Best Things heard on the mountain....

[Lorenzzo]

By @fatbob, while fixing his ski boot during lunch with @Philpug and @Craig Scholten -

"There's a salvageable nut"
View attachment 4852

I won/t but it isn't easy...

 

[54-46]

Overheard in the Squaw base area. Mom to young child: "I will never ski with you again this season."

SMH. This one goes the other way - On a pow day in early February, I heard the following from my 9-year old while skiing Homewood, "Dad, can we make fresh tracks in the trees?"
So proud.

 

[Dave Petersen]

This morning at Breckenridge: an older woman telling a guy "you look radical with that GoPro on your helmet".

 

[Tominator]

A friend of mine who thinks he's a, "Solid Level 8," but he's really a 6 - he looks like he's sitting in a chair and reaching up to grab a bar when he skis - exclaimed, "Now I get it - I wasn't rotating my hips enough!"

 

[Monique]

A friend of mine who thinks he's a, "Solid Level 8," but he's really a 6 - he looks like he's sitting in a chair and reaching up to grab a bar when he skis - exclaimed, "Now I get it - I wasn't rotating my hips enough!"

 

[Don in Morrison]

Today was my first day of the season at Granby Ranch. Because the conditions were sounding pretty sketchy, I decided my rock skis would be the old K2 Shorts. What better rock ski than a rental from the 70's, right? Anyway, I rode the lift with a couple of millennial types on 90-ish width rentals, and one looked at my skis and said, "Are those cross country skis?"

 

[Bill Miles]

After the first day on the mountain with my then 18 year old stepson (him on snowboard and me on skis, having spent a lot of time waiting for him to catch up):

"Boy, I thought Bill would be slow because he's old."

 

[Freaq]

Took a couple of really fun lift rides with an older gentleman from Wisconsin. He told me he was born in '46 then asked what my birth year was. When I told him he exclaimed, "Oh, you're a youngie"!

 

[Monique]

Lesson group today. Instructor is saying not to get hung up on things like "you have to plan 5 bumps ahead." I chime in: "Glen Plake said he doesn't plan 5 bumps ahead, and if it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me!"

Fellow student: "Who's Glen Plake?"

 

[bbinder]

Lesson group today. Instructor is saying not to get hung up on things like "you have to plan 5 bumps ahead." I chime in: "Glen Plake said he doesn't plan 5 bumps ahead, and if it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me!"

Fellow student: "Who's Glen Plake?"

Them's fightin’ words

 

[David]

Back in the day driving shuttle vans from DIA to Vail I was asked;
Where they put the snow in the winter?
Do they turn off the river at night?

 

[Tricia]

Lesson group today. Instructor is saying not to get hung up on things like "you have to plan 5 bumps ahead." I chime in: "Glen Plake said he doesn't plan 5 bumps ahead, and if it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me!"

Fellow student: "Who's Glen Plake?"

I would have thought the instructor would have said: "When you ski like Plake, you can do that"

 

[DanoT]

Lesson group today. Instructor is saying not to get hung up on things like "you have to plan 5 bumps ahead." I chime in: "Glen Plake said he doesn't plan 5 bumps ahead, and if it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me!"

Fellow student: "Who's Glen Plake?"

A few weeks ago I shared a chairlift ride with a millennial who was coaching a kids race team. She was from the east and was familiar with Holiday Valley, Ellicotville, N.Y. So I started to tell her my Stein Eriksen story, (young race coach: "Who is Stein Erikson") wherein I got a free ski lesson from Stein (along with 300 other skiers lined up slopeside) as part of the annual Stein Eriksen Day at the resort.

The full story also involves Jim Mcconkey, (former Director of Skiing at Tod Mtn.) who she also didn't know until I explained that Jim was Shane's dad.

 

[Utahski]

I'm riding up Payday, a six pack, with an east coaster who had obviously just gotten into town. He asked me: "So this is a detachable chair?" I said ""Yes." He then asked: "When does it detach?"

Then he looks down at my skinny race skis and asks, with condescension: "So you're just learning?"

A couple years ago on the Silverlode lift.....some tourist guy commented on our GS skis with something like: "I see you're still on old straight skis. Those things don't turn. You really ought to use these new shaped skis. They're much easier to turn and have better edge grip." We smiled at each other and said thanks for the advice, we'd sure give them a try.

 

[Sibhusky]

A young man (teen? Early 20's? At my age they are all kids.) told me that he had to tighten his bindings so tight to keep his new boots on that they (the bindings) were hurting his feet. He claimed the binding was warping the boot.

He also told me that his old boots were larger and now he had a professional fit. It was the bindings that were the problem.

 

[Sibhusky]

That day started out with not so much a funny statement, but an indication of things to come.

I lined up at the first lift (it's a lift that services beginner terrain, but you need to use it to get to the main lifts). Four of us. Because you can go left or right at the top, and it was a bit of a wait, I asked, which way is everyone going? The lady on my right, who would get the rightmost seat, told me she was going left. Everyone else is going right. So I suggested she change seats to that there were no issues. "I have to sit in this seat! Or I won't be able to get off!". Oooookkkaaayyy. So, I pushed back, "to give her a bit more room.". Because I could see where this was going.*

The next bunch, two snowboarders, I say, "She needed a little more room to unload, so I'm riding with you guys. Which way are you going?". "Left.". "Well, why don't you sit in the left, then?" "Oh, no, I have to sit in this seat!". ...WTF are the chances?? I just said I'd be going straight, and prayed that with three it would all work out.

*The lady in the chair ahead waved at the liftie to slow the chair down for her. And proceeded to fall in a heap anyway. So, I'd made the right choice, but couldn't believe I'd gotten two in a row!

 

[Monique]

I would have thought the instructor would have said: "When you ski like Plake, you can do that"

Hah! Nah, this was in the context of a discussion about how a lot of instructors just kind of say things without really thinking it through, and then students take it as gospel and tie themselves into knots trying to follow it. But that's not a conversation for this thread.

A few weeks ago I shared a chairlift ride with a millennial who was coaching a kids race team. She was from the east and was familiar with Holiday Valley, Ellicotville, N.Y. So I started to tell her my Stein Eriksen story, (young race coach: "Who is Stein Erikson") wherein I got a free ski lesson from Stein (along with 300 other skiers lined up slopeside) as part of the annual Stein Eriksen Day at the resort.

The full story also involves Jim Mcconkey, (former Director of Skiing at Tod Mtn.) who she also didn't know until I explained that Jim was Shane's dad.

FWIW, the person who hadn't heard of Glen Plake was older than me! I just figure she must have been living under a rock.

 

[dbostedo]

...FWIW, the person who hadn't heard of Glen Plake was older than me! I just figure she must have been living under a rock.

I wouldn't have known who he was until a couple of seasons ago... I suspect whether or not you know who he is has way less to do with age, and way more to do with how "into" skiing you are. If you're the sort who never watches ski movies (most people - including many/most skiers) you probably don't know who a lot of "famous" skiers are.

 

[Monique]

I wouldn't have known who he was until a couple of seasons ago... I suspect whether or not you know who he is has way less to do with age, and way more to do with how "into" skiing you are. If you're the sort who never watches ski movies (most people - including many/most skiers) you probably don't know who a lot of "famous" skiers are.

To be honest and fair ... I only knew about him because my high school boyfriend was obsessed with him. I would imagine by now I'd be aware of him, but maybe not quite so much.

 

[skibob]

At Northstar a few days ago. I am making some halfway decent turns down Pioneer. I turn right. A child probably 9-10 yrs old zooms over, yes, over the front of my skis going mach stupid. Straightlining. A-framing. Hands out to the side, squatting. You know what I'm talking about. I was actually really impressed with my own balance that I was able to rock back and simultaneously unweight the tails, then get back on the shovels to complete the turn instead of totally crushing this stupid kid.

Meanwhile, I yell at the kid "take a lesson!".

His friend is just passing me (at a safe distance to my left) and yells back, "He's a great skier, he just hasn't learned to turn yet!"

Um, yeah. Right.