Details

Lindsay Vonn

  It is evident that to have excellence in a project or an activity one has to pay attention to details.   The saying is "The devil is in the details".    Surely that is true for skiing too.   No matter how good a skier you become, it is necessary to pay attention to the details of edging and body position to achieve the perfect carve or gracefully negotiate the moguls and steeps.   Tiny variations in the line of the racer can mean the difference between making the medal podium or not.   It takes discipline to pay attention to details and I admire a skier like Pat Ryan who maintains regimen of good equipment maintenance and a warm up routine to sharpen the basic skiing skills.
   As I reflect on the ski experience at various ski areas during my skiing journey the memorable ski ares are the ones that paid attention to the details.   Some memorable areas are Okemo, Beaver Creek, and Snowbasin.   All of these places have grand designs and goals but at the same time they do not forget the details that make your visit comfortable.   To often I have skied at areas where the chairs seats are covered with snow and the lift personnel seem disinterested in their tasks.   I have never had to manage a ski area so I really don't know what prevents the attention to the details, but as I listen to the complaints of my fellow geezer skiers I find that there are often many easily corrected details that could be corrected with little cost.   So I wonder if the management of ski areas listens to the public.   I expect those areas that are tuned into the details of the skier's experience are the most successful.