I had my post all ready to go until I went out clomping around in the snow with my buddy John “Yukon” Staab today in our snowshoes. As you can see, John is “smiling like a butcher’s dog.” John enjoys life and has great enthusiasm for all things outdoors. John elevated it up a notch, took up mountain biking, got lights to mountain bike at night with the rest of us crazies, and joined LA Fitness and is a rabid spin class guy. I told him about snowshoeing and he went out and bought them right away and is enjoying yet another outdoor activity. Besides being an avid fisherman and skier, he has all these new activities many of which he shares with his son. YOU GO JOHN!!!
A couple of weeks ago, I was skiing in the Adirondacks with my buddy Mike Smith. I told you all about him in a previous post( hit the previous posts button on the blog). Mike always introduces me to the Backwoods Ski Club gang from Gore Mountain. I was riding the gondola with them when I noticed some black stickers on their helmets which said”80+”. When I inquired, they all enthusiastically said their ages were 80+. I told them what an inspiration they were and they said look in the next gondola car. There were a couple of old woodchucks there who had 90+ on their helmets. I introduced myself to them and said they were remarkable. They said they had been skiing in the Adirondacks all of their lives and didn’t know any better.
Two years ago, I was skiing at Mt. Rose in Nevada with the Eric Durfee contingent and we noticed a bunch of guys just ripping it thorough the trees with baggy clothes and full face motorcycle helmets. When we finally caught up with them in the lodge,they took off their helmets and out flowed gray hair and gray beards. They apparently had been skiing together since they were 16 and they ride motorcross together all summer. The youngest guy was 62.
I don’t go to reunions any more. I really don’t want to sit around with people who go home at night and take a hot bath and watch Brian Williams and the NBC Evening News. No offense to Brian Williams but I would rather go out after work or on the weekends, and enjoy the slopes,or the trails on my mountain bike,or running or these crazy snow shoes. When I get home, I take a shower, eat like a teenager, visit with my family, and then fall into a coma snoring like an 18″ Poulan. Life if good!! Like I said in one of my previous posts, I want to go out with a big Giant Slalom turn and rip it into the Great Beyond. Bill McCollum, the veteran masters racer and columnist for Ski Racing Magazine says, ” I want to go skidding accross the finish line of life, missing parts, leaking oil and screaming GERONIMO!!!” Bill has it figured out. One more thing to consider when you take another look at Yukon John Staab is what is said by the heralded Christian preacher Chuck Swindoll. Chuck says ” one thing I have learned is that life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” How true. It is not too late. Read the book,” Younger Next Year”. I referred to it in a previous post. The authors have great enthusiasm and attitude. If you live that enthusiastic lifestyle, God bless you and keep up the good work. If you have not, grab life by the horns and go for it!!! Thanks for reading and God Bless.
Der Rodelrennen
From the Best of Chronicles of McCloskey
A number of years ago, I was invited by the Austrian Government to attend a two week ski instructors symposium in the Tirol region of Austria. I was one of three guys representing Western Pennsylvania. The first week was action packed as we skied in Innsbruck( Home of the 1964 Olympics), its sister resort Axams Litzum, Soelden, and Kitzbuhel. In Kitzbuhel, we not only were treated to fabulous skiing but witnessed the famed Hahnenkamm Downhill Ski Race ( the Super Bowl of Ski Racing.) The second week we were assigned to a ski school in Kuthai, Austria which is a ski resort near the Italian border. It was an interesting week. The road avalanched and for a few days, there were only a few Austrian instructors living in the resort. The others lived down the mountain and were unable to get to the resort until the road was cleared. Consequently the American visitors were pressed into service and we really enjoyed it save for the fact that the Austrians didn’t like the open stance taught by the Professional Ski Instructors of America – our organization. They liked the tight European stance which favored the famous Bogner stretch pants, and would not waiver no matter how hard we tried. But all in all, it was a great week and we learned a lot about ski instruction in the Austrian environment. The hospitality was excellent and the S.W.A.G.( stuff we all get), was overabundant. Jackets, pants, hats goggles, gloves, etc. Very extravagant gifts courtesy of the Tirol.
But for me, the highlight of the trip aside from the Hahnenkamm, was an event called Der Rodelrennen( Road Race). The deal is that the locals line the mountain road with luminaria similar to what we see on Christmas Eve. Because of the snow depth the road has sidewalls of snow that are 10-20 feet high because of the plows that displace the snow to the side of the road. The luminaria line the actual road from the top of the mountain down to the village of Kuthai. This serves as lighting to a race that is conducted on a luge like sled. These races are popular in Europe and the Kuthai version is co-ed. Because we were visiting the town, we were entered into the race and I was assigned to a rather athletic looking blonde young lady named Gabrielle. She spoke no English and I had a rather limited vocabulary of German/Austrian so the communication was sketchy at best. Gabby showed me that I was the person to steer the sled by sitting back on the sled and steeering with my feet like the fellow in the picture here. Only difference was that Der Fraulein was sitting right behind me holding on to my waist. We were a tandem preparing to be launched down the course by the overanxious starting crew who were imbibing heavily in plum schnapps.
One of the things I learned in Austria was that you never refused plum schnapps. It is not like the syrupy schnapps we have here in the states but rather like drinking Jet A Aviation fuel. When that stuff hits your poor stomach, it is in shock especially when offered in the morning before breakfast as we made our way from town to town. The night of the race, the proverbial Jet A fuel was offered once again and my stomach seemed to sense its presence and tighened up well in advance. However, it was consumed with a false grateful spirit, as the starter group pushed us into the abyss. Gabby and I started to gain speed quickly and I had to learn in a hurry how to steer the sled with my feet and the proper leaning technique so as not to crash into the walls of snow. As we picked up major speed, we were headed to the first hairpin turn and fortunately I had the presence of mind to take the bend high, steer and lean, and slightly brake with an outriggered foot. With Gabby screaming hysterically in my ear, we made the first hairpin without losing much speed and entered a major straightaway where I thought certain death loomed. But again, taking the next few turns high and being well prepared in advance, we only nicked a couple of walls and miraculously Gabrielle held on as we sped our way to the finish line.
As we saw the line in sight, a crowd was forming and I saw several cherry faced Austrians waiting for us with plum schnapps in their hands and my American instructor contingent cheering us on as we slid sideways accross the finish line. Two local teams had our time beat, but Gabby the jolly fraulein and I managed to take the bronze medal in third place. We were awarded a large bottle of champagne on the podium that night with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. The post race dinner was celebrated with our contingent, the hosts from Kuthai and Gabby and her boyfriend who cheerfully inhaled the bottle of champagne. More Jet A fuel was offered and consumed and the night seemed to fade in the glow of a sore stomach and alpenglow of the schnapps. A good time but tough medicine that schnapps.
So if you ever get the chance to ski in the Alps, check out and see if there is a Rodelrennen being contested. Most likely it would be fun to watch but from my experience, much more fun to partake. Schnapps or no schnapps. Thanks for reading.
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Right Turn……….Left Turn
Let’s return to the “edgy” side shall we? Lets talk about something really out there like……..skiing when you are visually impaired. Right now, get up from your comfortable space and close your eyes. Try to move into the next room with your eyes closed. Do this carefully please. Feels strange right? Now ratchet that up about 100 times and imagine yourself locked into a pair of skis and sliding down a mountain. Scary huh? Well that is what many folks with impaired vision have done over the last 34 years of my involvement in an organization called Western Pa. BOLD(Blind Outdoor Leisure Development.) I first became involved with BOLD 34 years ago when I returned from Maine teaching skiing for the winter. The BOLD people were looking for someone to teach the guides for the blind how to effectively teach someone to ski. In turn they taught me how to interface with folks without sight or limited sight. It has been a great ride ever since and it has been amazing to me how courageous these folks are and how trusting to turn over their physical well being to a guide.
People generally learn to ski the same way in a flat area and then work their way to movement on skis. Visually impaired folks are no different except that you have to be more hands on than simply saying ” watch me”. Once they are up and running, the commmands are usually simple. Right turn, left turn, stay in that line, stop. The guide skis behind the skier and the two of them make their way down the mountain together. A remarkable vision for most sighted people to see on the hill. People are amazed!!
Fred Siget is our oldest skier. Fred and I met 34 years ago and I accompanied him along with Larry Walsh, who is the ski writer for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, to Snowshoe,West Virginia. We worked with Fred who knew how to ski based on a little previous experience. When it came time for me to guide Fred for the first time, we were on Cup Run and there were very little people or obstacles in sight. Everything was fine until I noticed a large oak tree right in the middle of the trail. Damned if it wasn’t like a magnet that sucked Fred closer and closer as I tried to guide him around it. He eventually smacked it dead on and I felt terrible. But to Fred’s credit, he laughed and said,”my boy, that will be the first of many. Relax and you will be fine.” Fred and I have had many runs since then at Vail,Colorado, Seven Springs,and the National Blind Skiing Championships. He is a trooper and is now 90 years young. One of the best memories I have of Fred is when he told me he wanted to drive again. I said ok and we went to the upper lot at the Seven Springs Resort which was snow covered and I turned the wheel of my International Scout over to Fred. We laughed like hyenas as he floored it following my instructions on where to drive. The tears of joy in his eyes were something I will never forget along with the satisfaction that he didn’t flip my Scout when doing donuts in the parking lot that night.
Many other characters have entered and exited the ski program. We had an ex Hell’s Angel from Chicago decked in all of his gear learning to ski. The leathers and the chains and tattoos were not in accordance with standard ski garb but he sure had fun. Good thing!!! We had a nun who insisted on skiing with her habit and a ski jacket. She said to me to be careful because she had a colostomy. I encouraged her not to fall because it might cause interference with my ski wax. If you know what a Poma lift is, (surface lift with a long pole and platter that you put between your thighs to pull you uphill), I had the pleasure of getting behind many overweight blind skiers and going up the lift in tandem with my arms around them hoping that the two of us would not tip over. A lot of these folks relied on me to ski in front of them with their arms around me from behind and the two of us would glide down hill in a double wedge with my thighs screaming at me all night. What a workout. My good buddy John Good is a big fellah who liked to ski with a flask. He also liked to ski with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth and he had a penchant for going the opposite direction of what I was asking him to do. Left turn John……no the other left John……..crash into the snow fence. John giggled, took a good belt from the flask and lit up another cig and said,” Lets go !!!!!” What a guy.
We have two ladies who are terrific skiers. Nancy Leverett who can ski basically everything with style and grace. She probably skis better than most sighted skiers. Nancy skis out west regularly and is really a “sight” to see. Maggie Ostrowski was a bronze medalist in the Atlanta Para-Olympics in Goal Ball( a form of soccer), and is equally gifted as a skier. Our guides are marvelous folks who offer their time and compassion. The bright orange bibs that say “Blind Skier” are visible often during the winter and the general public often remarks to me what an inspiration these folks are to the skiing population. I agree but I internalize the inspiration not so much by what they do on the slopes but by their courage to overcome their “disablity” and interact with the general public. When they ski, they are not disabled at all. They are part of the fun, bright, thrill seeking tribe that we call skiers. You can open your eyes now!! Right turn……Left turn…….back to your living room. Thanks for reading. For more informaiton on BOLD, contact http://www.wpabold.org.
A True Gentleman
From the Best of Chroniclesofmccloskey.com
I am going to “shift gears” here for a moment( no pun intended) and talk about a true American sports icon. The picture you see here is of yours truly in the foreground and a gentleman you might not instantly recognize if you are not a cyclist. This man is currently the only American to officially win the Tour De France. In fact he won it 3 times. His run was interrupted by an unfortunate hunting accident with his brother in law where he was accidently shot. He recovered and went on to win the Tour again. An astounding feat considering the scope of his injuries. I am speaking of none other than Greg LeMond.
I have had the good fortune to be invited to a charity bicycle ride in Maryland for the last three years where Greg was the featured guest. JR Ellis, Ken Krieger and I were invited each year by our friend Scott Weiner who is on the board of 1 in 6. 1-in 6 is an organization that was formed to help men who were abused as children. Greg is also on the board with Scott and devotes countless hours in serving the needs of men all over the country. The significance of 1 in 6 is that one out of every six men have been abused as a child. An astounding statistic that makes one take notice. Greg is not only involved in the organization but spends a considerable amount of time every year with many charitable organizations as well as his many businesses which are related to the bicycle industry. LeMond is an innovator. For instance, he was a seminal founder of the technology that inspired Giro Helmets. He worked with Boone Lennon, a former US Ski Team coach, to develop the aero bar which puts a bicycle rider in an aerodynamic position during a time trial in a bike race. In the 1987 Tour, Greg used the aero bar and his position allowed him to ride between 35-37 MPH during the final time trial of the Tour that year. Greg won by 8 seconds over Laurent Fignon, a Tour winner from France and very competitive rider. One of the interesting things that Greg recounted on our ride was that he was criticized for using the bar almost as if he was cheating. But Greg said that Fignon had the opportunity to use the bar but he and his coach Cyrille Guimard refused to use it. Over a 2500 mile race that averaged 25 MPH over three weeks, the race came down to 8 seconds. Had Fignon opted to use the bars, who knows what the result would have been but Greg was the innovative winner.
JR, Scott, Ken and I rode many miles with the Tour champion during these events and the interesting thing is that most of the people in the ride either were concentrating on their own ride or they don’t really know what Greg has accomplished in his 52 years. As you can see from the picture, he is older but the guy can still ride. You will also note that he has a camera around his neck. He is so comfortable on the bike that he can ride for long periods of time without his hands on the bars and take pictures of the Maryland countryside. Amazing!!
Again, LeMond is an innovator and his stories of the industry and his involvement are riveting and makes riding with him educational as well as very pleasurable. The nice thing about LeMond is that he is personable, will sign autographs for hours at a time and spends long hours after the ride talking to anyone who approaches him. A truly admirable way to live for a world renowned celebrity. No question is left unanswered and his passion for the sport of cycling has not dwindled one bit since his Tour days. As you take another look at this picture, you will see that I am saying something to him and he is amused. Imagine the patience of this man listening to my stories for 85 miles. But, this is LeMond. Professional, caring, innovative, and entrepreneurial. A true gentleman.
You will hear a lot about another Tour champion who has been disgraced. There have been many allegations and truths that have come out which contrast the career of Greg LeMond. In keeping with the guiding precepts of my blog, I always concentrate on the positive and the lighthearted stories. No matter what you hear, always know that there is at least one guy in the sport of bicycle racing who has always been a clean competitor and a true representative of the American spirit that went to Europe and competed against the worlds best on their stage. LeMond was a pioneer breaking into the old world network of European Road Racing. I am so fortunate to have made his acquaintance and look forward to riding with him again this summer. If I am invited Scott( hint, hint). If you would like more information on the 1 in 6 organization, you can view their web site at http://www.1in6.org. Thanks for reading.
The older we get, the better we were.
Hi- the guy you see here who hates to have his picture taken is my good friend Mike Smith from Pilot Knob,NY. Mike and I first met 41 years ago when he was a ranger at Laurel Mountain Ski Area in the Laurel Highlands of Western Pa. He and I have been friends and have skied together a long time. In fact, I just got back from skiing Gore Mountain in the Adirondacks with Mike and we had a great day together as always. Tested out a new pair of Stockli VXL skis which I just purchased and they were great at Gore. But I digress. Mike is a great friend. He is also an interesting guy. He owns a marina on Lake George, is an accomplished acrobatic pilot, has over 1900 jumps to his credit as a skydiver. I count Mike among my very best of friends.
The second photo here is of my ski group in Tahoe.
The last picture is of my very best friend, my wife Janet.
I had this poor soul skiing in the rain the other day and if she looks a bit forlorn, it is because she was being pelted with freezing rain on the chair lift. Strangely, she has claimed this as a bit of a badge of honor. She skied well that day, as always, and with an exuberant laugh, said” I skied in the rain for the first time. Pretty good don’t you think?”
I have similar friends who share my passion for cycling like JR Ellis, Pete Hilton, and John Staab. The point is that as we get older, friends who share your passion keep you in the game. You can share your enthusiasm with them and they can return the favor and you can create great memories. Then you can tell each other that ” the older you get, the better you were.”
One final note. I just finished reading a great book recommended by another “outdoorsy” friend of mine, Pat Heffernan. This book is called,” Younger Next Year”by Chris Crowley and Henry Lodge M.D. I highly recommend it to all of you because to us active folks, it affirms out lifestyle and to those who need a little kick in the butt, it is a great read. The basic premise is to exercise 6 days a week for the rest of your life. If you do, they claim that you can do the same activities that you enjoy currently for the rest of your life. Exercise wards off a lot of ills that come with inactivity especially as we age. But one of the most compelling ideas presented in this book is the notion that as you age, you need friends and if you are fortunate enough, a spouse or significant other with whom to share the next third of your life. Human beings need companionship and relations, otherwise we wither into decay. To have friends and a significant other or spouse who also shares your passions, is a true blessing indeed. Count those blessings, cherish your friends and leap into the next third. I want to do what I do until I am old. I will do it with friends and maybe be fortunate enough at a ripe old age to rocket a great GS turn right into the Great Beyond. No decay for me!!! Thanks for reading.
There is snow…….and then there is SNOW!!
I am sitting here in Baltimore Airport waiting for a flight and I am looking out the window at brown grass, sunny skies, and the Chesapeake Bay. Not really what I want to see in January although this weekend, I will be in the Adirondacks with my long time pal Mike Smith skiing at Gore. New England has snow, Pa. has snow but it is relative to the pictures that I am showing in this post from Sugar Bowl, California. Most cities in the country talk about snow in inches. It puts people into a panic where they rush to the local grocery store to pick up emergency supplies like food, water and toilet paper. They hear 2-4 inches and the world stops and they wonder if the Armaggeddon is upon us. In the Donner Pass, where these pictures are taken, and in Tahoe where my friends the Durfees live, they measure snow in feet. Eric Durfee routinely calls me and tells me that they are receiving 6 feet of snow over the weekend. Amazing isn’t it?
I usually get out to ski with Eric a couple of times a year with the annual guys week in Tahoe and Mammoth. Two years ago, we received 14 feet of snow in one week. The locals in Tahoe and the Reno area treat those conditions with respect but they don’t rush to the grocery store. One night, it was my turn to drive the group to dinner and it snowed a foot while we were getting ready. I drove the group in Helen Durfee’s 4 wheel drive van. Not the monster 4 wheel drive Sport Mobile that Eric drives but the normal 4 wheel drive van. When we were finished with dinner, another 2 feet had fallen and being the easterner that I am, I drove carefully with the flashers on and the local pick up trucks blew by me like I was standing still. They have massive equipment out there that blows the snow up and over the side of the highway so that mid winter, you feel like you are driving in a huge maze where the sidewalls are well over 14 feet high.
Obviously the skiing in these conditions is epic and our last day at Northstar two years ago was an amazing day filled with several feet of new snow. It was snowing so hard that our tracks from previous runs were filled in by the time we made another run on those trails. Skiing for 8 days with deep powder conditions is something some people wait a lifetime to get. We had it big that week and I am hoping for more of that in the years to come.
One danger of that type of snow is avalanche. The ski areas are good about avalanche control but I never make the mistake of ignoring closure signs or going out of the resort into the backcountry. That type of skiing is very popular now but if you don’t have shovels, probes, and Pieps or other transmitting devices that will alert rescue personnel of your position, you are making a huge mistake. Lots of really good skiers have died recently because they didn’t heed the weather forecasts or the avalanche conditions of the area. You can never be too careful when it comes to epic snow storms. Pay attention to the trail closures and never go out into the backcountry unprepared.
Check these pictures out and you will be amazed by what mother nature doles out to the western mountains. In the mean time, I will brave the bullet proof conditions of the east until I get to the west this season.
Maine Memories
At the risk of being “risque” I am posting one of the most famous ski posters of all time. Gadda stay edgy or people won’t read your blog.:) This is the 1972 Lange ” Keep your tips up” poster. There have been many conversations about this poster over the years and one of the pervading questions is ” who was this girl in the poster?” She actually was from Stratton, Maine and I met her when I was working in Sugarloaf, Maine in 1977. As you would suspect, she had no truck with me or any of my granola crunching, woodchuck friends who worked at the ski area. We were way below her “pay grade.” She was a rock star in the Carrabassett Valley.
Her parents were a nice old couple who ran a motel accross the street from where I was staying in Stratton. Ralph and Margaret were an interesting couple. She was a pretty native american lady and Ralph was a crusty old Mainer who was as wise as he was tough as nails. We had many conversations on those cold, clear nights and some of his gems that he told me were,” Don’t ever trust a traffic light up here. Look both ways because the logging trucks can’t and won’t stop coming in from Canada.” Don’t ever go accross the border and go to a bar looking like a college kid. You will surely get your butt kicked.” ” If you see a bull moose, give it distance because they can charge you.” I found that out in a hurry one night when I came accross one right outside of the town of Kingfield. My VW was no match for him. I jammed it in reverse and laid tire for a couple of hundred yards.
It was cold that winter and waking to 40 below straight temperature was no picnic. But Sugarloaf is a wonderful ski area. I used to watch the Can-Am Downhill Ski Races there on the Narrow Gauge trail. I saw the Crazy Canucks as they were making their way to the International World Cup scene. Todd Brooker, Ken Reid, Steve Podborski all raced at Sugarloaf. The Narrow Gauge was an unforgiving rock hard track and one poor bugger lost one of his skis coming over the rise about halfway down and shouted,” MEDIC” as he rocketed into the woods. We thought that comment was funny until we saw the ski patrol fish him out of the woods and haul him to the hospital. I learned a lot about skiing that winter. I often think about those days and about Ralph and Margaret and whether their daughter ever made a killing from that poster. Ralph told me that he met his wife at a dance on the other side of the mountain. He had taken his dog sled to the dance and after he met Margaret, they were instantly attracted to each other and he strapped all her belongings on to the back of the sled and took her back over the mountain to Stratton where he married her and she helped him run the motel and raise a family. Maybe I should have taken a dog sled to Bellevue and taken my wife Janet back to Hampton Twp,Pa. It would have been a great story but tough sledding over Rt 19 and Rt 8.
I will always cherish those days and I tell young people all the time that after they graduate, if they feel like doing something fun and adventurous, do it. My good friend Art Bonavoglia is working in Vail as a ski instructor this year at 60 years old. He didn’t have the opportunity as a young guy but he is living the dream now thanks to the patience of his wife Sharon. They love him in Vail. Carpe Deium Art.
Passion!!
You know, whatever you do in life, it is important in my opinion to do it with passion. People have romantic passion. They have passion about their work or spiritual life. But passion is what makes a good athlete great, a businessman successful,and a marriage that continues to grow. Life in general is much better if you find at least one thing where passion dictates the path on which you travel.
Another dimension of passion is how you approach a hobby or a sport in which you participate. Golf is a sport where most participants see it as a lifestyle rather that just something that one does. You either play golf, or you are……….a golfer. Skiing is a similar pastime where it becomes part of the fabric of your life if you approach it with passion and dedication. That is what happened to me through the efforts of my folks who did not ski by the way. I remember it was my dad”s birthday in March of 1962 and he took my mother, my sister and me to Seven Springs Resort here in Western Pennsylvania for the first time. It was a horrendous night on the turnpike but my folks thought that this would be a great sport for my sister and I to learn. Fast forward to a year later, I will never forget the feeling as I awoke on Christmas day to find a pair of Innsbruck wooden skis with cable bindings and Saska leather boots which were lace boots. My dad bloddied his knuckles many times tying those boots for me until he made me learn how to do it correctly. My folks had thrown the bait to me and I grabbed it and was hooked for life. Every day I called the ski report to listen to the god of all skiing, Lars Skylling, give those famous words on the ski report……….” The skiing is GOOD to EXCELLENT!!!” I read the Seven Springs brochures cover to cover until they were ragged and was thrilled that I got to ski at night on rock hard ice and brutally cold conditions. But I was hooked and the experience fueled my passion to this day. God bless Carol and Dick McCloskey. They would love to see that 51 years later, I am still following my passion to ski.
Bob Rose, Sally Rose, Barley Rich and Dixon Rich, who were our neighbors, took all of us neighbor kids to the next level when they bought a farm house on County Line Road right near Seven Springs. Every weekend we would pile into the Rose staion wagon and hit the mountains for the weekend. My mom would have dinner ready for me at 4:30 and I would wait by the phone for Bob Rose to call and tell me what time he was picking Molly and me up for the ride to the slopes. We had so many great times in that farmhouse and at the slopes. It’s funny, today you would never think of dropping off a kid to ski all day, give him some ravioli money for dinner, and them pick up the kid at 11:00 passed out in front of the huge fire in the ski lodge. But that was how we rolled in those days. We were skiing all day and night until Bob came by and woke us up with the familiar salutation,” Wake up dummy – time to leave.” I loved Bob Rose and Sally and Barley and Dixon. Great neighbors who had a “passion” for skiing and a “passion ” for kids.
People ask me today, how many ski areas I have skied in my lifetime and I tell them 107. They ask why I still ski around Western Pa when I have the opportunity to ski elsewhere and I tell them that I can’t be out west or in New England every weekend and that I like to make turns no matter where I am. There is nothing better than stepping into your bindings, pushing off, pressurizing your ankles and making that first turn of the day. No matter where you are- it is fueled by passion. Just like the golfer who steps to the first tee, gets settled, makes that nice loose swing and flushes one right out the middle of the fairway. The feeling is marvelous just like a turn. You don’t appreciate these things unless you have passion. If you don’t have it, do yourself a favor and get involved in a hobby, a sport, or another pursuit that offers you the rewards of hard work and commitment. By the way,the picture is of one of my first ski passes. That fat little kid is still doing it 51 years later. God Bless
The Youthful Picture
The picture you see on my home page is a youthful version of yours truly a long time ago in a galaxy far far away. Tuckerman Ravine,New Hampshire is the venue and home to some of the most vicious weather in all of the earth. The winds that have ravaged the summit of Mount Washington which is directly above the Ravine have been clocked at 268 MPH which are the highest wind speeds ever recorded. Tuckerman Ravine is also home to the annual rite of passage for many New Englanders in the spring who are seeking a rugged adventure coupled with the thrill of skiing 50 degree plus couloirs that ribbon the face of the Ravine.
For seven years in a row, my good friend Eric Durfee( now residing in Incline Village,Nevada) and I packed up our external frame packs with food, beverages, sleeping bags and pads and our skis with boots secured in the bindings and trudged up the AMC Trail to the Hermit Lake Shelter Area. Here you can rest for the night in a “lean to” shelter which can be secured by contacting the Appalachian Mounhtain Club in Pinkham Notch,New Hampshire. It was always an interesting night hike with Eric because it involved an all day drive for me from Pennsylvania coupled with the 3 hour trek from Vermont ( home to the Durfees at the time) and a 2 hour hike up to the shelter dependent on trail conditions. One interesting night, I had the good fortune of downing 2 Big Macs and a large Coke in record time because my starvation level had reached its peak during the passage through North Conway,New Hampshire. You would think that a quaint little town like North Conway in the valley below the Presidential Range would be void of fast food but as we all know, the Arches extend them selves world wide in the most remote of places. Needless to say, I welcomed the sight and inhaled the tasty two all beef patties, pickles, lettuce, special sauce, on a sesame seed bun in record time and began my trek to Hermit Lake.
About half way up that night, I got a rumbly in my tumbly as Winnie would say and the 80 pound pack was ejected to the side of the trail as I rocketed to the nearest remote place and rid myself of the most vile biomaterial I have ever witnessed. This unfortunate cycle continued for 4 more rounds until I reached the shelter dehydrated and pale as the icing on a wedding cake and a long way from home. Eric claims that the echos in the woods that night seemed as if a wounded wolf was stuck in a trap as the pain of that gastrointestnal adventure reverberated in the serene pine trees of the Presidentials.
After a restful evening in the shelter, save for the romantic interludes of a Canadian couple at the other end of the shelter, we woke to clear skies and happy climbing to ski some of the most storied runs in all of skiing. To the left of the Headwall is The Left Gulley and Dodges Drop. As you summit these ribbons of joy, the slope begins to get real vertical and you can actually reach in front of you and touch what you will ski. The technique is always to kick steps on your way up with your skis over your shoulder and your ski boots on. Once you reach the top, you basically shove the tails of your skis into the vertical slope, gingerly slip into your bindings and drop into your first turns. A person in decent shape can make about 6-8 runs per day. The weather is always changing and you can be in a T shirt and wind pants one minute with the sun warming your face and facing a raging snow storm with 90 MPH winds in the blink of a frostbitten eye. But these are the adventures that you long for when you go to the Ravine and although my friend Eric says that there are hundreds of Tuckerman Ravines throughout Nevada and California, there is only one Tuckerman with its famous stories and infamous personal stories shared by skiers all over the world.
So as you look at this young fellow on the home page, you will see the adventure, the joy, the excitement of a 27 year old guy with the world of adventure ahead of him and behind him to some extent. As I continue to blog away here for you, I hope to present some fun, some romantic and exhilarating times and the notion that if we all continue to do the things that we always liked to do, we can enjoy life well into our 80s and maybe 90s. BS you say?? I think not. As Dylan Thomas would say…………” Do not go gently into that good night……….RAGE RAGE against the dying of the light.” God Bless.
The beginning
Hi Friends – well I am trying to start a new blog recounting the many stories of my skiing life for the last 51 years. Many of these stories you may have heard and many may be new, but i can guarantee a lot of laughs and a lot of fun if you follow and spread the word about this blog. I will do my best to keep up and post as many stories and pictures as I can. So jump into the http://chroniclesofmccloskey.com and see the fun begin.
chroniclesofmccloskey 