Glacier skiing weather forecast

The weather for Glacier skiing in the US and Canada is looking pretty hot. At Windells (Mt. Hood) there is a slight chance of rain today, then sunny the rest of the week, and it's supposed to stay warmer than 70 every day besides today.

Whistler is slightly cooler, since it's closer to the north pole. It's forecast is light rain today, sunday, and tuesday, with it not getting above 70, except today.

For detailed info on Windells weather, click here. For more info on Whistler Blackcombs forecast, click here.

Another great loss in the skiing industry

It is with a heavy heart that I write about this incident. Many people have already read about it in the Sierra Sun, and others have read about it on the internet. Last week the skiing comunity lost a great up and coming big mountain skier. Arne Backstrom past away last Thursday after a skiing fall in the mountains of South America. Arne was on a month long ski trip to film for a movie. On June 3rd the group of people headed to the summit of Pisco Mountain in Peru. When heading down, he hiked over to an area known as the South Face. He was heading down when one of his skis popped off and he started gaining speed. He went out of sight of the people he was with. They later found his body at the base of the Face. Arne was the brother of professional female skier Ingrid. He was also Brother of Professional snowboarder Ralph. The skiing industry has lost a great skier, and a great person. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

Summer

Summer is finally here! it's been a long cold winter, but it's finally over. This week isn't supposed to drop past 60 degrees, so this weather is finally here to stay. Skiing is still an option for anyone who wants to work for it, however. You can go hike ski resorts (Alpine, Squaw, Northstar, etc.) and go skiing, but it's alot more work than riding up a chairlift. Also, if anyone working there is on the mountain, you have potential to get kicked off, and if you get hurt there is no ski patrol to come and get you. If you go hike a mountain to go skiing, it would be essentially like backcountry skiing; but not as dangerous.

Ski Logik

There have been a huge amount of new ski companies that have emerged in recent years. Some are good skis and some are fairly crappy, but most all of them just kinda blend in with all the other skis on the mountain, except one, Ski Logik. This ski company is one that you many not have heard of yet; however, you most definaly will very soon. The skis are like nothing you have ever seen before. They look as though they should be decorating your living room, yet they are on your feet. The skis have a beautiful wood inlay in place of a graffic on the top sheet. Every ski is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. The skis also have an abolone shell inlay in the tip of the ski for an added touch of beauty. The ski is made mostly of wood, with a wooden core, wooden sidewalls, and a wooden top sheet. These wooden sidewalls are made of a quite impressive wood, called Black Locust, which is both water and rot resistent. When you think of an all wood ski, you might think it would be heavy, yet you would be very wrong, these are some of the lightest skis I have every picked up, especially for a big ski. To check out the complete construction of the skis go to the web site. The link is at the bottom of the page. While these skis look amazing, and are supremely beautiful pieces of artwork, there is always the question of how they ski. Having been skiing on them since this march and have over 50 days on them, I can tell you that they are absolutly amazing in every snow condition. They ski the powder with ease and will shred anything else with supreme power. They handle great and are very controllable. The ski also has the perfect flex pattern; stiffer under the foot, but softer in the tip and tail. This allows for the ski to be playful while being stable at high speeds and on landings. These skis are some of the most amazing things to come out of the ski industry. I have no doubt that ski logik will be a quite popular name very soon. To check out the skis and order yourself a pair go to the website here!

Ski gear 2011

Every year ski gear gets a little better, a little different. Park skis have been getting used as all mountain skis, and true park skis get softer. Powder skis mean reverse camber, and alsmost everything you find has somewhat of a twin tip in the back. For pictures on many new / updated models, click here. The best thing about new models is the graphic, it could be the same exact ski as last year but look better to you.

Summer down south

Summer is a hard time for a skier. There is no snow and this is hard to deal with for most. While a short break from the snow is welcomed at the end of the year, it is hard to not ski at all during the summer. A wonderful option to fix this problem is heading down to the southern hemisphere for the summer. The sontinent of South America offers great skiing. Check out South American Snow Sessions here!

Summer attractions opening

It's definitely getting to be summer, not just because of the warm weather and sun, but the resorts are opening their summer activities up. At Northstar, some of the mountain biking is opening up this friday, June 7th. They have a pool, a lap pool, 2 hot tubs, and 2 saunas available. If tennis is your thing, they have many tennis courts. Where the ice skating rink is in the winter, they have a roller skating rink going in the summer, which you might catch some live music at if your lucky. They have a village with places to eat, shop, and keep the kids happy. More info on Northstars summer events here.

At Squaw Valley you can go ride the cable car up to mid-mountain, go to the pool / spa, play tennis, use their climbing wall, the "sky jump", or their ropes course, all already open. They also have a shopping center with restaraunts and shops going all summer long. More detailed info on summer events at Squaw here.

Summer Skiing in Portillo, Chile

Portillo, Chile is one of the most famous South American ski resorts. Many skiers go there to train, or to just ski. I have been there and it is very awesome if you have the money. The way it is set up is very cool, you pay by the week and meals and rooms are all inclusive. There are three options for rooms, the lodge, the octagon building and the hostel. I hope to go again this summer.

Ramp Camps

So in my last post I discussed the options of heading out to an olympic training facility to get in a little bit of training. There are many of these facilities avalible throughout the world. Three of them are right here in North America. There is one at the Olympic site up at Lake Placid, one at the Olypic site in Park City Utah, and one in Onterio, Canada. These are all great training destinations, and promise to be a great help in your skiing future. Even if you are not a good skier, that is okay; there is no experience needed. At the Utah Olypic Park they offer not only water ramping, but trampoline coaching as well. These are not your normal backyard tramplines, these are Olympic trampolines. They will allow you to bounce higher with far less effort. The Utah Olympic Park is a wonderful place to get comfprtable in the air without the danger of getting seriously injured. This facility is one of only a few that airates the water before you land, in order to soften the impact. Many of the world top athelets in the mogul, aireal, and freeride diciplines use this facility to train along side you. This is a great facility to check out. It is highly recommended.Chek out this video, it show the facility in Quebec (the tan one) and the facility in Park City, Utah (the green one). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuLNIB5n3a0

Out of country / More on summer skiing

If you are looking for a winter getaway instead of the normal beach vacation during summer, I have some good news. Ski resorts in the southern hemisphere are in their winter season right now, meaning ski resorts in Chile, Argentina (more info on Argentina ski resorts here), New Zealand, and Australia, are open season for anyone willing to travel.

As stated before, there is always glacier skiing at Windells and Whistler, but Italy also has its own glacier skiing, Cervinia Zermatt, which is less known.

If you want to help a starting sport, you can go grass skiing. Yes, grass skiing. It is considered the equivalent to winters snow skiing, and something nearly no one has heard about. You also use different skis, some have wheels and others slide, and the skis are usually less expensive, usually $300-600.

You can also go indoor skiing, which means either a snow dome, a slope indoors filled with artificial snow, or carpet skiing, which is basically carpet on a slope with some foam underneath, they put features in such as rails, boxes and mini pipes.

Next years pass pricing

The prices for passes depending on the resort and your age, you can save a lot of money if you choose wisely.

For Alpine Meadows: (Before October 31st)
Adult (19-61): $799
Senior (62-69): $469
Teen (13-18): $349
Child (5-12): $199
Super Senior (70+): $169
More pass info here.

Northstar:
Double Whammy Unlimited
Adult (23 - 69): $749
Young Adult (13 - 22): $429
Child (5 - 12): $109
Super Senior (70+): $109
Adaptive Adult (19+): $99
Adaptive Youth (5 - 18): $75

Double Whammy Limited (10 blackout days)
Adult (23 - 69): $489
Young Adult (13 - 22): $289

Local student pass (must have that years school ID): $75
More info on pricing here.

Squaw Valley:
Squaw Valley online store is here, no pricing info on season passes have been released yet.

Boreal:
Any info on season passes is here, no pricing info has been released yet.

Mt. Rose/Slide Mountain:
Unlimited pass
Adult (18-64): $377
Senior (65+): $255
Teen (13-17): $255
Child (6-12): $133
More pricing info here.

Heavenly:
Limited pass (valid 7 days a week, no unlimited pass available)
Adult (19-64): $339
Teen (13-18): $269
Child (5-12): $159
Senior (65+): $269
More pricing info here.

The Summer Ski Season

With the resorts closed in the Tahoe area, people are wondering what they are going to do about skiing now. Well if you have quite a bit of money there are some great options out there. These include heading to the southern hemisphere to get in some more winter skiing. This is wonderful, however, it is extremely expensive. Another option is glacial skiing at Mt. Hood and Whistler. However, these are also very pricy. Depending on where you go at Mt. Hood you could be paying over $1,500 per week (Windells). There are also other places that you can go to work on your skiing that isn't even on snow. One of these places is The Utah Olympic Park in Park City. There are many local ski teams that head out there to train over the summer. It is a good place to safely practice tricks without the looming threat of getting severely injured. For a video and More information on summer camps offered by local ski teams click HERE.

Summer skiing

Just because summer is right around the corner, doesn't mean that your ski season is over. You can still travel to some different mountains, the most popular being Windells (in Oregon) or Whistler Blackcomb (in British Colombia). For Whistler the summer "Glacier ski" ticket prices are:
1 day: Adult (19-64)=$55
Youth (13-18)/Senior(64+)=$48
Child (7-12)=$28.50
2 of 3 days: Adult=$104
Youth=$90
Child=$54
4 of 5 days: Adult= $191
Youth= $165
Child= $96
More info on Whistler Blackcomb pricing here.

At Windells you pay for weeks, or sessions. Prices are:
Jun 06, 2010 to Jun 13, 2010: $1,675
Jun 16, 2010 to Jun 23, 2010: $1,899
Jun 26, 2010 to Jul 03, 2010: $1,899
Jul 16, 2010 to Jul 23, 2010: $1,899
Jul 26, 2010 to Aug 02, 2010: $1,699
Aug 05, 2010 to Aug 11, 2010: $1,599

More info on Windells pricing here.

Warmer weather

The forecast for the next week is warming up, getting up into the 75 range next week. Finally a week with no snow/cold temps! Upper mountain backcountry skiing is still available, but not for to much longer. For more info on the forecast, visit http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Truckee&state=CA&site=REV&textField1=39.3281&textField2=-120.182&e=0

Seasons Almost Over!

The 2010 In area ski season has come to a close, however high elevation backcountry skiing still has a little bit to offer. There is some great skiing on donner summit past castle peak, and it is relatively close.

Still time for some skiing.

With the end of Memorial day weekend, the last few ski resorts in the Tahoe area have closed their lifts for the season. Donner Ski Ranch stayed open throughout the season and closed on monday. Squaw valley also reopened this weekend to allow for some skiing. While it was nice to be skiing and able to ride a lift, the recently fallen snow quickly started melting, resulting in several inches of heavy slush. This snow was exceptionally difficult to ski in, and many people ended up getting injured. The injuries were definatly a bummer; however, for those that could aviod getting hurt, it was a great day. With the skiing subpar, many found themselves back at High Camp enojoying the hot tub, pool, and barque. The resorts in the Tahoe area have closed for the winter, yet there is still skiing to be had without the need to hike. Mammoth mountain is still open. They will remain open till the 4th of July. Mammoth is a great option, however, it is fairly expencive and you will need to find a ride down there, so there are still some draw backs. If Mammoth is not for you, then you can always go back to the old way of hiking for you lines. Whatever your preference may be, there are still options out there for you to choose from.

Beginning of spring?

The ski season is finally over, after one long winter. It's still warming up, the cold temps are keeping the snow pack at around 167% which is the best we've had in years. Every ski resort is closed for the season - until further notice at least. Each resort will have summer attractions, such as swimming/tennis/saunas/ice skating if you go to Squaw Valley. At Northstar you can go swimming at their pools, they have a swimming pool, lap pool, 2 hot tubs, 2 saunas, or go downhill biking during weekdays. At Squaw you can go swimming also, but they have a slide, and a ice rink running all summer. At Alpine meadows you can go enjoy some music over summer.