Worldskitraveller's USA Road Trip
- Thread starter jamesdeluxe
- Start date
ChrisC
Well-known member
Yes. But the title?! 
And I spent a lot of time at Jiminy Peak and know not many days look like the one below. Same for Mt. Washington, but more often....
I just never felt I really 'skied' an area until I visited most of its lift sectors/ski terrain pods. Often led me back to ski places again.
And I spent a lot of time at Jiminy Peak and know not many days look like the one below. Same for Mt. Washington, but more often....
I just never felt I really 'skied' an area until I visited most of its lift sectors/ski terrain pods. Often led me back to ski places again.
You want to title an interview? You write it!
From both James' interview and Roger's own website, it was clear to me that @Worldskitraveller's priority is collecting lifts not ski areas. Accordingly, I agree with James that Roger's priority is upfront and crystal clear but also with ChrisC that the title should be changed.
On March 3 I said:
I was naturally lured further into the World Council of Skitistics. I was pleased to say that my independent formulation of what counts as a ski area (generally agreed by other FTO posters too) conforms quite closely to the World Council of Skitistics. Specifically, separate discounted one area lift tickets (Portes du Soleil) must have geography defining separate ski areas, and the same for areas with a lift but no ski connection (Arosa-Lenzerheide).
I have browsed Jimmy's Skiing around the World books numerous times for so many countries, but must confess I never read his skiday/ski area definitions on pp. 23-25 of volume 2 until I read Roger's home page mention of it.
Jimmy has a very loose definition applied to Euro ski villages, counting all of them unless they have the same name such as Les Arcs and Courchevel do with different numbers based upon elevation. I sent him the following e-mail to clarify his view (no response yet):
I would question the Skitistics comments on sand skiing and ski touring. I think a ski day needs to be on snow (most of our FTO crowd agrees). I have 17 countries but could add 3 more with liberal definition of sand. I rode sand dunes standing on a board at Siwa Oasis in Egypt https://bestsnow.net/TRsFTO/20060329EgyptEclipse.html , sitting on a sled in Dunhuang in China https://bestsnow.net/TRsFTO/20080801ChinaEclipse.html , and prone on a toboggan in Namibia https://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/threads/skeleton-coast-namibia-june-25-27-2024.15029/ . Perhaps a strict requirement of using ski equipment would weed out most marginal cases like mine.
Ski touring I’m more liberal than Jimmy and Skitistics. Surely broad sectors (not specific itineraries) should count as a ski area (eg. Tioga Pass, Mt. Shasta, etc.). 15 of my 297 areas are exclusively ski touring, 7 of those on the 2011 Antarctic trip.
On March 3 I said:
I encourage anyone with the slightest interest in the subject to review Roger's concisely summarized home page. I'll note that among the 12 people with the most ski areas, only 3 have also counted lifts. I count lots of stuff but it never occurred to me to count lifts until this thread. I used to count a running total of ski lift vertical each ski day before I got the Vertech watch in 1995.
I was naturally lured further into the World Council of Skitistics. I was pleased to say that my independent formulation of what counts as a ski area (generally agreed by other FTO posters too) conforms quite closely to the World Council of Skitistics. Specifically, separate discounted one area lift tickets (Portes du Soleil) must have geography defining separate ski areas, and the same for areas with a lift but no ski connection (Arosa-Lenzerheide).
I have browsed Jimmy's Skiing around the World books numerous times for so many countries, but must confess I never read his skiday/ski area definitions on pp. 23-25 of volume 2 until I read Roger's home page mention of it.
Jimmy has a very loose definition applied to Euro ski villages, counting all of them unless they have the same name such as Les Arcs and Courchevel do with different numbers based upon elevation. I sent him the following e-mail to clarify his view (no response yet):
When we were chasing the fresher snow in Ports du Soleil and Grand Massif, Jimmy and his girlfriend were in the far southwest Alps at the places that got the most snow mid-season. He mentioned several places I do not recall and said his ski area count is still rising into the mid-700s.
I would question the Skitistics comments on sand skiing and ski touring. I think a ski day needs to be on snow (most of our FTO crowd agrees). I have 17 countries but could add 3 more with liberal definition of sand. I rode sand dunes standing on a board at Siwa Oasis in Egypt https://bestsnow.net/TRsFTO/20060329EgyptEclipse.html , sitting on a sled in Dunhuang in China https://bestsnow.net/TRsFTO/20080801ChinaEclipse.html , and prone on a toboggan in Namibia https://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/threads/skeleton-coast-namibia-june-25-27-2024.15029/ . Perhaps a strict requirement of using ski equipment would weed out most marginal cases like mine.
Ski touring I’m more liberal than Jimmy and Skitistics. Surely broad sectors (not specific itineraries) should count as a ski area (eg. Tioga Pass, Mt. Shasta, etc.). 15 of my 297 areas are exclusively ski touring, 7 of those on the 2011 Antarctic trip.
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His initiative was titled Project 101, meaning 101 ski areas, ergo the title of the interview. I appreciate how much you and ChrisC have engaged with this story and your protests have been duly noted but come on.
We are taking the cue of the what the title should be from the horse's mouth. 
That is our view as well. Most Euro ski areas have enough scale that we rarely repeat a run at a new place unless conditions are exceptional. That mostly means fresh powder. This is a key critique of prioritizing lifts vs. ski areas. Some places have immense terrain variety from a single lift. That was why @Worldskitraveller completely missed the boat at Stowe. Even Baldy's Thunder Mt. is an excellent example of high variety from one lift. On the right day you could spend all of it just lapping Zermatt's Gant-Hohtalli tram as snowbirdsurfer was fortunate to do a week after we were not. @Worldskitraveller's antithesis would be the Squallywood fanatics who only ski KT-22.
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The interview is posted on Harvey's website so it's up to him to change the title of the piece.
ChrisC
Well-known member
I don't really read the NYSkiBlog since I no longer do much East Coast skiing, although there are some interesting outings/adventures on it. And, of course, the site has evolved to include other regions and continents. Didn't read the interview until his IG post popped up in my doom scroll.
I did not really follow any of this over the winter, nor read interviews; I just assumed it was a skiing-focused trip that went awry.
...Too busy skiing and transitioning startups to everything AI - I mean Blockchain, who? Web 3.0, what? NFTs? Meme crypto? Lol. Fortunately/unfortunately, I live near the center of the AI revolution (5 to 7 minutes to OpenAI HQ, depending on traffic or getting stuck behind a buggy/confused Waymo). Years ago, it was just one of the sunniest, least-foggy neighborhoods with downtown SF skyline views and access to US-101, SFO, and Silicon Valley. Now it's overrun with Gen Zers/Millennials recreating/relearning the lessons of Internet 1.0 (circa 2000) in 8-people living in 2- or 3-bedroom Victorians - trying to do circular business development deals with one another.
No one wants that.
I cannot be bothered to proofread, check whether AI assist is on/off, or really care about journalism.
Leave that to the experts.
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He's skiing at Ischgl's end-of-season event this weekend with the huge concert at Idalp headlined by Christina Aguilera. I requested photos along with a final tally of the ski areas he visited in 2025-26.
ChrisC
Well-known member
Ischgl = Ibiza of the Alps.
Ischgl's closing concerts are generally phenomenal! The moving walkway between the two pedestrian centers of Ischgl has great memorabilia from all the events.
Meanwhile, in the USA, a Grateful Dead cover band could be playing on Closing Day as skiers tailgate, enjoying beer from a microbrewery teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.
There is a host of things the US Ski Industry could learn from the Europeans, and modify for the North American market. It's the story of Starbucks (and founders sold to Howard Shultz because they wanted to buy Peet's Coffee).
Although Vail had a John Summit weekend. Frat Bro Techno.
