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Bachelor looks like they could start turning lifts any minute, but they're not scheduled to open for another month.

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>>2846711
You could always skin up I guess? I know people are already skinning up at Whistler right now.

>>2846735
>2026
>it's 2025

>>2846737
IDK when you draw the line between 24/25 and 25/26 seasons

>>2846741
Between December and January

>>2846741
When I haven't toured in months (last day of 2025 season for me was April 25th).

>>2846741
I got some August/September turns in NZ, and I'm not sure whether to count it as part of 24/25 or 25/26?

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>>2846735
Definitely wouldn't be the only one, judging by all the tracks I saw on the cams yesterday and the news this morning that some boarder already had to get rescued.

Sadly I don't have gear ATM though, just moved back to ski country after a decade away and I'm still financially recovering from buying a house etc. so a full set of full price ski gear AND the $1,500 pass to make it worthwhile isn't really in the cards this year. Might go up and rent once or twice though. What I AM thinking of getting into this year is XC/Nordic since the gear isn't too awful, I need the workout, and there are lots of places to do it free or cheap including basically my own backyard when we get good storms. (Pic rel is in front of my house and that was only a one day late season dump.)

>>2846708
Time to learn skiing again.

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What are the rules for old season vs new season. I hiked up a mountain last week and need to know if can claim 100 days for 2024-2025 or if im cucked at 99

Bought my first ski suit, need skis, I've never done this shit before

Recently moved to the desert but there is a ski spot nearby called Powderhorn

Tips???

t. Grand Junction, Colorado

>>2846957
Go to a ski swap and buy used

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r8 my local ski spot

>>2846957
Buy a couple lessons. Seriously. I know they're pricey, but it's really the only way to get off the ground in this sport.
>>2846965
Powderhorn isn't anything special IMO, but it's a nice local's spot. Guessing that the big boy's mountains closest to you are Crested Butte and Telluride once you really get into it, and they're both gnarly as hell

>>2847023
fuckin pumped bro

I am kind of athletic and thought I might just start with backcountry skiing on grand mesa, I hate spending money for shit lol maybe ride my bicycle up there with some skis on my back or something

I am skeptical that I will actually need lessons, I nailed water skiiing first try and I remember the south park skiing episode about french fries and pizza

im 120 miles from aspen and yeah telluride and crested butte close too

>>2847063
You serious? You've never been skiing before and you're gonna start with backcountry touring? Maybe if you were going in someone's backyard or a golf course you wouldn't need a lesson or experience first. Riding in backcountry powder is dangerous and even very experienced skiiers die out there.

>>2846957
ski swaps, search tempest, sendy
tbqh though you should probably get your first gear from an irl shop b/c you have no idea what you're looking for. at the very least get boot fitted in person.
>>2847063
>I hate spending money for shit
you are picking the wrong hobby then
colorado is a very bad place to try and yolo the backcountry btw

>>2847106
>>2847181
You guys sound like pussies

>>2847182
where avalanches are concerned, you should absolutely be a pussy

>>2847183
Shut up woman

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>>2847184
>Shut u wo-
>aaaaaaaaaaaaaah

>>2847182
I'll be sure to make a thread on here when the avalanche report "beginner retard dies on Grand Mesa" comes out this winter.

>>2846873
Where'd ya go, we had some decent spring storms

>>2847063
You wont need lessons, i never did, however you will be fucking pathetic for a very long time. It takes hundreds of laps on a chair just to get kinda ok, and thats for hot shit talented skiers such as myself. You will be falling over with your skis running away in oposite directions every kick turn you try to do and it'll be hilarious.

>>2847636
>You wont need lessons, i never did, however you will be fucking pathetic for a very long time. It takes hundreds of laps

It sounds like you needed lessons

>>2847654
Why, I figured it out in no time. Unlike OP I had a lift.

>>2847733
I mean the tard whos going to learn to ski by touring, not OP...its been a long day.

>>2847636
the biggest thing you get out of lessons is a group of other shitters to bomb around the hill with.

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>>2847632
Broken River, Cragieburn, Mt. Olympus, Mt. Hutt, The Remarkables, Coronet Peak, Treble Cone
Broken River and Cragie were definitely my favorites, such awesome little hills <3

>>2847636
>>2847654
Yeah, you can get better a lot faster and spend way less time falling on your face with lessons.
I know very few people who stuck through the beginner phase to actually get good without lessons because falling on your face sucks.

>>2847208
Going to Zermatt & Verbier in December. Really worried about falling in a crevasse, since Europeans don't patrol outside of groomed runs.

>>2847182
I would compare going Backcountry skiing without experience to skydiving without experience or free solo climbing without experience.
The fact that you have no respect for how dangerous that shit actually is more than proof that you're like actually screwed.

>>2847914
This really, really depends on where you go.

>>2847915
Know where and how to go to mitigate risk is literally the skill we're talking about is literally the skill >>2847182 lacks. Like yeah, skinning up low angle terrain with a good avalanche forecast outside of known avalanche runout zones is safe, but >>2847182 doesn't know that.

also like you can just hike ski resorts nigger

Id really appreciate it if nutless fags stopped offering their opinions


>>2847636
>>2847654
>>2847734
>>2847914

>lessons

I ride my bicycle 30 miles a day in the highest gear, I am certain I can demand my legs to do the correct things I'm basically a horse

>>2847944
people like this are utter cancer creating wild scenarios in their head

Grand Mesa is a MESA, it's fuckin chill, bro.

>>2848144
more than likely he never made anything of his life and he's some hopped up "wilderness" EMT or ski patroller that has to desperately cling to what little knowledge he has

>>2848144
This is the hubris of someone who kills themselves in the backcountry just to waste S&R's time. Really peak dunning-kruger that has zero idea how dangerous backcountry snowpack is.

>>2848145
Kek
>>2848156
>hubris
Or your spirit is dogshit

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>>2848211
Read "Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain" by Bruce Tremper at least before you think about going out. It's basically the Bible for this stuff. Picrel is from that book and describes the danger of Backcountry skiing pretty concisely.

>>2848241
Great read, but it's no substitute for an intro to backcountry course and/or going out with experienced friends.

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ANDES TOWER HILLS MAY OPEN TOMORROW
SKIING IS IMMINENT IN THE MIDWEST

>>2848242
>>2848241
I was born with a complete knowledge of the outdoors because I'm not a woman

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East Coast resorts are starting to open too after the recent storm cycle <3

>>2846708
Doing Powder king a couple times this year hopefully.
>>2847913
There's zero dangerous features at Zermatt. Unless you're going waaaaay the fuck out into the mountains you're fine, and even if you do the rick fucks doing the helicopter tours will probably be there to rescue you within the hour. It is a sweet fucking hill and being piss drunk in a swiss mountain bunker complex is one of the most fun things a man can do

>>2846711
fuckin A, we got totally cucked since this. Basically been around 50 in town when it should be 40 or less, tomorrow might be a record high temp, and the mountains have only gotten an inch or two in the last month. Bachelor was supposed to open on Friday but they've pushed it back now.

Colorado anons report in

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How tight are my back-country ski boots supposed to be? I got picrel and i sized them very snug, almost like downhill boots. My toes are right near the tip of the boot, i swear i read you’re supposed to size your boots like that but some people say these boots are hella comfortable and im not there. I figure since its all leather they will break in. Not sure if i should cut my losses and sell them for a larger size

>>2848144
> I ride my bicycle 30 miles a day in the highest gear

This just means you don’t know how to ride a bike

>>2846708
Why the fuck would they open with 2 hrs of daylight?

>>2853202
They have night skiing at Keystone

>>2853202
Because tourists and transplants will pay hundreds of dollars to ski even for a short amount of time, and the resort is heavily dependent on that money. Resorts are run like a financial house of cards, so they need all the profit they can get. They do stuff like this to squeeze it out of the customers.

>>2853200
those are nordic touring boots. They do not need to be as snug as alpine boots. I have those and they are comfortable. As long as your heel is snug and not lifting out everytime you kick then you should be fine

>>2853213
I've never been to a night skiing resort but I guess that makes sense. Back in the 00s I used to play golf at this place that had the back 9 illuminated in the winter. It must be super expensive for a whole ski slope and I've never seen it but its a cool idea.

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>>2853224
growing up in the upper midwest, every ski area had night skiing- but they were tiny. Its def a different proposition out West but some places do it ie; Keystone

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Recommend me a good bib. I bought a cheap one from Academy like 10 years ago and it's served me well but I need to upgrade now that I have lots of disposable income. Any recs? Looking at pic related because I love Columbia stuff

Any of you guys do XC skiing? I wanna try it this year, there's a place near me that does a 2 hour introductory thing.

>>2854096
do it, I shill it on here from time to time, I think it's really underrated and overlooked, probably because most people who are into it seem to stick to groomed trails and cruising around where it's pretty much flat. It's like if your whole impression of hiking was trail running, or if biking was just spandex roadies. It's a ridiculously fun way to explore the woods once it starts to click. I would suggest working on downhill techniques a LOT even if that's not the main aspect you care about because it's the hardest thing about XC and takes a lot more deliberate thought than striding imo. You CAN handle hills but if you already do alpine it will feel like your skis don't want to do fuck all what you want them to do and most people ultimately just choose to ride out a hill or bail out, which gets really limiting

>>2851149
And continuing from this, the latest Bachelor has ever opened in history is the 15th, now it's the 16th and there's no skiing in sight. There's finally some snow coming through this week but only 6-8", which isn't anywhere near enough to open.

>>2854096
where at? out west?

>>2854131
I'm in the northeast. Full disclosure, I'm mostly interested in XC/Nordic skiing (same thing?) as a means to access roads which are not plowed or maintained in the winter.

>>2854368
>XC/Nordic skiing (same thing?)
yes, they are the same thing. Get some touring skiis with metal edges- they are best for non-groomed trails/ FS roads etc...

>>2854368
>xc skiing in the northeast
grim

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>>2853213
Is Keystone good? I've been to virtually every other major resort in Colorado but not that one. We're going in January and I've heard mixed reviews. I got roped into to going there because of my sister in law. I wanted to go to Big Sky, Sunbird, or Steamboat. Thanks for reading my blog.

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>>2854368
>>2854392
don't listen to this chud, vermont/NH/maine is like the spiritual home of nordic skiing in north america (at least when I lived over there there were way more cool grampas who seem to actually like nordic for its own sake, versus the west)

I also like logging roads and I've had a lot of success using 3-pin bindings with somewhat heavier boots and shorter skis than you would use in a nordic area. Probably want to forget the "ski as tall as your outstretched arm" rule of thumb. People like NNN-BC bindings quite a bit, and they may well be better. But IME, deals on old 3-pin stuff are everywhere you look, meaning you can try lots of skis for shits without spending any real money, and end up with beater pairs for going out with your bros. Plus, boots like picrel (asolo snowfield) pop up fairly cheap on ebay etc. and are basically a nice stitchdown leather hiking boot, which is a lot handier for being in the woods than most NNN boots, although you can get something like that in NNN-BC... again, more money. It's nice to have a boot you can drive in. Lastly, I've seen plastic on NNN stuff break a few times, and I can't even imagine my pinner bindings breaking in a way I couldn't fix.

Newer "backcountry" or "XCD" skis like fischer s-bound and madshus panorama supposedly turn much easier because of their dimensions. I'm yet to ski them so I can't comment, but I have actually rented some panoramas to try out this week. Either way, my shortish and widish thrift store trak touring skis are very fun on the logging roads, so don't get too spun around by the G.A.S. heads if you don't want to drop the money. Skills can get you there

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Skied at Aspen Snowmass last week.
Of the four mountains:
>Snowmass was almost completely closed
>Buttermilk was almost all open, but icy
>Highlands was the best mountain, all the blues were open but most of the blacks were closed
>Aspen Mountain/Ajax had surprisingly good conditions on the few runs that were open but 80% of the runs were closed

Crazy weather this year and a complete lack of snow. I hope it gets better. Boulder/Denver has been on a 10+ day streak of 60 degree plus days in December, the longest streak ever recorded.

>>2846708
For downhill how do I know if my edges are ruined or if I just suck? Skiing east coast "ice" and they don't bite just skid and chatter. I sharpen them myself but that can only do so much because of the nature of only sharpening vertical side.

>>2854096
This >>2854731
And this >>2854109
It's like snowshoeing but actually fun.
My skis are somewhat wider and shorter than normal xc ski fag gear. Really good for exploring. Try to get off the groomed trail as soon as possible. Breaking trail is worth it for the solitude. Going to/along a lake or river is a good bet for flat terrain. I love skiing on frozen lakes but I'm always scared of falling in, especially with skis making it impossible to swim or get out.
I'd like to blend down hill and xc without skins, some special ski for that, but have to do more research, not sure if it's a meme or not.

>>2854870
I guess CO is having the same weather we are in OR. Mt. Bachelor is finally opening tomorrow but there's only 19" of base, sounds pretty rough to me.

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we got some snow

>>2854957
where

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>>2854988

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>no snow anywhere in summit county anytime soon

>>2854990
are you rich or a van nigger

>>2854904
Anecdotally, you can duckwalk for a long time up anything about as steep as woods roads ever get. Steeper than that, I have to think the hassle of skins is totally outweighed by how much easier they make it to climb. Some people use "kicker skins," which are part-length ones that you can leave on; a compromise. I haven't had to use skins for XC but I should probably try 'em. Skis branded as "touring" or "backcountry" etc. usually have less camber and more fish scales, which not only help going up but make it easier to turn on the way down, as well as having some drag that keeps your speed down. Just worse on the flats. I would like to mess with oldschool grip waxing because you can play with how your skis are gripping. Old heads also always say they're the fastest once you figure it out

>>2846708
If you guys end up at Gunstock in NH come say hi, I'm usually captain of Panorama or Pistol.

>>2854392
Breh the adirondacks are an xc mecca

>>2855187
According to whomst? Faggy Yankees?

I have a pair of skis that I bought used 5 years ago. They’re kind of shitty but I’m debating on whether to hold on to them or not, because I’m a pretty casual skier and right now I’m more worried about the cost of new skis than performance on the slopes.

I know they’re past the point of being guaranteed by the manufacturer or whatever. Will ski shops still wax and inspect my skis, or will they not touch them at all since they’re too old? Is it even safe to be skiing on old skis like that?

>>2855340
>Will ski shops still wax and inspect my skis
yes.
>Is it even safe to be skiing on old skis like that?
How old are they? if they are less than 20yrs old you should be fine. the bindings are more of a concern than the skiis if they are old too but the shop should be able to tell you if they are functional.

>>2853202
They were racing A Basin to be first to open in the US

>>2855340
>>2855343
I've been wondering about something similar myself, but mine are more like 12 years old. They've only been out a few times though, I unexpectedly moved to somewhere with no skiing shortly after getting them and only just moved back to a place with mountains and real winter this year.

Did some googling and it sounds like the skis themselves should be alright but the bindings are probably due for replacement, which isn't the worst thing because my feet have changed size so I need new boots anyway and the bindings would have to be remounted to fit them.

>>2855549
My understanding is that skis can last for 30+ years no problem with proper maintenance/TLC if you're only using them a moderate amount. You should be fine if everything is tuned and waxed properly.

>>2855052
>still no snow ever
it's really genuinely joever

>>2855056
neither, i rent a shitty apartment with roommates
it was fucking great out today, we've had a fantastic last 2 weeks
>>2855970
brutal

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just did some night skiing at mt seymour. surprisingly good snow, actually powdery, but the lines were insane for a thursday

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Been nordic skiing and learning downhill at resorts. Had some crazy fun trying to survive a long downhill on nordics and now i want to buy some scaled downhill skis and tech bindings

Is this retarded? I live in the northeast so long flat approaches that you can scale like 80% of the time

>>2855760
Lmao I beat the shit out of my skis so they constantly need like ptex and shit

>>2855760
>skis can last for 30+ years
sure they can last. but a lot has changed in 30yrs and the skiis of today are vastly different than those of 30 yrs ago in terms of design and function.

>>2856928
how skinny are the skis you've been downhilling on? If I had my druthers I'd pay ot take my nordic stuff down greens for a day to build skills, which is what the old telemark etc. books all say to do, but IRL people always tend to see this as comically suicidal (and yet when I was learning locked-heel alpine I could go up and eat shit 100,000 times and nobody batted an eye..?)

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Anybody ever skied Hokkaido (Japan)?
I keep on hearing how it's a bucket list experience, but at the same time I'm seeing stuff about how the mountains aren't very steep

>>2857955
I'll be there in two weeks, I'll let you know how it goes. Going to Niseko United, Rusutsu, Kiroro and Teine.

>>2857955
I've been to Niseko in the winter but sadly didn't get to ski, I was only in Hokkaido for a few days and it was some kind of holiday where the resorts were closed. Seemed like it'd be pretty great though, the snow was some of the most insane powder I've ever seen, I stuck my arm in a snowbank and it was like cold air.