Just back from Hong Kong & California

It's been a long ten days, having just gotten back from Hong Kong and San Francisco.


HK was very exciting and I hope to get back there soon. Until I have time to post more, here are few pictures from the trip.


It was like a weird blend of Chinatown, Las Vegas, San Francisco and skyscrapers.

Chinese building ski resorts

Could this be the ultimate bubble - ski real estate and China in one investment meme?

Depending on the quality of the snow, this could be like getting in to Vail in the 70's or Aspen in the 60's. I have also heard exceptional things about the quality of Japan's snow, although the resorts are not so world class in amenities.

Two Bits about Okemo, and the rest of our weekend

Some of you may have heard that Okemo was hit by a credit card fraud scheme, so if you used your card there recently, keep an eye on your charges/activity. It is vexatious to get things removed if they are false. And on a brighter note, Okemo had a fantastic season as far as attendance and sales went, the best they've had in a half dozen years. Despite the high prices and (sometimes) crowds, it is better to have a healthy profitable local ski area than a bankrupt one. Just look at property prices around Magic Mountain or Suicide Six if you still convincing on that point.

In other news, we went to the Indian enclave of Edison, NJ over the weekend to do some shopping for a family friend's upcoming wedding. The girls found a large number of shops purveying the latest in high fashion and garish colors. But most importantly they found Asok, the tailor who works in a mirrored dressing room, who will be able to make their modifications in time for the big ceremony.

While they were wrangling with the sari proprietors, I wandered around the area exploring various niche retailers. I was able to find a good Indian grocery there and stocked up on all kinds of obscure spices, chili's, and flours. We also picked up some of the tropical fruit juices that are handy to have around. (And along the way, I discovered that the ancient and honorable custom of bargaining was banned in Edison, NJ.)

While we were there, we made time to have an excellent lunch at Mughul restaurant, which is buried in the back of a mall, quite far set back from the main road. This is a picture of just a few of the dishes they had. It's more upscale than the Jackson Diner, and slightly better, although it has more eclectic dishes than one would expect. The dishes in the photo from front to back are - goat curry, tandoori chicken and vegetable pilaf.

It was a good jaunt, made even better by J. preparing the spicy southern Indian polenta like dish -- upma -- the next day from my mom's recipe with the ingredients purchased on the excursion.

The final ski day of the season

Today was the last ski day of the year for me, courtesy of Okemo's free day for FlexCard holders. It was warm, slushy and sparsely attended but I still got a couple of pleasant hours in.

I doubt the temperature was below freezing last night, because the snow felt like a slurpee, without the sticky red syrup. In conditions like that you have to lean back a little bit more than usual, because if you hit soft patches your skis suddenly start going slower and you will lose your balance if your center of gravity is too far forward.

It's unnerving to ski like that because you have less control and causes your skis to slide around. Still it was a fun day, although I would not have spent the $50 or so I saw some others laying out for the privilege.

It is difficult to do much spring skiing once it stops freezing overnight. That freeze / thaw cycle is needed so that the ice clusters can recrystallize which makes for hard/fast conditions in the morning but nice soft "corn" a little before noon.

Superb skiing at Okemo on March 30

We had a late March snow squall and, in exchange for the driveway being impassable, got some great late season skiing at Okemo on the last weekend of the month. J. and I got accidentally separated but we still got in a good amount of vertical. I don't think I've ever skied more vertical feet in a shorter period of a time - I hit the Northstar lift 7 times in about an hour and half. This meant skiing fast, no stopping at all, and going quickly through the singles line. It was almost like skiing in the Rockies - fresh soft new snow, bright clear blue skies, and warm temperatures in the 30's. And because of the late season, no crowds at all. There was a big difference in the feel of the snow underfoot between the southern oriented runs and northern/shady runs. I stayed on the right sides of the trails which tended to be drier.

It was great skiing, perhaps the last of the season for us. Much different than a few years ago.

Sunny Skiing in California

We just got back from a trip to California where we visited family, and squeezed in a few days skiing at Northstar, a forested bowl on the North Lake. To the left is the mid mountain lodge, which had a handy taco shack for quick lunches. A trio of 3 lifts fan out from this area.

This is J. after finishing a nice run on the sunny side of the bowl. Northstar is well protected from the wind, and this pocket is particularly sunny. That can mean the snow gets soft by the end of the day, making the skiing slow, but it was very easy to turn on.

Here is a picture from the top of the mountain facing down the sunnier West ridge. There is a particularly good long classic intermediate trail here from the top of the mountain, winding first on the top of the ridge all the way down to a notch in the side, where it broadens out to a tree lined gully back to the main lift areas. At the very top, when you first start, you can catch a glimpse of the vast alpine Lake Tahoe.

The next day I went to ski the backside, which was steeper and had longer runs. I thought the snow was harder on this side, although the runs were more challenging than I remembered from the last time here, although that was in better mid-winter conditions. For Tahoe, there is a lot of vertical to do in one lift here, 1800 vertical feet, without any crosswalks to interrupt it.

While we were visiting family in LA, J's parents threw us a nice cocktail party, where (among other things) J. made a baked brie en croute, with slices of crisp apples and pears to dig the gooey cheese out. (You can kind see the cheese oozing out of as it lost its form over time) Like most parties, there was tons of leftover food that was sent home with family friends, Justin and Randall.

We also had lunch by the seashore, in Newport Beach, where I had yet more of that particularly Californian invention, fish tacos. It's a scenic drive to there, worth the trouble. I can see why its a popular place for vacationers and residents.

After wanting to visit for many years, the stars and schedules finally lined up to view the Ronald Reagan Presidential library in Simi Valley. It's an unusually beautiful hilly site, with surrounding views for perhaps 50 miles. On the clear sunny day we spent there it was remarkable in its serenity and --although we did not bring one -- a perfect spot for a picnic. The museum takes 2-3 hours to explore and covers the various stages of Ron and Nancy's life well, although Jane Wyman (Reagan's first wife) seemed conspicuous by her ommission.

Upon our return to Sacramento, my mother gathered a large group of friends and hosted a lovely brunch at a local Punjabi restaurant where we had a buffet, followed by a splash of young Coutet. It was great seeing local friends again, especially those who had not been able to join us in New York last year. The food was good, but nothing to make us forget our fiery hot and greasy Jackson Heights Diner in Queens.

A few links

Sometimes ski areas slowly go under, like Pico or Haystack. This is an article about someone who tracks them down, trying to save the memories.

We just got back from Stowe, to celebrate our first anniversary, and oddly enough this link makes it sound like we're not the only ones who thought it was a good place for couples.

And lastly, we are looking at visiting Northstar in Tahoe, which has this recent writeup in the Miami Herald of all places. I would not have thought folks would have trekked that far to visit it. You can see where it is located to the left.

A great few days at Stowe

Last weekend, we took the extra time to drive up to Stowe, in Northern Vermont, for a little getaway celebration. There was quite a bit of snow the night before we left, but after a little bit of shoveling, we were able to get the car on the road. After an easy, isolated drive we pulled into the Stoweflake resort in the early afternoon. After getting our stuff squared away we went off to explore the charming village, and pick up a few forgotten items. Dinner was at a surprisingly decent Thai restaurant, Red Basil, on the mountain road.

The next day we took the shuttle up to the mountain and started by skiing the newly expanded and improved Spruce Peak area. This area has most of the novice/intermediate terrain , as well as a more modern base area. The snow conditions here were terrific and the crowds were much less than at the main area. J and I got our ski legs here and she tried an intermediate run to test her ability in softer snow. After she got confidence in skiing this area, I left to ski the gondola on the main mountain and she enjoyed the Spruce area. After a nice day of skiing we headed back for a sauna/hot tub soak. Later on we enjoyed a great dinner at the Swisspot restaurant in the village.

The next day J went for the full day of spa treatment while I attacked the main mountain. By now, most of the weekend crowds had gone and it felt like I had the whole mountain to myself. In general the runs on the main mountain are a bit steeper and more challenging than other Vermont ski areas, as well as the Gondola and Spruce areas. These are classic, old fashioned runs with rolling terrain well protected by trees. I had a blast working my way around the mountain. In a concession to my creaky knees, I didn't dare attempt the icy Liftline run under the Quadrunner chair. I am mystified about how I was able to handle that in my 20's. Later I went over to the Gondola and enjoyed those big wide open trails. I felt the quality of snow was better than that in Southern Vermont, but the extra 2.5 hours drive was not something I could routinely tolerate. After a nice day of that, I grabbed a bus back to the resort and headed to the sauna to sweat out some toxins. That night we went back down to the village and had a nice supper at The Whip, which apparently has been in business since 1830. The next day we headed home, tired but happy.

Pretty good skiing during President's week

We got a few days of skiing in on the weekends bookending the President's holiday week at Okemo. The first weekend we took the godkids out and zoomed around the mountain. Lines were long at some places but we were able to get some good runs in on the Jackson Gore part of Okemo.

The next weekend was better, since there had been abundant snowfall during the weekend, and the temperature had stayed cold, keeping the surface conditions soft and powdery. This time I enjoyed the South Face side of the mountain ridge, where few people were at. Having my skis tuned up helped a lot, especially on the icier spots.

The next weekend we are going up to Stowe, where I have not been in perhaps a decade. I am looking forward to seeing the extensive improvements AIG has made there.

Too Wet on Feb 2 & 3

Well, we drove up on Friday Feb 1, through a driving rain for 5-6 hours, only to be confounded by our last stretch of road being unplowed, which had about 8" of snow, compressed into 3" of wet packed from hours of cold rain. The car could not make it up that, so we pulled over, and marched up the last stretch to the house. Lena was a real trooper during that and got endless treats and belly rubs all weekend for her heroic walk.

After seeing the snow and wind conditions the next day, we ended up staying in and not heading out to the mountain. There were plenty of chores around the house to keep us busy and we both caught up on some reading.

Hopefully things will be better by the President's Holiday.

Fast Skiing at Okemo, Jan 20

It has been a long time since I've updated the blog, but we had a nice day of skiing yesterday at Okemo. The weather was clear and sunny, but cold as it can be without a cloud blanket. I needed my footwarmers to handle the mid teen temps. We have not had much fresh snow in the last week, and the groomers had preened the trails into flat, crispy fast movers. We took the kids over to the South Face and skiied all the trails off the Sunrise lift. They were fast, and I could feel the dullness of my midseason edges on my Atomic's .

After a few hours my hands were just too cold, and it was time to pack it in. I would have expected more folks at the mountain, but it wasn't that crowded.

Gstaad Trip Report

I know it has been much delayed, but here's a report from our honeymoon to Gstaad. You can see pictures from the trip on the button to the right, under links.

We started off by flying on Alitalia from New York to Milan, and then connecting to a flight to Geneva and then taking a train from the airport to the village of Gstaad. Although we were traveling business class (which was a treat that Jennifer had been saving her miles for years for) it took quite a while to get there. Alitalia, by the way, is a government owned airline, and things feel sort of faded and dated on it. We left on Sunday right after our wedding, and arrived Monday evening. I suppose things could have been faster if we'd chosen a prepacked tour, since they would have lined up direct flights and bus transfers. Gstaad as a ski destination tends not to be on the list of ready made packages because it has the unfortunate combination of beeing too costly and is not snow sure.

After almost 20 hours of travel, we arrived at the Berherhof in Gstaad. The hotel was perfectly situated, right by the train station and buses to the mountains, and in the middle of the beautiful pedestrian/car free village. In addition the hotel was of a very high standard in accomodations -- in particular the wood work and bathroom fixtures. The kitchen was closed on our arrival, so we went down the street and got a burger at a local cafe. We could sit on our balcony and look over the village, and up at the famous Gstaad Palace hotel sited above the town.

On our first full day in the village, we slept in late and then went exploring, foraging for lunch. We made our way through the village, marvelling at the curious bronze sculptures scattered about. There was an iron cow by the watering hole, elves under the bridge, and more. Someone here has a touch of whimsy. We had savory crepes at a cafe after getting the lay of the land and figuring out where the ski bus shuttles were. The core pedestrian village is filled with expensive boutiques and luxury product stores, but they were interesting to window shop. One store was particularly fascinating -- Kitchen & Table is its name in English. We wandered around the 3 floors of this for almost an hour. The picture to the right is from their pottery department. We came back a few days later, and after a lot of deliberation, selected a fondue pot and burner as a useful memento of the visit. Afterwards we came back to the hotel and relaxed on the balcony for a while while we mulled over dinner options. One of the tour books I had acquired, Lonely Planet, suggested the Post Hotel Rossli as a good choice for classic Swiss fare, so we made our way there later that night. It was a good suggestion indeed, and I enjoyed my rosti and Swiss white wine.

The next morning we were pretty refreshed after the previous days relaxing and exploring, so we were ready to go skiing. We had breakfast downstairs and grabbed a bus from outside the hotel to one of our local village's ski areas -- Eggli. Gstaad is actually a "super ski region" of almost a half dozen villages connected by bus/train/ski trails going up and down the Saanenland valley. Gstaad is the most charming village and has the most local ski areas (3) but they are somewhat less natural fall line skiing than the other villages. I guess the American comparable would be Aspen and its local ski areas, although in the Gstaad Super Ski region, some of the areas are skiiable from each other. Once we got to the Eggli area we took a gondola to the peak and started to make our way down to the Chalberoni mid valley station. Some of the trails down this way were in poor condition due to lack snow, and too much sun on these south facing pistes. Once we got down to the Chalberoni lodge, Jenn stopped to rest and get some lunch, while I made my way up to the top of the the next ridge over and skiied that. There was hardly anyone up there and the conditions were much better, although as I got down to lower altitudes the soft snow became tiring to ski through. We schlepped back to Eggli and then took the gondola back down the village.

On Wednesday we planned a dinner at the haute cuisine restaurant, Chlosterli, which was a few miles out of town. While that was being set up by the concierge we set out to find electronic connectors that would let us hook our iPod up to the hotel room's stereo. Fortunately we found a Swiss equivalent of RadioShack down a side alley and we got everything sorted out swiftly. From there we took a little side tour of that edge of village. There was a fantastic amount of construction going on; we heard that most of the new chalets are being custom built for Russian oligarchs. Price tags seemed to be in the $5-8mm range, high even for a top end ski resort. When we came back I went down to the gym and tried the hot and cold saunas, followed by a few laps in the pool. After all this we were feeling refreshed and took a taxi to the Chlosterli. We had signed up for the full 9 course dinner which took three plus hours. The range of preparations and the creativity of the chef were extraordinary; it really was one of the greatest meals I have ever had. Everything was supremely fresh and flavorful, with just the right balance between traditional spices and creative ones. We had a delicious bottle of Leroy red burgundy to go with it, which made me want to try cellaring a few on my own, until I saw how costly they are in the US.

On Thursday, Jennifer had a spa session set up for a hot rocks massage therapy while I went down to the gym/sauna in our building after breakfast. After a lazy day relaxing like this we then went to a guitar recital given in the local Roman Catholic church/kirch. Oddly enough, it was a Swiss man singing traditional American devotionals on a guitar; it was weird hearing Sweet Chariot with a thick German accent. The performance was heartfelt, but technically/muscially light years behind our own Holy Trinity. After that we went out for Italian food for dinner. The restaurant was called "Rialto" and was superb. We both had homemade tagliatele with a veal ragu sauce. It had carrots in it and the feel of having been simmered in wine and milk for hours like a good bolognese sauce should be. It was hard to have a bad meal in Gstaad since the standard of both hotels/dining is so high. We walked back to the hotel feeling a slight chill in the air. By midnight, a light snow would be coming down pretty consistently.

On Friday we got up early as it was looking like a powder day from the view from our balcony. We had a hurried breakfast and hopped on the "GoldenCar" , a special bubble shaped rail compartment, from Gstaad to the upvalley village of Schonried. The story we had heard at breakfast was that this area tended to get better snow, and its terrain was wide and forgiving, perfect for the two of us to enjoy skiing together. After a 20 minute scenic train ride, we hopped off at the Schonried baanhof and manhandled our gear toward the lifts. Unlike at typical American resorts, which have some kind of base area for changing and assorted sundries, the base stations in the Gstaad super ski area, tended not to have much beyond a lift area and a ticket booth. Most folks would rent equipment, if needed, in town and then get food up on the mid/top mountain restaurants and warming huts. The gist of all of this is that there was not any ski lockers at the mountain area, or at least any that we could locate, but we had a small inkling that may happen so I'd brought our gear in a daypack style bag. We just skiied with all of our stuff on ourselves, which would make it easy to leave from a different village.

When we got up to the top of the mountain, the snow was coming down thickly and the powder was mid calf. We happily skied down a few runs of this and then tacked down into a broad valley that spanned the way to another vilage. Here the runs were well sheltered from the blowing snow, and as the wind let up, we could lap the trio of runs here. The vertical on the upper runs was probably only 1500 ft or so, but this area seemed popular for families skiing with mixed abilities, so we saw lots of kids here. After a while Jenn went to the Hornberg mittelstation while I kept on doing fast cruises on this lift. It felt good to put force on my Achilles again after so many months of babying it. We were both getting hungry now, so I collected Jenn from the Hornberg area and we zipped down to a midmountain lodge hidden in a little side nook. We got some warm drinks and sandwiches at this place, called Lochstoffel. After that we skiied down to the next town over, called Saanenmoser. The bottom had gotten a little slushy and it was getting time to call it a day, so Jenn decided to have a gluwhein while she waited for me. I thought it might be end of this years ski season for me (I was wrong about that) so I decided to keep doing a few runs on this gondola serviced run. It was pretty nice and broad but slushy near the bottom. Still it was a great way to end the day, and since we had all our stuff with us, we could just stroll down to Saanenmoser's baanhof and catch the train home, exhausted and happy. We got to the station about 10 min before the next train home, so we didn't have to wait. It was a great day.

On Saturday last day of relaxing. Olden. Hiking above town.

Sunday. Train back to Geneva. Dinner with Alain

Monday. Fly back to the USA.

Tuesday. R&R get pets.

We're back

I've had some difficulty posting in the last 6 weeks, plus have been very busy of course. I'm going to get back to the bi weekly post here, with a trip report on Gstaad.

J. and I watched this recently -- it was pretty good. I can pretty much watch these endlessly.

Vermont Skiing Notes

Things are better at Vermont ski areas

Snow arrives in Vermont

An Article about Development

The Single Chair at Mad River Glen (picture to left)

More trails opening at Okemo

Looks like most of the mountain is open, and another half foot or so snow fell.

A Flickr picture of Gstaad

Someone posted this picture on Flickr a few days ago from their visit to Gstaad. Looks suspiciously snowy. Here's A puff piece on Gstaad from a newspaper in Massachusetts, which must have been a travel agent perk or something. And here's a local paper's take on the conditions from last week, in English which has the feel of being written by an ex patriate Anglo or American. Also here's a cool interactive map with on hill cameras, click through to the flash player to see what the various regions around Gstaad are up to. I wish there was more snow there, but its beyond our control.

An interesting article on Aspen

The NYT just had an interesting article about regular life in Aspen, which felt like a great place to live. Even though real estate, and life in general, there is very expensive it looks like people get value out of it -- much like how people value the core Manhattan life experience despite the high cost and small living spaces. One thing the tight market has created is this problem, which is analagous to what happens in rent controlled NYC apartments.

Our Aspen pictures are still on Yahoo, and you can still order a picture book of them from the menu. It's pricey ($69 or so) but I got one anyways.

Added bonus - two other bloggers recently talking about Okemo . And a teenager on a traditional club bus trip to Okemo. It's actually kind of insightful into todays youth. I wonder if alpine race camp is like this.

Finally, lots of snow in Vermont

We just got back from Vermont, which was blessed with plenty of snow. We got at least 4" on Friday night (I was lucky to get up the road to the cabin) and another couple inches on Saturday night. Although this picture was not taken by us, this is what the village looked like.

On Saturday we went to Ludlow's Okemo mountain and Jenn skiied around the base area, while I read Harold Harb's book on Ski Flexing and Fitness. It was pretty good; I remember when I ordered this that it had been on back order for quite some time which was annoying. Amazon's value proposition drops when one has to wait for weeks or months to get something. It seemed to me that the mountain wasn't that crowded, at least from the parking lot and base area, but the others said there were some lines at the Northstar lift. Conditions were probably the best they have been all year -- fresh snow, clear skies, and although cold, not viciously so.

Switzerland hotels

I finally sorted out all the hotels for our trip to Switzerland. It appears that hotels there have not gotten online for direct booking as much as US properties have.

We're staying at the Bernerhof while in Gstaad and we'll overnight in Geneva at the Hotel Suisse . Both seem to be well regarded by the Michelin guide as well as TripAdvisor.com which has user reviews.

Suisse Hotel




Bernerhof











Added bonus - here's a picture from this morning at Okemo, Vermont. It looks like the junction of trails where Sapphire gets steeper. It could also be Sunburst; they have a similar feel in the top part. We'll be up there again this weekend; the snow will probably be the best of the season.
Here's a post about snowmaking previously: White Lies

Good news for New England skiiers

Clearly most of you can feel the chill in the air, and perhaps see a few flakes in the sky, but it looks like Winter is back for a little bit. Vermont should have high quality skiing for the next 2-3 weeks basked on pockets of Arctic air that are swirling our way, and hitting moisture pockets, creating snow. Good times coming!

The link below is a technical discussion on the weather metric NAO which is a good indicator for what will happen in our region. The NAO is currently negative, which is good for both the Alps and New England skiing. Here is a technical definition of the NAO

Also below, is a pretty unreal descent by a snowboarder. Just watching this is scary.

Cold in the East = Snow at Okemo

Clearly the bitter cold here in the East is translating into some fresh, good snow in Vermont, which is much needed. It appeared to me that the snow Jennifer
was skiing on at was better than one would have expected, although not as good as Quebec's.

It takes a lot of snow to make snowboarding pipes and parks, so this early morning picture from Okemo on Jan 23 is a good sign that they actually have enough to get a large part of their mountain open.

Pictures from Tremblant

Tremblant Pix on Yahoo

Great trip!

Despite the travel delays in getting home, it was a very nice trip.

Thanks everyone and I look forward to seeing you in a few weeks.

I'll clean up the Yahoo pictures site over the next few days - there are a lot of dupe photos as well as blurry/unusable ones - and get some captions on them.

Arv

Directions & Tremblant destination

Sean discovered this map of where we are staying, which is called the Village Pietonnier, which loosely translated into American is "Shrine to Celine Dion". We are at the Somnet des Niege complex.

Here are some directions for driving

From Montréal and International Airports

Take autoroute 15 North to Sainte-Agathe. After Sainte-Agathe, the 15 Northmerges with 117. Continue on the 117 North past Saint-Jovite. Take exit 119(Montée Ryan) to Chemin Duplessis and follow indications for TremblantResort. 1 1/2 hour.

From Boston

Take autoroute 93 North, then 89 North to U.S./Canada border. Follow route133 North to 10 West towards Montréal. Follow signs to route 15 North. Takeautoroute 15 North to Sainte-Agathe. After Sainte-Agathe, the 15 Northmerges with 117. Continue on the 117 North, past Saint-Jovite. Take exit 119(Montée Ryan) to Chemin Duplessis and follow indications for TremblantResort. 7 hours.

Tremblant T Shirts have arrived

Front of the Shirt Back of the Shirt
I got extras so people have some to take back home for folks who missed this years trip.

See you next week!

Gerald Ford slept here

Vt. hotel keeps photo spread of former president's ski trip

By John Curran, Associated Press Writer December 27, 2006

STOWE, Vt. --Gerald Ford slept here.

And skied here. And ate here. And frolicked in the snow with an attractive blonde whose name wasn't Betty.

Long before he became a congressman, an accidental president and a "Saturday Night Live" punch line, the nation's 38th president was featured in a 1940 spread in Look magazine, a copy of which hangs in the Green Mountain Inn here.

A framed display copy of the five-page pictorial, entitled "A New York girl and her Yale boy friend spend a hilarious holiday on skis," adorns a corridor wall, across a narrow hallway from the women's room; a dog-eared original is kept separately by the inn's general manager as a keepsake.

"The Inn takes great pride in the fact that Gerald Ford was here," said Patti Clark, innkeeper of the 104-room inn, showing a copy upon request Wednesday.

Ford, who died Tuesday at 93, was a fresh-faced law student when he posed for the magazine with Phyllis Brown, of New York.

"Only five years ago, if a New Yorker had suggested `Let's go skiing for the week end,' he would have been classified as a wise guy," the story begins. "Today, he gets serious attention, for ski trains have put snow-packed hills within easy reach of the metropolis."

The ensuing pages chronicle the couple's adventure, starting aboard the New Haven Railroad's "Ski Meister," which they ride north to Stowe before taking rooms at the 19th-century inn. "Trips like this cost $25 to $30 apiece--$12 to $14 for train fare, $3.50 a day for room and board in hotel or farmhouse, $5 to $10 for incidentals," according to the text lead-in.

The pictures tell the rest of the story: "Gerry" and "Phyllis" tying their skies to a taxicab for the ride to Toll House Slope, Gerry on bended knee, tending to the bindings of her ski boots, the couple ascending the mountain on a rope tow, their sleigh ride off the mountain to the Ranch House for lunch.

After skiing past dark, they repair to a piano room at the Inn. "After a hot dinner at the Inn, they loaf, sing, drink beer, dance, talk skiing -- and so to bed," one caption reads.

The pictorial ends with the two headed home, showing Ford kissing Brown goodbye before he gets off at New Haven and she continues on to New York.

While it isn't prominently displayed, the Look magazine article still attracts plenty of attention, according to Clark. "It gets to be a bottleneck, when people see it -- especially the history buffs," she said.

On Wednesday, visitor Robert Coenen, 66, of Cheshire, England, looked it over.

"Ford was a regular sort of fellow, I guess," he said. "He took over when you were in dire straits with Nixon."

Ski areas coping with iffy weather

Ski areas coping with iffy weather
By Bonnie Obremski, North Adams Transcript
12/27/2006 11:56:21 AM EST

Wednesday, December 27

Officials with two ski resorts in the region said Tuesday that while warm, wet weather has dampened lift-ticket sales, business is still good, and the slopes are set to "shred" — enthusiasts' lingo for ready for downhill speeding.

Man-made snow has more than made up for the dearth of the natural stuff at Jiminy Peak in Hancock, and close-by Mount Snow in Vermont picked up a few inches of powder Tuesday.

"People have the perception that there's no snow because they're looking in their backyards and not seeing any," Christopher Lenois, communications manager at Mount Snow in West Dover, Vt., said. "We're 3,600 feet up. Someone 25 minutes away in Bennington could say it's raining, and I look outside the window here and it's snowing."

Still, most of Mount Snow's fluffy stuff so far was blasted from the bellies of snow machines. Just 25 of the mountain's 106 trails are open — five of the open trails are "top-to-bottom" trails.

"We've been behind projections and we're not breaking sales records," Lenois said.
In an effort to boost the season's slow start, Lenois said several Vermont ski resorts gathered two weeks ago to mail out special-delivery packages to the state's meteorologists.

"We got some Cabot cheese and put it into coolers packed with snow from our slopes," he said. "It's to say, 'See? We've got snow. We'll even send it to you.'"

Jiminy Peak Mountain Ski Resort has 14 of its 44 trails open. Director of Marketing Betsy Strickler said overall sales are below average, but the lodge is completely booked through the new year and calls for reservations continue to stream in.

"We've noticed some interesting trends," Strickler said. "Our 'Get Skiing' and 'Get Boarding' learning programs have increased in participation numbers over last year."

She said the warm weather might actually be fostering a timid athlete's comfort with learning a new sport. "It's not the worst year," she said of the weather. "One year, five years ago, we didn't open until the second week in December." The resort opened this year just after Thanksgiving.

"We've had warm winters in the past," Strickler said. "But every year, we work our way through."

Forecasts show natural snow may fall again on Mount Snow and on Jiminy Peak this week as the daily high temperatures continue to drop. Efforts to reach officials at Bosquet Ski Area in Pittsfield and Stratton Mountain Resort in Vermont for this article were unsuccessful.

The industrious snow blowers at Okemo

I can hardly believe the picture to the right but they are pretty impressive at making the snow at Okemo. Right now its warm and possibly drizzly, but look at this aerial view from this morning of Okemo's main mountain.

They have harnessed that 70 million gallon snowmaking pond well. These are the things you don't hear about much when a resort makes infrastructure improvements, but really deliver value in a sketchy season. And given global warming trends, its getting harder and harder to believe that Northeastern skiing will deliver consistnent natural snow in the future.

Weather

Northeast Weather
Upper Rockies Opening

Atta boy !

"I got to party and socialise at an Olympic level" -- Alpine skier Bode Miller, the 2005 overall World Cup champion, on his Olympic achievements after arriving in Turin as the great American hope but leaving without a medal.

For Skiers, Too Soon to Panic?

For Skiers, Too Soon to Panic?
By DAVE CALDWELL

BURLINGTON, Vt., is usually a snow-covered city in December. But the weather has been so mild in the last month that snowfall is being measured by the meager inch, not by the traditional foot, and Brook Tabor, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office there, has become an unofficial concierge for the Burlington area.

Frustrated skiers, without enough slopes to schuss down, are calling the Weather Service office to get tips on good shops and restaurants. “We’re trying to give them some alternative things to do,” the cheerful Mr. Tabor said by telephone on Tuesday.

Throughout the Northeast, the ski season is lurching out of the gate because it has just been too balmy. Ski areas across the region are reporting less snow than usual, fewer trails open and temperatures often too warm for snow making.

But, the real question is this: Is it too soon for skiers and resort operators to panic?

The answer, for now, they say, is no. But resort employees and skiers in the Northeast tend to be optimists. They say the region’s season does not begin in earnest until Christmas, and long-range forecasts are calling for a winter that will be a little cooler and wetter than normal — good news for skiers, if not shovelers.

“When this season is over, despite the slow start, I think people will look back and say it’s been a pretty good winter,” said Herb Stevens, an independent meteorologist from North Kingston, R.I., who is known as the Skiing Weatherman.

The ski crowd does not appear worried, either. Most resorts say reservations for the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day are running normal — even a bit above normal for some — and ski clubs are not yet canceling trips to the slopes. “Every year, it’s iffy until you get to January,” said Lore Conway, of Tuxedo, N.Y., who is the president of the 100-member German Ski Club of New York.

What the lack of snow and the warm weather have done, more than anything, is scrub some of the excitement from the start of the season — think of it as the Psyche Effect. When it snows, even in New York City, skiers tend to flock to their neighborhood ski shop for a new pair of skis or even a hat and start gazing north with longing.

“It’s just a big time of year for us, and wet weather is not what we want,” said David Wingard, a buyer for Paragon, an outfitter in Manhattan, referring to the city’s recent warm, rainy days. Even yesterday, temperatures in New York strained toward 60 degrees — and that just doesn’t promote thoughts of heading out and hitting the slopes.

Mr. Wingard, who skis and snowboards, was at Hunter Mountain, 125 miles north of Manhattan, on Tuesday. He said it felt more like late March than mid-December. Paragon has usually scheduled ski trips to Hunter for its customers by this time each year, but not so far.

And going farther north isn’t much of a help. Mr. Tabor, the Weather Service meteorologist, said that November in Burlington was the second warmest on record, with an average temperature of 42.8 degrees — or an all-important 10.8 degrees above freezing. He said the Weather Service recorded a half-inch of snow in November atop Mount Mansfield, the state’s tallest peak (and the site of Stowe Mountain Resort). The previous low for the month there was seven inches in 1964. The average temperature of 34.6 degrees broke a 40-year-old record by nearly 3 degrees.

Not only do ski resorts want cold weather so snow will fall, but they also need cold weather to make snow artificially and to keep it from melting into slush.

Some meteorologists are blaming the weather on a weak El Niño system in the Pacific. And temperatures, they say, are expected to remain warmer than average until nearly Christmas. And there is always the specter of global warming.

“I honestly can’t remember it being this warm this late,” said Bill Saydah, a resident of Rivervale, N.J., who has been a member of the New York Ski Club since 1954.

The impact of the warm weather in the Northeast is being magnified this season, partly because last year’s ski season was widely considered to be memorable, and because the slopes in the West are off to a strong start. Vail, in Colorado, has 27 of its 33 lifts open and 177 of 193 trails, with 27 inches of snow at midmountain; a foot of powder fell between Sunday and Wednesday.

But back in the Northeast, “it’s nothing like what we would expect to see in the middle of December, but it is a marked improvement over two weeks ago, when I was out playing golf,” said Sandy Caligiore, who works for the Olympic Regional Developmental Authority, which oversees activities at Whiteface and Gore mountains in upstate New York, among other places.
So far this year, he said, skiers are finding other things to do in and around nearby Lake Placid, like taking a bobsled or luge ride or spinning around the outdoor skating oval that is open to the public.

Nothing has been scrapped from the schedule at Whiteface or Gore so far even though a United States of America Snowboard Association event scheduled to be held at Whiteface tomorrow has been postponed until Jan. 7. “We’re fighting the fight at this point,” Mr. Caligiore said.
Some skiers are content to be patient. John Sadowski, who lives in Allendale, N.J., and who has skied for 40 years, said the season has been normal for the 150-member Telemark Ski Club, which meets in Brooklyn and has a lodge in Pittsford, Vt., not far from Killington. But it is still early.

“This is purely personal, but skiing has always been a January-February-March sport for me,” he said. “I’ve always considered March to be the best time to ski because the weather is better, the light is better and in general, the conditions are better.”

MEANWHILE, the ski areas and resorts are doing what they can. Rich Edwards, a spokesman for the Catamount Ski Area in western Massachusetts, said Tuesday that 6 of Catamount’s 32 trails were open, compared with the usual 10 or so at this time of year.

Hunter’s spokeswoman, Jessica Pezak, was not optimistic. “We might not have snow for Christmas,” she said, “and we almost always do.” She added that melting snow is hard to groom and that heavy traffic on the slopes tends to push that snow into the ground.
Hunter’s neighbor, Belleayre, has opened 6 of its 47 slopes. “We’re kind of used to ups and downs in the weather,” said Pat McVitty, the area’s marketing director.
Mr. Saydah said the New York Ski Club has scheduled a New Year’s Eve party at its lodge in Center Berlin, N.Y. He did not sound sure that many of the club’s 100 members would ski at nearby Jiminy Peak in the Berkshires or at Okemo Mountain Resort, in Ludlow, Vt.
Bonnie MacPherson, a spokeswoman at Okemo, said 32 of its 117 trails were open Tuesday — an average number. But she added that business has been slow, as it has been at most places.
“We had 100 inches of snow at this time last year,” said Judy Sweeney, who manages Snow Ridge Ski Resort in Turin, N.Y., between Utica and Watertown. As she spoke, Snow Ridge had not opened. Usually, Ms. Sweeney said, all 22 of Snow Ridge’s trails are open by now. At least, Snow Ridge could take a little solace that larger resorts have also had trouble making, and keeping, snow.

Killington Resort, the skiing giant in southern Vermont, opened Nov. 23, then closed Dec. 1 and 2 because of rain and warm weather, and then opened again. Closing after opening, said Killington’s spokesman, Tom Horrocks, was very unusual. “It really deteriorated,” he said of the conditions. “There was really no way around it.”
It then got cold enough to make snow and, as of Tuesday, Mr. Horrocks said, roughly 40 trails were open. On the same date last year, 60 trails were open at Killington. Forty-six trails were open on Dec. 12, 2004, he said, and 75 were open on Dec. 12, 2003.
Mountain Creek, a smaller resort in Vernon, N.J., 47 miles west of Manhattan, is not open at all. Mountain Creek has powerful machines that could pile a foot of snow inside Giants Stadium within an hour, but it has not been cold enough.
“It’s New Jersey, and we’re used to weird December weather,” said Shannon McSweeney, a Mountain Creek spokeswoman. “More often than not, something unusual happens during the month.”
Ms. McSweeney said late Wednesday that Mountain Creek had decided to open two runs tomorrow and Sunday, only a week behind its scheduled opening. She was hopeful that the weather would turn colder and stay that way.
“We know everybody’s dying to get out in the snow,” she said.
Sometimes, the only thing skiers and operators can do is look to the skies — as they used to say in 1950s science fiction movies — and wait for a bank of leaden snow clouds to roll their way. “We’re the eternal optimists in this business,” Ms. MacPherson said. “You have to be.”

Interesting Links

Snowless yet stylish in Europe

Tragedy at Keystone

Quite a Character

Has Beaver Creek turned into a locals place?

A local's report from somewhere near Gstaad

Night Skiing

Skiing in Japan

(picture is from Adam Clarke on Skimag.com)

Snow Making at Okemo

It looks like they are still making snow at Okemo, but things are starting off quite slow for skiing in the East. It hasn't been consistently cold enough to generate real snowfall.

We did get Jennifer some ski's over the weekend, a new pair of Head's in 150 cm length, on a seasonal lease. They look fine and are all tuned/adjusted for her boots. Hopefully the weather will be more cooperative by Christmastime. If you poke around in here you can find Jenn's boots, I think

Cops on the Mountain (VDN)

Note that Colorado is pursuing collisions on the mountain that are deemed to be reckless, malicious or cause with significant injuries. What used to be simply boorish behaviour is now being handed over to the criminal justice system. As someone who witnessed and been involved in some serious collisions (on both sides!) it is no surprise that local governments are getting involved. When tourists get killed/hurt, and business is damaged because of negligent behaviour, government starts to care. Rather amazingly, the Eagle county DA has secured felony convictions in some cases. A felony pretty much permanently impairs a person for the rest of their life for just an incredible variety of things.

Cops: Snowboarder hit 8-year-old

Man allegedly ran down mountain and into bar, where he was arrested
Matt Zalaznick
December 2, 2006

VAIL — A snowboarder ran away after colliding with an 8-year-old girl who was skiing on Vail Mountain Saturday afternoon with her father, the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office said.The snowboarder, 22, took off down the mountain when the girl’s father, who was described as “very upset,” told the young man ski patrol had been notified of the collision that occurred shortly after 2 p.m. at the bottom of the Born Free run near the Lionshead village base of the mountain, said Sgt. Greg Daly of the Sheriff’s Office.“He left his snowboard at the scene and made his way down the mountain,” Daly said. “There might have been a physical exchange between the father and the snowboarder — that’s the subject of an ongoing investigation.”Neither the name of the snowboarder, who Daly said lives in the Avon area, nor the girl were released. Daly said he did not know where the girl lived.The snowboarder was tracked down later Saturday afternoon by ski patrollers, Vail police officers and sheriff’s deputies, who found and arrested him in Garfinkels, a bar near the bottom of the mountain, Daly said.The man was charged with skiing while impaired by alcohol and leaving the scene of an accident, both petty offenses and violations of the state’s Skier Safety Act, Daly said.“He initially denied being involved but decided to tell the truth,” Daly said of the suspect. “He did admit to consuming alcohol.”The girl was taken to Vail Valley Medical Center and released later Saturday, Daly said. The man remained in jail Saturday evening and the incident is still being investigated, Daly said.

Ski-Resort Deals Hit Brisk Pace

Ski-Resort Deals Hit Brisk Pace, And High Prices

Private-Equity Firms Scoop Up Mountains, Add Luxury Items;
Aging Skiers Alter the Terrain
By CONOR DOUGHERTY
December 2, 2006; Page B1
Wall Street Journal

What's the must-have item this ski season? A resort.

Some of North America's best-known ski areas have changed hands in the past year, in some cases fetching record prices, as private-equity firms and wealthy individuals are pouring money into mountains. Buyers have snapped up everything from destination resorts like Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia to smaller ski hills in New York and Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains.

Mammoth's Superpipe in California was the first halfpipe to open this season in North America.
New owners are betting that with the number of ski resorts declining, the remaining players will get a bigger slice of the market. Private-equity firms think they can better compete because they have what many former owners lacked: access -- via generous debt markets -- to truckloads of money to add new lifts, restaurants and boutique shops. They plan to squeeze out further profits building hotels and selling houses and condominiums to second-home buyers.

Analysts expect more ski-resort deals in the months ahead. "I think the pace of deals will remain brisk," says Chris Woronka, an analyst with Deutsche Bank in New York. "We are only in the early to middle innings of activity in the ski industry."

Reflecting the intense interest in ski resorts, shares of Vail Resorts Inc., a large operator of ski properties, hit a record high of $44.39 during Thursday's trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

In October, New York investment firm Fortress Investment Group LLC completed the purchase of Intrawest Corp. for $2.8 billion in cash and assumed debt, a buyout deal that included the Stratton ski resort in Vermont, Copper Mountain resort in Colorado and Whistler Blackcomb. That followed deals for Mountain High Resort, in Southern California's San Gabriel Mountains, which was purchased last year by private-equity firm Valor Equity Partners, of Chicago, and Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, also in California, which was bought late last year by a group of investors led by Greenwich, Conn.-based Starwood Capital Group Global LLC, which is led by Barry Sternlicht, former chief executive of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.

That deal valued Mammoth at $365 million, or about 10 times annual cash flow, according to the company, which ski-industry analysts and executives say was one of the highest premiums ever paid for a resort. In a separate transaction Starwood Capital and its investors, which include Mammoth Chief Executive Rusty Gregory, paid about $100 million for mountainside real estate that they plan to develop into homes, condominiums and hotels.

Industry analysts say rising investor interest may have played a role in American Skiing Co.'s decision in July to explore "strategic options" for its Steamboat resort in the Colorado Rockies. The Park City, Utah, company declined to comment.

In the past two years, New York's Windham Mountain and Camelback in Pennsylvania have changed hands, and last year two partners at venture-capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers bought a stake in Bear Valley Mountain Resort in California and have poured $6 million into the area. CNL Income Properties, an unlisted real-estate investment trust based in Orlando, Fla., has purchased two resorts this year: Bretton Woods in New Hampshire and Cypress Mountain in British Columbia.

Ski resorts are in some ways a perfect target for private-equity firms, which buy businesses in hopes of selling them for a profit after improving them. The resorts generally have low debt, and their upscale clientele is less affected by economic fluctuations. But for investors, ski resorts come with plenty of risk. Despite efforts to become year-round venues, resorts remain a seasonal business largely dependent on Mother Nature to provide good snowfall. Resorts have spent millions updating their snowmaking equipment over the past decade, but the resort business still has generally better years when there is more natural snowfall, according to the National Ski Areas Association. Warmer weather in some areas is creating a market for snowmaking equipment that functions more efficiently at higher temperatures.

The new players in the ski-resort business are also buying into a softening real-estate market that could hurt demand for second homes and condos.

And there's the issue of the aging skiers and snowboarders: The average resort visitor last season was 35.1 years old, up from 33.2 in the 1997-98 season, according to the NSAA. About 30% were 45 or over. While the industry has recorded a string of record seasons -- 59 million skier visits last year, compared with an average of about 55 million over the past decade, according to the Lakewood, Colo., industry group -- a good chunk of the ski population could be ready to hang up their equipment. (Skier visits include daily mountain visits, from season-pass holders to night skiers and walk-up lift-ticket buyers.)

Investors say all of this is precisely what makes ski areas attractive. Over the past two decades, competition has pushed hundreds of smaller resorts out of business because the areas couldn't afford upgrades or snowmaking equipment to weather lean snow years. There were 478 ski areas in the U.S. last year, compared with 735 in 1984, according to the NSAA.

A look at the blueprints for California's Mammoth Mountain shows what some of the private-equity folks have in mind with their new acquisitions. Most of the skiers at Mammoth, near Yosemite National Park, drive five or more hours from their homes in Southern California, and three-quarters come just for the weekend, according to the resort. Mammoth's investors think planned air service and a dash of the resort treatment will have the area buzzing all week long.

The mountain is already tipping toward a higher-end resort, and its new investors plan to accelerate that. Next year Mammoth plans to open its first luxury hotel, a 230-room Westin next to a gondola that connects the nearby town of Mammoth Lakes to the ski area, a six-minute ride. The town could also use a nightclub and more-upscale restaurants and more high-end hotels, says Marc Perrin, managing director with Starwood Capital. "We feel there's a need for a five-star brand in Mammoth," he says.

On the real-estate front, Mammoth's new owners estimate there is room for about 3,000 new units, including hotel rooms, timeshares, and single-family homes.

Other newly purchased resorts also are getting a makeover. Mountain High has added Italian and Mexican food to its cafeteria, tripled the size of its outdoor seating area, and bought the neighboring Ski Sunrise and renamed it "Mountain High North." The new owners of Bretton Woods plan to spend $20 million sprucing up the resort, including renovations to the 200-room Mount Washington Hotel, which was built in 1902 and was upgraded with central heating just six years ago, as well as a convention center and spa.

Randy Frankel, a former managing director at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., last year purchased Windham Mountain in Windham, N.Y., where he has owned a home for a decade. In the off-season, he spent $5 million on three new lifts, an ice-skating rink and a restaurant with an open-hearth fireplace and a menu of "creative comfort food." Mr. Frankel says he plans to develop dozens of single-family and condominium residences over the next five to 10 years.

This isn't the ski industry's first ownership shake-up. In the 1990s, companies including Intrawest, Vail Resorts, of Broomfield, Colo., and American Skiing began buying ski areas and consolidating them. Both Vail and American Skiing went public in 1997. While Vail's stock is soaring today, American Skiing stumbled from the beginning. Lugging a large debt load, it has since sold assets, had a merger plan fall through, and its shares now trade over the counter for less than $1.

Write to Conor Dougherty at conor.dougherty@wsj.com1