2 killed in WY avalanches, 8 skiers die in bus crash over the weekend...
    Keep skiing and stay young, recent study proves!
    From the 'characters along the way' file: Making music on the slopes...
  A sweet preview: Winter storm lashes the west, Wolf Creek opens with a 3' base!
 Killer free skiing deals for 4th, 5th and 6th graders across North America...
"The Greatest Snow on Earth? How about "The Greatest Snow in the Solar System?"

 

 

 

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Telemark Skiing News and Commentary by Mitch Weber

  • 3/4-- "Woman caught in avalanche dies in boyfriend's arms," the sensational headline read after Wyoming backcountry skier Liza Benson was killed in a slide that sent her into a tree, causing major head and body trauma. The 28 year-old Ms. Benson was described as a "seasoned skier" by friends, co-workers and family who also told of her deep love for the outdoors. "I know she died happy and with someone she loved so much," the victim's sister, Adrienne Benson, told local reporters, "and it was really fast." The boyfriend, Jason Ray said "we were doing what we loved together when tragedy struck." Ray also said the two had planned to marry. Another backcountry skier, 30 year-old Nick Gillespie of Jackson WY was also killed in a separate slide over the weekend.

Benson and Gillespie are reportedly the first two avalanche fatalities this season.

One news account pointed out to the uninitiated that Benson's "group was skiing in the backcountry, where the powder is often fresher, but there is a significant risk of avalanches," which of course is true, however another tragic news story over the weekend adds important perspective. 8 skiers from Mexico were killed, and scores more were injured Sunday night when a charter bus rolled over while coming down a narrow mountain road. The skiers had been on a day trip from Tijuana to Bear Mountain Resorts in California when the driver lost control of the bus, rolling over at least one other vehicle.

As Big Tim remarked after taking a scary ride himself a few years ago, "the drive back and forth is still the most dangerous part."

  • 10/12-- Keep skiing and stay young! That's the message delivered in a study published last summer by researchers from the Department of Sport Science at Austria's University of Salzburg. The 12 week interventional study was conducted using 47 men and women between the age of 60 and 75. The study group skied 2 to 3 days per week, with an individual average of 28.5 days during the 12 week period. Among these older skiers, significant improvements were noted in aerobic capacity, leg muscle power, and strength. VO(2 max) improved 7.2%, jump height increased on average 6%, and dynamic maximal strength measured in both legs increased 16%. Quadriceps muscle size also increased 7.1%, with equal improvement in both fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers. The study also showed that the skiers benefited from increased glucose metabolism, which can help prevent diabetes.

In addition to the reported physical improvements, several standard and well-established questionnaires were used to measure and note improvement in psycho-social characteristics such as well-being, life satisfaction, self-concept, health status, depression and self-efficacy. Interestingly, the snow skiers who volunteered for the study already had very high pre-test scores in all of these areas, limiting the psycho-social impact of the 12 week study period, but apparently confirming what many of us have known for a very long time: Skiing and the outdoor life is good for both body and soul.

Over the course of the 12 weeks and 342 skier days, just 2 minor injuries were reported due to falls.

The Salzburg Skiing for the Elderly Study may be among the first to quantify skiing specifically, however it joins a long list of research results indicating that activity and exercise can substantially improve physical function as we age, while also promoting independence, well-being and an overall higher quality of life. Yet older folks continue to tend toward leading a more sedentary life. Indeed, a few years ago I had the opportunity to sit in on a presentation by representatives of the trade group SnowSports Industries America (SIA) to Patagonia's international sales force, and one of the statistics presented as a challenge to the industry was this: The average skier hangs up their boards for good at the age of just 43 (!!), commonly it would seem around the time their kids have grown up and moved on with their own lives.

Now we know from the Salzburg Study that this is more than just a problem for the snow-sports industry, it's nothing less than a tragedy for moderately trained older folks who fail to continue to enjoy the low risk, yet significant, physical and psychological benefits skiing can provide, right on into the so-called 'golden years.'

  • 10/10-- We've heard of making turns like sweet music, and we know a few people who regularly either sing out loud or in their head while arcing down the hill, however I'm not sure we've ever seen anyone play guitar and singing while skiing, but according to a recent story we came across, that's exactly what longtime folksinger John Winn does occasionally at Powderhorn, near his home in Grand Junction, Colorado. "Singing on the chairlift, then skiing down the hill doing telemark turns with my guitar, and trying to sing the song in rhythm as I was going down," is how Winn explained it near the end of the article. And why were we not surprised in the least by Winn's choice of turn style? Once more we are reminded that, all these years it's the characters we've met along the way that have been part of the fun.

 

  • 10/9-- Winter came early to parts of the western U.S. last week, and on the other side of the ski world as well. It started with the first National Weather Service Winter Storm Warning of the season. In words that always sound like sweet music to left-coast skiers and snowboarders, the message came down from on high Monday afternoon: "VERY EARLY WINTER STORM TO AFFECT THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT. A STRONG STORM DROPPING OUT OF THE GULF OF ALASKA WILL BRING UNSEASONABLY COLD WEATHER TO THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA INTERIOR. TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS COULD BE AS HIGH AS 18 INCHES OVER THE HIGH COUNTRY." And 18" turned out to be exactly what our hill ended up reporting, but not before more than an inch of rain in less than 5 hours fell, reportedly l hammering as much as half of this summer's Central Valley raisin crop.

Leaving a nice, 15" start on a base behind on Mammoth Mountain, the fast moving storm moved west, socking the Wasatch on Thursday. White-out conditions were reported in Little Cottonwood Canyon around Alta, lasting for more than an hour.

Again a good start, however it was after this that the storm got serious, slowing down and finally stalling completely as it slammed into the western side of the divide, pounding Colorado Friday and on into the weekend.

By Sunday afternoon Wolf Creek was open and reporting a storm total of 46", with a 3 foot base already at the top.

From Wolf Creek's webcam yesterday afternoon.

Fall snow storms like this are viewed as a mixed blessing by a lot of winter weary folks in mountain towns, but of course ski tourism officials were ecstatic. Colorado Ski Country's Melanie Mills was quoted by the Denver Post's Jason Blevins boasting that, with just three months between A-Basin's 4th of July closing day and Wolf Creek's opening this weekend, "Colorado is practically a year-round ski destination."

Yes, it's early, and with slowly returning warm weather in this week's forecast, Indian Summer is indeed coming. Yet it's easy to get excited by this storm and the way it tracked down from the Gulf of Alaska, indicating support for the view that another massive winter is on the way (see recent story below).

  • 10/5-- Here's some awesome news for 4th, 5th and 6th graders (and their parents) who want to learn to ski or simply get in some resort ski days this year on the cheap. But first, let me just say that this is such a great age to introduce kids to skiing, especially those that haven't grown up with hardcore skiing parents. By this age they are tougher, with well developed motor skills, making it more fun for them in the cold, and easier to learn the sport.

The ski industry recognizes this, and thus provides some really great deals to get kids of this age started on what can end up being a life-long passion for skiing and snowboarding. And for those of us with children who've been skiing for years, these programs offer an economical way to introduce their friends to the sport, which has been both fun for my kids, and quite simply among the most rewarding experiences I've had on snow.

Here's a rundown of programs we've found for the 2011/2012 season:

For $25, Ski Utah's Fifth and Sixth Grade Passport gives 5th graders three free days at any Utah ski area, and 6th graders get to ski one day at any of Utah's resorts, from Brian Head in the south, to Beaver Mountain up north.

Not to be outdone, Colorado Ski Country USA's 5th and 6th Grade Passport program gives Colorado 5th graders three days of skiing for free at each of 22 member resorts, and 6th graders can get a $99 pass, good for four days at each resort. Confusing things somewhat, Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone do not participate in this program. Instead, along with Arapahoe Basin, they offer their own 5th and 6th Grade "School of Shred" Program, which includes 4 free days of skiing and a free first-timer lesson and rental (the free lesson and rental does not apply to A-Basin). You need to jump on this one early by showing up with your kid and their report card at one of the resort's pass sales locations before November 6th.

Ski Vermont's Fifth Grade Passport essentially provides free skiing all year for 5th graders, accompanied by a paying adult, at any of the organizations alpine resorts and Nordic ski areas. Cost of the passport is just $10.

The New York 4th Grade Passport Program offers two options for a $20 processing fee, a free Learn to Ski Package, with discounts on future visits for the child and their adult. The other deal: A booklet of coupons for three free lift tickets per resort (with adult purchase).

Ski New Hampshire offers a fun twist and and a tip of the hat to Mr. Craig Dostie (whether they realize it or not) with their 4th Grade "Earn Your Turns" Program. To participate, students must research some aspect of the history of skiing in New Hampshire. They can write an essay or a story, draw a picture, build a model or interview a grandparent or friend who skied in the time of rope tows and wooden skis. Once the project is complete, students submit it to their 4th grade teacher. If it is satisfactory, the teacher submits the student's name to Ski NH, which then sends the student their passbook containing lift tickets to each of 37 Ski NH resorts! Very cool. The organization also offers a 5th Grade Passport Program that includes a free lift ticket to every member downhill and cross country ski area, and even two or three at many, all for just $25.

Maine's WinterKids Passport offers the state's 5th, 6th, and 7th graders discounted tickets, lessons, and rentals. Last year the package included two free tickets per area and no blackout dates. Check out their site for this year's deal.

In Canada, the Canadian Ski Council offers a Grade 4 and 5 Snowpass, which provides 3 free lift tickets at participating resorts. This is billed as a "once in a lifetime offer" and they aren't kidding: If you use it in 4th grade you don't get to reapply in 5th grade, but the price is just $22. A fine deal, eh?

Michigan Snowsports Industries Association has its three free tickets "Cold is Cool" program for 4th graders, and the Pennsylvania Ski Areas Association offers a 4th and 5th Grade Snowpass booklet good for more than 67 days of free skiing at 22 Pennsylvania ski areas.

Last but certainly not least, Ski the Northwest Rockies has its own 5th Grade Ski Free Passport Program that gives the holder 3 free days at each of 22 resorts for just $20, and some of the resorts include discounts for parents, brothers and sisters. Participating ski areas include Sun Valley, Brundage, Grand Targhee and more, nd you don't have to be a local, making this one of the more spectacular deals around for 5th graders.

  • 10/4-- Scotland's ski resorts should give guests access to better snow, higher up on the mountain, according to an independent report in the news today. These new findings come on the heels of an idea advanced last year that Scotland's resorts should consider covering their slopes in bubble wrap to preserve their snow and extend the season, the length of which at one resort has reportedly declined over time by two full days.

In this latest study, researchers looked at five Scotland resorts with base elevations of around 2,000 feet, and determined that these low elevations made for unreliable conditions. According to the BBC, the report's authors said Scotland's resorts may have to follow the example of Switzerland, "where they found access to better quality, higher snow fields." To reach this conclusion, the authors also conducted research at ski areas in Japan, Sweden and New Zealand.

We've heard that next up for these clever folks is a report suggesting that surfing should be promoted in Scotland at areas along the coast with the best waves. Extended research will reportedly be conducted in Hawaii, Costa Rica and at Malibu, California.

  • 10/3-- Forget about Utah's "Greatest Snow on Earth," how about "The Greatest Snow in the Solar System?" Thanks to information and photos gathered by NASA's Cassini orbiter on a recent fly-by of Saturn's moon Enceladus, we now have a pretty good idea just where that snow might be found. "Bulky space suits and extremely low gravity aside (about 1% that of Earth), the particles themselves are only a fraction of a millimeter in size, roughly a micron or two across, even finer than talcum powder. This would make for the finest powder a skier could hope for,"

    explained Dr. Paul Schenk of the Lunar and Planetary Institute during a presentation today before a division of The European Planetary Science Congress.

    Enceladus is not only blessed with the greatest powder imaginable, the little moon also enjoys an endless winter. And that is fortunate for future snowsports enthusiasts as it is believed its snow falls at a very weak average rate of less than

    Image: NASA/JPL..

    one thousandth of a millimeter per year. Nevertheless, after examining high-resolution enhanced 3-D images, scientists estimate the snowpack in a region near the moon's south pole to be about 100 meters deep. Likely taking millions of years to accumulate, but hey, with an endless winter it simply has no where to go!

For more about Enceladus, including a really cool virtual tour, click here.

It is in this area that huge geysers of water vapor and ice have been observed. Functioning much like giant snow guns here on earth, it is these massive plumes that are responsible for the deep powder snow of Enceladus. Isn't that amazing?

Will this be the future of inter-planetary skiing and snowboarding? How long will it be before Powder Magazine will feature the "Top Ten Condo Deals on Enceladus?"

Image: NASA/JPL..

  • 10/2-- Is another massive winter in store for the Northern Hemisphere? A little over a year ago Geoff Sharp, an Australian solar scientist, made a stunning prediction many thought highly unlikely. In July, 2010 Sharp wrote: ""I predict the extra boost from my predicted solar grand minimum, along with the current oceanic conditions, the next northern winter (2010/2011) will experience conditions similar to the Little Ice Age (1250-1850)." His prediction proved to be spot-on, with record cold and record-breaking snowfall all across the contiguous U.S. and Canada.

Indeed, from Squaw Valley's all-time record 810 inches and Mt. Bachelor's 665 (breaking its previous high by 5 feet), to Loveland's record 593 inches, to Jay Peak's nearly 400 inch season, and of course our own hill's epic, 40 year Mammoth record-shattering 669 inches, it was defintely a winter for the memory banks. So now the question becomes, what is Geoff Sharp again predicting for our coming winter season?

"There is only one component in my mind that can stop another massive winter occurring in the Northern Hemisphere during 2011/2012," wrote Sharp, who goes on to explain that in his opinion, historically low solar activity of late will continue to affect the jet stream, which last year "remained strongly contorted, (bringing) warmer winds from the Atlantic to Western Europe, but maintained a very strong cooling presence over eastern Europe and North America." Sharp also observed that last winter in the U.S, "during a strong La Niña, basically the jet stream overrode the normal pattern expected... For these reasons I expect more of the same to follow this winter…"

Happily for us, two months down the line from Sharp's latest mid-summer prediction, the pieces of the puzzle once again seem to be falling into place. On September 8th the U.S. National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) issued an advisory with the synopsis: "La Niña conditions have returned and are expected to gradually strengthen and continue into the Northern Hemisphere winter 2011-12." In the weeks since, key indicators such as Sea Surface Temperature (SST) anomalies, and what is known as the "PDO," a measure of spatial temperature changes in the waters of the Pacific Ocean, have changed significantly, prompting the CPC to become more bullish in their outlook for a strengthening La Niña, notably dropping the word 'gradually.' On September 26th, the CPC issued the following update:

  • La Niña conditions are present across the equatorial Pacific.
  • Sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies have become increasingly negative in the east-central equatorial Pacific Ocean.
  • Atmospheric circulation anomalies are consistent with La Niña.
  • La Niña is expected to strengthen and continue into the Northern Hemisphere winter 2011-12.

Also of note: Similar to this time last year, sub-surface temperatures east of the dateline are currently 4 degrees lower than normal, and reports from the southern ocean are that the tradewinds have significantly strengthend recently, further indicators of a building La Niña. Observers are watching carefully to see if another massive pool of warm water forms rapidly along the surface north of Nuw Guinea, as happened last year around this time. Stay tuned, and get your gear ready, for once again:

The days are getting shorter. The nights are getting longer.

Soon the snow will fly. Life is good.

  • 9/30-- Jerry Brown, the iconoclastic California governor from the 70's, known here for having once taken a Jesuit Seminary School vow of poverty, chastity and obedience before dating then-pop chanteuse and rock star Linda Ronstadt, while also eschewing the governor's mansion in favor of a flop house apartment across the street, is back once again as governor of The Golden State.

Once nationally known as "Governor Moonbeam," Brown has, in these his later years, become a surprisingly level-headed, progressive yet almost libertarian

leaning leader, making ski news recently by vetoing another attempt by San Francisco State Senator and child psychologist Leland Lee to require skiers and snowboarders under 18 to wear a helmet.

In so doing, Democrat Brown appeared to side with state Republicans who predictably criticized the the bill as more "nanny government."

Said Brown, "While I appreciate the value of wearing a ski helmet, I am concerned about the continuing and seemingly inexorable transfer of authority from parents to the state. Not every human problem deserves a law."

Brown and his rock star girlfriend circa 1979

Supporters of the bill jumped on Brown for his veto, which mirrored a veto by skiing enthusiast and former republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger a year earlier. The California Psychological Association said Brown "chose to ignore the scientific evidence (and) the ski industry's support." Others have noted possible enforcement issues. First Tracks Legal Correspondent and lawyer David Cronheim says, “Heavenly Valley straddles the California-Nevada border ...A child who started the day in Nevada without a helmet would have had to don one before crossing the border into the California portion of the resort.” And critics of Brown's veto also point out that according to the National Ski Areas Association (NSA), 19 of 38 skiers, or half of the skiers and snowboarders who died at resorts in the 2009-2010 season were not wearing helmets. On the other hand, supporters of freedom of choice would point out that this statistic is all but meaningless since it merely reflects the overall rate of helmet usage, which the NSA itself currently pegs at 57%.

Perhaps the best argument for requiring those under the age of 18 to wear ski helmets is that its gives parents a tool to use in getting their own kids to use lids. However, many of us parents might question the effectiveness of such laws, based on our own real-world experience.

For my part, despite our bike helmet law, I've struggled in recent years getting my own risk-taking 17 year-old to wear his helmets, both at the BMX bike park and on the slopes. I've explained to him that when he's 18, and financially responsible for himself and his injuries, he can make his own call. And yet at the bike, park local police regularly sweep through and try to enforce the law, but to no avail, to him and his friends it's just part of the fun, a game. At the ski hill I have taken his pass away for leaving his helmet at home, only to have him then take his helmet in the morning and ditch it in the woods for the day while going huge in the park. Now guess who doesn't have a pass for next year and who's going to go from a hundred day season to a zero day season? So yes, at the end of the day I suppose Governor Moonbeam is right, it's a question of parental authority, and for us the bike helmet law only worked when he was still listening to his mom and me enough that he was going to wear his helmet anyway.

Oh, and my son's counter-argument for not wearing his helmet is that we have insurance, which I guess, given the current debate over Obama-care, brings to mind a whole other question of just what constitutes 'nanny government.' Personally, I don't care much about all that, I just want him to wear his darn helmet.

  • 9/30-- SnowSports Industries America's (SIA) 2011 Snow Sports Participation Report is out, and perhaps the biggest surprise in the annual survey is that despite the ongoing down economy, skiing and snowboarding are up, 5.4% and 10.4% respectively. Also of note is a significant jump in the number of crossover snowboarders who also say they ski: from 26% in 2008/09 to 34% in 2009/10.

Less surprising is the steady, continuing diversification of snowsports. African American, Asian and Hispanic's now collectively make-up about 30% of all snow sports participants, growing at a rate of about 5%/year, and it's still largely a rich man's game: 47% of alpine skiers and 32% of all snowboarders having annual incomes of $100,000 or more.

Interestingly, 7.5% of the total U.S. population (6 and older) participates in at least one snow sport discipline, and a little over 60% of the alpine skiers snowboarders are said to be concentrated in just 10 states.