Archive for the ‘ski’ Category
What's HappeninNTN Binding Test
Well I know most everybody is thinking biking, hiking, beach, fishing, golf, yep spring and summer. But there are some of us, and that does include me, that are still playing in the snow. All of the ski resorts are closed except Squaw Valley, and it is skiing quite well. But in the backcountry it is corn season. And if you can get the timing right, the corn is on! There is still one ski related thing I need to share here. Over the past month, I have had the opportunity to ski the NTN (new telemark norm) system by Rotefella.
Ski and Board Waxing
“Whoa that is amazing dope. You must have something special in that blend, what is it? I can’t tell you that, then everyone would have it! C’mon, is it something from up north? Yeah okay it is from out on the coast. Oh then it must be expensive. Yeah but it doesn’t take much. I can almost tell by the smell what it is, Green and reddish, not as tall as most, doesn’t like much moisture. Okay you got it, I am using Cedar oil in my blend!”
“Expert” An Overused Term in Skiing
What do you suppose would have happened to us if all that rain (yeah remember the rain?) had been snow? Bliss or agony or probably both, you know; just a little agony for short periods while you are trying to get the snow from your driveway to the top of that six foot high pile that lines the full length of your driveway.
Long Live the Real Skiers
So you have your new super fat twin tip skis or that new board with rocker. You can ride switch all day long, throw down corked threes in the big pipe, you’ve dropped the cross on Mount Tallac, won a race or two during gay week and skied Powderhouse in the full moon! Yep pretty hot, right? Well let me tell you about two of my favorite skiers first and then we can take a vote.
The first one was born Jon Tostensen, April 30 1827 in the Telemark region of Norway. By the age of ten his family had moved to the western U.S. eventually Jon settled in the Sacramento valley for a life of farming and took on the more Americanized last name Thompson. It didn’t take long for Jon to grow restless, a Norwegian mountain boy trying to live the farming life in the flat lands! So one day he answered a government ad looking for someone to run mail back and forth during the winter months between Placerville and the mining district of Genoa western Utah, now of course Nevada. There were of course no other takers, surely this would be suicide! Others had tried in the past using wagons and horses or mules but had failed miserably, one was even killed by Indians. That would have been those Washoe out there trying to protect their powder runs right?
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