Get Your Carve On

Skiing on hard surfaces is at times unavoidable. Unlike skiing on soft snow, on hardpack you’re often putting 80 or 90% of your weight on your outside ski. That doesn’t mean that you can’t get more performance from the inside ski. In fact the more you use your inside ski, the easier it will be to carve on any surface.

Start with a wide stance placing your feet under your hips. If you’re too narrow you can’t use that inside ski to your advantage. If you naturally ski in a narrow stance make a run with an imaginary beach ball between your legs. Practice some railroad track turns in this way and use your little toe to “slice” the snow.

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NY Ski Magazine: Québec’s Laurentians

Last winter, I completed my tour of Québec’s three ski regions with a five-day visit to the Laurentians, an hour northwest of Montréal.

Tremblant Village, Quebec Laurentians
Tremblant Village

Due to the fact that the offerings there comprise an extremely popular full-service resort along with a dozen or so local hills (all 1,000 vertical feet or less), the Laurentians tend to get less attention from south-of-the-border skiers than the Eastern Townships and the mountains north of Quebec City, and understandably so.

That said, if you can put your usual expectations aside, it’s an interesting trip that mixes large and small: fun off-the-beaten-path hills, cute villages, great food, friendly locals, along with a couple days in the second biggest French-speaking city in the world, if you’re so inclined…

NY Ski Magazine
Québec’s Laurentians: The Autoroute-15 Ski Corridor

Catskills Winter Sampler Card

Catskills Winter Sampler CardIt was announced last night that the major ski resorts in the Catskills have entered into a joint promotion for the 2012/2013 skiing and riding season.

The Catskills Winter Sampler Card will cost $199 and includes one unrestricted adult lift ticket valid any day of the upcoming season at each of four premier winter ski and snowboard destinations in the Northern Catskills: Hunter Mountain, Windham Mountain, Belleayre and Plattekill Mountain. In the next few weeks the card will be available online at CatskillsWinterSampler.com.

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