Vail-owned properties. As of last week, shares of Vail Resorts, Inc. fell by 6 percent. A has raised over $260,000 to support the ski patrollers.

In a written on January 6 by Park City Mountain Resort Chief Operating Officer Deirdra Walsh, she wrote, ���First, please know; we care deeply about the work of our ski patrol; we have invested a lot in them and will continue to. Second, they are asking for much more than $2/hour [more]. In fact, on the day they went on strike, their demands equaled $7/hour more. Finally, you should know that we have come to the table with compelling offers.���

Over the holidays, the strike significantly impacted operations during one of Park City���s busiest weeks of the year. Typically, Park City Mountain Resort operates with around 100 ski patrollers working on any given day; currently, they���re managing with what one patroller estimated to be around 30 or 35 patrollers. Guests waited in long lift lines and skied crowded runs due to limited terrain.

���Park City or Vail Corporation didn���t notify any of us or any customers who had reservations that they were in negotiations,��� says John Fuqua, a Park City local who recently moved with his family from Jackson Hole and works at a local hotel restaurant. ���People spend tens of thousands of dollars to come here, and it ruined a lot of vacations.泭 The lifts didn���t open until 10 or 11, and we sat in line for hours. This year has been different from past years and we���ll probably ski elsewhere next year.���

Currently, 26 of the resort���s 41 lifts are operating, and about a third of the mountain���s 350 trails are open. that the reduced terrain was due to lower-than-average snowfall and the patrol strike. This week, the mountain opened an additional 51 trails.

���I know the experience at the mountain over the peak holiday period was frustrating for our skiers and riders,��� Walsh wrote. ���This was not the holiday skiing and riding experience anyone wanted, and we know that. But what we are doing is opening the terrain we can safely open with the people we have each day during the strike.���

Throughout the strike, Vail Resorts has recruited ski patrollers from other Vail Resorts properties to replace the workers on strike. A ski patroller from another Vail-owned mountain told SKI that that has impacted patrol dynamics at their mountain: ���We���re still opening all the terrain we can and operating with a full staff, but some of our supervisors have been called away to help at another mountain, which adds work for the rest of the team,��� said the patroller, who asked not to be named.

Vail Resorts says that operations haven���t been impacted elsewhere. ���We haven���t had any operational impacts at our other resorts related to the Patrol Support Team,��� Sara Huey, a spokesperson for Vail Resorts, told SKI. ���It���s been business as usual, and our other resorts have had great holiday seasons.���

On December 31, four ski patrol unions from Vail Resorts properties���including Breckenridge, Crested Butte, Keystone, and Park City��� addressed to Vail Resorts CEO Kirsten Lynch that cited: ���Through the company���s tactics of pressuring coercing, and intimidating skilled patrol leaders to travel to Park City to join the ���Patrol Support Team,��� you caused irreparable harm to both your patrol labor force and patrol management across all affected resorts. By removing local leadership from their resorts without notice, you failed to provide these patrols proper leadership at the height of the busiest time of the year.���

The letter added that a lack of local leadership has a ���huge negative effect on morale, how our teams effectively manage risk for ourselves in the field, and keep a safe experience for the guests that visit our resorts.���

Though more ski patrols have unionized in recent years, no ski resort has seen a strike like this in decades. The United Mountain Workers, a union that first organized in 2003, now represents some 1,100 ski and bike patrollers, lift mechanics, and other resort staff from ski areas, including Park City, Big Sky, Loveland, Stevens Pass, and Steamboat. The union has more than doubled in size over the last six years. This week, Colorado���s Arapahoe Basin ski patrol will vote to decide on becoming part of the union.

As negotiations continue, the outcome of the Park City ski patrol strike could have ripple effects across the ski industry, influencing labor relations at resorts nationwide. For now, with busy holiday weekends like Martin Luther King Jr. Day on the horizon, Park City skiers must navigate reduced terrain and longer lines while the patrollers remain steadfast in their fight.

The post Park City Mountain Resort Grinds to a Halt amid Ongoing Ski-Patrol Strike appeared first on 窪蹋勛圖厙 Online.

Glaciers shrinking in Europe are no secret, especially to ski racers.

Just eight years ago, U.S. speed skier Sam Morse remembers training on a glacier above Zermatt. When the training session ended, he skied on the glacier all the way down to the cable car���s mid-station and downloaded to town from there. Now, the glacier no longer reaches the mid-station. After a day of training, ski racers have to head back to the summit and download the full length of the cable car.

���In less than 10 years, the glaciers have receded a substantial amount, like probably almost a kilometer or two up the hillside, so you can���t ski out,��� he described recently by phone from a training camp in Colorado.

Other U.S. skiers report similar observations. While training in Saas Fe in 2020, Morse���s teammate Erik Arvidsson remembers taking a lift above a bare slope. His coaches told him that they used to be able to train on this slope in July and August.

Earlier this fall, Mikaela Shiffrin adjusted her training plan to stay in South America longer than in previous seasons because training on Europe���s glaciers to prep for the S繹lden World Cup is ���really mostly rock at this point.���

Couple these observations with last year���s viral photos of excavators digging into Europe���s glaciers to make early-season World Cup race courses, and we have to wonder if ski racing is viable as climate change takes its toll. And worse, is it contributing to the problem?

Perhaps. But Morse and Arvidsson think the sport can lead the way in meaningful change.

First, the Bad News ���

A slim minority of U.S. citizens believe that climate change is a hoax. But the facts are hard to deny. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has data showing that the ten warmest years since record-keeping began in 1850 have occurred in the past decade. And NOAA���s climate tools show that the planet will continue to warm rapidly.

In ski country, average daily temperatures in the early season (November) are already over two degrees higher than from 1950-2013������a fairly significant increase,��� said Chris Gloninger, a meteorologist and climate scientist for the Woods Hole Group in Massachusetts.

Interestingly, climatologists now consider December a fall month in New England, when the grass still grows and lawns need mowing. This is a monumental shift, added Gloninger.

Warmer air leads to warmer oceans that are slow to cool, and an ice-free Arctic sets up a wavy Jetstream over the Northern Hemisphere. These deep waves can plunge us into extremes, from a polar vortex to a prominent ridge that brings unseasonably warm temperatures north. The only good news is that warmer air masses can hold more moisture, so when it does snow, it can be a good dump.

But for how long?

NOAA���s climate projection tools predict that if we 餃棗紳���t drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions, average daily temperatures by the end of the century could be eight to 10 degrees (Fahrenheit) warmer than in the mid-20th century.

���The climate in Burlington, for example, will be more like it is in Poughkeepsie, New York, by 2060 and Washington, DC, by 2100,��� said Gloninger, using data from Climate Central. This organization communicates climate change science, effects, and solutions to the public.

By 2100, the western ski cities of Denver and Salt Lake City will have climates similar to those in Mexico, though higher elevations in the mountains will remain cooler.

Europe is experiencing similar warming. A study by the EU���s Copernicus Climate Change Service showed that the Alps��� glaciers have lost 10 percent of their volume in the past two years. It���s no surprise that climatologists predict the end of snow sports as we know them in a generation or two.

FIS���s Efforts

With the future of winter on the line, the International Ski Federation has started to act. Earlier this fall, FIS released its, ���a roadmap to a more sustainable and inclusive snow sports ecosystem.��� The climate change section of the program lists one strategic objective��� to reduce the carbon footprint of FIS activities and events as much as possible, become climate neutral, and support concrete actions to combat or adapt to climate change���along with several promising sub-objectives (e.g., reduce FIS carbon footprint by 50 percent by 2030 and achieve net-zero by 2040).

To achieve these objectives, FIS is taking (or aims to take) several actions to complete 26 by the end of 2024 and release an Impact Report in 2025. One of their first initiatives was to gather data to calculate and estimate the . For events, participant travel contributes 88.9 percent of carbon emissions.

Using this data, FIS is now maximizing the use of renewable energy at its headquarters, making every other FIS Congress remote and allowing judges from some disciplines to work at home during races.

FIS is also looking at a modified events calendar to reduce travel������a balancing act between growing snow sports, by bringing events to as many viable locations as possible, while minimizing the season���s carbon footprint,��� FIS said in a statement. For the 2024/2025 season, alpine skiers will only travel to North America once during the regular season���for the Killington, Mont Tremblant, and Beaver Creek World Cups. Sun Valley is hosting the World Cup Finals in March. Still, only 25 men and women qualify to compete in each of alpine ski racing���s four disciplines, reducing by about half the number of people who have to travel back to the U.S. from Europe.

���For泭 as much as most elite athletes are based in Europe, we are an international sport,��� said FIS General Secretary Michel Vion. ���If a venue in North America presents ideal conditions at the time when our Finals take place, we would be remiss not to consider it as a strong candidate to host the event.���

FIS is currently working on a plan to start the Alpine World Cup a week later. They also eliminated early-season World Cup downhills in Zermatt���what Arvidsson described as a thorn in both FIS���s and the athletes��� sides. The race was canceled for two consecutive years, and photos of excavators digging into the glacier to build the course were not a good look for ski racing.

���[That race] forced us to be ready to race over a month earlier than normal, which increased the amount of international travel that we had to do leading up to that race, which, from a climate and from a personal standpoint, didn���t really feel necessary,��� explained Morse.

To further reduce ski racing���s carbon footprint, FIS has listed several tools and projects to implement as part of the impact program, some more vague than others. Two concrete projects: create a to support local organizing committees and national governing bodies, and create a sustainable car/travel policy for FIS activities. But as Morse pointed out, U.S. alpine skiers are already doing their best to reduce transportation emissions. The team flies commercially, not by private jet like pro athletes in other sports, and once on the ground, the team travels as a group������packed into vans,��� he said, ���not in our own sportscars.���

FIS also partners with global organizations, like the World Meteorological Organization, to provide data and expertise about climate change and raise awareness.

Could FIS Do More?

The Impact Programme is a positive step toward reducing ski racing���s carbon emissions. But Arvidsson and Morse likely speak for many ski racers and snow sport athletes who want FIS to do more. Some of their ideas are low-hanging fruit, others more far-reaching.

Shortening the Alpine World Cup season would be one easy way to reduce team travel even more. In its first season (1967), the World Cup tour started in January and ended three months later in March. While the tour still concludes in March, the front end gradually crept into the fall months, first December, then into November. Currently, the season starts in late October with the S繹lden giant slaloms.

The early-season World Cups are important for the ski industry, generating excitement and thus increasing equipment and ticket sales. But Arvidsson thinks it���s worth examining the trade-offs. Rather than traveling to the Southern Hemisphere in August and September to prep for the early-season races, skiers could wait to train closer to home later in the fall.

���I recognize that having those early races is important for the business side of things,��� Arvidsson acknowledged, ���but depending on how important [the business side is] deemed to be, moving the race season to start around Christmas-time would dramatically impact the travel that the national teams would do in the off season.���

Limiting the race season domestically, especially for younger ski racers, would also help reduce the sport���s carbon footprint and the financial burden on parents. This type of change starts from the top.

���One way that FIS could do that is by restricting the [junior] race schedule to be from January to March, and incentivizing clubs and youth programs to take advantage of when they have natural snow available to them within a more reasonable radius in November and December,��� said Arvidsson.

���There���s no reason that kids from Vermont who are flying all the way out here to Colorado right now and training here with us need to be doing that,��� added Morse.

Policy Changes

But reducing a few hundred ski racers��� airplane flights is a drop in the bucket against the firehose that is climate change. Facing the challenges of a warming world requires dramatic, systemic change on a policy level. And this is where Arvidsson and Morse would like FIS to step up. Ski racing���with its visibility on the global stage and very existence threatened by a lack of snow���could be the face of climate change. As one of the world���s largest sports governing bodies, FIS could unite with the outdoor industry to make a big impact, challenging fossil fuel businesses, and significant greenhouse gas emitters to make dramatic changes to reduce emissions.

���I would say that it���s time to end the finger-pointing and work together with FIS to demand that they become a leader in the climate change conversation,��� stated Arvidsson. ���The primary skiing and snow sports organization in the world has a responsibility to ensure their future in the next 50 to 100 years. They can form a really strong coalition that can have a dramatic impact on policy levels in Europe, in North America, around the entire world.���

The post Is Ski Racing Viable in a Warming World? appeared first on 窪蹋勛圖厙 Online.

There���s no other way to put it: My skier friends and I are hedonists. We chase the pleasures泭of a 100-day ski season, cold snow splashing in our faces as we make turns in deep powder. We stay up late dancing, eat fondue and sip a cold beer on a sundeck under an azure sky. We minimize discomfort by shelling out beaucoup bucks for absurdly expensive outerwear and spend hours in a ski shop tweaking our plastic foot-coffins.

Despite this dogged commitment to skiing, I’ve recently made a compromise, to preserve my sanity while chasing snow 12 months a year, to maximize pleasure and minimize pain, I will no longer wake up at the crack of dawn on powder days to chase bottomless turns alongside the early-risers.

I know. I know. That���s what it���s all about���there���s an early morning ritual that skiers hold sacred. Rise early, brew coffee or grab a cup and a breakfast burrito at the local cafe, boot up in the lot well before the bullwheel spins, and snag first chair and an untracked run.

For dedicated skiers, that experience is universal. But I���m over it. My old early morning routine will give you a clue as to why.

It went something like this: I’d wake up bleary-eyed (I have never been a morning person) at 6 A.M. Fumble upstairs and realize the temperature of my living room has dropped to 48 degrees Fahrenheit.泭

After an arduous experience shoveling and loading the car, I would drive to the mountain. Rubbing a slim circle in the fog on my windshield so I could see if I was still on the road, I would hit traffic. Some crossover driver who thought all-wheel drive is the same thing as having snow tires spun off the road and stalled the creeping line of also ill-equipped cars to a standstill.

By the time I make it to the resort, boot up, and get in the lift line, I can see nothing but ski tracks on every bit of choice terrain on the hill.

It’s just not worth it. I���m done waking up early for pow days.

If you���ve read this far, you���re probably thinking, ���Does this guy even like skiing?��� No. To be clear:泭I love skiing. I eat, sleep, and breathe skiing. I’ve built my life around it to the point where I live 20 minutes from the resort, an incredible privilege that has ravaged my savings account to its core. In fact, I’m so obsessed with the sport that I couldn���t care less what kind of snow conditions I ski. Skied up chop is just as fun to me as deep powder, so I���ll be as happy showing up at noon on a powder day, just as the early birds are starting to leave from their primo parking spots.

I���ll spend the afternoon hours popping off soft moguls, finding air anywhere and everywhere. I���ll hunt for stashes of snow that the wind has picked up and recirculated. I���ll lap the chair that crowds have abandoned, thinking it���s all been skied out and laugh as I find pockets of pow and ski right back onto an empty chair lift.

I���m a backcountry skier too, and I live among a range that is more than 200 miles long and populated by fewer than 15,000 people. So 餃棗紳���t worry. I still ski powder. But to me, that���s no longer what resort skiing is for. It���s for hot laps with your friends and not stressing over morning lines, car accidents, traffic, or powder panic.

This weekend it���s going to snow another foot and a half, and you can find me lapping Mammoth Mountain���s Chair 22, the best chairlift on earth, from 2-4 P.M. Because I���m a hedonist, and I���ll be having more fun than anyone else on the mountain.

Jake Stern is a digital editor at泭窪蹋勛圖厙. He spends the winter months skiing as much as humanly possible. He just needs his beauty rest.

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