Ski

"17,18,19...I figured the SKI999 family would be 1,2 and 3" Ha, no I had to wait until Ty could come with me (stupid gymnastics/Daisy Scouts/school). Montage lets you keep using the same photo year to year, but there was no way she wanted to look like a baby in her season pass photo.

Yeah, it's okay, but if they were serious about giving 20% off to Lackawanna residents, then why not just give 20% off without any conditions? And I just noticed that the "Family of 3" pass has gone up $100 in the last two seasons. No wonder they were on pass #31...we were 17, 18, 19. Didn't they even extend the discount period last year? I guess the answer to poor sales is to charge more...should be another year of no lift lines!

Today's paper quoted one of the commissioners as saying "20% off everything except pre-season priced season passes". Dicks.

We've stayed at the hotel across the street from Hunter, arriving Friday morning, with hardly any coverage, then watched them turn on those top-to-bottom tower guns and have great coverage for Saturday. Unless you see what Hunter can do, you just wouldn't believe it's possible. I'm no fan of Hunter, but give them a day and a half of prime temps and they'll get the lifts running.

Golf? I can't even imagine NASCAR. The secret to getting into watching any sport is to know the athletes (er, drivers when it comes to car racing). A good example is boxing. If you just flip channels and come across the second round of a boxing match, it's like so what? But try catching the pre-fight setup, where they give a five minute bio of each boxer. That's also why they do so much pregame stuff before the Super Bowl, World Series, and NBA Finals, since the vast majority of viewers are seeing these teams for the first time and the networks try to make people pick and root for a team.

Here's the link @skiracing.com BTW: the page says that OLN will have NO live or taped coverage this yearof ANY races. Which SUCKS. They are just having a series called "10 Weeks to Torino", with highlights of weekend races. Two years ago, OLN had full coverage of at least four races every week. Last season, they were down to two races. Now it's NONE. NBC will carry two races in December, then NOTHING until their usual post-production bullsh*t "sameday", heavily edited Olympic coverage. I have the SLC Games and you watch bib #2, then bib #8, then bib #13...

***FYI: it's north of Seven Springs, on the other side of the PA Trnpk. SOMERSET, Pa. (AP) _ Laurel Mountain's slopes will not open for skiers or snowboarders this winter. But one official said Tuesday that talks are ongoing with the owners of Seven Springs ski resort to reopen Laurel Mountain for the 2006-07 ski season. "More than anything, I'm sorry for the skiers," said Jeff Cook, vice president of Somerset Trust Co., the bank that now owns Laurel Mountain. "We believe Laurel Mountain should and someday again will be a really positive asset for this area." "It requires the right framework. What nobody wants to see is it done halfhearted, halfway. It has to be done right." Last year, Somerset Trust took over the resort after foreclosing on a $1 million loan by then-Laurel Mountain owner George Mowl, and reached a temporary deal with Seven Springs to run it for the 2004-05 winter season. But a relatively snowless winter caused Laurel Mountain to close down after it reopened last year, and the bank and Seven Springs couldn't reach a deal this year in time to open it again.

Wow, he was in the same second as Ligety and not far from Vonn and Schlopy. That's fast. Very fast. Even for a short course.

Holy cr*p, I didn't see last April's, which was a 7.09! Helps to have two US Ski Team "A" teamers and one Development racer in the top seven: 1. WEIBRECHT, ANDREW 2. MARSHALL, CODY 3. SCHLOPY, ERIK 4. KENNISON, SCOTT 5. DUDEK, JACOB 6. LIGETY, TED 7. DUNSTAN, SHAWN

The lowest Holimont ever got was around 14 for boys, so it's not too much different. But I bet those races were p*ssing off some Rocky Mountain club coaches, though. But some day, every racer needs to uncork one and come out of nowhere, like Ivica Kostelic winning his first World Cup with bib 64. One race and he never saw another bib higher than 30.

They are just two different goals. I'm going to gently encourage Ty to race for the PA State Title, with that as a goal. Big fish in a little pond, sort of thing. Have fun and let the points come down in slush cups. But I certainly wouldn't object if she wants to spend every weekend up north, finishing 40th and getting decent points. It's a tough road on a kid's psych, though. There's a great kid from that started on the CAT Team that quit just to ski races up north. He had a great attitude, though, and could handle DFL's week after week. It's got to be up to 'Dude. Racing has to be fun. Goals can be lofty, but they have to be attainable. Confidence is a close second to skill in racing. Will getting top 10's in PA build confidence for late season races in VT? Or is he better off racing up north all season and reaching a comfort level? You don't necessarily sacrifice all chances for great points by skiing the Cups.

Unless they've just changed it, PA Cup Finals work just like World Cup Finals. You qualify for Finals by earning points on the World Cup scale (100 for a first place; 80 for second; 60 for third, etc., down to 1 point for a 30th place finish). The top finishers after the first four races are "automatics". Then come the kids getting in via regional qualifiers. But everyone comes to Finals with the points they accumulated from the first four PA Cups. These points carry over toward the PA State Champion title. I don't know what this year's quota for PA will be, but at least that racer will go to JO's. There's no other realistic way for a PA racer to make JO's.

Fluoro overlays used on 55 degree days make your skis run like a hockey puck on ice. They generally start being effective over 32 degrees, though there are cold fluoros. Fluoros repell water, so it needs moisture in the snow to be effective. But also keep in mind that for all the work you'll put into corking it in, it'll only last one or two runs at most.

They probably did it because nobody in Eastern PA wants to host races that would be regional qualifiers. And last year's sketchy weather cancelled the Western early season regional qualifiers. The reason to still ski all the Cups is to qualify for post season.

Sponges are for applying paste waxes. This is powder? Powder needs to be corked in, not rubbed with a sponge. Purl makes a pretty decent powder overlay for high humidity snow. So what you have isn't really meant for waxing your board, but for adding as a final touch to your wax. Sprinkle it on, then use a cork to rub it in---any kind of cork works, even champagne bottle corks. But don't use it on cold, dry days or your board will be grabby.

It's good to hot wax new skis. Unless they are race stock, they come very sharp from the factory at their recommended edge settings and you don't need to have them resharpened.

It's far...in the Mount Washington Valley.

Classy, Rob. Why did you have to add that to your statement? I assure you that NONE of my personal missions have ANYTHING to do with you. In fact, I really don't ever think about you. Just to correct your inside info regarding Atomic having dumped 35,000 skis on eBay, here's the actual breakdown of how many skis of each brand are listed: Atomic 371 Rossi 369 Salomon 294 Dynastar 209 K2 194 Volkl 183 Head 134 Fischer 100 Seems to more or less reflect actual sales figures, rather than some insidious conspiracy.

I was just watching my 'Race Place' tuning video and at the very end is a segment on roto-brushes. The guy isn't overly enthusiastic about roto-brushes, though. It seems like he's saying that it's convenient, but you don't get the same feel as with manual brushing. I like to brush...it's the wax scraping that is a drag to me.

I have a mean dog that bits. Would that work?

The phone message still begins by saying Sat. 11/12 is the tentative opening date, but then the ski patrol guy that gives daily updates hasn't done an update since Monday. It's like they left it that way just to keep people psyched for the possibility...

Especially this late, they try to open for the season, but are pretty quick to close back up if midweek temps are bad. If it were late Oct. or the first week of Nov., they'd be less likely to keep the lifts running.

Yep, maybe. Same owner? What did I do wrong? I called a ski shop regarding a policy. The guy that anwered the phone said he didn't know of any such policy, then went off to ask someone else...who also didn't know of any such policy. Why are these antics?

I dunno...maybe it's just a new policy and word hasn't gotten around. You'd probably want to update your employees, though.

SX:9's: http://cgi.ebay.com/04-05-Atomic-SX-9-SUPE...1QQcmdZViewItem http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-03-04-Atomic-SX-9-...1QQcmdZViewItem