Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with ski

Moving to Colorado

no bueno — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:57:35 -0800

Moving to Colorado and looking for a teaching job. Any suggestions on areas that need teachers, schools you recommend looking at. Also I love to ski so I was looking at the west side of Denver so I could have a short commute to Winter Park at least. I wouldn't say I lean too far left or right but I've heard Boulder is a little too liberal for some people. I'm open to other suggestions but I would like to be within an hour and a half of a ski resort.

Things to do in Denver

bluejayk — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:19:14 -0800

Should I go to Denver for a month if I want to ski a lot? My job moves me around several times a year for short-term projects, my next one will be in for the month of January. I get some input into where I go, and Denver might be once of my choices. I'm wondering if it would be a fun place for me.

I generally don't like cold weather, but I love snowboarding/skiing. I'd be living in the Cherry Creek neighborhood, or somewhere very close to that. I'll be working 5 days a week, but only during the evenings and will have my days free 6 days a week. I've read that the nearest ski resorts are about an hour away. Are those close by resorts any good? Keep in mind my previous skiing experience has been limited to Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, so I'm okay with non-world-class skiing, but I don't want to move to Denver if I'm only gonna be able to get to mediocre resorts.

Also, how is Denver for non-skiing outdoor activities? It looks like temps are gonna range generally between 20-50 degrees. I've never lived in a winter climate like that, so I'm not really sure what to expect. Do people mostly just stay inside except to go to work and go home?

Where can I find this shirt?

fac21 — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:21:16 -0800

Where can I find the ski slope shirt that Anna Faris wore in the movie "Smiley Face"?

Switching from a board to skis?

zardoz — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 17:57:30 -0800

This snowboarder wants to give skiing a try. How to go about it? Background: I'm an intermediate snowboarder--comfortable on a board, but not to the jump/flip/high, high speed stage. I started on a snowboard and have never been skiing, and I'm curious. So next time I'd like to give it a try. What can I expect? The obvious suggestion is to take a lesson, but I'm not in a English-speaking country, so for the sake of argument let's assume an English lesson is out.

My wife also boards with me, and she skied when she was younger, and said she could help me with it, but I'm curious if I need a lot of tutelage. More specifically, has anyone made the transition from snowboard-only to skis? How did you do it?

First time Skiing- can I rent ski clothes or just suck it up and buy some?

Jimmie — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 06:31:06 -0800

I'm going skiing this weekend with people who know how to ski- or in other words, they all own their own equipment and ski clothing. I have never skied before. Getting the equipment- boots, skiis, pole, blah blah is all ok... but is it even possible to rent clothing? Where? No one has spare skiing clothing and I don't know anyone I could borrow from. I've googled all over the place and keep on getting ads or pages which redirect to junk directories.

I don't want to invest in buying just in case this is a one shot deal and I end up not liking skiiing and never do it again. The jacket I suppose I can deal with wearing a nylon jacket with a sweater or layers underneath, but the nylon or whatever pants I have no idea where to rent some.

Anywhere recommendations near Mount Sunapee, or on the way to Mount Sunapee from Manchester, NH?

How to shoot great snowbound photos

Elmore — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:19:40 -0800

Photography in snow conditions. Help me not get the blues. I'm going on a skiiing trip in the French Alps in a few days. I'm planning on bringing my Nikon D50, 17-125mm lens, and 10-20mm lens (w/polarizer).

I am comfortable with my equipment, and using manual exposure, but I live in Ireland. The last time snow lasted for more than an hour that I can remember was 1984. I have no experience or confidence with shooting with overcast skys and a white/grey environment. To make things worse, I am limited on battery power and digital storage. Ideally I'd shoot raw, but I'll only have 4GB worth of memory and two fully powered batteries to play with for the 7 days. Any tips to get well exposed shots without having to judge from the screen would be great. Also any tips on using flash in snowy daylight conditions?

Thanks for your help.

NewEnglandFilter: Need to use two curvy, slippery things for a short time

mikeg — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 14:08:16 -0800

I'm heading out to Killington, VT early tomorrow morning for a day and a half of skifun. I've been skiing on my old K2 210 straight sticks since 1995, and have decided to leave them at home this time and finally enter the world of shaped skis. Can anyone recommend a good rental ski shop between Bangor and Killington? This includes Augusta, Portland, Portsmouth, Manchester, Concord, and Hanover. As it will be my first time on the curvy things and is a short trip, I'm just looking for a good value. Renting on the mountain is a last resort.

Nice rack.

unSane — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 19:01:34 -0800

Design for a home-made wooden snowboard/ski/snowshoe rack? Okay, I want to build a snowboard/ski/snowshoe rack which will sit on our covered porch in the winter. A typical load would be:

2 pairs of snowshoes
2-4 snowboards
2-4 pairs of skis
poles for the above

It needs to be fairly simple to build and it would be nice if it could be moved for the summer, or at least transform into a rack for work clothes and boots. So standalone would be best. I'll be making it out of pressure treated lumber.

Any ideas? The Jam Rack is the closest I've seen but it's not stand-alone, or big enough.

Skiing in Tahoe for beginners

0xFCAF — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 09:51:40 -0800

Where's the best place for skiing in the Reno/Tahoe area for a bunch of beginners? Is it crazy to go (for a day) during the week of Christmas? My family will be in Reno this year for Christmas. Some of us want to go skiing, others want to come along and do tubing. The skiers are beginners (green / very easy blue) and those who would tube are not a particularly active bunch. Cost is not much of an issue.

So the questions then are
1) What's a good resort to go to that can best fulfill the above criteria?
2) Will the slopes be so crowded as to make this not a good idea? We'd be looking at 23rd-27th as a possible day and are flexible about it, so if there are known days which would be better that'd be good to know.

Where can I find ski boots in Japan?

MostHolyPorcine — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 04:46:48 -0800

Where in the heck can I buy a pair of size 32cm ski boots in Japan? I live in Nagano, the snow has just begun to fall, and ski season will soon be upon us. And yet, I am still without a pair of boots! I am a beginner/intermediate downhill skier desperate for a pair under USD200. Is there anywhere in country that I can find them? I have scoured the stores in the prefecture to no avail and internet searches with my limited Japanese have been pointless. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Are there any companies abroad that will ship to Japan for reasonable rates?

Where to go for telemark gear in LA?

rbs — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 11:30:04 -0800

Can anybody recommend a ski shop in Los Angeles that's good for Telemark gear and expertise?

Eye of Snowron

Kreiger — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 06:58:33 -0800

Greetings Hive Mind. I love to ski, and I want to have a video record of said skiing. Has anyone got any recommendations for helmet cameras that I could use next time I'm in the mountains? Bonus points for:

- at least 640 x 480
- nice big lens
- reasonable price
- rugged

My brothers and I have been skiing forever (25, 28, and 29 years respectively), and we finally got a chance to ski together again for the first time in years last month. It was great, but we wound up with very little in the way of pics and video, as my trusty DSC-V1 isn't exactly designed for taking spontaneous mountain footage.

I get 640 x 480 out of the V1 right now, but if I could improve on that, that'd be great. The same holds for the lens...most of the rigs that I've seen don't seem to have super-duper optics on them, but if that was an option, I'd be into it.

In terms of price, I'm looking to buy at least two, probably three of these things...I can use my brother's Christmas/birthday present budgets to off-set some of the cost, and I earn a good living (I'm paid in pounds these days), but if I could keep things under about £300/rig, I'd be happy (Americans - that's about $600 at current exchange rates). Don't hold back if you've seen more expensive options though.

We ski pretty hard too, so whatever I wind up buying will need to be able to withstand constant small knocks (moguls) and occasional catastrophic blowouts.

Double bonus points for anyone who's actually used, or knows someone who's used what they're recommending.

Ski Vacation booking - acommodation recommendations?

lalochezia — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 16:40:11 -0800

Where’s the best place to book an all-inclusive ski vacation? Where’s a good powder accessible condo with a view/hottub? Wanted: Place where we can get powder (CO, UT, WY or BC) for the week of 9-17 March and that has some nightlife.

Travelocity, expedia, preliminary standard google searches no good. All give hotels in metropolitan areas or incredibly overpriced ski packages. We’d like to pay ca. $1200 each for flight, lodge and lift ticket for ca 6.days – we’re coming from NYC.

We’d like a condo (pref ski-in ski-out….although a hotel isn’t out of the question), with access to a hottub and access to a nice view. If you just know the answer to this, that’d be great.

We’d like to get some kind of discount for booking flight+lift ticket+accommodation in one go, although if you think that’s a bad idea and you know of a particular steal for pairs or single examples of F/LT/A then let me know too….. Preferably a website/company with which you’ve had good experiences.

And a pony. Yes a ski pony. OK No pony wanted

How to paint skis?

Mars Saxman — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 11:28:12 -0800

I want to paint a pair of skis. What kind of paint should I use, and what kind of top coat should I cover the paint with? I have a pair of skis I'd like to personalize. I imagine buffing the current finish down with steel wool, spraying on a few layers of base-coat paint, adding detail graphics, and then spraying on a few layers of clear polyurethane. However, I've only ever painted wood and metal before, and I'm worried that the paint will crack and flake, given that skis are designed to bend. The topcoat also needs to be fairly thick, with some give, so that simple dings and scrapes don't gouge it all away, and I don't know whether polyurethane is the right choice.

Will ordinary spray paint and polyurethane finish do the job, or is there something more sophisticated I should look for?

how can i use my gps when skiing?

donbing — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 08:37:17 -0800

I have a pocket pc and gps device and i'm off to switzerland skiing over new year, is there some way that i can combine my favourite geek toy with my favourite sporting passtime? ideally i want to be able to follow myself on a piste map, maybe also cool stuff like see how fast i can go/how far i'v travelled.

i have igo on my pda but this only has roads/towns on it making it kinda useless for tracking where i am on a mountain.

anyone know of any cool software, maybe OS maps or something with the topography of the swiss mountains?

What do I need to take great snowboard photographs?

mrunderhill — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 17:25:50 -0800

I want to get in to snowboard/ski photography. I'm new to DSLRs, but have a good eye and lots of time. I have a Nikon D40 and want to spend about $1200 on good glass. What do I buy? Filter recommendations? Any tips for shooting in the snow?

Help me ski cheaply!

btkuhn — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 14:53:41 -0800

I'm watching the weather coverage on the news with envy. Can you help me make it out west after new years alone on a budget? I'm a single male college student stuck in North Carolina with my family over break. I've been skiing in Colorado and Utah three times in the past with family, but for the past two years we've been unable to make it - I'm the only one who loves to ski, and they don't have the vacation time. Few of my close friends ski, and the ones who do are content to stay around here and don't want to spend the money on a flight. I have two main questions:

1. Can I make it to a resort from the airport without renting a car (too young) or spending a ridiculous amount of money? If I remember correctly, the closest resort from Denver is at least an hour away, and the ones out of Salt Lake are even further away. Are there shuttles that take travelers directly from the airport (or from somewhere in the city, if I caught a cab to there) to different resorts? I'm open to any location - Colorado, Utah, Jackson Hole, Montana, etc... Alternatively, if anyone can suggest all-inclusive packages for single travelers that are cheap that'd be great, but so far the packages I have found are geared either towards families/groups or people with plenty of money to spend.

2. Even if I can make it to a resort from the airport, can I find somewhere to stay cheaply? I have no idea what kind of lodging options are open to solo travelers, and again, I'm finding very little information on the web. Do hostels, group lodges open to individuals, or anything along those lines exist at any ski areas? Also, in the past, my family rented skis and bought lift tickets in Denver or Salt Lake, and the prices were significantly better than if we had got them from the resort. Will I be ripped off by having to pay resort prices if I don't have a car? How much should I plan on spending for three days of skiing, renting, housing, and food, assuming I go minimalist?

Thanks for any help - specific suggestions are welcome as well.

Places to stay in Killington?

ruwan — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 08:04:12 -0800

Does anyone have any recommendations for places to stay in Killington (VT) in January? I'm looking for house for a large group (20-25 ppl) for a ski retreat weekend. I've been looking online, but I'm not too sure where to start looking and a lot of the places I have found seem to be booked. Ideally, the house/cabin would have:
Under $2000 for the weekend (we're all students), 6+ bedrooms, easy/quick mountain access, hot tub, any other decent house activities would be great.

make my instep pain go away

rbs — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 11:16:00 -0800

What ski boot brands/models tend to have the most room for people with high arches, short toes, and somewhat wide feet? I've tried on a bunch of different boots at my local ski store. The salesman there insists that 26.5 is the right size for me (I wear size 9 shoes but can't wear some brands because they're too narrow). My left foot is evidently more archy or taller than my right because even the best fitting boots I've found just crush my left foot.

I bought the one that fit the best when the shop promised to make it fit. Interestingly, it was a brand (Dalbello) that I'd never heard of.

The shop has twice now adjusted the boots (the boot, not the liner) to be more roomy (a process that involves them putting the boots in a crock pot and stretching them out, evidently). I just dropped the boots off again, where they're going to stretch the instep on the left some more.

If this doesn't work, I'm going to ask for my money back, I think.

Any suggestions? There aren't many ski shops in Chicago, so it's hard to go elsewhere.

I got some of those "smartfeet" footbeds and it didn't help. Would spending a chunk of cash for custom ones make a difference?

Is there another brand of boot, known for high-arch friendliness, I should be looking at? How much does instep height get larger as boot size goes up? Am I going to just have to get boots that are too big for me, because of my left foot?

Are these four me?

rbs — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 13:40:05 -0800

What do people know about the K2 Four R ski? It's not made anymore (I think 2003 was the last year it was in production). Is it a decent ski for an intermediate/advanced skier who usually stays on trails?

Ski bum in Japan?

graytona — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 21:40:16 -0800

Should I accept a job as a ski bum in Japan? I've been offered a 3-month, nearly unpaid job as a ski resort worker at a guesthouse in Japan. My duties would include kitchen and cleaning work. Should I accept this, given:

I'm 2 years out of uni and have had no luck finding a real job. I have had only "flighty" fun low-level jobs that are useless on a resume. This is obviously one more of the same. 2.5 years ago I did an internship in my field, but I feel that that experience is stale already. Would going and doing this for the winter just be another strike against me in the eyes of a future serious employer?

The job is at a small hotel (just 12 rooms) at a lesser-known mountain. I'd be sharing a room with 1 or 2 other foreign workers. I'd work a split shift each day, with afternoons free, totaling about 7 or 8 hours daily, with 10 days on/2 off. Boss seems nice on the phone.

What should I watch out for, besides language barrier? Will I be surprised in a bad way? Thanks!

california mountain splendor hotel

rbs — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 22:49:21 -0800

My family and I want to stay in Big Bear, CA for a couple of nights this winter (to ski). While I'm willing to sleep pretty much anywhere, others are not. What's the nicest hotel up there? Thanks.

working holiday at ski resort in japan?

goseethesphinx — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 15:54:18 -0800

How can I find a job at a ski resort in Japan? I have lots of customer service experience, but I don't speak Japanese. I'd like to do a working holiday in Japan. I'm already a veteran of the ESL market, and would like a change. As a snowboarding enthusiast, I thought of the idea of working at a ski resort. I'm an English-speaking Canadian, but also speak French well.

Apparently it's not unheard of to have a live-in position at a ski resort, doing a low-level job (service-type) even if you don't speak Japanese. I cannot teach any snow sports. To date I've searched the web and found only exactly 2 such opportunities at GaijinPot.com.

Is this a pipe dream? Where can I find this type of job posting? How could I make this a reality?

Thanks!

swoosh! swoosh! snow in europe

like_neon — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:51:29 -0800

Ski/Snowboard group trip in Europe - too many options, don't know where to start. I've been sifting through search results and I'm as lost as ever. France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, aughhhh! Too much info!

Here are the facts, can the hivemind help me settle on where to concentrate?

Group size - <10, all located in England, varying skills.
Length of stay - ~5 days, preferably over a weekend
Time of year - Jan/Feb (I know, peak season but I don't think we can throw together something earlier than that)
Criteria considered:

- On the cheapside: Don't need a fancy resort... a more low key mountain with a decent cabin would be great. But no hostels please, we're too old. =P
- Reasonably easy to get to - with a group of ten I don't want getting there to be a headache.
- Decent nightlife - again, with a group we'll be hanging out together most of the time so we don't need a hyper nightscene, but a good smattering of bars would be great.

Thanks everyone!

I want to sharpen the edges of my snowboard

MNDZ — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 15:42:03 -0800

Tuning my snowboard: I just got a Burton File Guide Kit to tune the edges of my snowboard. I am pretty sure i understand it; but just in case, does anyone know where to find directions for installing the files into the handpeice?