On Sunday, I went to Alpine Valley (about 1.5 hours from Chicago) and experienced a picture perfect day for skiing. The temps were in the mid to upper 30s, the sun was shining and there was plenty of snow. Monday, however was a winter weather disaster with rain, slush and temps in the 50s. Luckily, I decided to go on Sunday of this long President's Day weekend and not Monday!
 |
My long and skinny 20+ year old skis look out of place
with the new fangled shaped skis |
 |
Outside the ski chalet at the base. Seems like almost everyone else
wears helmets to ski nowadays. |
 |
| About to go down the snowboarding obstacle course on skis |
 |
| Chairlift at AV |
More than halfway through my day on the slopes, I turned my Garmin watch on and selected the ski/snowboard tracking option. Here's what my graphs look like:
 |
| Who knew Garmin watches tracked your skiing? |
Hopefully, the colder forecasted temps by the end of the week mean that the local ski places can make enough snow to get them through to March. There was just
an article in the New York Times this week about how all the businesses and towns that rely on snow are feeling the hurt in a major way with these short winters. For now, I try and savor these old Midwest winter ski places, which can hopefully stay around on for a few more years.
It's been ages (and this makes me sound old!) since I went skiing at Alpine Valley! Did you know that Vail owns Wilmot Mountain now? I grew up about 15 minutes from there--that's where I learned to ski. We also used to go to Majestic, which is long gone. Glad you got to go last weekend and enjoy the beautiful weather!
ReplyDeleteI remember hearing about Majestic, but I never went there. I was contemplating going to Wilmot, but chose Alpine instead. You must be a pretty good skier since you grew up so close to Wilmot!
DeleteThose graphs are so fun! I am glad you got to go before it turned to slush. I think I'd wear a helmet now if I went!
ReplyDeleteYes, if I was able to get more air off of the few ski jumps that I do, I'd probably think about wearing a helmet too!
DeleteThis is so cool- literally and figuratively. I had no idea there was skiing around here. Thats awesome your garmin can track skiing- I now wish I had waited a little while longer to get the fênix instead of the 920. I’ll have to add visiting here to my list.
ReplyDeleteEek -- I remember skiing as a kid w/ no helmet (and riding a bike w/ no helmet, and riding a horse w/ no helmet...*shudder*) & as an adult I've taken at least two falls that made me VERY glad I was wearing one!
ReplyDelete