tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9360825Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:50:37 +0000News and commentary on snowboarding from a middle-aged guy in the Midwest who thinks that riding is too much fun to be left to the kids. See more on this topic at www.graysontrays.comhttp://graysontrays.com/blog/noreply@blogger.com (PolicyGuy)Blogger504125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9360825.post-6930709379999230465Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:40:00 +00002009-10-29T08:50:37.635-05:00AspenIf you still have some disposable income, now's the time to take advantage of the recession, with companies offering up new deals.The Aspen Ski Co, for example, has teamed up with the local lodging establishments to entice you to visit during March with the "Kids Ski and Stay Free in March" promotion. There is, as you might expect, as asterisk. Here's how an article in the Aspen Times put it: "http://graysontrays.com/blog/2009/10/ski-in-aspen-stay-free.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (GraysOnTrays)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9360825.post-3552265408864958572Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:55:00 +00002009-10-29T08:20:10.012-05:00Is the person who wrote that blog entry or newspaper article on the take, and where's the appropriate role for government to police the press? These and other questions are swirling around in recent days, as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced earlier this month that bloggers must disclose, under penalty of law, freebies they receive. The draft regulations haven't yet gone into effect, http://graysontrays.com/blog/2009/10/making-federal-case-out-of-blogging.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (GraysOnTrays)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9360825.post-4613702976341542048Sun, 25 Oct 2009 12:25:00 +00002009-10-25T10:32:25.240-05:00Yesterday I mentioned attending a meeting of ski clubs and learning about nordic walking. If that seems too tame, consider something else I learned about: snowkiting. Think of wakeboarding, but powered by the wind rather than a boat motor.What a contrast! Nordic walking versus snowkiting. "Anyone can do that" versus "Ooh, that looks dangerous." Something that maximizes the control that you have http://graysontrays.com/blog/2009/10/snowkiting-ride-with-wind.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (GraysOnTrays)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9360825.post-8208243063941798073Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:00:00 +00002009-10-24T22:38:03.909-05:00If you plan to go cross-country skiing but leave your skis behind, does that mean that you're nordic walking?Last night I went to a beginning-of-the-season meeting of the Midwest Sport/Ski Council, a collection of ski clubs. The purpose of the meeting seemed to be to introduce members and prospective club members of upcoming group trips, and give people the chance to socialize.The biggest block http://graysontrays.com/blog/2009/10/nordic-walking.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (GraysOnTrays)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9360825.post-7134644311838594696Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:35:00 +00002009-10-20T07:48:22.805-05:00resort businessA book review about a new book on spontaneous order and politics throws out a point about snowboarding as well. It's meant to be an illustration of the unpredictability of life, and how it's important to adapt--or die.Harrison sees neoclassical economics, both free-market and interventionist, as stuck in a static-equilibrium-model way of thinking that deters progress and limits understanding. http://graysontrays.com/blog/2009/10/snowboarding-prevented-major.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (GraysOnTrays)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9360825.post-826299509027156641Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:50:00 +00002009-10-19T11:08:33.651-05:00vacation planningski areasWhat can you do if you love snowboarding but get sick when you go to the mountains? One option is to seek out ski areas that offer a bit-mountain experience at a lower altitude.Recently I compiled such a list. I started with all the ski areas in the U.S., and then cut out everything with a a vertical drop of less than 2,000 feet. I used this admittedly arbitrary number to define a "real" mountainhttp://graysontrays.com/blog/2009/10/big-mountain-low-base.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (GraysOnTrays)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9360825.post-5134103920356083933Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:39:00 +00002009-10-15T22:16:29.045-05:00Michigan ski areasToday I was at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport when I heard the "last call" for a flight to Hancock, Michigan."Hancock, Michigan? There's no such place," I thought, drawing on my nearly 30 years of living in the state. Then I realized my mistake: There certainly is a Hancock, and it is the second city in the twin cities of Houghton-Hancock. It's a small combination, to be sure, http://graysontrays.com/blog/2009/10/its-not-end-of-earth-but-maybe-you-can.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (GraysOnTrays)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9360825.post-448759288971169779Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:28:00 +00002009-10-13T12:10:18.095-05:00snowboard bootscontestsWant to go to Jackson Hole on the cheap? Go to GripYourWorld.com to enter (one time only) for your chance to win a trip for two, including air fare, lodging, and lift tickets. There are also weekly prizes of shoes and boots. All you need to do to enter is supply your name and a valid e-mail address.The contest is sponsored by Vibram, a company that provides specialized soles for snowboard boots http://graysontrays.com/blog/2009/10/win-trip-to-jackson-hole.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (GraysOnTrays)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9360825.post-3551447321265065716Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:07:00 +00002009-10-07T21:30:28.011-05:00snowboarding magazinesOne challenge in being a middle-aged snowboarder is finding reading materials that are written more like the New Yorker--or even USA Today--and less like ... well, I'm not going to go there. A few years ago I wrote a review of snowboarding magazines, and didn't much like what I saw.In particular, I had harsh words for TransWorld Snowboarding. One reason is that it is the industry standard and hashttp://graysontrays.com/blog/2009/10/transworld-snowboarding-says-old-folks.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (GraysOnTrays)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9360825.post-2720699882570528722Sat, 26 Sep 2009 01:13:00 +00002009-09-25T21:52:02.131-05:00We've finally joined the new media world. The Grays on Trays site now has a Facebook page, a Facebook group, and a Twitter feed. There's also the original bulletin board.http://graysontrays.com/blog/2009/09/meet-other-riders-on-facebook-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (GraysOnTrays)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9360825.post-8163864666290983529Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:11:00 +00002009-09-24T19:33:22.719-05:00Snowboarding historyDozens if not hundreds of children across the United States will write a school paper about snowboarding this school year. Unfortunately some of them may get one basic fact wrong.The October 2009 edition of Family Fun magazine has a short mention of "Famous Firsts," a book by Natalie Rompella. The mini-review in the magazine reads, in part:"When Wendy Poppen was a young child, she wanted to surf http://graysontrays.com/blog/2009/09/michigan-not-minnesota-home-to-snurfer.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (GraysOnTrays)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9360825.post-23271042760532231Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:13:00 +00002009-09-23T13:13:00.354-05:00snowboarding equipmentThe latest innovation in snowboarding is the rocker or reverse camber board. To grossly oversimplify things, if you hold up a traditional snowboard at eye-level and look at it from tip to tale, you'll see something like a railroad overpass, with a peak in the middle. The rocker board, by contrast, looks more like a banana.There are a variety of opinions about which board is preferable. Some http://graysontrays.com/blog/2009/09/is-technology-tool-or-crutch.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (GraysOnTrays)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9360825.post-3604982674926381159Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:29:00 +00002009-09-24T14:39:08.944-05:00snowboarding statisticsHow many snowboarders are there? Read on.Transworld Business has the latest on the SnowSports Industries America 2009 SIA Intelligence Report.Among the points that Mike Lewis found in the report.More and more sales are taking place online. That's no surprise, given that the market skews younger than the general population. Sales (by units, not dollars) grew 23% online, but fell 4% in specialty http://graysontrays.com/blog/2009/09/is-slide-in-snowboarding-participation.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (GraysOnTrays)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9360825.post-4562255650361603962Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:33:00 +00002009-09-22T12:28:25.532-05:00Who woulda thunk it? The leading artificial slope in the U.S.A. for doing freestyle tricks is at a university founded by fundamentalist Christian leader Jerry Falwell.Snowboard Revolution took in the grand opening of the Liberty Mountain Snowflex Center, which uses a synthetic material (Snowflex) to simulate an alpine slope.Writer Billy Bacon was impressed with what he saw.I'd prefer to go http://graysontrays.com/blog/2009/09/1-place-in-usa-for-artificial-slope.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (GraysOnTrays)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9360825.post-1810549846400634482Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:43:00 +00002009-09-19T15:06:56.114-05:00ski areasFrom where to place chairlifts to what kind of snow-making equipment to buy, running a commercial ski operation requires a lot of decisions. Here's another one: Where and how do you cut ski trails?I'm sure there are some industry guidelines and rules of thumb in place. They probably include factors such as minimizing erosion (which has implications for water quality), minimizing the chances of http://graysontrays.com/blog/2009/09/how-do-you-cut-ski-trails-and-where.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (GraysOnTrays)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9360825.post-6347734473980849960Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:35:00 +00002009-09-16T08:41:32.387-05:00Can you go snowboarding just a few degrees south of the equator? If you get enough altitude.Martin Griff, a journalist who writes for several papers in New Jersey, relays a story told to him by a friend who traveled to Africa. Here's an excerpt:There are tourists everywhere at Kilimanjaro. Most of them are just looking and photographing the animals in the surrounding game parks but a few are http://graysontrays.com/blog/2009/09/snowboarding-at-equator.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (GraysOnTrays)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9360825.post-6240653793678330887Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:32:00 +00002009-09-14T13:55:18.681-05:00snowboardsOne of my pet peeves about the snowboarding industry, as long-time readers of this blog may know, has to do with the graphics of boards, both on the top sheet and on the base. If I had time to do it, I'd rummage around online to find examples of art that produce one response in me: "I'd never be caught dead riding that!" Whether artwork of it's skulls and other dark themes, women in g strings (http://graysontrays.com/blog/2009/09/how-much-do-those-graphics-cost.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (GraysOnTrays)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9360825.post-9150096381831316195Sun, 13 Sep 2009 16:07:00 +00002009-09-13T12:13:28.383-05:00agingSometimes to keep going strong, you need to slow down.Kevin Helliker, a writer at the Wall Street Journal, recently wrote of the joys of slacking off in athletic endeavors: "During Sunday's Chicago Triathlon, I kept my heart rate low, cut my pace at every hint of muscular or cardiovascular pain and crossed the finish line about half an hour behind my personal record in that race. It was http://graysontrays.com/blog/2009/09/born-to-be-mild-aging-competitors-slow.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (GraysOnTrays)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9360825.post-1250850302322225755Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:58:00 +00002009-09-10T21:04:27.985-05:00Colorado ski areasHere's one of those deals that sounds great, but which I'd never use: The Colorado ski pass gives you a season pass--no blackout dates--to 21 ski areas. It's also transferable.The pass doesn't do you any good at Vail Corp resorts (Vail, Beaver Creek, Keystone, Breckenridge), since it's a product of Colorado Ski Country USA, a trade group that the company pulled out of recently.The pass isn't muchhttp://graysontrays.com/blog/2009/09/got-2750-to-burn-get-colorado-gold-pass.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (GraysOnTrays)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9360825.post-23213193178129167Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:46:00 +00002009-09-10T20:52:47.259-05:00Colorado ski areasColorado GEMS is a trade-promotion effort of some relatively obscure Colorado ski areas such as Monarch, Sunlight, and Ski Cooper. Last year I got a discount card from them that offers 2-for-1 deals, discounted day rates and other goodies. I didn't know if I would use it, but since it cost nothing to get, I signed up for one online, and got one delivered through the mail. As it turns out, I neverhttp://graysontrays.com/blog/2009/09/colorado-gems-cards-now-cost-10.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (GraysOnTrays)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9360825.post-3062801047548402832Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:35:00 +00002009-09-10T20:46:32.167-05:00Living in the mountains isn't always easy. From the Wall Street Journal, September 2:"In Aspen, the hardest-hit town, police have received more than 460 calls for help dealing with bears since July 1, including 15 during one 24-hour period last week. Wildlife officials say the bears are not only comfortable with humans, but are also teaching their cubs to scavenge for fried chicken and candy http://graysontrays.com/blog/2009/09/bear-necessities.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (GraysOnTrays)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9360825.post-2565895526741413715Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:57:00 +00002009-09-09T13:06:22.625-05:00snowboarding safetyIt may sounds like a case of "Baby Boomers Gone Wild," but snowboarding after getting new body parts is not a joke.I made a lot of progress as a skier by taking lessons from a man in his 70s. He had two artificial hips. And I'm sure that some people have gone skiing after getting a knee replacement.It's snowboarding that I'm not so sure about. Not that it's impossible, but because there are so http://graysontrays.com/blog/2009/09/snowboarding-after-knee-replacement.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (GraysOnTrays)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9360825.post-7972028346196697903Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:42:00 +00002009-08-28T10:58:05.286-05:00snowboarding safetyI don't believe in taking stupid chances. In snowboarding, if you haven't yet learned how to link turns, don't go to a narrow, rock-filled chute and try to ride in it. That being said, there's a risk in everything, including driving to your favorite ski area. Yet sometimes as humans we have very irrational views of risk.A commentary in the Wall Street Journal, "The Hazards of Life on the Edge," (http://graysontrays.com/blog/2009/08/risk-is-inherent-in-outdoors.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (John)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9360825.post-9044605920878581455Mon, 24 Aug 2009 01:21:00 +00002009-08-23T21:24:55.651-05:00snowboarding websitesMy online colleague-in-blogging, Shannon Johnson, author of Shayboarder.com, has been hitting her stride and making a name for herself. What I didn't know is just how popular she has become.The other day ESPN.com ran a story, "Chez Shayboarder," about Shannon and her site. I don't remember when I first came across Shayboarder--that site started in August 2007, I started this blog in October, 2004http://graysontrays.com/blog/2009/08/congratulations-shay.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (GraysOnTrays)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9360825.post-9033166764217081153Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:02:00 +00002009-07-28T19:21:35.522-05:00GolfA couple weeks ago, Tom Watson did the unthinkable--contend for a major sports championship--and came up a few inches short. Here's the short story of the 2009 British Open: The Open Championship consists of 72 holes of golf spread over 4 days. Watson led after 71 holes, even though he was 59 years old, an age at which the competitive days of athletes have long since disappeared.Even in golf, http://graysontrays.com/blog/2009/07/tom-watson-and-snowboarders.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (GraysOnTrays)0