Spring?

An unusual winter continues!  The last several years March has meant gray days and little natural snow falling.  For years before that, March became known as a great time to get in some incredible powder days while other skiers wrote the season off and the fresh stuff continued to pile up.

The good news for March 2012 so far is absolutely beautiful weather and a forecast filled with more of the same!  With the slow start to this season our ski areas made an unusually large amount of manmade snow.  While we would all prefer to have the fluffy stuff fall from the sky we can now enjoy one awesome benefit; manmade snow melts much slower than natural snow!  Current trail counts are looking impressive as well.

Spring is also famous for whacky and fun events.  Probably the most notorious of spring events are pond skimming events, where participants skim across an icy pond of water on their skis or snowboard trying to make it to the other side without going for a swim.  Other offerings include on-snow golf tournaments, cardboard box races, live music, recreational family ski races, terrain park competitions, and more.  For a complete listing of events offered this spring at NH ski resorts, visit SkiNH.com’s events calendar.

Keep those ski and boards waxed…and maybe pack some sunscreen!

February Vacation

The slow snow start of the 2011-12 ski season is now a distant memory with a deep base of snow statewide.  The upcoming February school vacation weeks offer kids and families of all ages an opportunity to enjoy the fun part of winter along with special events at the state’s ski resorts.

Thanks to intense snowmaking efforts over the past three months, New Hampshire’s ski areas have made the most of a winter that has brought below-normal snowfall totals to most of the United States.  Although many New England residents have bare ground in their yards, most of New Hampshire has natural snow on the ground and alpine areas have enhanced natural snowfall with hundreds of hours of snowmaking.  As a result, not only are the downhill conditions surprisingly good, most of New Hampshire’s cross country ski areas are also open with over 450 kilometers of trails available.  It truly should be an awesome vacation period.

Special events are scheduled through the week including fireworks displays, family ski races, après ski entertainment for adults and kids, and much more.  For a complete list visit our events calendar!

Although it may be considered a holiday period at resorts, many discount offers are still available.  Ski NH’s Anywhere, Anytime Lift Ticket Packages offer $11-$21 off of holiday lift ticket rates, are valid anyday, and are fully-transferable so they can be shared with family and friends.  Many ski areas also have daily lift ticket specials, discounts for buying online in advance, family deals and much more.  Visit SkiNH.com for full details on all of these February vacation offers.

 

The Big Ski Show

I was lucky enough to visit SIA this past weekend in Denver.  If you’re not familiar with SIA, it is the largest snowsports trade show in the United States for ski/snowboard companies and all product relating to skiing and snowboarding.  Approximately 20,000 people attend, consisting of primarily ski shop buyers and the product representatives.  Odds are very good that something you buy in your local shop was ordered here.

The show is a bit overwhelming as it obviously has an insane amount of products.  Imagine pretty much every ski, snowboard, coat, goggle, glove, etc for next winter all in one building!  The old days of people going to party first and also get some work done may be a thing of the past.  The booths are busy with ski shops working on orders for next winter and all the company reps anxious to help anyone wondering around the booths.  Some companies do put on parties and concerts, this year the first winter concert ever at Red Rocks Amphitheater was held in conjunction with the show.

You’ll see ski and snowboard legends walking around, my first step in the door i was walking behind Billy Kidd.  Normally a large number of current athletes attend at some point, but the show takes place at the exact same time as the X-Games so that certainly cuts into their attendance.

Below are some pictures of Ski NH’s partners at the show, we are certainly in with some exciting companies, we’re very lucky in that regard!  Any ski/snowboard geek would get a kick out of witnessing so much mouth-watering equipment in one building!

Pat Moore Interview

PAT MOORE, PROFESSIONAL SNOWBOARDER
Pat Moore grew up right here in New Hampshire and now he’s one of the top freestyle snowboarders in the world. We took advantage of Pat nursing an injury to ask him a few questions.

Q: Although you travel much of the year internationally filming, you still call Campton, NH home. Give some background on how and where you started riding.

A: I got started at Waterville Valley. My mom worked there so I would just go with her to work and snowboard all day. Waterville’s park and snowboard team helped me so much to get to where I’m at today.

Q: For those who aren’t totally familiar with the snowboarding world. Explain what it’s been like working with Travis Rice on the Art of Flight, and being part of what will be action sports history even after you’ve slowed down.

A: Being apart of the Art of Flight and Travis’s other films is something I’m very proud of. I don’t do contests too often and I don’t have a filled trophy case to show off my accomplishments, so I guess the greatest part of being involved with these films is that people outside of snowboarding know what they are and understand what I am doing at a greater scale.

Q: Explain what you have going on with the X-Games Real Snow competition and how we can help you win a competition even though you’re hurt.

A: During November and December of 2011 I filmed for an event for X-Games called Real Snow which is basically a competition that gives 8 riders a short amount of time, about a month, to produce a minute long short film that will be judge by a panel of X-Games judges and by online voting. The videos are up now and you can go to www.xgames.com/realsnow to vote. I’m pledging 10% if I win towards the Plymouth Skatepark which has been a great success. Although I would have loved to have filmed in NH, I had to travel to Anchorage, AK to find snow and that’s where my entire part is filmed.

Q: Speaking of being hurt, what do you turn to for sanity mid-winter when the body isn’t ready to go?

A: Well I just stay focused on Physical Therapy and keeping a steady mind. I’m very involved with my sponsors and there is always work to be done on product and my own signature lines so I continue to stay busy.

Q: You have a day to freeride anywhere in the world, where are you going and who’s on the lift with you? (Give us your second choice since Waterville is obviously #1)

A: I’d have to say Jackson Hole, WY would be the place. The crew I’d have would be all my friends from NH and Travis Rice to show us around!

Q: You can take a vacation anywhere in the world other than New Hampshire, no snowboard, where are you headed?

A: I take a vacation every summer up to the northwest to go skateboarding. They have the greatest skateparks in the world and you can make a real fun road trip out of going to all of them. Camping, skateboarding, living on the road… nothing else like it!

Q: Who would you choose to teach to snowboard and then spend a night on the town with afterwards, you can only pick one: Barack Obama, Lindsey Lohan, or Tom Brady. And why….?

A: Barack Obama for sure, well he is probably the most important political figure our generation will see, and if he thinks it’s too cold and icy to try snowboarding I’ll just yell at him and say Yes We Can! Haha

Q: Anything you want to add?

A: Just thank you for all the support from New Hampshire. For kids who are interested in joining the Watervile Snowboard team I have a scholarship fund that you can apply for at www.wvbbts.org/Pat-Moore-SF/. And also please continue to support the Plymouth skatepark, we’re hoping to complete phases 2+3 this summer! Thanks

Spreading the Love

Figured it may be a good time to share some of our member resort blogs!

I just glanced at Cranmore’s and some beautiful pics from their Hits for Helmets terrain park comp:
http://blog.cranmore.com/

Wildcat is nice enough to even include a video update with theirs:
http://www.skiwildcat.blogspot.com/

For all those mothers out there, be sure to keep up with Bretton Wood’s Outdoor Mom.  Some fun experiences and something a little different to enjoy!
http://mountwashingtonresort.blogspot.com/

 

Snow???

Here we go again, snow this week?  It’s looking pretty good this time!

I love the way they’re talking over at the Mt. Washington Observatory!

Regardless it sounds like a nice trend with cold behind it and continued chances for snow the next few weeks.

Here’s a few more fun sources to watch:

Joshua Fox – OK this guy does this for our friends at Mad River Glen in that other state, but we’ll include him anyway, he’s thinking skiing with his forecasts and knows what New England skiers/riders are looking for!

Famous Internet Skiers – Again, forecasts for skiers by skiers!

New England Cable News – These guys are awesome, you won’t hear “ohh no, it looks like we’re gonna have a nor’easter move through New England, get groceries and hide!”.   They tell you when to get the skis, snowshoes and snowmobiles ready to go have some fun!

Keep your fingers crossed, we still have 3 months of winter weather ahead!

Holiday Entertainment

While many of you are enjoying your holiday break and have some extra free time, I thought I’d share a few entertaining tidbits I’ve recently discovered in ski world!

If you haven’t heard of Newschoolers.com it is one of the most popular, if not-the most popular ski forum on the internet.  Granted it is catered towards a younger, terrain park crowd, but there’s absolutely no denying they’re at the forefront of fun skiing content!  They recently added NewSchoolers TV packed with all kinds of free skiing videos.  Look around and you should find some videos that blow your mind and watch the time fly by!

Lets do one for the more “mature” crowd.  Many of us are guilty of not letting go of those old skis that may never see snow again.  Well rest easy, Bob Bolduc (of Piche’s Ski Shop) has what may be the largest collection of skis in the world right here in New Hampshire.  The Laconia Daily Sun just did a piece about him and his collection of skis.

The last one is a random, fun story that you may have caught wind of already.  Mikaela Shiffrin, a 16 year-old US ski racer just got a podium finish in a world cup slalom race in Austria.  The last female skier to podium at an age that young was Tamara McKinney in 1978!  Normally i wouldn’t talk up a Colorado native, but she’s gotten wise with age and is now based out of New England attending Burke Mt. Academy in neighboring Vermont.  Be sure to watch the video of her runs halfway down the page, impressive.

Have a Happy New Year!