Big waves! Bad storm.

[rslifkin]

Friends of ours in the suburbs of Buffalo are saying they've got about 3.5 feet of snow and their street hasn't been plowed at all. Sounds like the area is a mess due to not much plowing happening over the weekend (due to very poor visibility).

[MicHughV]

Some of us like to ski and all the ski towns out west are rockin any time of the year. There's a fair amount in the east, too. So let's take a sport that can be extreme or just bunny-wunny and combine with copious amounts of alcohol and see what happens. Now wipe that smile off your face.

I must admit, the first time I tried to ski, I was smitten. I was the first guy on the lift each morning, and the last guy, to get his frozen butt back on it.
I wasn't very good at it, off course, but reveled in it. Then the nightly sojourn to some or other bar to replay the day's action.

But dealing with that white stuff, wind chill, etc. day after day, eventually got to me and yearned to return to my flip-flops, shorts and t-shirts lifestyle.

[Sand crab]

Yup, I miss living in a ski town.


FWIW the lake effect band of snow around Buffalo and similar places is really limited. A short distance away they get inches instead of feet.

[rslifkin]

Yes, the lake effect bands are definitely very local. Friends in Buffalo were getting feet on Friday, we barely got 2 inches in Rochester.

[MicHughV]

True, my sister live in Muskegon, Mich. It piles up there, but not so much elsewhere further inland.

[Sand crab]

The main problem with the midwest lake effect areas is there are no decent mountains nearby to take advantage of it for us skiers. There's a tiny ski area near Watertown, NY called Dry Hill (what a shi**y name) that just got 75".

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

Friends of ours in the suburbs of Buffalo are saying they've got about 3.5 feet of snow and their street hasn't been plowed at all. Sounds like the area is a mess due to not much plowing happening over the weekend (due to very poor visibility).

Sounds like the Buffalo of the 60's and 70's
Maybe we are getting back to normal

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by Sand crab

The main problem with the midwest lake effect areas is there are no decent mountains nearby to take advantage of it for us skiers. There's a tiny ski area near Watertown, NY called Dry Hill (what a shi**y name) that just got 75".

Whiteface ain't bad

[Sand crab]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

Whiteface ain't bad

Let's see about that.
7" in the last 7 days. wtf

Base depth only 14" to 36" another wtf

Season total snowfall only 47"!!!!!! Ya gotta be kidding me.
https://whiteface.com/mountain/conditions/

That's what I was saying about lake effect, ya gotta be right there and the mountains ain't.

By comparison, Jackson Hole, non lake effect of any kind ever, 223" so far this year. Ya need real mountains to get real snow. Us skiers know that.
https://www.jacksonhole.com/weather-snow-report

Jackson Hole rocks winter and summer. Go there before you can only wish you did.

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by Sand crab

Jackson Hole rocks winter and summer. Go there before you can only wish you did.

No anchorage, not interested

[Montanan]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

No anchorage, not interested

Jackson Lake is stunningly beautiful.

A grand remote sailing / camping trip includes spending time on these three in order of smallest to biggest. Jackson Lake / Tetons; Yellowstone Lake, Yellowstone National Park; Flathead Lake, Montana.

Images of Jackson Lake and the Tetons.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

Some of us like to ski and all the ski towns out west are rockin any time of the year. There's a fair amount in the east, too. So let's take a sport that can be extreme or just bunny-wunny and combine with copious amounts of alcohol and see what happens. Now wipe that smile off your face.

I must admit, the first time I tried to ski, I was smitten. I was the first guy on the lift each morning, and the last guy, to get his frozen butt back on it.
I wasn't very good at it, off course, but reveled in it. Then the nightly sojourn to some or other bar to replay the day's action.

But dealing with that white stuff, wind chill, etc. day after day, eventually got to me and yearned to return to my flip-flops, shorts and t-shirts lifestyle.

So very, very true. I started skiing after I graduated from Penn State in 1968 when I was 23 and did so for 40 years, when I not-so-promptly broke my left femur in a chute in California. When I mentioned my break to friends, an astonishingly large 86.4% of them said they'd stopped skiing because they broke something, too. Now ya tell me...

Originally Posted by Montanan

Jackson Lake is stunningly beautiful.

A grand remote sailing / camping trip includes spending time on these three in order of smallest to biggest. Jackson Lake / Tetons; Yellowstone Lake, Yellowstone National Park; Flathead Lake, Montana.

Images of Jackson Lake and the Tetons.

Thx Montanan. The Tetons are awesome. I was there camping in 1971 on an almost-across country drive from NYC, got as far as Glacier National Park in August when they'd just opened the road and were getting ready to close it again for the year. Just breathtaking.


We did get to ski in Colorado twice, liked Aspen's mountains more than Vail because we could wear jeans there without the locals looking at us cross-eyed.


Then I moved to Iran from 1975 to 1978, got out just as the revolution began. Great skiing there b/c the Shah's wife liked skiing, so she had hubby build her a great ski hill. IIRC it was called Dizin and you could drive from Tehran west through Karaj OR through the backwoods and tiny little mountainside towns and get to the TOP of the mountain to start your day. Fantastic groomed runs as well as powder. Had a gondola with one mid-mountain stop and chairs up at the upper section. Shemshak was the other mountain, came first on those backroads and was all black diamond stuff. We'd stop in the little towns on the way home (1 1/2 to 2 hour drive from the top of Dizin; 3 hours through Karaj so we always went the back door way) and buy hot bread right out of the ovens from their afternoon bread-making. Glorious stuff. We still think we "invented" the designated river on those return apres ski trips! Four or five of us in the car, one driver, the rest of us got to party all the way home. The driver did get the bread, too, though.



Moved to SF when I returned to the States, bought our first boat in 1983 and kept skiing, mostly at Kirkwood but also at other Lake Tahoe hills.



Started skiing on wooden skis with bear claw bindings north of NYC. Finally got some Head skis and rented a house outside of Killington for almost a decade with good friends - they kept using the house after I moved to Iran. Those were the days.



Thanks for the memories.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

I started skiing after I graduated from Penn State in 1968 when I was 23 and did so for 40 years, when I not-so-promptly broke my left femur in a chute in California. When I mentioned my break to friends, an astonishingly large 86.4% of them said they'd stopped skiing because they broke something,

I skiied from childhood til at age 40 I sproinged my knee while skiing at Ellecottville NY. A little surgery fixed it up and I can walk/hike/bike like normal, but I would supposedly require a $$$ brace if I wanted to ski again. There are few in my current social circle who ski. So... I have snowshoe'd and done some cross-country skiing without issues.

My 90 yr old Uncle only gave up skiing after a hip replacement in his 80s.

* * *

In the meantime - it's currently 7C on the north shore of Lake Ontario (and also around Buffalo) same and rain tomorrow. Go figure...

[chubby]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

Why ya'll chose to live in area that gets all that white stuff every year, is beyond my ability to understand....

not just the white stuff... the fact it's just freaking *cold*....for practically half the year...every single year.

i can't imagine not being able to feel the warmth of the sun 5-6 months each year.



folks are a lot tougher than me.

[rslifkin]

It's all a tradeoff. Those of us up north don't deal with as many hurricanes, we don't have alligators or crocodiles, the bugs aren't as nasty as down south, summer isn't as miserably hot, etc. And when it's been really cold for a while, a slightly warm, sunny day can feel absolutely spectacular. Even if you later realize it's only in the 30s.