I was raised in NJ and have lived in NJ most of my life. My dad put me on skis when at age 4 and it was also the first time skiing for my mom. We learned in the back yard and at Craigmeur/Campgaw/Snow Bowl. Our first big trip north was to Big Tupper. In 4th/5th grades, Campgaw had a Saturday lift ticket/lesson program (6 Saturdays) that I went to with a couple of friends. We would be dropped off at 8 and picked up at 4:30. It was awesome to have so much freedom.
Me and my parents, mid 1960s at Craigmeur
I have a brother and 2 sisters and somehow my Dad managed to get us to the slopes about 10 days a year. There were usually 2 weekend trips to Vt (Killington/Mt Snow/Okemo poma land) and/or NH (Waterville/Loon/Cannon) and a bunch of day trips to Vernon Valley, Great Gorge, Hunter, and Mt Peter. We did get a trip to Mt Tremblant/Mont Gabriel during a Feb break.
I wanted to race in high school, but the cost of the lift ticket and other fees added up to more than my Dad spent on lift tickets, so I never even asked to race. I played basketball instead. Unlike today, basketball did not interfere with skiing. There were high school sponsored Saturday bus trips to Hunter and Belleayre, and occasional weekend bus trips to Killington and my family continued to ski together.
Family at Killington, Dec, 1982
In college I managed to squeak onto the A ski team as the 6th racer (last), despite having never raced. My first race at Hidden Valley, NJ, I had a horrific crash (not injured) near the end of the course right in front of my parents and my mom never watched me race again. Training a couple of times per week and trying to keep up with my teammates improved my skiing by about 1000%. We won the league my Jr and Sr year.
After college, in the mid 1980s, I was part of share houses at Mt Snow and Killington and took at least 1 or 2 trips out West per year (cheap People Express flights). After a few years at Killington filled with crazy lift lines, on slope crowding and horrible Friday night traffic, we rented a place at Gore. The following year I bought a place in North Creek despite still renting my primary residence. I had my priorities. We remained weekend skiers with some holidays mixed in. I skied a lot with my family at Gore. Both my kids ski and my son raced in college. My wife skied until some non-skiing related knee issues forced her to stop skiing.
We owned in North Creek for about 25 years until we sold it in 2013.
A few years ago my sister and BIL bought a place near Stratton, Magic, and Bromley. We have been regularly skiing Stratton with occasional days at Magic, still mostly on weekends. I am thankful our dad got us all into skiing. Our dad has passed, but my favorite ski partners continue to be my siblings/inlaws and the various mix of nieces and nephews that come along. We always have a different mix and we always have a blast.
My brother, one of my sisters, me and some of the cousins
5 years ago with my Mom and sibs
Skiing is one of the few sports you can enjoy with all members of your family. I still wish I could ski every day.
