Be honest, how much did you ski last year? How much did you spend?

[Foggy_Goggles]

Me, I'm just a middle aged working man. I got 35 days on my pass, probably about the same touring locally and call it 10 between Steamboat, Monarch and Silverton. I didn't leave Colorado. I got lucky in that we had a really good season and I had a handful of jobs up valley where I could work evenings and weekends. I got in a ton of before work/after work sessions.

I bought a $450ish pass with benefits at other hills. I didn't buy any hardgoods? A couple of pairs of socks and a new puffy was it. Half the days on my orginal MegaWatt/Dynafit Set up and the other half on some hand me down 120s I got from Cletus. Why? Because once you've got some decent stuff, equipment really doesn't matter. Think about it, the best skiers you know, how many pairs of skis do they own?

I'm just trying to see who we've got around here. Do you actually ski or are you more involved in the retail therapy of new unproved bindings and the latest greatest boutique ski? Skiers, myself included, are just a bunch of stock characters, which one are you?

1. Badass - Tabke, Kyle Miller, etc.
2. Old, don't live near snow, don't give a fuck - Iceman, Tippster, etc.
3. Lifelong committed skier - LemonBoy, AKPM
4. Long Time Ski Towner - MtnLion, Tetons Posse
5. Internet Legend - Hugh, Jer
6. Weekend Warrior Hero - too many to list
7. East Coast Legend - 90% of us
8. Kooks - I'm calling you out - talk a big game about skiing, don't ski for shit

9. Insiders - employed in the ski industry. Don't know not skiing. TeleMike, Meadow Skipper
10. Buster - gets his own catagory

11. Special Category for Mofro - thats a waste of a perfectly good monkey

To be clear, I could give two shits if you snowplow down Parkway. More power to you if you've got enough cheddar to spend $10K a year on skiing and only fly in for the good days. Props for the patience to battle in out with the rest of the Sat. Sun. Skiers.

But if you talk a big game, have all the latest greatest, properly apply all the semi-obscure stickers to the rocket box, but refuse to own the fact that you're pretty much a hack...OWN IT!!!

The charade only lasts so long. One day someone will actually see you ski and the fogged goggles, bad tune, shitty mount point, hangover, overdressed, shitty snow, jetlagged, sore back routine will be over.

[Meadow Skipper]

Either 3, 4 or 9: full time seasonal ski area employee (patrol in my case). Get paid for the majority of my 90+/-days, pro/bro form most gear, a fair number of bc days, a trip or two to different hills, avoid weekend skiing.

But yeah, a hack. Definitely. Edit to add: I guess I'm a dick-waver too.

[~mikey b]

Same as Meadow Skipper except I also traveled around taking my son to ski races all over CA. I pretty much ski 7 days a week when there is snow. Broke my leg May 3 so my spring backcountry season got fucked.

[Meadow Skipper]

...Broke my leg May 3 so my spring backcountry season got fucked.

Somehow I missed that. Belated vibes.

[TomCrac]

I know people that ski first chair, then later in the afternoon and call that 2 days. So yeah, put me down for 2 days. 2 would be good.

[Johnny Deep]

9. Old, ski over 100 days, don't pay shit for it.

[Foggy_Goggles]

OK, so we've got make your own category. Skipper and Mike, what do you want to call yourselves?

I haven't counted days since I was in college where I tried to ski more days than I skipped classes. Once I realized that was futile I started going to school fall/summer and working at Smuggs. Ingenious.

Speaking of Smuggs, in that funny names thread I saw Hugh Johnson come up. Have had more than a couple with that guy at the Brewski. Then I looked on the blog page and saw Fletch. Do the cool guys still get to leave their bootbags behind the piano at the Black Bear. If there is such a thing as the soul of skiing, quite I bit of it resides on 108 between Jana Market and the top of the notch.

[hatchgreenchile]

~40 a year as a weekend warrior, mainly CO with a few UT days. 90% in bounds.

Yearly expenditures are climbing, but still reasonable. Hilton & Southwest points help when chasing storms or flying to SLC.

[Shredhead]

Badass old committed ski towner, that still gives a fuck internet kook.

120+, 80 were XC for which I didn't pay as much shit.

[Foggy_Goggles]

Shred, that's 40+. XC don't count. If XC counted I'd be somewhere around 120.

[TahoeJ]

I'm a weekend warrior I guess, but maybe more committed than that because I will chase powder days all season and probably end up skiing more weekdays than weekends despite the 9 to 5 job (which is very flexible since I telecommute and I've turned down better paying gigs where I would lose that flexibility). Weekday warrior?

20-30 days around Tahoe, plus a few days touring, plus another 5 in Utah. Would have been more if Tahoe didn't have such a bad season. Bought new powder skis last year (BillyGoats) and at the end of the season picked up some Bonafides at a ridiculous price due to local shops getting hammered and needing to clear out inventory. No plans to buy any gear at all this season - I'm set. The amount I spend on gas I probably don't want to add up.

Biggest expenditure by far is participating in a ski lease near Squaw. Worth every penny, though.

[Mofro261]

This last year I made it up 101 days with ~65-70 lift served and the rest leg powered, continuing a nice 7 yr streak of 100+ days.

As for category: like always... goes to 11.

[BigDaddy]

But if you talk a big game, have all the latest greatest, properly apply all the semi-obscure stickers to the rocket box, but refuse to own the fact that you're pretty much a hack...OWN IT!!!

One look at my car, and you know I'm gnar...

[TAFKALVS]

Skied 60 days last season.

Probably a mix of 3 and 9.

Spent around $800 on skiing and gear last year.

[Meadow Skipper]

One look at my car, and you know I'm gnar...

Hey, I worked at the store where that "Screw the net..." sticker came from! Bro!

[Foggy_Goggles]

Sticker guy should be badass...usually isn't. There should be a sticker that says, "Nobody cares that your rocket box in perfectly stickered in a "look at me, I'm a backcountry skier" way", but it would be false because lots of people do care.

Reminds me of a potential client I met with a rig looked like something a ski rep would have professionally done. It was extremely important to her that I was fully aware that she was on the inside with a certain boutique front range ski manufacturer. If I needed to fit in SIA, she'd be my stylist. Bitch couldn't ski but constantly had her hackles but defending her image. All about the name drop, TR drop, lingo drop.

[Buster Highmen]

Me, I'm just a middle aged working man. I got 35 days on my pass, probably about the same touring locally and call it 10 between Steamboat, Monarch and Silverton. I didn't leave Colorado. I got lucky in that we had a really good season and I had a handful of jobs up valley where I could work evenings and weekends. I got in a ton of before work/after work sessions.

I bought a $450ish pass with benefits at other hills. I didn't buy any hardgoods? A couple of pairs of socks and a new puffy was it. Half the days on my orginal MegaWatt/Dynafit Set up and the other half on some hand me down 120s I got from Cletus. Why? Because once you've got some decent stuff, equipment really doesn't matter. Think about it, the best skiers you know, how many pairs of skis do they own?

I'm just trying to see who we've got around here. Do you actually ski or are you more involved in the retail therapy of new unproved bindings and the latest greatest boutique ski? Skiers, myself included, are just a bunch of stock characters, which one are you?

1. Badass - Tabke, Kyle Miller, etc.
2. Old, don't live near snow, don't give a fuck - Iceman, Tippster, etc.
3. Lifelong committed skier - Buster, AKPM
4. Long Time Ski Towner - MtnLion, Tetons Posse
5. Internet Legend - Hugh, Jer
6. Weekend Warrior Hero - too many to list
7. East Coast Legend - 90% of us
8. Kooks - I'm calling you out - talk a big game about skiing, don't ski for shit

9. Insiders - employed in the ski industry. Don't know not skiing. TeleMike, Meadow Skipper

To be clear, I could give two shits if you snowplow down Parkway. More power to you if you've got enough cheddar to spend $10K a year on skiing and only fly in for the good days. Props for the patience to battle in out with the rest of the Sat. Sun. Skiers.

But if you talk a big game, have all the latest greatest, properly apply all the semi-obscure stickers to the rocket box, but refuse to own the fact that you're pretty much a hack...OWN IT!!!

The charade only lasts so long. One day someone will actually see you ski and the fogged goggles, bad tune, shitty mount point, hangover, overdressed, shitty snow, jetlagged, sore back routine will be over.

Hey, man, I'm an 8, getting long in the hemorrhoids, ski erratically, full on family, spirit sucking job, haven't gotten a phone call in years, but have a wife who gets it.

Last season here in the PNWet wasn't so great, but wasn't so bad and I managed to wrack up around 25 days, some partial, some pow, some rain.

I did manage a killer Eurotraverse last year that's an all-time for me with pow everywhere with great people back from La Grave through Cham & Verbier not to mention Am@ and a number of firsts in CH and IT like Corvastch and Madesimo.

Plus a slash through the San Juans again with first timing @ Monarch with the esteamed Frank Zappa as well as ratting around in Silverton and environs for lifts, a few heli laps and some skinning here and there. Glad I could share some of that with you.

But I love skiing. Always have, always will and I've got it in for you motherfuckers who made fun of me in 5th grade for collecting ski area maps instead of some suckbag major league mass marketed mindslap.

So I better see you out there again somewhere FG, and you of all people are exceptionally overd00 for some PNW slopfests.

I stockpiled the 200 cm DPS Lotus years ago and have a wad of ancient flexons in the garage, so I think I only tweezed a few cheapo jackets off STP and as a result gear expenses are low.

Box stickers include: Silverton, DPS, Ski Journal and my favorite Baba Powpow "Ski Here Now". Protected inside the window is the "Telemarking Is Stupid" stick Pinnoir de La Nuit bestowed on me.

(edit) I confess to being ski rententive and have at least 50 pairs dating from the late 60s.
Also, passes are getting expensive despite getting a couple of them free. I think between the parking pass, wife and kids passes last<->this year we're talking $1500 (thing #1 turned 12 right when Crustal upped their adolescent pass....)

[Lindahl]

Combo of 3 and 6. I tend to ski about 3 days a week, and rarely miss a powder day. I usually get at least 60 days a season. There's no such thing as a bad ski season (except Tahoe last year... fuck me, that looked grim!). Last two years have been about 40 due to injuries. All my days are full days - no halfsies, mornings or evenings.

26 on the ski pass (mostly sidecountry), about 10 in the backcountry and about 10 at Jackson and other places.

I broke my ankle in late November and didn't start skiing again till Feb, so thats about 20+ days where I didn't ski.

How much do I spend? I think I spent around 1600 on skis, about 500 on bindings, and probably another 600 on other gear. I probably sold around 600 worth of stuff that I tried out last year. This year it will probably be a little more, but I'll probably sell a lot more old gear too. I make a pretty good living and like trying out different/new gear. I like exploring how stuff works and why. I'm pretty picky too - if something bothers me about a piece of gear, I'll immediately start looking for something that works better.

Not really a sticker guy. I have a total of one sticker - for my gf's coffee shop. If a friend wants me to support their business with a stcker, I'd toss another on, I guess. Don't care much about perception, I just love to ski and talk about skiing and gear in a nerdy way.

[Mofro261]

The charade only lasts so long. One day someone will actually see you ski and the fogged goggles, bad tune, shitty mount point, hangover, overdressed, shitty snow, jetlagged, sore back routine will be over.

J., hopefully one day we'll get you up here to make the rounds in the PNW.

[::: :::]

30-35 days a season weekends mostly and occasional special weather days
not close enough to the hill for morning jaunts
pay for passes for kid, mrs & me
equip for kid each year cuz he wont stop growing & starting last year race team
kid birthday is usually a 3-day weekend away skiing
equip for me & mrs maybe every 5yrs

[Foggy_Goggles]

Thanks Lindahl, first guy to own it. You got the $ and like spending it on ski gear.

Blah..blah...blah. You like a broken record Buster. A good record however, probably some kind of Zappa spin off band that I've never heard of playing an assortment of vacuum cleaners while huffing plutonium nyborg.

I love skiing also. It's kept me out of some pretty dark places I recon. That said, I don't always like skiers. Too cool for me most of the time.

Two kinds of skiers. Those that have been to the Alps and those that haven't. Epicenter of soul. Yep, I said it. Can I get that on a sticker.

[BigDaddy]

Hey, I worked at the store where that "Screw the net..." sticker came from! Bro!

That's very cool... Is Active Endevours still in Santa Fe? Got that in 1995... Internet was two weeks old. Maybe I got it from you?

[BobMc]

3., 6.

I got in 60 days last season. Long time Salt Laker, but don't consider it a "ski town." I spent $1174 for passes for me and the boy. Got a new pair of skis for doing head gaskets on a stickered up crusty rig. (Dibbs rocks!)

[shafty85]

Recently realized I'm an 8. Spent way too much $ last season and don't ski nearly often enough, or well enough, to justify it. It's an awful realization. Looking to purge gear and bring it back down to reality this season.

[hawkgt]

mid aged dude with family and job I love. 30-40 days a year, all CO last year. EPIC pass holder 13/14, RMSP this 14/15. Routine for last few years was Eldora pass and EPIC or Loveland pass, wife/kids on coupons, 4 paks or Costco deals. weekDAY warrior here unless occasional Sunday blue bird with the wife at Eldora, weekends are the suck for traffic but will do it on occasion. Flexible work schedule with a powder clause with the boss who is out of state. 99% in bounds now days but was never much back country guy more side country. Most days are first chair to 1-2 pm where got to get back to work, if its snowing, I'm in the lot early. Couple "boys trips" every year to get away.

Gear is mostly used from gear swap. 2 pairs of skis right now but buying my first BRAND NEW powder boards this year. never worked in the industry but mount my own shit, tune, etc... I do buy and sell skis every year, turnover is high but dont hoard skis, I like to try em out and move em on.

mostly solo now days as tough to match schedules but will run laps with people I meet.

im ski crazy. wife does not understand but deals with it.

My car has no stickers... the topper is packed, started with a Steal Your Face and music focus, now every sticker that comes around seems to end up on it. shit, I have even walked up to people putting stickers on the topper at least 4 times in the lot.

EDIT: forgot to add in the $$$ spent.

$800 EPIC / Eldora pass
$120 Loveland 4pak
$150 2x days at Telluride
$100 2x days at WC
$150 2x days at Purg
$190?? 4 pak at WP
$140 4 pak to Eldora for wife

Gas??? est about $500, lodging was for Telluride/Purg/WC trip, say $450. Beer $$ does not count, would have spent it anyway

Gear? $150 used sm dukes, $200? used BD Zelots, $50 used Flylow pants, $130 new Smith helmet, $75 gloves, $50 wax and new edge bevel.