Tag Archives: June Mountain Ski Area

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Have a Bernie Bar and Relax

So, I opened up a box that came in the mail the other day and to my surprise, it was a box of Bernie Bars from my skiing friend Mark Hutchinson up in Vermont. Hutch is a retired postal service employee and ex-ski coach at Stowe, and knows Bernie from his routes around Randolph Center. I joked with Hutch about where my Bernie Bars were, and lo and behold- they showed up. LOL!! Hutch and his lovely wife Nancy are fun people to ski with, they are avid hikers, and enjoy everything about the Green Mountains of Vermont. In typical Vermont fashion, their political persuasions are more towards the left of center, and I have always admired their zeal to persuade folks towards their way of thinking.(Ethan Allen would be proud ) I personally am becoming more and more a-political, but Hutch keeps me informed on the happenings in the government world and relays his experiences to me. Rich Roll said the other day on his podcast that the most effective way of communication is to not give advice, but rather relay experiences. The Hutchinsons have lots of experience with Nancy and her avid hiking and writing, and Hutch with his ski racing and coaching background. And they are well read on the political scene in Vermont.

Mark and Nancy skiing with us in Bend last winter.

The cool thing about skiing and hiking is that both sports attract those of us who love the outdoors, no matter what we do for a living, what our political persuasions are, whether we have faith or no faith, and have different educational backgrounds. Rarely will you hear a heated political debate on the slopes or the trails. Rather the conversation tends to be about ski technique, ski areas, the conditions of the day, and in hiking, remarking on the beauty of the trails and the great day together. You make really good friends on the ski slopes and hiking trails, many of those friendships last a lifetime – like mine with Hutch and Nancy.

Hutch and I in Mammoth several years ago.

Nancy is a school teacher and a gifted writer and we have shared experiences with our passion for writing. Hutch is a real student of ski technique, and we have many conversations about that topic. He sends me videos all summer which I love to get, seeing that I can talk about skiing all summer too. But rarely do we get into a political discussion. My view is what do we really know? What is spin and what is not? On either side of the spectrum. I don’t get too excited because there is not much I can do about the world today other than perhaps cast my vote to get someone in or out of office. Also being kind to people helps, because you never know what they are going through. Kindness is definitely a way to make a difference- one person at a time, one neighborhood at a time. Politics is not really that important to me (maybe it should be?) – but Hutch keeps me in the game. I have learned things that I did not know before. And he sent me Bernie Bars!

Lifetime friends Eric and Hutch at June Mountain, California.

I have spent a lot of time skiing with Hutch, especially when our friend Eric was laid up and could not ski at times. Hutch and I would go out and ski and never look at a map. We just went wherever we felt like going. LOL! Hutch has a wonderful sense of humor and he makes me laugh when we ski and maneuver our way around a ski area. He finds the funny things about skiing and has me in stiches, as many times he was my room- mate on our guys ski trips – organized by Eric Durfee. I tend to think that Hutch missed his calling. I have videos of him commenting on camera up at Whiteface and at June Mountain out in California. He is so articulate on those videos and also humorous. I have posted them to the amusement of my ski friends.

So, the upcoming election cycle has a lot of people with their shorts in a wad. There is going to be a lot of political division even more so than what is taking place right now. It is good to educate yourself, but like Rich Roll says, just relay your experiences in conversation and don’t ruin a good friendship with a political discussion that will really not make much of a difference anyhow. Enjoy your friends. Eat a Bernie Bar and enjoy it as people all around you lose their heads. Ski with a friend, hike with a friend, and enjoy the outdoors because the older you get, those quality days left are really what is important anyhow. Thanks for reading.

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The Wrap Up

Enforcement

The one thing I will say this year about the ski season was ………that I was glad that we HAD a ski season. From changing my boots in the lot at Laurel Mountain to the Covid 19 security seen above at June Mountain, Ca. the theme was always the same. Please comply with the mask and social distance rules so that we can stay open. Admittedly there is a lot of controversy about masks but it is a small price to pay for the knowledge that the areas were doing the best that they can to stay open during the pandemic. The gentleman above said to me that he appreciates all the public was doing this season to help them stay open. He was concerned not only about the skiing, but for the welfare of the many employees that operate a ski area. Their livelihoods depended on compliance from the public.

No matter where I went this year, the theme was the same. Please comply for us to stay open. It was interesting to see how things transpired as the season went on. The mask laws were always enforced everywhere. When Jan and I went to Deer Valley, Utah in February, they had staff monitoring the lift lines to make sure that people had their masks on and up and over the nose. Signs were everywhere in ski areas this year instructing people to social distance in the lift lines and everywhere on the premises.

The only thing that was hard to monitor for the lift line staff was riding the chair lift. In the beginning of the season, there seemed to be more of a concern for only riding two people per chair- whether it was a triple or a 6 pack. That seemed to expand the lines significantly. Then there was the polite request from the lift line monitors for people to ride together if comfortable. More and more people rode together which reduced the lines but face masks were still enforced no matter how many people loaded the lifts together. Everyone had the option to ride alone. We were at Mt. Rose in Tahoe last Monday and a guy beside me requested to ride alone. I told him I completely understood and he was very gracious. I also told him that we were all fully vaccinated and he said he was too but didn’t trust anybody. He was nice about it but stood firm that he wanted to ride alone and that was fine with us. Generally the line monitors everywhere gave people a chance to ride as they felt comfortable.

All in all, I had the opportunity to get a good read on how the ski areas were doing with initially skiing in the East and then two western ski trips to see how it was being handled in Utah, California and Nevada. One of the other comments from the ski area personnel was that they knew they were being monitored by the state. And their fear was that if the state saw non-compliance or lack of enforcement on the part of the ski areas, they would shut them down. This was the fear from last summer when there was a lot of speculation about whether the ski areas would open for 2020-2021 and if they would stay open. So far so good. My intel from friends in Colorado and Vermont also confirmed that initially there were issues with chair lift lines but as the season progressed, that seemed to wane a bit. The larger areas had lift line issues but the smaller areas or more remote areas had no issues at all.

June Mountain , Ca. views never disappoint.

So as we wrap up another ski season as the areas slowly start to close, I am again grateful that we had a season in these very trying times. It will be interesting to see how the areas did financially seeing that there was a different scene this year. No big apres ski scenes, restaurants at 50% capacity at best with the “Grab and Go” food options being the norm. Most areas got their money up front with the sale of IKON and Epic Passes which is the only way to go considering the price of daily lift tickets. But the food and beverage sales had to take a hit. Again- it will be interesting to see what they report as far as revenue and what lies ahead for the 2021-2022 ski season. I always get a little melancholy with the knowledge that I won’t be on the slopes for another 8 months. I thought about that when I was making some nice giant arcs on some great groomers at the end of the day at Mt. Rose. I thought to myself” Pat- this is what you need to think about this summer when you are getting that ski itch.” I love the feeling of making the skis carve on some great groomers. It brings a smile to your face for sure. Even though the western snow pack was down 50% this year, and the really cool stuff was not accessible, it was still fun to rip the groomers and that feeling of making a nice rounded arc turn never gets old. So bring on the spring and summer. They are fun seasons too, but I will be looking forward to another ski season as the leaves start to turn in the fall. Thanks for reading .