Wow, so i dont think i have posted or been on DCSki since late feb. I think thats probably the longest i have not posted/lurked in 3 or more years!

So now the season is over for most of us (i guess some lucky ones out west or up north are still enjoying the amazing season), looking back where was your best day, how many days did you accumulate, worst day, most powder, craziest story, near death experience, ect?

For me I think I think i totaled about 37 or so days of skiing, definitely surpassing my previous record of 20 days. I skied a total of 9 resorts: Tussey of course, Elk (first time), 7 springs, Mystic Mountain (first time), Whitetail, Timberline, Wisp, Denton (first time), and Mount High (California).
My best day was almost certainly on Jan 3rd when my dad and i took advantage of 7 springs $79 ski and stay package. The snow was perfect and it was a bluebird day crowds were minimal because it was a weekday, I could probably never ask for a more perfect day with better conditions.
My worst day by far was a night late january at tussey when it was about 35 and raining heavily. After 2 hrs or so of skiing/practice we were on the lift to tear down the corse we were running when the lift broke down. Cant get much worse than sitting, cold and wet, on a broken down lift for 30 mins in the pouring rain at night.
My near death experience was at Elk when i failed to grab an edge and was literally inches at very high speed from running into the woods and trees... that said, the same day was one of my best of the season and probably my favorite run of the entire season. Nothing in the world is better then that feeling after a perfect run.
My craziest/weirdest day of the season was a tie. The first was a day at Tussey when on the lift a whiteout snow squall hit accompanied by 50 mph winds and even thunder. The second was my visit to denton resort, probably one of the most remote regions in PA, rocks everywhere, a slope with a 66 degree pitch, and bone chilling winds and cold; its a really weird place to ski but was fun.
My favorite new experience was real back country skiing. In california my cousin and I decided to hike to a peak that i think was still in bounds but completely undeveloped. We had to hike through some mode and exposed dirt but there was 2-5 feet in the shaded area where we skied. It was about 65 so the snow was perfect and we had 400-500 feet of undisturbed tree skiing. I really enjoyed it because, unlike around here, there is no near ground vegetation, just evenly spaced large pine trees.
Also, I really enjoyed my first year as a ski instructor. I liked everything about it except for the random non-english speaking students i would sometimes be assigned which was a nightmare to say the least.

So thats my season in a nutshell, how did everyone else do this year?

Glad to hear from you. It sounds like you've had an awesome season. I wish I could say the same. No near death experiences, no weird days, and even no powder days. Just 4 for me this year. Looking back there are a few reasons I only got out 4 days.

#1: Plain & simple. Too much school work.

#2: Two expensive non-ski related purchases (both in January)

Purchase number 1


Purchase number 2

David, You 'Da Man! Congratulations!

We have to get you out there in the slopes much more next year!

Congrats David - smart decision buying that guitar before the ring.

Always fun to reflect on a recently completed season. A touch of arthritis in my left knee is giving me some problems, but seemed like every time I really needed to be on my game it was serviceable for enjoyable on-slope activity. Got some nice local skiing in mid-Atlantic and made two more distant trips to the Catskills and later to Quebec. Logged from one to three days at a dozen different ski areas including four places I had never been to before (Hidden Valley PA among them). My teenage son accompanied me on every ski day and we shared most days with additional family or friends as well. Seeing my family and friends improve and enjoy themselves adds a lot of meaning to my own skiing.
I got two superb days at pristine and scenic Le Massif, Quebec which were a real highlight. There was a particularly gorgeous glade there (L'Archipel) that was just my speed. Fairly open for glades with nice scattered of big old trees, about as long and steep as Deer Run at Blue Knob or maybe Exhibition at Whitetail. It had a bunch of loose fresh snow on it both days with views of the St. Lawrence River -10 miles wide- as a backdrop. And then there was another 1000 vertical feet of terrain below it to the base of the lift. Whew!
http://www.lemassif.com/en/mountain.map.asp

Congrats and condolences David! You're on your way to adding all sorts of non-skiing related distractions to your life, and it will only get worse. My advice: grab your skis and RUN!!!

Edit - Forgot to add my list: 9 ski-days at Alta this year was a major highlight. Five of those days were epic, the rest were Alta-good. The absolute best day was April 10, when steep and deep was the name of the game. My local season (15 days) was fairly average, and I can only think of 3-4 days where the skiing/snow was really memorable. The rest of the time, skiing was average but the company of family and friends was the real highlight.

Ya David congratulations, does she ski?

Definitely plan to since I will be graduating in Dec.



Yeah. Just had to keep it under my bed when I wasn't playing it so she didn't get suspicious...



Thanks!! Luckily she's pretty cool about my skiing and fishing habits...


No, but kind of willing to learn....

So hopefully you know better than to teach her yourself. If not, I can tell you from personal experience it's a bad idea! In fact, I am surprised my wife (then girlfriend) didn't dump me after that. I think the $50-60 we paid for a real lesson a few years later was money well spent.

Ditto on that. My cousin and his wife, 5 years ago, came to visit me at my annual Snowshoe pilgrimage for two weeks. They had NEVER, EVER been skiing. I gave them a Christmas present of two days with a private instructor. Caveat that with the fact that they're both pretty agile and limber. In two days, they were easily manuvering the "light" blues. The next year, same late Christmas present. They maneuvered the harder blues and started on the "light" blacks. Last year, my male cousin did Lower Shays with relative ease. I am amazed that with the equipment and instructional techniques available today, one can enjoy a much better learning curve than before.

I was sort of surprised and wished I had done the same as they did, but 30 years earlier. I've been taking lessons over the last 5 years too... But mine are to get rid of 35-year-old bad habits learned in College.

Great thread! Every season has its story.

Back in the summer I wasn't sure I'd ski at all this season, but a skilled neurosurgeon sliced off part of my herniated L2-L3 disc in September and I got onto skis at Wisp on December 10. Skied 17 days this year, which tops the 12-14 that I've been doing lately. This included a week in Vermont in mid-March, where I made my last tracks count on a Trifecta Day: Stowe through a late lunch, Cochrans in the afternoon, and then a few evening runs at Bolton Valley. We had very good skiing to excellent on corduroy (and a side of fresh powder) most of our days in the Green Mts.

One of the best aspects of the season was taking my teenaged son and 3 of his friends to the DC ski expo, where we all got one-day passes to Wisp and Whitetail. Had great days with them there, and then another at Seven Springs on March 1 in the mid-A season's best conditions.

Left my helmet and goggles at Wisp, but the Wisp office phoned me a week later to say my stuff had been found (I'd written my name and phone # inside).

A snowy family weekend at Timberline, a day each at Jiminy Peak MA and Okemo VT over Christmas holidays, a church retreat that included a day as Massanutten, a weekday afternoon at Liberty, and a fine day at Blue Knob in early January rounded out the season.

No epic spills, but white-knuckled driving home through snow squalls from Wisp and en route to Timberline provided legitimate near-death experiences in 2007-08. Craziest days were 2 at Wisp in December -- skiing through the rain just to get first turns.

Awards to:
* Wisp for $7 birthdays, for free bottle-dispensed water, for $21 locals days, and for making plenty of snow fast,
* 7 Springs for tickets at the entrance gate, and for providing a few glades (but don't cut any more trees!),
* Timberline for a mountain and trails that feel like Vermont,
* Liberty and Wisp for lodges with great views of skiers and boarders on the slopes,
* 4-hour and 8-hour flex tickets,
* Ski shops that still sell patches and pins,
* Working webcams,
* Snow reports online that show which runs are expected to open next,
* Lifties that know how to manage lines without the Gestapo feel,
* Areas that welcome brown-baggers with comfortable spaces,
* Cubbies,
* DCSki.com, SnowJournal.com and all who lurk and post there,
* Blue Knob and Timberline for their old-timey feel,
* Areas with display cases that celebrate their ski history,
* Wintergreen for The Wintergreen Nature Foundation (and for dedicating more acreage to wilderness than they do to resort development),
* Vermont and the Berkshires for being there,
* Skiers and boarders who call "I'm on your left" before they pass you (all 3 of them),
* Owners, operators, groomers, cooks, custodial staff, ski instructors, patrollers and everybody else who hangs in there year after year and makes mid-Atlantic skiing possible in the first place, and, finally, to:
* My non-skiing wife who enjoys the mountains and encourages my son and me to get out on the slopes.

Condolences to:
* Areas east of I-81 that just didn't catch a break with the season's warm weather, rain on weekends, and too-short cold snaps,
* Areas west of I-81 that envied the Northeast's the weather and conditions,
* Anybody who didn't get out as much as they wanted this season.

Resolutions for next season:
* Take lessons
* Bring more friends, and more of my son's friends
* Ski more, and better!

Waiting for snow,
Woody

Hey Woody, that was magnificent...

First, congrats on the L2-L3 victory. Amazing you still were able to get the umph to ski this year.

Cochran's!!! OhmyGod... You took me back to my days at St Mike's in Vermont, watching the Winooski River during thaw season....

Love your awards nominations. And as to resolution, I'd add - enjoy the sheer beauty of a sport that honors the beauty of nature and the company of great people.

Well put.



BTW Craig, there is no way I plan to teach her. One of the main reasons I haven't got her into it yet is I can't afford my ticket and her ticket, rental, and lesson. I'll make it there eventually though.

And just where do you wear that rock, David?
Congrats! Who is the lucky girl?
The Colonel

She was my girlfriend of about 6 years...

Lbotta, I hope you don't mind my adding your resolution to my list.

Cochran's was great fun, just seeing the swarm of kids riding the t-bar and handle tow, and then getting to ski that hallowed ground myself for a few runs. Can't beat $6 for a half of a half-day rate.

The opportunities to go skiing again and to continue my field work with my students were all the incentive I needed to follow doctor's orders after surgery. A skier himself, he told me "no moguls this year" and recommended that I omit Mad River Glen from my Vermont trip in March.

Thanks for your encouragement.

Cheers,
Woody

Thanks David. There are absolutely great people here in this forum. Even if we are vehement about our own beliefs. Actually that's good. Some take it personal and they shouldn't. The bottom line is that both skiing as a sport, and this forum as an advocate for the sport, have within them some very well-intentioned members.

As far as getting her to ski, let's talk once ski season gets closer. Could make a dent in the "damage" to your wallet, especially if you're saving for the ancillaries of walking down the isle and the accouterments that eventually add up to stratospheric figures.

Hey Woody, thanks for the words! I have no pride of authorship. After 7 years in the Pentagon staff, pride of authorship went out the window.

You took me back so many years... Have great memories of the Cochran folks. I was in St Mike's in '72 when Barbara Ann Cochran won the slalom gold in Sapporo and we considered her our neighbor. It was a great time to be living in Vermont. Better yet, it still is... My soul is there. And after living in over 15 countries, I alway look to Vermont as the place where I really would like to live the rest of my days.

By the way, what's the field work you do with the students?

Keep on truckin'... And stay active in the summer, take up something that will strengthen the core and you'll be at MRG next winter. Taking that single chair makes me farklempt..... Feel like having coffee talk and everything :-)