Psychology of the Pissing Match

[Geoff]

I think some of you guys are nuts trying to quantify the quality of your life. I get this image of Gollum in Gore Tex on powder boards skiing in Utah chanting "my precious" on every turn. Jeez. It's just skiing.

I went skiing today. The conditions completely sucked. I was outdoors. I got some exercise. I spent a ton of time being social with a lot of very long-time friends. I had a great time.

 

[J.Spin]

It is particularly puzzling to me when easterners tie themselves to one area since there are so many areas, 99% of them well under 1,000 acres and no one over 1,500. There has to be a massive financial inducement to consider that IMHO.

I’m not sure what the reason is for everyone, but the biggest factors on my end are simply convenience and efficiency. Traveling 30 minutes and spending money for tickets seems unnecessary when there is a perfectly good ski area less than 10 minutes from your house and you can ski there basically for “free”. It seems especially overkill when you may just want to ski for an hour or two, or even just a run or two. Exploring different areas is fun as well, but there’s nothing like having that one area for day to day ski life, especially if it’s an area that has the attributes you like.

When I lived in the Burlington area, I did a lot more splitting of my time between Sugarbush, Stowe, Smugg’s, Mad River, and Bolton, since they were all relatively equidistant at 30-45 minutes, and I’d even sometimes hit up Jay Peak or Killington which were a little father away. Eventually we sort of settled into Sugarbush for the last several years before we moved to Montana, since it was a good fit with reasonable day pass prices for friends that didn’t have season’s passes, and it wasn’t very crowded. In Montana we went to Lost Trail 90+% of the time since it was 45 minutes away, even though Snowbowl was probably only 60 minutes or so away and had somewhat steeper terrain. But Lost Trail had great snow and low skier traffic, which we liked. Now that we’ve been here in Waterbury we’ve found that Bolton Valley is very much in the vein of Lost Trail for us, with the bonus that it’s even closer. I’m sure there will be some wanderlust as the boys get older, but in my case I’ve skied all our local areas of Northern Vermont quite extensively, so I know what’s out there and enjoy Bolton’s special attributes and proximity a lot at this point.

-J

 

[Tony Crocker]

Perhaps I should have said financial and schedule inducement. If you have a schedule that allows you to ski 1-2 hours nearly every day, you're almost certainly going for a season pass at the area that allows you to do that.

 

[Sharon]

What is it about downhill skiing that makes everyone always want to prove that their corner of the universe is better? I hang out on mtb forums and never see this level of knuckleheadedness.

Is it something you grow out of, get bored with, or keep doing until you fall into a tree well?

Go ahead... give me your best theory.

My theory:

It's a D1CK thing.

You don't see women having these pissing matches. Check out SkiDiva.com...you won't find it there.

I think you should just be happy to be skiing, no matter where you are. You can drive yourself crazy if you are always thinking it is better elsewhere.

 

[Harvey]

I think you should just be happy to be skiing, no matter where you are. You can drive yourself crazy if you are always thinking it is better elsewhere.

Spot on Sharon. You could use the words "skiing" or "living" interchangeably in that thought.

Reminds me of an episode of Seinfeld (stay with me here)...

George was telling about getting pounded on by bullies in 8th grade. I think he was pantsed etc.

Elaine: "Wow boys are so violent!"

George: "Hmmm...so...what do girls do?"

Elaine: "We just tease them until they get an eating disorder."

 

[icelanticskier]

hey, i'm a right coast skiing defender if the ever was one and ya i get to ski lots of untracked pow days all over new england pretty much whenever it snows because i've set my life up that way. with everything so easy to get to out here, may as well be flexible.
now, i've lived in utah for two winters and know full well what the skiing is like and the weather so it's fair for me to compare and like what i like. having lived out west and traveled all over for month(s) at a time out there, there has never been a time when i've stopped somewhere that made me want to live there vs new england. it may be a familiarity thing, but i'm pretty darn familiar with salt lake area and the wasatch mtns, lift served and bc and the mountains there certainly don't make me want to live there cuz then i'd have to live in or near slc and thats just too much concrete, traffic, strip malls and smog for me. i do like to go there, get my foofy fix, change of scenery, and touring in, but it's always nice to get back home to new hampshire for the ocean, mountains and small gritty town life and when it's dumping, it's amazing. pissing match? nothing wrong with it on forums, adds to the entertainment even if it gets outta hand at times.
rog