Ski

...according to a longtime employee. We had to park about 100 yards further out than yesterday, at the same time. Luckily, the cool shuttle driver was on duty and delivered us door-to-door. Despite the number of cars, the lift line at Iron Horse was never more than two minutes at it's busiest. I guess everyone is wandering around on Upper Runaway and Fast Track... The snow is still fantastic and it's funny to see so many tracks through the woods. Can't wait for all these people to go home, though.

I think Rob may have some good input for this, so I'm hoping he'd take some extra time...but here goes: The one element that NASTAR misses---and it's a big one, IMO---is any form of coaching and tips. NASTAR is terrific for giving kids (and adults) a taste of gates, but budding racers are left to fend for themselves when it comes to making any real improvements. I really enjoy passing on a few tips, as are any of the more experienced racers at the numerous hills I've skied, but I'm usually with Ty, so I can't take the time. This idea always crosses my mind because our lift goes right up over the NASTAR course and I see so many people that would have a much better experience if they just made a few very basic changes. For example, being bent over at the waist; skiing right at the gates; poling in the middle of the course; and, turning on one ski. I think a ski area that takes the time to host NASTAR might also consider freeing up an instructor to spend a moment or two with each racer in the lineup above the start wand. I mean, look at all the money spent on terrain parks and pipes, yet nobody has to pay to ski/ride those slopes. I'd like to hear what some of you Thursday night Blue people think. Would getting some feedback from a pro be a good thing? I know that you can read a thousand books and watch endless instructional videos, but I've always thought that having even a brief one-on-one instruction so much more valuable.

from Eurosport United States Alpine ski team director Jesse Hunt has defended Bode Miller after he left the World Championships in Are without a medal. The 29-year-old former World Cup champion has appeared at his ragged worst during the two weeks and made headlines in the Swedish press as a party animal rather than as an athlete. In Saturday's slalom he skied out in the first run, ending his bid to become the first man to win world championship golds in all five disciplines. Miller, the 2003 world champion in giant slalom and combined and 2005 super-G and downhill champion, produced a sloppy run. He skied too far from the gates and was already more than a second behind the leader and eventual winner Mario Matt before he finally slipped out. On Wednesday, after a decent first run in the giant slalom where he was sixth and 0.48 seconds behind the leader, Miller had an embarrassingly bad second run to finish 15th. He was even worse in the opening super-G, finishing 24th. In the super-combined Miller showed promise as he took the lead with the fastest time in the opening downhill but he finished sixth with a cautious, error-ridden slalom run. That was his best resulte. In trying to defend his downhill title he proved unlucky as he was one of the skiers who were clearly distracted by foggy patches on the slope and he finished seventh. Miller's performance here has echoed events at the Turin Winter Olympics a year ago when the much-hyped American's best result was fifth in the downhill and he was criticised for his late-night party habits. As he did in Turin, Miller has assiduously avoided the media here but McNicol spoke up for him. "If you look at it here he had a great top split in the downhill and he won the downhill section of the combined with a great run," Hunt said. "Then he got a finish in the slalom which he was pleased about because he hasn't been able to finish many." Since January 24 last year, Miller has completed only one slalom race in 11 starts at major international events. "In the giant slalom he had a good first run and had a good chance for a podium," said Hunt. "He wants to bring back his slalom and he wants to have that feeling again." With a month to go on the World Cup, which resumes on Friday, Miller is fourth in the overall standings, 140 points behind leader Aksel Lund Svindal, and leads the super-G standings.

I don't know. This was wax I bought over the summer: FluoroMax Cold. I'm sure it wasn't his higher priced wax, like the stuff Jeff is using.

I've gone from Elk to Sno quite a few times, Mark...takes me a little less than an hour. Driving like Jeffy, it'd take under 40 minutes if you don't get behind a farm tractor.

Awesome report, Glenn...dead on, IMO. Elk regulars that I sometimes ski with are actually looking forward to a little more elbow room next season as Sno steals away some of the Scranton/WB day trippers. Elk may not get as packed as CB or Blue during holidays, but it does get just as impossible...Slalom is my fav run at Elk---nice fall line, as is Susquehanna.

Rockin' my Dumb and Dumber suit Eh, no...

AskDrD has an email from skiracekill@yahoo.com Ha, compliments don't come out of me easily, Dr. D. But I've been a fan of your fluoro for a couple of seasons. In fact, just about every pocket in all my ski jackets are coated with white powder. My 6 yr old always complains that her Lifesavers taste funny.

Where did your dad watch from? And that 1pm start is sweet...Bode could use that. And congrats on the 16th!!!!

Guns are off for the weekend, but ready for Tuesday. I'm not sure about last year. I think I was at a race at Belleayre for one day, then at the Hideout race for another. But all the employees I talked to were shaking their heads from what is crowded for here. There's no shuttle 'stations' in the lot...they just cruise around doing pick-ups. I've never been on a shuttle bus with more than five other people, so it was really weird to have standing people. And the new "tram" they bought is too long and can't make the turns at the end of the isles. We've ridden it once since Sno opened.

Ha, no hate on you, Ben...just silly statements like "ben birk owns you all". You have some fun pics, like the one with the boarder over the clouds. Just keep doing it and listen to every old timer that'll give you advice. I sorta feel like a jerk for being harsh on you just because I was reacting to Rob. I meant nothing bad toward you, so I'm sorry. But NEVER let anyone with harsh words have a negative affect on what you do. Being a photog means you are showing the world what most other people just leave in their cubicle. One thing: either go off camera with your strobe when working with fisheyes and other ultra-wides or do a better job of diffusing. Even the Photoshop burn tool just won't bring down those hot spots. And, as you know, the viewers eye is first drawn to the lightest part of the image. Good luck, Ben, and keep shooting.

Lots of people. Ty, Amy, and, I went up at around 1pm, just for Ty to grab a couple of quick NASTAR runs, then ski some blues with her mom. I figured I'd be able to to hit it just right, with some morning people leaving and grab a parking spot near the NF lift. Wasn't happening. We had to park waaaay the F down in a section past where you first pull into the lot. So we just waited a couple of minutes and the really nice driver picks us up. I usually ride the shuttle back up when I have Ty on a weekend and he's been driving since they started the shuttles, so I've gotten to know him a little. He always checks on us when we're booting up, in case we want a ride down---then, he never needs me to tell him where I parked when we're leaving because he remembers. Very Okemo-like service and it's really appreciated. Anyway, Zaldon was on the bus this afternoon and he got to experience our friendly driver--maybe a little too much. He made sure the bus was packed and he drove up to just about every car that looked to have someone booting up. I ended up separated from Ty and Amy and was sitting next to a littl girl that was separated from her dad. I tried to get her to play Marco Polo with her dad, but she was really scared of me. She was headed to the tubing hill, so I wasn't offended. Ty would have played... I can't report on the more important lift lines down on the NF, but the Iron Horse was never more than three or four minutes. Mostly just because people come in from both side and it's a mix of jibbers in a hurry and newbies coming in off from Upper Fast Track/Runaway and Whistler.... But after Ty raced, the Iron Horse had a mechanical problem and that's where the current problem really showed itself. There's no blue or green access down to either the Phoebe Snow or the Long Haul lifts. People that can't ski/board a fairly steep diamond are screwed. They had to walk a few hundred yards back up to the lodge area. It's a shitty walk. I'd never take Ty down the NF on a weekend, let alone a holiday weekend, so we hiked. Lower Runaway isn't too bad and it's really wide, but there are just too many out of control people for a little kid to meander down. Okay, so a mechanical problem is one thing...but then we got on a shuttle bus and the really old guy takes the three of us and one other family of four snow tubers up to the lot. Their dad says, "We're way back in the left corner" and I add, "Yep, that's where we are, too." The old guy says, "I'm dropping you folks in the middle isle. That's as far as I go." I asked him if he could at least get us in the same lot as our Jeep, since we all have ski boots on and all out gear, but he simply said 'no'. Not a really huge deal, except for the fact that we did have a little kid that had to hike up from a broken lift. But okay. The other driver really spoils all of us. So we grab our gear and start hiking around the huge snow mounds, maybe three hundred yards, having to constantly get out of the way of oncoming cars. I ended up carrying Ty on my shoulders, along with two sets of skis. I suppose the only time I really got pissed was when the same shuttle driver pulled my Jeep, just as I set Ty on the ground and drop my skis. He opens the bus door and asks if we want a ride down. It's funny now. Well, a little funny. But since I want Sno to succeed, I almost want to point out how this would seem to a casual skier. That Sno will drive up and down isles to get you to the ticket window, but boot you off the bus 300 yards from your car once you've spent your money. But it's because of our regular driver that I'm not emailing Sno. I wouldn't want him confused with the old guy... So that was my mild vent, along with my repeated suggestion that they get some easier access down to the Long Haul and/or whatever the new lift will be called.

Hey, Dr. D., I should have added that I was doing what we used to call a 'push job'---I didn't have much time and wanted as deep a coating as I could get, especially since I wasn't bringing warm-up skis. I assumed that as long as I didn't let it smoke, then I could heat it up. I repeated the same steps for a race yesterday with similar results, so I'm not changing a thing when we have these conditions. As to letting them cool, I left them on the vice for about an hour, then put them in my three-season room (about 40 degrees) for about three hours before scraping. I've always found cold waxes a pain in the butt. That's the one good thing about global warming---soft waxes are easier and doing touch ups between runs isn't a hassle. Eh, for me anyway. ~cole

Mario Matt of Austria holds a big lead after the first run of the men's slalom at the World Championships in Are. The 2001 champion is 1.14 seconds clear of the field after an incident packed opening run that saw a host of big names crash out on a tough course. Matt was third down in a time of 59.22 and is followed by Germany's Felix Neureuther and Manfred Pranger of Austria. Olympic and defending world slalom champion Benjamin Raich is fourth, 1.23 seconds behind his compatriot, with the racers in second to 11th position seperated by less than seven tenths. There was disappointment for the home fans as Jens Byggmark, who leads the World Cup slalom standings, and Markus Larsson, who won the World Cup dress rehearsal here last year, both crashed out. Aksel-Lund Svindal's bid for a third world title ended as his skis got stuck in the grippy snow while Bode Miller's dreams of a first medal in Sweden were curtailed as he skied out along with US compatriot and Olympic combined champion Ted Ligety. The Swiss young guns also missed out with Daniel Albrecht, who has won a gold and a silver in Are, and Marc Berthod, bronze medalist in the super-combined, also failing to complete the course. Defending World Cup slalom champion Giorgio Rocca of Italy and Olympic slalom silver medalist Reinfried Herbst added to the list of big-name casualties.

Holy crap...the page after that was brutal. You people are all crazy mo fos...now I don't feel so bad about some of the things I've said. Sh*t, the thing about 1st Grade is that at least you know what he thinks of you...I'm tempted to try and make peace again, but he'd just slap it down. The mistake about DH staying in Harrisburg may be the funniest thing I've seen on here.

Ha...it really was just hitting the wax just perfectly. Coach Jim and Dave are both a step up from me, so it's a great way to judge wax. The Sno course is all about gliding...and just for the record, Dr. D has never given me a comp and I've never asked. I just really dig that some guy in PA sells a better product than the two world-wide companies that I've spent countless dollars at over the years.

No offense taken.

Tylea is a version of Tyrolean. Some of my family is Celtic, from what is the Western Alps. So if a tyrolean rain is "hippy", then so be it.

Packed? Wow, our schools had another snow day and Scranton schools had a planned 4 day weekend and our lifts were empty.

Not yet. But I'm working on it.

You barely have the knowledge of a casual observer with a major chip on his shoulder. And, yes, I did race today. My Super G at Windham was cancelled because they got 30", so I had an even better day racing with my 6 yr. old. "......trust me. I forgot more about racing than you will ever know. And yes I can look at 1 picture and tell if you are off line at THAT gate!"---First Grade Teacher Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!!! I love that!!!!!

Ha, point taken, but I was looking more at the death and paralysis rate of speed event skiers v. technical events.

The road up the mountain is just wet, but the big park was closed last night and was still closed as of 3pm today...

One of two things: either you don't read or see any interviews Bode has given, or you're just posting this crap to be an idiot. Bode has said he feels lost in slalom MANY times. So no, I'm neither his shrink nor his drinking buddy; I heard him SAY it. And any fellow competitor that says Bode can do anything he wants in skiing may be overlooking the fact that Bode hasn't really finished a slalom race in a couple of years. Is he crashing out or hiking to 20th because thats what he wants? And Jens Byggmark is just some really hot-skiing young kid, that's in the lead because the vets can't cross the finish line consistantly. Byggmark's started less than 20 World Cup races in his life---what's he going to say? That a former Overall World Cup Champion sucks in slalom? Byggmark's only scored five Europa Cup podiums, but those guys that get the call up to World Cup sometimes make a big splash, since they are used to crappy, rutted-out courses. And since you don't seem to understand how it works: slalom is TWO runs. If you crash out in either run, you've LOST. It was a very bad day. There's no special podium and no sponsors lining up for one run slalom racers. Just out of curiosity, 1st Grade, did you race today? Nah, I didn't think so...

I had my Thursday night corporate league race last night at Sno and figured it would be a good chance to try my Dr. D's FluoroMax Cold wax. Temps were around 10 degrees and, obviously, the course was on cold, dry natural snow. Quick background: I race not necessarily to be competative, but as a learning process for coaching my youngest through her USSA career. So I don't want to spend a lot of money on high fluoro waxes, but still require something better than training waxes. I had come to regularly use Swix LF waxes, which are about twice the prices of hydrocarbons, yet much less than the high fluoros in their line. I've been waxing and tuning skis for many years. Applying this 'cold' wax is very different than warmer waxes. It just doesn't want to melt. And it applies with an almost gritty texture. It seemed harder than either Toko or Swix. At normal iron settings it just kind of globbed onto the iron. So after coating the bases, I set my skis in a cold room for four hours, then scraped. It took about twice the usual effort to scrape. I followed this up with a quick brass, then nylon and horsehair brushing. In the past, I've taken my training skis to warm up on, then only used my race skis for the actual race to preserve the wax/tune. But since I wanted to really test this wax, I took my warm up runs on a hill next to the course and tried to get a real feel for it. Dr. D's FuoroMax Cold is amazing. I usually run a mid-teens NASTAR handicap at Sno. Like any mountain's NASTAR, there are tough days and there are "golden days". But in a race league, the pacesetter isn't apt to give away a golden day (meaning he/she skis a little slower and everyone's handicap drops). Last night, I cut my handicap in half on both runs: http://www.nastar.com/index.jsp?pagename=r...p&year=2007 And as much as I'd like to take credit for it, I skied exactly the same sort of line and tactics as the weekend before. The only change was the wax. Sno's course is a pretty good testing ground for these waxes, since it's long and has two headwalls that flow into long gliding sections. A good wax makes you go "Wow" as you cross the finish line...and I said 'wow' twice last night.