Tony Crocker":2g637pg5 said:
I'm in agreement with MarcC. My first meaningful ski season was at age 26. But most of the highlights have been in the past decade, age 44+. Powder was a total crapshoot before then, when I first acquired fat skis.
Toughest runs skied?
Big Couloir at Big Sky, age 48.
La Voute at La Grave, age 55.
I first skied Main Chute at age 37, then again at age 54. After La Grave, I wanted Little Chute this March, but did not think it prudent without my own ski boots, thanks to Air France :x .
Also record vertical day was at age 52 and record powder day at age 54.
I stumbled upon this thread and I'm pleased to update it. I skied Main Chute a third time at age 60. The following are significantly steeper, longer or more exposed:
Balls to the Wall at Mammoth, age 46. This was on the best lift served powder day of my life. I've looked at it during a couple of the huge recent seasons and taken a pass.
Big Couloir at Big Sky, age 48. This was the scariest because snow in upper steeper half was partially refrozen.
La Voute at La Grave, age 55. Lower 2,500 out of 3,500 vertical was only 30 degrees but it was frozen granular so still a no-fall zone.
Little Chute at Alta, age 61. This was the first day it opened for the season. The choke 3/4 of the way down was narrow but the snow was nearly all powder. Like Balls-to-the-Wall, this is a run I consider skiing only in ideal conditions.
Human Error at Las Lenas, age 62. 2,500 vertical, upper half quite narrow but sheltered with good snow.
Eduardo's at Las Lenas, age 62. Also 2,500 vertical, wider and easier in good conditions. But it has some sun exposure, so the line with good snow was narrower and harder to maintain the day I skied it.
I retired just before turning 58, so my annual ski day count jumped from 45 to 65 plus I had more time for off season exercise. It is likely that my peak ski years were the 21 month/143 day streak at age 58-59. I reset my max vertical day record at age 59. My aerobic peak has taken a significant dip over the last few years. I'm conservative about skiing sketchy stuff only in excellent snow conditions now. But YMMV. Tseeb is just a couple of years younger than I am and still skiing like the Energizer Bunny.
jamesdeluxe":2g637pg5 said:
I broke my leg twice in Utah within nine months -- both times while doing the skiing equivalent of slipping in the bathtub at home -- and in addition to the incredible discomfort involved for me, it was a huge, life-altering pain-in-the-ass to the person I live with. The second time, when my wife heard me coming up the stairs on my creaky crutches, she almost had a nervous breakdown... and I couldn't blame her.
So when you (the royal "you," not any person in particular) start talking about pushing the envelope of your skillz and trying to avoid boredom... good for you, but after putting the wife through the entire Fx process twice in a row, I can't be so cavalier.
I can relate to this, but Liz and I share many addictions and understand that sometimes $#!& happens. I'm guessing Liz' shoulder injury was at least comparable in discomfort to a broken leg and required comparable spouse assistance for awhile. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
For the first two weeks Liz needed assistance with dressing and bathing and I was home full time and did no skiing. For 4 weeks I was doing all cooking. I was quite unskilled; Liz stood a safe distance away and gave me step by step instructions. I took two local ski days during the third week. Week 4 was when Liz needed to go to Florida to look after her mother. I didn't think she should be doing that alone and so went with her for a week.
At the five week mark Liz was set up with a great rehab program in Florida so I returned home and resumed a normal (until March 15) ski season with her blessing.
) at Cannon. The other occurred on the decidedly green-circle Deer Run at Jay. And FWIW, even though I started skiing at age 5 I was a rather infrequent skier who didn't take it seriously until I started patrolling a year after getting my undergrad degree. It was patrolling, skiing often and being forced to ski outside of my envelope by following fellow patrollers into the woods and other places that I'd never venture into previously that exponentially improved my skiing.
