Friday, December 16, 2011

Excited about Snow 2000 miles from here...

The group is set and the trip is planned.  I'm going to try my hand (or feet, hands and face in reality) at SnowBoarding at the end of January.  After spending exactly zero time on snow skis in the past 18 years, and two days skidding down an ice sheet that passes for snow here in the Appalachian mountains prior to that, this should be interesting.

It sounds like, from the blogs and other reports, everyone out west is complaining that the snow hasn't come yet.  That there is "barely anything" that is open.  They certainly haven't spent time in the deep south.  I even ran into a mountain biker at Oak Mountain this weekend that said he was taking his climbing gear out to Colorado on his trip in a couple of weeks because there wasn't any "serious" snow yet and he might get bored.  (I guess he skis a fairly significant amount by that statement.)

At the end of the post is a video filmed yesterday December 15th from Whitefish, Montana where we will be going.

The resort is a pretty small one from what I can tell when compared to the Disneyland versions out in Utah, Colorado, and California, but small isn't bad.  It means short lift lines, lower prices, and a laid back small town atmosphere with more locals vs. fighting millions on the slopes as I try to learn to stay upright on a board.


I like the idea of being out in nowhereville, which is probably why I like hiking/mountain biking in Utah so much.

Anyway, the early season complaints I hear prompted me to look at the SkiWhitefish.com website and I found this video.

If that's "early season" and not really great conditions, I'll be just fine with it.  With 5 weeks more snow before we get there, this trip is going to really open my eyes to what can be done outdoors.  I can remember seeing 8 inches of snow once in my life.  They get an average of 300 inches a year out there.  This is a place where you ski by a short bush and find that it was actually the top of a 30 foot tall pine.

Enjoy.



www.Skiwhitefish.com