Still going bananas!

Since the mid nineties, we’ve made bananas part of our daily breakfast. I personally crush them every morning and that way, we find them most delicious! It’s fair to say that we have eaten more than 12,000 bananas to date, which is only one-tenth of a 40 ft container full of the tropical fruit. 

If anything, eating so many bananas hasn’t killed us yet, as its packed with many nutrients (vitamin B6, fiber, vitamin C and manganese as well as potassium). It’s also said to be a great mood lifter with the tryptophan it contains, a protein that’s converted into serotonin, a neurotransmitter that improves mood and well-being! 

Bananas are popular as 135 million metric tons are harvested each year and my wife and I don’t even begin to make a dent in that huge mass. 

Sure, it’s high in calories, but we make sure we burn those everyday so we can still get into our clothes...

Skiing my age in the bag!

At long last, I skied my age on Thursday, March 28! Last year, I reached 75 days on March 3, but that was the greatest ski year I ever had since living in Park City. Yesterday was a terrible day, except for some good powder up high on the mountain. Getting there and coming down were horrible, no visibility, wet snow and rain at the bottom!

For a while, I harbored doubts that I could ski my age this year, since my ski season got a bit curtailed following a December accident. 

That said, I learned two things this winter: I must make a concerted effort to avoid missing any ski day and push myself accordingly, and as time unfolds, this little stupid personal challenge will become increasingly difficult to fulfill. 

But you know me, I thrive on any challenge!

Let's go skiing virtually

Since about 2010, when I got a Gopro camera, I have produced many ski videos, first placing the camera on top of my helmet, then moving it to a more stable location over my chest and have showing family and friends where I skied around Deer Valley, Park City and occasionally, Snowbird. 

With the exception of my ski tips, my hands and my poles, there was no way someone could see me skiing, but this wasn’t the point. The video was simply shot to show where I was going and share with the viewer how it felt to see what I was seeing. 

Sure, depending on the radius of the turns, the occasional bump, there was a lot of rocking and rolling and it was easy to get motion sickness after seeing one of my flicks, but I felt that was a small price to pay for witnessing my crazy rides. 

So here we go again, this time with a video of my favorite ski run, under the 9990 chairlift towers, on the Canyons side of Park City. Just think for a minute that you are me, have stepped into my skis and are making a run with me. You might wish to take a slightly different route, you won't risk hitting a tree or get hurt whatsoever, feel the cold and your feet that hurt. 

You’ll see that it’s snowing, the visibility isn’t so good, but there’s no one on the mountain, so relax and enjoy the ride! 

Another bad day at Park City Mountain…

Vail Resorts does it again! On Tuesday, I stayed stuck for one full hour on Tombstone, one of their six person chairlifts without knowing what was going on. After more than 30 minutes of waiting, I called ski patrol to be told there was some mechanical problem that they hoped would be fixed soon. I asked: “Why didn’t you sent someone down the line to alert skiers waiting above?” I was told, “We’re doing it now”. 

A ski patrol showed up much later, as the chairlift had resumed moving on diesel power. For my ruined afternoon, I got a free lift ticked. BFD as we say! Vail Resorts doesn’t maintain its lifts as it should, as it probably doesn’t pay its mechanics what they are worth and, over the years, has built a terrible reputation as an employer. One of these day, folks will get killed on its lifts… 

I skied two Ninety-Nine 90 before it closed and then realized that all lifts this time were closed on the account of “lightning hold”. I didn’t hear any thunder, but the gondola kept going. Interesting isn’t it? 

In fact, lighting will always take the path of least resistance to earth, so if the user aren’t touching the earth they'll be safe. The metal cables and towers of the ski lift will conduct the lighting towards earth. In all likelihood, a lift is designed to withstand a lightning strike. 

The Over and out lift line at the base of Tombstone was crowded and no one knew what to do. I ended up walking and skiing down the 1.6 miles (ruining my ski bases too!) on the side of White Pine road to the cabriolet parking lot where I had left my car. What a day and a terrible handling of a situation like only Vail Resorts knows how to concoct!

Strange looking skis…

A few days ago, following a substantially new snowfall, I was sitting on the chairlift, next to a young man equipped with a strange pair of skis. Long, wide and with what could be called a “negative sidecut”, meaning that instead of having a narrow waist, that ski had a wide one, as shown on the photo.

This ski had been produced by Salt Lake City’s DPS, now a popular specialty ski brand, founded in 2005 by Stephan Drake. DPS is an acronym for Drake PowderworkS. 

In the early 2000s Drake wanted to create a ski that could float on top of powder while at about the same time, the late extreme skier Shane McConkey was shaking up his own ski design—the Volant Spatula—with Peter Turner, who eventually ended up joining forces with Drake to turn their outlandish dreams into reality, pioneering one of the first rockered skis ever made, the Wailer. 

The skis I saw were some discontinued 2016 Lotus model, about 140 mm wide underfoot and really not made for skiing on powder sitting on hard-pack like the 10 inches (25 cm) we had that day, but that needed true “bottomless” powder to be used. 

I didn’t envy my chairlift companion for trying to torture what amounted to “2x4” into a rounded turn under the circumstances, but again, innovation in skiing has always belonged to those brave spirits willing to try!

When ski fashion trumps safety

My wife and I often see interesting things during our morning walks. Yesterday, I was first to spot a skier waiting for the shuttle and ready to ski the new powder that had fallen overnight. 

Even in the distance, he was very easy to spot as he wore a pair day-glow orange pants and, eventually, as we got much, much closer, I could discern his ski partner clad in a “camouflage” ski outfit, mostly gray and earth-tones, that was much harder to see because he was near a clump of trees. 

For those of you who have been on the ski slopes this winter, you probably have also witnessed the popularity of these ski jackets and pants in “camo” as it’s popular to say. Yet, what do skiers, and particularly older ones, fear the most? Collisions with other skiers or snowboarders. 

Beside paying attention to the potential victims or perpetrators, the only best thing to do is being extremely visible on the mountain. It could be wearing an orange helmet, a bright green jacket or a red pair of pants, but a piece of clothing that can stand out might go a long way in signaling one’s presence on the hill. 

This is particularly true when skiers or snowboarders are stopped on the edge of a wooden or bushy run and are ready to resume their descent. They become very hard to spot if their outfit is dark, in earth-tones, or worst of all, in camouflage. 

"See and be seen."

I wonder what went in the head of the stylists who designed these pieces of clothing, and worst, in the mind of ski retailers who stocked the item? Safety sacrificed to fashion? Not a good idea!

Winter returns…

Following a short-lived spring skiing season intermission, Mr. Winter is back at it again and has returned to Park City for at least the next two weeks according to the weather forecast. 

This is not unusual and thanks to Park City ski areas extending their season until April 22, we still have a few ski turns left into our short-term future, not to mention nearby Snowbird that traditionally stays open into May, weather permitting, of course. 

This is also a reminder that March and April are traditionally very snowy month that can also feel very cold when our bodies are longing for some spring warmth. 

After all, this snow season that began so poorly is turning into another fun, powder-filled and much longer lasting experience than previously anticipated!