On Taking What the Mountain Gives You

On Taking What the Mountain Gives You

Or The Many Shades of Perfect Americans tend to treat all athletic endeavors as metaphors for war.  Our most cherished spectator sports are either grounded in a military ethos (football) or are brutally confrontational (NASCAR, cage fighting) and this winner-moves-on,...
The End is Nigh: An Optimist Looks at America’s Skiing’s Future

The End is Nigh: An Optimist Looks at America’s Skiing’s Future

I’m an optimist by nature.  Try to keep this in mind as I air my misgivings about the future of American skiing. As the thoughts I’m about to share were incubating, they started to coalesce around five points, all of which turned out to be more complex than I at first...
The Ski Price Matrix Explained

The Ski Price Matrix Explained

The snow-clad skis in this rack will one day adorn a similar rack inside a tent at a ski swap.  If you can’t stomach dropping a grand on a new pair of skis, the secondary market offers an abundance of options to buying new.  Fall is ski swap time, as well as...
Fear of Flying

Fear of Flying

What’s wrong with this picture of the Peruvian lift at Snowbird, gateway to idyllic terrain? Not a damn thing, unless, like your esteemed Editor, you suffer from FOHL.  Photo by “Guru” Dave Powers. I don’t remember the first time I felt it, at least...
How to Read Ski Data: Mining Ski Stats for Behavioral Clues

How to Read Ski Data: Mining Ski Stats for Behavioral Clues

  Labor Day marks the beginning of ski season in America.  This wall at Bobo’s displays a profusion of carryover, 2022 models. An equal allotment of new models overflow a small armada of ski racks elsewhere under the tent.   At the top of most ski reviews...