slickkeddie

I think both Camelback and the instructors would rather give you a private lesson if they could, but they get stuck teaching group lessons first. They can't really limit or predict how many people (mostly newbies) will buy rental/lesson packages at any given moment, and they are obligated to show those people how to at least use the equipment at a basic level. The amount of profit from the instruction portion of that package is probably minimal. For sure, the instructor makes considerably more from a private lesson and enjoys it a heck of a lot more.

That's probably what his parents told him. Well, it worked didn't it?

Jib: We may need to see you demonstrate this on video. On the plus side, the iceman rotated my wheels last weekend. Now the blades don't wobble at high speeds so it isn't as scarey, and I don't feel as much of a need to slow down. Who would have thought roller blade wheels needed to be rotated? I guess you do know that you have to keep an eye (or more precisely your ear) on your bearings, too. If a bearing starts to make noise, replace it. Very nasty to have one of those seize up on you. That's one of those things I learned the hard way, but that was years ago when nobody knew much about those newfangled rollerblades. Don't you discuss these things with the other mom's you play with?

Maybe I missed it, but anybody ever post about what it's like to wipe out on those grass skis? A few years ago I tried a mountain board and after a few body slams decided the risks weren't worth getting really messed up.

Upon reading your post again a bit more closely, skimom, I think you are interpreting his instructions backwards. If you are flying downhill on rollerblades, I don't think you want to try throwing all your weight on your downhill skate as you abruptly turn or you'll do a world-class end-over-end flip. I think he's referring to using the downhill leg as a pendulum to somewhat help get your body across the fall line abruptly. The majority of your weight will be on your uphill (back, probably dominant) leg.

It sounds to me like he's essentially doing an ice skating hockey stop, but making the stance wider and having his front foot out in front of him farther. Since I'm no extreme skater and never wear any type of protection, I think if I ever got going fast enough to need this abrupt a stop, I'm traveling too fast.

This may be a variation on what you already do. Rather than stepping to the side, balance on one foot while dragging the other foot perpendicular behind you. Not the easiest thing to do if you are already freaked out going fast. Best getting used to it going slower first. I took that damned brake off my very first pair of roller blades years ago. Way too much in the way. I was too used to hockey skates to ever adapt to something sticking out the back of a skate.

I've never been an avid mountain biker, but I can remember biking the trails at CB when it was allowed. You'd be amazed how rough those surfaces are without snow. Certainly not like your front lawn. Some places you could bust your rim, so I don't know how well the grass skis would work.

I can remember often playing on the snow in spring when the temps were 60's, 70's, even the 80's once. And this was locally, in the Catskills and New England. I don't know if the climate is changing that radically or not. Maybe it's more of a trend that all the ski areas just don't stay open as long as they used to.

At $15 on Friday, that looks like a good deal. At full price $33, I don't know. Is Hunter still charging full price? I'd think that if I'd travel that far, Hunter would be a better deal, unless maybe too crowded, but hey, a big part of the experience this time of year is hanging out, not just the skiing.

Sneeky, Sibhusky, throwing in a subtle "dig" on your signature for the CB message board: "......WAS once addicted to this message board." And you thought nobody would notice, ha, ha!

I'm quite surprised Sibhusky got away without one foot blown off after her last post there. Absolute treason suggesting people are jumping ship.

I doubt that they will abolish the message board even if it has virtually no traffic. Heck, look at the rsn boards. They'll still be able to boast about having a message board with virtually no effort toward it. And you'll always have the occasional visitor who will click on the link and post something. It's just that the board won't be very interesting or informative if most locals who are interested in skiing and boarding and just being informed about what is really going on focus their attention here. Maybe skierforever is really one of the Daves incognito? You think? That way they could post what they really thought without making it seem like official CB policy.

Apparently the Daves are still pretty sensitive about things. Maybe I am just getting wacky, but I think they just deleted a recent post by skigirl when she said something about she thought most people who left that board weren't coming back. Oh. Touchy, touchy, touchy. Sort of difficult to figure if anything you say there is safe.

Maybe they purposely want to hide any pictures of that scene as much as possible. Their own little "skunk works". It would only inflame the passions of those customers pissed off about an early closing to see gigantic piles of snow pushed off to expose bare ground. On the other hand, I just happened to think, Blue closed exactly the same day as CB, right? It doesn't seem like those piles of snow they supposedly purposely made to try extending their season had any affect.