Avoiding Gatherings & Skiing with other Bears

Does anyone here avoid gatherings and meeting with other Bears on ski meeting days? Do you think that maybe you will be over your head and left behind?

Why

Are talking about on the Hill or in the Bar?

Only if they do moguls....I will have to bow down.

I can't keep up in the bar but in my experience with other bears on the hill there is typically a fairly mixed group and most people don't want to leave others behind. Larger groups typically split up into smaller groups of like ability and terrain preferences.

we will leave noone behind as the gathering at snowbird was great indication. what did happen there was in the morning the group was large and strong and we kept them together for 3 hours.

Pete No Idaho i can tell you there that if I am there you wont be left behind and you wont be put in any dangerous situation(well unless you want to be). I do have tendency to 'coach" other if I see some dumb bad habit that by losing that they will be able to ski more where I REALLY want to ski. I also am know to talk people into thing they dont want to do but they should.

The first time I met up with Bears to ski was also my first time skiing outside of Michigan. I don't have to tell you how nervous I was.
Could I handle a mt after skiing on mole hills?
Could I keep up with the bears?
Would I make a fool of myself?

I loved the Mountain
I was embraced by the bears
I found out I didn't have to keep up, just ski with those who skied similar to me(plenty of abilities in the mix)
I most definitely made a fool of myself, but that is to be expected of me!

Nope. And, my left behind has been over my head before, yes.

Avoid Gatherings

Thats my experience too. Just curious. My lst gathering was PNW Crawl II at Schweitzer and group broke into 2 basic smaller groups and had a great time until Bonni had to beat us all down the hill to the hospital. Then took Mattitude and Slider to Silver and had a fun day in about 6-8 inches of fresh stuff. Skied with Jeff and Moutaingoat at Silver and Lookout and Ski Merlin. Had a good time each day. And although VA walked away down the trees at Schweitzer and Slider could carve me into the hill if he wanted to, and Ski Merlin was really an awesome skier I still had a great time.

The reason I posted this today is 1) I have a cold and have been playing on Epic all day 2) thought some new epic members might read and see that Gatherings are fun not competition. BUT August lst is probably a poor time to do this - October would be better. Sorry Guys & Gals I was bored and thinking about snow. Even went downstairs to my Ski Room just to make sure everything was hanging ok.

Pete, go abuse some fish!

Because I usually schedule ski trips to N.America at least six months in advance, I can't say I'll ever make it to a gathering (just missed you all in February, arrived in SLC about a week after you all left). If by happy coincidence it ever does work out, I expect to have a damn good time -- on the snow and in the bar.

I'm an older & larger skier and have skied at two gatherings, the February 2008 event in Utah and the March 2008 weekend in Tahoe.

Both groups were great. It also inspired me to improve my fitness this summer .

Michael

No.
Over my head? Possible, but that wouldn't bother me.
Left behind? Doubtful.

Kinda rules out challenging terrain in this region.

A few of the Bears I've skied with avoid bumps. In fact, I took the easy way down myself for a couple hours, while the top group skied Goosebumps at 7Springs. One of their girlfriends skied with (babysat) me. We skied some smaller but icier bumps and met the men at the bottom of the lift.

I am looking forward to potential gatherings in CO this year...maybe someone will show me the steeper lines at Vail that I have heard rumors about!

great thread actually

Pete,

Just got in from three grueling sets of tennis, took a shower and thought I would see what was going on here on epicski. Saw riskier yesterday at the town transfer station and got me thinking snow.....

Great thread, please bump it in October would be my suggestion.

I have ski'd w a core group of bears the last couple of years....skimangojazz, oldeasternskier, ice queen and riskier. We also had the pleasure of having marcusfire join us one day (drove 5 hours to ski with me and my friends at Wachusett, I was very humbled)

I have also had a fun day with mishka....but he hasn't met the rest of the group yet.

Made half hearted attempts to expand the group with little success. Perhaps it just came down to my internet persona which can by prickly at times and might scare people away. SkierJ and bonni were on board to hook up with until bonni had her disaster the previous year. At a minimum I hope they can join our group....at some point.

Hoping someone else a bit more internet friendly than myself can step up and increase the size of the group.

Regarding my experience skiing with bears there has never been a dispute on the hill as to terrain(tho the choices at Wachusett are limited, there is only one moderately steep pitch) but even at Berkshire East which does have some true black diamond spots there were no disagreements that I was aware of. If a couple of bears get ahead of other bears on the hill the bears in a hurry just stop and yap a bit while others catch up.

In other words my experience tho limited compared to a true gathering has been all smiles and no worries. In fact, our mini gathering at Berkshire East in March clearly ranks as one of my top ten ever ski days....some of the days at the bump called Wachusett with my bear friends have been epic too!

Re skier level all bears I have met have been solid intermediate or better skiers - no splits have ever been considered. I personally no longer ski icy bumps, I need to be at work every day and have too many lingering effects of the impact of digging pucks out of corners and trying to chop down running backs etc in the old days. My icy bump days are over.

Fluffy powder bumps however are a diff story, but we don't see those a lot around here.

- - - -

Funny story and a thread poach but what the heck. Went to the lss to put some gear on consignment. A nice pair of Lange boots and my 2 pair of RX 8's. Shop took the 170 RX 8's and put em on consignment for $299 but suggested that I put the 175's on ebay.

Reason? Too long and most folks would be scared of em I was told.

Nuts! 175 too long?

Ridiculous!

I have not felt like I would be left behind but I have felt unsafe with the way some people skied at some of the Let's Go Colorado ski days. It appears that some people ski a bit fast for their ability, conditons and number of people skiing.

Hrstrat57, The bumps at Wachusetts are hideous. The groomers tend to be ice rinks. Your hockey experience must serve you well there, not only as excuse to avoid bumps. 7Springs has nice bumps. World Cup bumpers have come out of 7Springs.

Avoid? No. I'll ski with any Bears who come here, as much as can be worked around my schedule.

Doubtful I'd travel to any gathering or otherwise go far out of my way, though. Not because I'd feel in over my head - but because I have a limited amount of free time and I choose to spend it skiing instead of traveling or socializing.

Gatherings

Jimintokyo, let us k now in advance when you're coming and maybe some of us can meet you somewhere. Theres Bears Everywhere.

Gatherings

October sounds good. All my experiences skiing with Bears have been good with the exception of watching Bonni do her TibFib slide. Most of the people I have skied with were better skiers than I but I kept up ok. There were a few places at Fernie that Newfy showed me that I wouldn't have followed him down but he never asked me to (thank god). All in All it has been fun. Looking forward to skiing with Bears this year and want to make JH Gathering and Big Sky ESA if I can. Maybe we should also have a 3rd Inland PNW Ski Crawl again this winter.

How about a Kicking Horse Gathering - anyone up there in Canada want to give this some consideration?

I can hand you a laundry list of those who were in the Summit County/Eagle County CO area during all the Let's Go Colorado events (There were 5 of those). There are plenty of local people (both Summit & Eagle County and Denver) that never came out. Many people actually skied at the same areas on the same days of scheduled events and didn't show to either ski or socialize afterward. One Bear even posted pictures of his sons to the Let's Go Colorado thread (LGC II) having never attended, but was at Vail on the same day.

I, for one, didn't understand it. I guess some just don't wish to ski in a group, or with a group of folks from this fourm. We always welcomed EVERYBODY at the Let's Go Colorado events, no matter what their level. I (as well as all the guides) skied with ALL level skiers.

I guess group skiing isn't for everybody. I remember a conversation with LewBob last winter. He always skied alone or sometimes with his wife. Now he heads up and almost always runs into (not literally) someone he knows from Epic. "That's the beauty of the site and what great people I've met", he said.

I have to agree, and see you all at Jackson

There was one once. Didn't fly as planned, I gather.

LL might be heaps better in spite of the crowds: there is a -quite- wide spread in ability at most of these things.

Since I live 1,500 miles away from the mountains I have not happened to be in the mountains at the same time as a Gathering. I too have thought about scheduleing a trip to coincide with a Gathering but wondered if I could keep up. I tried my first EPIC camp in 2008 and found I was very much in the lower middle of the pack. I may not keep up with the high speed crowd but I don't want to limit myself to blue groomers either so I'm also conflicted about what to do.

This is a great thread and it is helpful for newer bears. The answer is definitely no. I'm sure a bear can ski a little slower or a little easier terrain for a while if the other bear can't keep pace. Hell Bob Peters took easier routes when I skied with along with other bears. It's not all about the snow (DISCLAIMER: nothing I just typed above applies if its a powder day)

Steve, don't let this stop you. I would make your concerns known with the leaders. I am sure that there may be others in your situation or some consideration will be made to accomodate you.

Steve, I'm glad you posted this and also glad that Pete brought up the thread in the first place. I've been to a bunch of gatherings and mini-gatherings and I've always been impressed by the willingness of some of the "faster" Bears to dial down the pace a little.

At last year's gathering on the Snowbird day, it was truly the kind of day that is seen only a few times a year even by someone who skis Little Cottonwood Canyon every day of the season. It was DEFINITELY the kind of day that the phrase "no friends on powder days" was coined for. Despite the UNBELIEVABLE powder conditions, bushwackerinpa (who was our local "guide") made an incredible effort to keep our large group together and take us to some of the best snow. He could easily have made 1.5 or 2x the laps had he blown the rest of us off and skied himself, but he chose to hang with us and try to make sure we all had as much fun as he did. To your point, he took people who can't keep up with the high speed crowd but didn't want to be stuck on the blue groomers either.

What usually happens is that the groups are fairly large first thing in the morning. We ski together and adjust the pace so everyone who wants to ski a certain kind of terrain and conditions can stay with the group. After lunch is usually when the winnowing takes place. Usually, the skiers who don't get to ski that much are fairly tired by afternoon and are ready to dial it back a bit, and the jackrabbits are ready to go out and ski some junk. So, in the afternoon the groups get smaller and the terrain choices get a little more specific.

I've never yet seen a gathering where you wouldn't be able to find people to ski with and terrain/conditions that give you everything you'd ever want.

Heh.

See my notes above about bushwacker. If *anybody* would have been justified in bagging the group, it would have been him on that day.

One thing to remember is that a good share of the time the "guides" for gatherings are locals. If that's the case, there's a fairly good chance that they get PLENTY of opportunity to ski powder. They're usually not going to go TOO crazy if they sacrifice a couple of powder runs for one or two days of the season.

As a mid-pack skier at the gatherings, I'll add a few observations.

Socially the events are as-good-as-it-gets. People are considerate. No-one is rushed or told to keep moving. No pressure. I really enjoyed both groups last year. I attended the Utah & Tahoe gatherings.

Skiers should expect to see many black diamond and double black diamond slopes. The pace is acceptable, almost slow at times and that's a good thing. The terrain will be challenging, but thats why these things are held, IMO.

If you can ski difficult terrain in Vermont or anywhere out-west, come on out and you will enjoy!

Michael

Gatherings are a great time. I haven't been to one where the conditions were even close to what happened at Snowbird last year, but even if we had a great powder day, if I was guiding, we would look for easier powder lines for starters, and there would probably be a smaller afternoon group hunting the powder stashes in the expert terrain. I am yet to see a bear left behind or ski alone if that was not their choice.

Early morning, easy going GTG:





Afternoon small groups on the harder stuff:


We leave no bear behind. Pick up the yard sale and ski.

And let's not forget what we came here for.

Well now, as a n00b myself to this forum, I for one cannot wait to tag along with a gathering, have fun, meet new people, and improve my skiing all at the same time!

Wait...an internet forum being used to meet actual people, socialize, communicate, and further their interests in a healthy manner instead of being abused by flamers, spammers, and creeps who point their fingers and say "eeexccelent" all the while shunning the outside world and all possible contact with the "real" world? I'm shocked, people! : One would think this is why the Internet was actually created!