Backcountry only = decline in skiing ability?

[JerseyDave]

You're such a beater. Mid-week skiing in Vermont, NH and Maine is awesome on so many levels. Ski right on the lift, all day, everyday. I could go on, but splaining shit to a Jersey tool is tedious.

When I had a pass that was obviously the game. Plus weekends until 10 or so when the fuck-tards from the low country rolled in I could bail and go to work.

Other reasons resorts in the east suck...
snowmaking. (This one could be it's own thread)
Imported labor from 3rd world countries.
Tourists.
Massive and grotesque real estate development schemes.
Traffic.
Litter.
I could go on and on.

[buttahflake]

You should move to North Korea, brah. I hear the skiing is good, and they keep it real. You would fit in perfect. You're like 5'5" amiright?
Good to go!

[kalisto]

I see this around the Whistler area all the time (and more each year). People getting into backcountry skiing without a solid foundation in how to you know, actually ski. Backseat, hands down, hip steering, falling all the time etc. I find that extremely dangerous and do not like to be anywhere near people like that.

My personal view is that you need to be a competent alpine skier before getting into touring.

Yep, see it a ton as well in the S2S corridor. I think touring is just so accessible now, and inbounds skiing is just so fucking expensive, that a lot of folks just skip the inbounds skiing all together... I remember when my student pass to WB was $249... and it really wasn't that long ago.

[PowTron]

Yer gonna die.

For real, I've been skiing a lot more BC in the last few years and I feel like I haven't regressed, but I've stopped progressing.

Chair 1 laps counteract all signs of aging. FACT.

[anotherVTskibum]

do you believe in the 10,000 hr rule?

that one gets better by doing more reps of a task ?

As long as one is trying to improve and has good guidance, I believe that is true. If you go out to BigMegaResort and skid down the awesome blue-square groomers a few times, stop for a beer, and then go skid down one of them scary black-diamond runs before hitting the apres scene promptly at 2:30 p.m., repetition probably isn't helping much except your bartender's wallet. And if that makes you happy, it's all good—you're still paying to keep the lifts spinning and getting outside, which is better than a lot of alternatives.

With that said, even if you're trying to improve, 10k hours is a lot of ski days. I'll pick Sunday as an example: I was on the hill coaching from 9 a.m. to 11:30 and 12:30 to about 3:15. I took 14 runs during that time, which is probably about 28 minutes of actual skiing, maybe up to 56 minutes if working a lot of low-speed drills. Let's round that up to an hour, and assume that if you're at a ski area with modern lifts you get twice as much skiing (we're all fixed-grip here until the more-interesting terrain opens up and we get a detach to play on). 10,000 hr / 2 hr/day = 5,000 days. A 37-year-old averaging 145 ski days/year after age two would be in that neighborhood. Yes, you can end up with a lot more vertical lapping a bigger mountain with high-speed lifts, but I'm not so sure you're going to end up with that much more time skiing per day (it's still going to be a lot of time on lifts or time spent stopped and making line choices or catching your breath, etc).

[jonesy]

I don't BC anymore so....maybe BC skiing improves some aspects of your personal skill sets. It's obvious that more mileage improves your skiing. Unless you don't have the drive for self-improvement. There's alot of folks that are happy at their present ability. Nothing wrong with that. At my advanced age technique becomes very important. That and alittle common sense.

[mmmm...pow!]

Any decline in skiing ability due to less days at the resort can be offset by posting more on TGR.

[wyeaster]

i need a sponsor. i'm sure i'm top 50% of 50 year olds who started riding 12 years ago.

[wyeaster]

and that's BEFORE posting here

[grinch]

We’ll soon find out +/-$37

[JerseyDave]

You should move to North Korea, brah. I hear the skiing is good, and they keep it real. You would fit in perfect. You're like 5'5" amiright?
Good to go!

You're most certainly not "right". Not sure exactly what's wrong with you, but you ain't right.....brah. Maybe It's all that acid you continue to drop well into your 50s. Fried out aging hipsters. They're amusing until they're suddenly not. Proven brain damage over time guy.
BTW, do you ski tour or are you just here to be a cunt?

Sliding down hill is one aspect of bc skiing. If you start at the resort and learn that, you can then move on and continue to learn, on a steeper curve, all the other aspects of being out in the BC and traveling in mtns on skis. It's a much deeper hobby in terms of skill development and personal growth in my experience. In addition, you will learn so much more terrain. After several years you will look around and realize you know your surroundings on a much more intimate level, and become more attached to the mtns you consider home.

[XXX-er]

As long as one is trying to improve and has good guidance, I believe that is true..
.
Yes, you can end up with a lot more vertical lapping a bigger mountain with high-speed lifts, but I'm not so sure you're going to end up with that much more time skiing per day (it's still going to be a lot of time on lifts or time spent stopped and making line choices or catching your breath, etc).

Ya you do spend a lot of time riding the lift compared to the time skiing, around here on the fixed chair here its at least 3min sitting on yer ass for every 1 minute of skiing while walking up would be 10minutes of walking for every 1 minute of skiing

so if you believe in the 10,000 hr rule then touring would make you a better walker and riding the lift would make you a better skier

[buttahflake]

Ski tour in Vermont, surely you jest?
DaveNJ would shit his pants standing on top of the left gully cornice. Come to NH and let's see you ski something steeper than 24 degrees, you fucking pussy. I've skied the Whites since you were a tit sucking baby in NJ.
Take a Fucking Lap

[Toadman]

Yep, see it a ton as well in the S2S corridor. I think touring is just so accessible now, and inbounds skiing is just so fucking expensive, that a lot of folks just skip the inbounds skiing all together... I remember when my student pass to WB was $249... and it really wasn't that long ago.

Ditto x 2. I see lots of back seat driving. Almost over the handle bar buffoonery when alpine tourons get into variable conditions. Not to mention they are messing up my powder. But most of them go uphill way better than me. So, they can have the up skills, and I'll take the downhill skills...

[Angle Parking]

One of the big ideas percolating to the surface here is that a combination of hill and touring is ideal. I'm probably 65% hill and 35% touring right now. That's kind of what my life affords me (full time job, little kids at home etc.). In an ideal world I'd probably closer to 50 / 50. My question to the proponents of the combo approach (hill and touring combined as optimum for ski ability), what do you think would be the ideal combination in percentage terms?

[LeeLau]

one observation i've made is that it seems like skiers and snowboarders differ a lot in how they view bc vs resort. almost all the experienced skiers i know are totally jaded on the resort. they're all "quality over quantity". they mostly tour and will pass on resort days when there's no fresh. whereas a lot more of the snowboarders i know still love riding resorts even on shitty days.

You're a citiot right (respectfully)? Most of the people in Whistler get out and rip around no matter what barring trashbag days and even then. Wife and I really enjoy ripping around and epic-ski'ing groomers. And we see lots of friends doing the same. Best thing is that carving skis with their triple layers of metal and shapes that don't change that much are still really fun even when 6 - 7 years old.

I see this around the Whistler area all the time (and more each year). People getting into backcountry skiing without a solid foundation in how to you know, actually ski. Backseat, hands down, hip steering, falling all the time etc. I find that extremely dangerous and do not like to be anywhere near people like that.

#southcoasttouring #millenials #vanlife #community #beaters

[raisingarizona13]

I see this around the Whistler area all the time (and more each year). People getting into backcountry skiing without a solid foundation in how to you know, actually ski. Backseat, hands down, hip steering, falling all the time etc. I find that extremely dangerous and do not like to be anywhere near people like that.

My personal view is that you need to be a competent alpine skier before getting into touring.

Well in the back country skiing beaters defense they can be a really good indicator for slope stability.

To be more serious though I agree, people should be pretty strong resort skiers before they get into touring. Imagine if things head south and you have an extremely poor skier trying to do a rescue and navigate terrain, throw in some weather and things are probably not going to go very well.

[Meadow Skipper]

Other reasons resorts in the east suck...
snowmaking. (This one could be it's own thread)
Imported labor from 3rd world countries.
Tourists.
Massive and grotesque real estate development schemes.
Traffic.
Litter.
I could go on and on.

Yeah, I'm glad the west doesn't have any of ^that.

[SKIP IN7RO]

One of the big ideas percolating to the surface here is that a combination of hill and touring is ideal. I'm probably 65% hill and 35% touring right now. That's kind of what my life affords me (full time job, little kids at home etc.). In an ideal world I'd probably closer to 50 / 50. My question to the proponents of the combo approach (hill and touring combined as optimum for ski ability), what do you think would be the ideal combination in percentage terms?

Lift-access days via a season pass are a cherished time. If I had to ride chairs on a powder day with some of the beaters I have toured with over the years, I would go be going full-stealth and be even more of an asshole. To answer the ideal combo, minimal touring and lots of powder by chair-bumps during daily operations and touring after chairs until June.

[mall walker]

So by page 4 it's either a name-calling feud that leaked out of ECRC, or a dick-measuring contest of how "core" we are by how much we can condescend to anyone who's not us in the backcountry?

idk where you guys ski, but the Wasatch is beater central and yet I don't too often see clueless rubes tomahawking down the Emmas. And even though it's Wasangeles I manage to find my share of snow which hasn't been irreparably tainted by the presence of someone who skis slower than me...

[XXX-er]

i think the only way you could be more core than to ski nothing but the BC is to do it tele

and real mutherfucking tele gear

none of this ntn stuff

[adrenalated]

i think the only way you could be more core than to ski nothing but the BC is to do it tele

and real mutherfucking tele gear

none of this ntn stuff

Pins and leathers you fucking nancies

[wyeaster]

i suspect i may be a bc clueless rube. overthink, miss the obvious, swallowed whole by some form of snow.

[mall walker]

Pins and leathers you fucking nancies

oaken skis

[raypruit]

You're a citiot right (respectfully)? Most of the people in Whistler get out and rip around no matter what barring trashbag days and even then. Wife and I really enjoy ripping around and epic-ski'ing groomers. And we see lots of friends doing the same. Best thing is that carving skis with their triple layers of metal and shapes that don't change that much are still really fun even when 6 - 7 years old.

citiot indeed, and i suppose i'm basing my observation on all my currently citiot friends. but back when some of them were doing the ski bum thing living in resort towns, and based on the one season i did, i feel like ppl get even more picky with their days when they live close to the mtn. although i can't remember if there was any significant difference between riders and skiers.

to me, the difference is most obvious with smaller mtns. none of my skier friends will even think of skiing cypress, whereas all my rider friends and i have passes.