sibhusky

That list of slopes was originally posted on Epic. The triple diamond mentioned for Denton is NOT the hill that they claim is the steepest. The triple is "Extreme". The steepest one is "Avalanche". And personally, until someone from Denton gets involved, I think pulling up topomaps is crazy as topomaps are not as accurate as being there. For one thing, Denton could build up the slope with snow to create more of a drop if they like. The only way to solve the Denton issue is for someone to visit Denton with their "slopeometer" or whatever and measure it for us.

Some reviews of the Nixon watch: Backcountry.com reviews Here's a review of the Avocet from GearReview.com: Avocet Vertech II Alpin Avocet was one of the pioneers in the altimeter watches. They first version of the Vertech Alpin was more accurate than the competition, being designed first as an altimeter then a watch. However, there were concerns with Vertech as well and it became unavailable for a few years while Avocet made enhancements to it. This year marks the return of Avocet to the altimeter market with the Vertech II Alpin. The new Vertech II is smaller and lighter than the original (listed at 1.3 oz). The watch has a streamlined profile and the large Function and Options buttons make it easy to operate, even with gloves on. Calibrating the altitude is easy, as long as you know your current altitude. The Vertech II is one of the more accurate altimeter watches on the market, displaying altitude in 5 feet increments. Avocet advertises that the altimeter has aircraft precision accuracy. One of the nicer features of the Vertech II is the capability to measure altitude gain/loss per hour, while other watches measure altitude gain/loss per minute?not very useful unless you are skydiving. The Vertech II also has a thermometer that displays on virtually every screen. Like thermometers on other watches, it is only accurate as long as it has been off your wrist for about 15 minutes. Avocet also has a ton of accessories for the Vertech II like an elastic band, bike handlebar mounting system, and several different lanyards. While Avocet has made enhancements to the Vertech II, I still have some concerns. My biggest issue with the first version of the Vertech was that there was no light, a feature that I would consider essential. Also, the Vertech II isn't very water resistant, only to 10 feet. Another big issue is that Avocet "recommends" that the battery be replaced by Avocet certified service centers, making it a long and potentially painful process just to get a new battery. The Vertech II operates in temperatures ranging from 0-122 degrees F and altitudes from -4000 feet to over 30,000 feet. Overall though, the Vertech was well liked by the Field Test Crew. Retailing for $160.00, the Vertech II is a good buy.

I hate any digital watch, so I have a nice ladylike thing for normal wear, but that sounds like a good reason to me. Will you change the band so you can wear it outside your jacket to ski? That's one of the nice parts to me. Most of the time I don't have to burrow through layers and layers to find out what time it is.

What exactly is the slave part of it? Why would you agree to do anything for free without a contract? Also, how do you know in six months if you'll still be dating her? Sounds like a BAD risk to me.

Again guessing before looking at all the guesses. Mountain Creek?

Posting this before reading all the guesses. Mt. Snow? Later edit: This for first picture. Of course skimom has a advantage, knowing where you've been!

Skimom, how does this compare to the Avocet?

Why? I don't know anything about the Nixon watch except that it costs more and I know a lot of the others are heavy and some of them won't go OVER your jacket sleeve. (Only problem with this is if it's damp out and water gets IN the watch and freezes, it affects the watch's accuracy permanently. If there is precip now, I put my watch UNDER the sleeve.)

Battery life and precision. First one you had to change batteries every two years, II gives you four due to its "sleep" mode. First one gave you vert in 10 foot increments, new one is 5 foot increments. Beyond that, nothing.

Please, NO, unless you put him on the BAN list immediately.

Just a quickie as to where to get B netting for the race....we borrow from all over Montana for the NorAms. It takes weeks of the coach carting it up here to collect it all and then he has to turn around and get it back. The division (eq. to PARA) owns B netting which is spread around the areas and for their use in races. The mountain also has it's own, but supplements with division netting when needed. Given the distances here, it ought to be MUCH easier to do in Pa. As for the legal stuff, I wouldn't want to address it. Anyone knows there's always a lawyer who will sue about anything. All they need is a client.

Tell me, skimom, why should gatekeeping be restricted to moms? Also, they usually allow the non-skiers to walk up and handle the lower gates. I notice most of the dads volunteer for trail maintenance, but seriously do we really need so many trail maintainers? They are mostly just doing that to get good spots to watch the race, IMO. I bet if the non-skiers got taken up on snowmobiles (no reason they couldn't be) that this issue would go away and if the area would offer the transferable tickets, all the townies would come out of the woodwork as well. The other thing we do here is have TWO gatekeepers for each set of gates. That way if one needs a "health run", the other can still cover. CB could definitely step up their support of the team by furnishing vouchers for ski tickets. I think this is worth pursuing myself, in addition to a system of movable training trails. It's nice that they occasionally get Rocket, but wouldn't it be even better if for the first two hours of the AM they could get Cliffhanger and Margies? Of course, the coaches and maybe a few of the older kids would have to get there bright and early so that the gates could be set up before the kids arrive, but if the training starts at 7:30, it would mean the gates could be down by 9:30 and it would inconvenience very few people. The moving locale would help calm down those who really resent losing their early runs on Cliffy since it wouldn't be a problem every weekend.

What are you on?

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.