I would think altitude conditioning should have lasted a bit better after that much time at altitude?
Some mountaineers think altitude conditioning wears off in just a day or two. I do not agree. I recall the first time I skied with Patrick in Montana/Wyoming in 2006 I flew home and went to Mammoth 4 days later and felt an unusually high energy level. Adam made similar comments while at UCSD when he was skiing Mammoth every weekend for 3+ months.
However, Patrick was home almost 3 weeks between these trips. And in western Canada you're generally sleeping at 3,000-4,000 feet and only at the top of a few hills skiing higher than 7,000. I was not that aware of Patrick's altitude sensitivity, though in retrospect there was some when he arrived in Mammoth in 2019. When I met him in Portillo in 2007 he had already been skiing in Chile for a week.
This year with age, I notice Mammoth and Snowbird at 10,000 feet and have more trouble skiing nonstop in demanding terrain/conditions. This seems to be less of an issue at 8,000 so far.
But I have no desire for streaks, records, etc. It just ruins quality skiing. I'd rather have 12-20 great ski days dictated by weather, open terrain, and conditions. Like new areas, but they need to have typically 1000-1500 or offer some other compelling reason (history, snowfall, runs, etc).
James and I have expressed similar sentiments many times over the past 15 years. I keep more records than most skiers, seek out new areas as a fairly high priority and have arranged 3 times to ski at least 12 consecutive months. Twice I could get tough months by doing AT at Mammoth, but for Liz' 12 months last season there was a dedicated trip to Timberline for June/July and a bit of creativity required in Norway for August/September when we found that the normally open summer ski areas had a lean winter and had closed early.
As far as ski area count is concerned I'd encourage ChrisC to update his
list from 2006. He was at 152 then when I was at 121. I'm probably more obsessive about adding new areas but have similar standards of say 1,000 vertical and expecting a few hours of interesting skiing. Lonnie on his road trips the past two seasons skied 7 areas so obscure that neither former admin, James or I had included them on the intended-to-be-comprehensive Google Earth file for North America.
As for streaks/records ruining quality skiing, I personally don't find that an either/or proposition. But if circumstances force me to choose, I vote for quality. My lowered maximum heart rate with age gives me a choice. Ski easier runs/more groomers to maintain vertical of historical standards, or continue skiing challenging terrain/conditions with less vertical. So far I have opted for the latter.
As for Patrick, his streak started in October 2005, and from March 2008 - March 2023 he never skied outside the East between Dec. 11 and April 21, a remarkable stat that leaves no doubt about his top priority. I'm pleased that the April 21 date got rolled back to March 31 with the western Canada trip this year. Even there I agree with ChrisC:
British Columbia skis the best in mid-January to early March.
But we should applaud even baby steps in Patrick improving his quality of skiing.