Wednesday, August 30, 2006

September PowderCast Up!

Check it out on Itunes. This month we cover this summer's biggest news, talk about upcoming ski movies and discuss some of the biggest changes in 07 gear. Search 'PowderCast' in the Itunes Music Store, or open in itunes now.

Just a reminder, only 61 days until you're guarenteed to be able to ride a chairlift and ski down...Not we're counting or anything.

Check back soon for a "how to get ready for ski season in 2 months" fitness article.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

News and more



For the record: Summer News 2006

Jackson plans to open new tram in December 2008. After closing the tram last season after 40 years of service, the resort has finally settled on a new state of the art 25 Million dollar project which will "put a strain on resources" according to the family owned resort. For more information click HERE.

Intrawest aquired by Fortress Investment Group for 2.8B$. Intrawest, owner of Copper, Winter Park, Snowshoe, Stratton, Whistler/Blackcomb and with real estate interest at many top tier resorts around North America has been considered one of the most influential corperations in developing the resort world we now ski in. For more information check out Intrawest's site or HERE
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Keystone looks to expand cat skiing operation for 2006/07. Going with the trend of resorts offereing an affordable heli ski-like experience, Keystone has expanded their cat skiing operation to include upper Independence Bowl and more. For more information click HERE

Steamboat to sell? American Skiing Company (ASC) is reviewing potential "strategic options" (aka, SELL) for Steamboat resort. This may come as good news to locals who have felt the corperate stranglehold over the resort for the past few years of ASC ownership. No word as of yet as to possible suitors. More information HERE.


Finally, Gapers beware. We are watching.

Monday, August 14, 2006

Summer Chair Time...


"Only two and one half months until opening day...only two and one half months until opening d..." For many skiers, this can be a hard time of the year. Still over 70 days until the first of the front range resorts open can leave many skiers running stir crazy.

For most skiers, summer means "second rate" activities...fun stuff but nothing that quite compares to skiing. This includes a wide variety of activies, fly fishing, golf, road cycling, mountain biking and hiking to name a few. Some of these summer activies are relaxing, like golf and fly fishing. Some are great cross training for ski season, such as mountain biking and trail running, but none quite compare.

Yes, there are a select few that are lucky enough to chase the snow all summer long in the Southern Hemisphere but most of us don't have a seven figure trust fund to help us out, so we go through summer as most people do, enjoying these activities while feeling like part of us is dead.

There is however an extremly fortunute third group who has found a viable substitute. Don't try and find something that is equals skiing, you're bound to end up insane. What I mean by "substitute" is simply something that keeps you from having a nervous breakdown in summer. After all, summer followes every winter...no matter what.

I have found one of these "substitutes" I am a downhill mountain bike racer in the summer. Before you write it off as something very "un-freeskiing-like" due to the racing part, hear me out.

For those that don't know what downhill mountain bike racing is, take downhill ski racing, put it on dirt and you some sort of an idea. Beside the obvious differences, (skis vs bikes) ski racing is traditionally rigid and lacks creativity. On the other hand, downhill mountain bike racing allows for about as much creativity as you'll ever find in any sort of race. This can be attributed to the variability you encounter in DH mountain bike racing, from mud to dust, trees to steeps, wide open ski runs to tight chutes...it is always changing. This allows for the rider to look at every course differently and constantly figure out new lines and ways to ride between the tape, much like the way you would look at terrain while skiing.


Downhill mountain bike racing has allowed for a seamless transition from skiing ending in late April/May, into the race season in late May lasting all the way through September putting me right back into ski season with just a few weeks of "down" time.

Last weekend I was in Snowmass for the National Finals. Although I didn't do as well as I would have liked, it was a great time and it gives me another excuse to ride a chairlift, which is in my opinion, one of the most influencial inventions to my life.

Nowadays you can pick a bike up a solid DH bike for under 1500 bucks and many front range resorts have lift accessed DH trails with races nearly every weeknd. Try it out...maybe you'll find that the summer doesn't suck THAT bad after all.


Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Skiing in August


This past weekend the hosts of the PowderCast, Patrick Nelson and myself (Jeff Brines) decided it would be a good idea to see what skiing in Colorado is like...in August. To add some extra excitement to the day, we decided to add a few other activities, mountain biking to get things going, "ski" St. Mary's and then some golf and fly fishing to cap off the day.

Maybe it was the fact I was riding a bike that was more suited for going downhill than up a steady 17% grade or maybe it was the fact one gin and tonic turned into 2 or 3 or 4 or..., but the ride was more about suffering and fighting a heavy mental haze than anything else. Eventually, the ride ended and we began driving to the Glacier.

Somehow the traffic mid-day Saturday during the summer rivaled the worst ski traffic I've ever seen. I hope this isn't too telling of the winter commute of the coming winter.

In any case, we arrived at the base of the glacier in about an hour, strapped are skis on our packs, and began hiking. To make things more interesting, it started raining. I don't have enough East Coast in me to understand skiing in rain. Patrick on the other hand is from out east and thrives in such conditions.

It felt like a weird dream hiking around in "snow" in August. The snow I speak of was dirty and sun cupped. To give you an idea, think of a choppy high mountain lake and instantly freeze it then throw a bunch of dirt on it to get an idea of the snow's contour and color.



To my surprise there was a mini jib park at the top of the glacier with about 8 or so people playing on the 4 or so "features" they had to pick from.

We clicked into our skis and...well, I guess we were sliding and I did have skis so we were skiing but it wasn't exactly my finest moment on sticks. In fact, as Pat said, "If I didn't just hike up that with you I would have never known that was you...you looked like such a gaper!"

The fact still remained that we did ski, and that was more than a refreshing experience on an August Saturday (even if it was the hardest snow I've ever skiied)

After skiing, golf was a bit mundane but we still played out of principle. Fly fishing Boulder Creek was cool, Pat caught his first fish on a fly rod and collectively we caught about 10 fish in under 90 minutes.

A good solid August day in Colorado....I wonder what else we could add???

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Welcome!

Welcome to the PowderCast Blog. This is where you can find news, comments, pictures and more relating to the PowderCast podcast.

Powdercast, put on by PowderFone your only FREE ski wakeup service, is a skiing related podcast that includes everything from ski industry news and happenings to interviews with today's best snow sport athletes.

Be sure to catch our first 'cast of the 06/07 season, September 1st 2006.