Monthly Archives: February 2011
North Creek Ski Bowl, NY: 2/27/11
The North Creek Ski Bowl is an important part of the history of skiing in New York. On that spot, in 1935, Carl Shaefer installed the state’s first rope tow. North Creek’s first lift-served ski area was the final destination of the snow trains that ran until World War II.
But the small mountain is more than an historical treasure. It’s home to some great tree skiing. Please take a look at a trip report complete with for Ski Bowl photos.
Big Tupper Photo Exhibit
Ski Big Tupper is presenting a slideshow of hundreds of photos of the mountain from construction in 1960 through the 1980s. Images will be shown on monitors throughout the base lodge. Shots include helicopters setting the towers for Chair 3, ski jumping contests, and the classic image above of Bobby Kennedy loading onto Chair 1. The exhibit is running now through this Sunday 2/27 at Big Tupper.
Skiing, Movement, Photography and Video
I continue to think about the challenge of digitally capturing ski days. Powerful, imaginative images can be a source of joy forever. But I don’t want shooting to diminish the ski experience for myself or others.
(click to enlarge)
There’s something I like about this sequence of images. They’re sharp enough, the conditions were decent, and Rochester Mark is a great skier.
But there’s more to it than that. The series was taken with a continuous shooting feature. If you (click to) enlarge the panel above and glance from image to image, you can almost imagine Mark in action. When I run quickly through those photos in a digital album, it’s very evocative of skiing. In a rudimentary way, it simulates movement.
Twin Tips and Change
I’ve never been one to readily accept change. I seem to find comfort repeating things over and over. I do the same drive to ski the same mountain 20+ days a year.
I remember when Karhu announced they were changing the XCDGT from 57mm at the waist, up to 68, and making it shorter. I got online and bought a new replica of the old GTs I was skiing at the time. I have 2 pairs of Merrill Doubles and one pair is still in the original box. (If I could ski my way through my Asolo Snowfields, and BOTH pairs of Merrill Doubles – I’d die a happy man.)
I’ve been resisting the idea of twin tip skis since I first became aware of them. They’re for jibbers. I have no desire to ski backwards. It will be hard to herringbone. But this season, if you’re committed to “directional skis” your choices seem slim.
I’d asked for advice on moving to a fatter ski, and the advice that I got was pretty consistent: Line Prophet 90s, 100s, and Icelantic Pilgrims. Very similar skis that are all twin tips.
Early in the season, on groomers, the Pilgrims rocked. They have more torsional rigidity than any ski I’ve tried. They are good on hard surfaces. Later in the season, when I got into the trees, I couldn’t get them around. These boards are definitely much bigger (and heavier) than anything I’ve ever skied. I wasn’t being aggressive enough. I started to wonder, is this my new groomer ski? That wasn’t how I’d planned it.