What ski experiences are on your bucket list? - Page 4

Lessee...

Move to the mountains.

Well, I live just outside Nelson, British Columbia, so I think that qualifies.

 

Gotten a job in the ski industry.

Nope. Not unless you count the occasional minor engineering thing for Whitewater. I used to teach, and I still maintain my cert, so I would like to get back into it, when I have time and money. Teaching is a tough way to make a living, though.

 

Increased my ski days.

Always a goal. I'm actually skiing fewer days now than when I lived in Colorado, but now I ski all day (or as long as I want to) when I go. In Colorado, I would ski for an hour and then teach.  At the end of the day, I might get in another hour. If I was scheduled to teach, I almost always taught. Very few free days.

 

Improve my ski skills.

Another never-ending goal. Slower now that I don't have a bunch of patient examiners telling me what to change every day. I'm a much better powder skier than I used to be, though. That's bound to happen if you spend 50-60 days a season at Whitewater.

 

Got to ski with Dookey.

Nope. Haven't met him. If I did, though, he'd probably see me for the dork I am and refuse to have anything to do with me! 

 

Married Phil.

Let's be absolutely clear, TC - I haven't met Phil, either. He, too, would probably think I'm a dork. (He'd be in the majority on that one. I'm an engineer. No personality.)  And I have no interest in marrying him.

 

The bucket list does tend to grow, but there are a few things that aren't ever going to be on it, like marrying Phil and schlepping my skis to Caberfae!

 

One thing that should be on it: Develop a personality. Tough for us dirt and concrete types, though.

Yes, but thank God that a good day at work will still pay for a lot of skiing.

 

On the Summer skiing topic.  Late 60's early 70's Alyeska used to have a midnight beer slalom on the 4th of July.  That was a great summer party, and a lot of yellow snow.  Is this still happening or anything like it somewhere?

 

Thanks... live in Mississauga. Had 9 ski days in Whistler and 5 combined in QC. Up until then, it was all Ontario and the difference was insane.

I'm in Mississauga too! My trips to Lake Louise and Vermont this year blew everything away around here like I could not possibly imagine. Nothing here can even compare, it's hard to take the kids back to Eden and not think "I'm down in 5 turns here, kinda lame" LOL.

Dookey, you crack me up!

Saw a comedian on TV this week talking about his "anti-bucket list", AKA the things he promises to NEVER do.  He replaced the letter B in "Bucket List" with the letter F.

Where does the expression "bucket list" come from? Is it something one wants to do before one kicks the bucket?

Googling around it seems that the term of bucket list was mainly popularized by the movie of the same name.

 

http://logophilius.blogspot.com/2011/11/bucket-list.html

Been to the Alps, Andes, Appalachians...West also.

 

New Zealand has been on my list since 1983.

Iceland

Japan

Newfoundland

Morocco

Aiming high (or low geographically speaking) here: Antarctica to make it 7 continents.

http://www.iceaxe.tv/expedition/antarctic-peninsula-cruise-2013/

These trips started in 2009 and I went on the one in 2011.   Glad I did, as the price was $7,600 last year and will be $9,600 next year.  A land-based full-on expedition is much more expensive, so this is the way to do it IMHO.  http://www.epicski.com/t/107652/ice-axe-antarctic-cruise-skiing-nov-12-17-2011

 

Africa is the remaining continent left for me.  Not my top priority but I figure I'll get it sometime in conjunction with other travel objectives.

 

 

This is a consistent objective for me.  Last year was the best in that regard with 13 new areas, bringing the life list to 170.

 

Difficulty/required expertise depends more on the specific operation than whether it's cat or heli.  Day heli operations out of Whistler or Panorama can be very comfortable for intermediates/first timers.   My favorite cat operators in Canada, Mustang and White Grizzly, are not appropriate for those without powder experience due to lots of steep tree skiing and a fairly fast pace.

 

Chamonix was my first trip to the Alps in 2004.  I've had one more to La Grave in 2008.    But relative to variety and quality of skiing, the Alps are the most underrepresented ski region in my experience.  So I'm making some effort to block out time to get over there in most future seasons.

That was my first ski destination after I retired in late 2010.   I don't think it will be my only ski trip there.

 

+1  I was at the Gathering/wedding that day and also skied 28K, 16 of it powder.   There was plenty of powder to go around.

 

I was at Mammoth for that one: 29K, 17 of it powder.   Not as good as the Canada cat skiing but both that day and the Gathering/wedding day were probably among top 5 lift service of the season.    So the Sierra was decent enough, maybe even above average from Feb. 27 through April.   I was very fortunate to spend Jan. 15 - Feb. 12 in Canada and the Northern Rockies though.

Edited by Tony Crocker - 7/9/12 at 9:39pm

Tony, you arguably should have one of the shorter bucket lists among the snowriders here given your extensive travel and high count of resorts visited.  With a mix of envy and awe this leads me to raise some fun rhetorical questions for you and all others. 

 

What keeps you motivated for more exploration/travel? 

 

Which is the most precious pursuit:  powder/best snow, epic terrain, unique hosts/expert instructors, exotic locales/culture, spectacular scenery, extraordinary lifts/accommodations/infrastructure, other? 

 

Is the construction of bucket list items something that never ends in the curious person and as soon as one is scratched off another comes to mind? 

 

Is there a tradeoff between repeating visits to familiar satisfying places versus tackling sketchy/problematic/expensive new destinations? 

 

Does sharing an experience with good company make even routine outings a bucket list worthy event?  

 

Is it better to love one mountain 10,000 times or 10,000 mountains one time?

 

 

 

Mt. Kilimanjaro

Was fortunate to have lived for many years in Japan before it was on the international radar. Mind blowing 100 lifetimes of powder pretty much to yourself and a handful of friends. It was a particular time that's gone and won't return. Next, teach the little guy to ski this season and hopefully start taking him on his own journey to some of the places I've had the great fortune to ski including the wee little hill where I learned. If his Grandma is up for it, I hope she can come as well! For myself, I've wanted to go to Chile for a good long while, particularly after seeing '180 South'. I think we could manage crossing the border for a trip to Las Lenas as well. :)  More than places though, there are people I've skied with over the years in different places that I'd love to meet up with again and spend another day with on the hill. 

Where is this?

Voted "other" - I was born and raised in the Republic of Georgia but never skied there. Some day I'd like to go back and ski the Kasbek mountain or Bakuriani...

Spend a couple of weeks in Whistler. Living in Idaho I almost feel like I could drive to Whistler :-)

Living in Idaho you CAN drive to Whistler :) From Boise it's probably less of a hassle to drive than to fly then bus.

That would be an amazing road trip and it would include skiing :-) can`t ask for much more than that!

 

I would like to suggest stopping at Whitewater on the way to Whistler. About 2 1/2 hrs from Sandpoint and near Nelson B.C. It is the Anti-Whistler in just about every way and gets the most snow of any major resort in Canada.