sibhusky

I had similar luck in getting CAT parents to be gatekeepers. We had to rely on parents from other teams to help out. Most of the parents have this attitude that they paid for the training and that's the end of it. The don't understand the level of commitment needed for a successful program. We have much more active parents here at our new team, but the advantage is it's a small town with a skiing history. Even so, the main fundraisers are the people who grew up here and have the contacts. Fortunately, the mountain DOES support the "harvesting" of volunteers at the races by not only giving gatekeepers an actual ticket for the day they gatekeep (no bonus to season passholders with that one) but ALSO give a transferable voucher GOOD FOR A YEAR to gatekeepers that stay the entire day. Consequently, there is no shortage of gatekeepers. Not all the mountains here do that and they suffer the consequences. At the beginning of the season there is a meeting where all the finances are laid out. The shortfall between training fees and needed budget is identified. Events are planned to cover this deficit. And it is HUGE. Do you know why? Because the fee is only about half the expenses. We not only pay the mountain for the coaches' salaries, but we SUBSIDIZE a higher salary beyond the mountain's salary (they work like the government, i.e., an instructor is an instructor, no special salaries for race coaches) under the table. We also pay for someone to run the lifts at night (there is no night skiing during the week here -- we have to make special arrangements). We also have to pay for coaches to travel and eat and stay overnight at the races since they are all so far away -- that hits us for the individual race as it occurs. The four kids who went to Chile had to pay for the coach's costs as well as their own. All of this is big bucks. So, we have a scholarship fund as well to help those athletes who can't cover a trip to Chile. And two of those kids are now on their way to Austria for more training. Needless to say, the MOUNTAIN doesn't cover any of this stuff, the parents do. The mountain supports us by allowing us to pay what we owe them a bit on the slow side. But basically, the SEF (ski education foundation for you non-racers) spends most of its time worrying about money. Two of the biggest fundraising parents are REAL ESTATE brokers. They meet the rich people as they help with buying and selling of the vacant trophy homes around here and seem to have side agreements going that end up benefiting the SEF. Some of these rich people like the idea that they are possibly helping the next big Olympic star I guess. And given the rep of the coach and the four kids who got to go train with the US team, it could actually happen. Success breeds success. But it takes a major commitment on the parents to SUPPORT the team and DEMAND outstanding coaches -- even if they have to find and hire them on their own. After Paul Mahre (a brother of the ones you've heard of) left, they spent two years looking for a replacement. I think what CAT parents need to do is contact other ski teams outside the Pocono region that are power houses and find out what they do to succeed. And they personally need to commit their time and efforts to the program instead of handing over the training fee and washing their hands of it. The only alternative is fully funding the REAL bill for a successful team right out of their own pockets.

Hold on here. I thought Powdr's 27.7 degrees was for the "triple diamond" which is NOT Avalanche, it's Extreme. I don't find where he quoted that for Avalanche in his posting. Extreme is in the trees as I recall and Avalanche is a cleared run. Extreme starts further down the hill.

Cameltop's burgers were always dried out. And they used to let people smoke in that "closed off" section. And lots of times it was cold. I don't know HOW you could have preferred Cameltop.

So they're gonna take away the Glen Lodge, that wonderful oasis of peace, from all but those with bucks? That stinks. Camel Club

I assume Gus was there and they feel he represents the mountain. Our ski area never comes to OUR meetings. They also don't come to the board meetings. Individual board members may meet with the CEO in a one on one, but these are guys have "have a relationship" with the CEO. We don't want some parent who is only privy to some rumor going off half-cocked and pissing the guy off.

What's a brownie hound? Sorry, just not up on things.

So maybe it's racers at Mammoth. And I would say it probably flows back to their coach's attitude about "attitude". If the coach gave them royal hell for treating the lifties badly, I suspect they would behave better. Of course, I know nothing about LA kids.

Why? I don't remember hearing this from you in the past. Was this from your days at Camelback or has this started since you moved to Mammoth?

skierforever is a famous poster on the Camelback board. Basically, he hates all racers.

Good one, Discordial!

I think that the bleach should be fine, naturally go in there and wipe it good before even putting the bleach in -- you may need to use a bottle brush inside some paper towels to get in there. Then, as racerchick says, rinse rinse rinse. And always, in the future, empty all liquid out and stuff it with paper towels promptly after each use. By the way, I NEVER put anything other than water in mine. It's the other stuff that usually produces algae.

They were doing all this over on their board, and it wasn't at a level I would call vicious personally. I also read all their comments and saw they came to us as the experts. I myself wondered what the heck a triple fall line was. Let's see, one direction is down, the second fall line is when it's a tilted down, what the heck is the "third" fall line? Inverted? Your ski bases are facing the sky? Just because Denton is in PA doesn't mean we can't question their claims. That trail that is being discussed was their race trail the year that Siblet raced there and I agree the thing is a booger, especially to race SL on, but a TRIPLE fall line? Along thing I can think they mean is one time it tilts right, the next point it tilts left, which still wouldn't be a triple, just one double followed by a different double.

Ski, chill willya? They didn't come across to me as bashing us, just thinking that it was a mighty big claim...which we all agree it is. I don't know if we ever decided to believe it ourselves if I remember it correctly. And, yes it was the run NEXT to it that was used for races, not the touted 66 degree pitch run. By the way, remember that grade % and degrees are two entirely different things. A 45 degree slope is 100%. (Rise divided by run).

Got them without bindings to save money. I'm moving "old" bindings.

But he's applying not only the dirt that came off his skis, but also the dirt from the garage floor! What possible benefit could this provide to his skis? "Let's glue some sand to these skis and they'll really rip!"

From the K2 site: http://www.k2skis.com/product/skis/pictovi...asp?ProductID=2

??? Of the skis? They look just like new skis. It's not what they look like, but WHAT THEY DO that counts.

My Recons just arrived, in WONDERFUL, shrinkwrapped, new condition. Now my husband has to "hide" them from me until Christmas.

Sounds like a bankrupt ski area's dream.

Read the comp guide cover to cover, attend meetings, ask questions. Sit down and try to suss out what the HECK they are doing with race points, and penalty points and those other things, World Cup points. Explain it all to your kids. Then, look ahead and help to map out how they can achieve their dreams. This involves not only talking to your coaches, but college coaches, regional coaches, etc. See if you can find out where PARA meetings are and go to them. Sure you may keep your mouth shut in embarassment at not knowing what they are talking about, but after a few meetings it kicks in.

Well, on Sunday they were still running the chair and I hear there were boarders who didn't mind hiking back up the hill for partial runs. Unfortunately, we don't open until Turkey Day. This stuff will melt anyway.

Not quite. I'm at 3700 feet, this is up at 7,000 feet.

you mean what mountain? It's at the Summit House at my mountain in Montana.

For less than two weeks the last two Januaries, we've had negative teens and twenties as highs for the day. I've skied them. The only really bad part is the main chairlift gets slammed with wind as it crosses over the bowl. Once you are down in the trees, it's not that bad, and the snow stays great. You can take a slower chair that doesn't get slammed with the wind, but then you sit still longer. I am not sure which is worse.

Yikes, there is a new pic today: