Friday, January 17, 2014

Inspiration

  For me writing a geezer skier blog requires a spark of inspiration.   Recently my muse has not seemed to deliver many sparks so my posts have been more infrequent than usual.   Even my daughter Victoria has noticed the lack of posts and even thought something might be wrong.  Well , nothing is wrong other than the wild swings in weather causing weird ski conditions from one day to another.
  Today I am inspired to make a few comments partly sparked my daughters prodding and partly because of the ski sights for the past two days.  
   As a Cornell grad I am always delighted to see the Cornell Ski Team practicing at Greek Peak.  Over the last few weeks they have been free skiing and running gates in anticipation of  races later in January and in early February.  Many of them are looking good and I wish them well in their endeavors.   The geezers do complain when they set up gates for training on some of our favorite slopes.  Ah well they deserve some slack guys and they will all soon be in classes and we will have the hill to ourselves again.
Cornell Ski Team Duo
    Today was a premier day on the slopes.  Groomed frozen granular snow with sufficient sunshine to lift the spirits.  The new quad Vision Express was in operation giving us a more luxurious ride.   Our fearsome foursome was skiing fast and furious.   Snow making provided some trepidation but we all negotiated those areas cautiously and without mishap.   Obviously an opportunity for a photo op on such a sunny day.   We all participated with high spirits so obviously we were all having an inspired day.

Fearsome Foursome -Gerry, Larry, Andy, and Roger


Monday, January 6, 2014

Wild Swings

    I can't remember a ski season like the current one.   This one is marked by wild swings in the temperature and precipitation.  Snow to rain to snow has occurred several times in the period of a few days.   And the temperatures have changed over the course of a few days from balmy 40's to 50's to below zero F.   These wild swings have produced the same wild swings in ski conditions from decent powder to ice or slush.  
   After skiing on Saturday in good conditions we had a rain storm with temperatures in the 40's over the night of Sunday into Monday.  This was followed by a rapid drop in temperature on Monday morning.  As an eternal optimist about skiing I headed to the slopes on Monday morning with the hopes that the area would be skiable.   Not so!  I rarely drop out due to bad conditions.  I like to think I can adapt to whatever Eastern skiing throws at me.  However, this geezer skier had to give up after only a few runs this morning.  The surface was not particularly bumpy, but more like a small cobblestone surface.  As a result I could find no sweet spot of stance or edging that was comfortable.   With no groomed slopes and the given conditions, I decided to preserve the old body for another day.   At least I had a good coffee break with Pat and Bob!
   Some good did come of the day anyway.   Arriving home early in the day, I was able to take down the Christmas lights.   This is Twelfth Night so an appropriate time to take them down.  So what else would frustrated geezer skiers do on this kind of day?   Scope out new gear of course!  
Larry Monheim and I visited the Ski Company in Syracuse to check out the Apex ski boot.   No purchases at the moment but a good recon for the boot buying decision.  I guess I'll stick with my current boots.   Better for me to play with the gear I am comfortable with.
   In closing, I return to my favorite poetry form, Haiku.

   Wild Swings Skiing

Balmy or frigid,
Ski loosely or ski rigidly.
Warm toes or frozen nose.
Put Those Seats Down

Proof That I Was There