Don't look now, but ski areas across the Midwest are closing fast. Especially from the Twin Cities and south, the snowpack is unlikely to make it past this warm and rainy weekend ahead. What that means is pond skip season is upon us. For many ski areas, like Afton Alps last weekend, the pond skip …
Midwest Ski Journal likes to highlight a few pieces of skiing internet worth your time in Linking Turns. Find the best, most important, least important and otherwise links here each week. This week MSJ looked at a list of books about skiing before diving into a newspaper feature about Wisconsin's Tyrol Basin and its new, …
Continue reading Linking Turns: Ski books, Tyrol Basin’s new vision and a ski rental satire
After six hours of driving, all roads to the Denver Airport were closed and every hotel room booked. I cranked up the heat in the car, shut it off and tried to grab a few hours of sleep before white-knuckling up I-25 at 3 a.m. to return my car and hopefully head home. The travel …
Continue reading Skiing the bomb cyclone: Taos and Wolf Creek
I’m sharing with you an idea that I can’t believe isn’t already in practice at so many ski areas: Lift line vendors. Why isn’t there someone with a beer cooler (like at sports stadiums all over the country) that walks through the maze of anxious skiers and riders offering them beers, snacks and more? I’ll …
Continue reading Lift line vendors: How is this not a thing?
Midwest Ski Journal likes to highlight a few pieces of skiing internet worth your time in Linking Turns. Find the best, most important, least important and otherwise links here each week. This week, we dig into the Gwyneth Paltrow ski collision lawsuit saga before taking a look at the latter career of ski legend Glen …
Continue reading Linking Turns: Gwyneth Paltrow scandal, Glen Plake goes small, and ski dads
I know it feels like we aren't done with 2019 yet, but here's why you should be ready to buy your 2019/2020 season pass this month. Whether you like it or not, the window of our ski season (especially in the Midwest) is closing fast. As hills see the end in sight, they are offering …
Continue reading It’s season pass deal season. Here’s what you need to know.
In the entire Midwest, I can find but two ski areas that have a policy for uphill skier access. The rest have no stated policy. At Lutsen Mountains, uphill travel is prohibited. You must ride the lifts to ski down. Over in Michigan at Boyne Mountain, uphill travel is permitted, so you can hike for …
Continue reading The great gray area: Uphilling in the Midwest
Midwest Ski Journal likes to highlight a few pieces of skiing internet worth your time in Linking Turns. Find the best, most important, least important and otherwise links here each week. This week we look at an interview with the owner of Whitecap Mountain, which sustained and survived a base lodge fire in January. Then, …
Now that a particularly snowy February has come and gone, MSJ wanted to take a look around the Midwest to see who has the best snowpacks heading into what is the final month of the season for most hills. Deep snow at Welch Village. (MSJ/March 2) While this list can give you an idea of …
Continue reading Ranking the Midwest’s snowpacks heading into ‘Spring’
There's no way around it: Lengthy travel is required if you want to find steep skiing when you're a Midwesterner. Luckily, I'm one to enjoy the long drives or flights to the alpine and that's due, in part, to these two podcasts I'll recommend here. Some music can only get you so far before the …
Continue reading ‘Listen to skiing’: The sport’s best podcasts
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