Differences between East Coast and West Coast Skiers

joshua_segal

I thought the following was cute and worth sharing:

http://unofficialnetworks.com/2015/12/5-differences-between-east-coast-and-west-coast-skiers</div><div>

#5. West Coast skiers have ski outfits just for skiing. East Coast skiers have winter outfits that they use for shoveling snow, drinking outdoors, going to football games and sliding down the slopes.

#4. East Coast skiers will go skiing every weekend even if it’s raining. West Coast skiers will wait till the following weekend if the weather turns ugly.

#3. Skis over 90mm in the waist are called powder boards by East Coast skiers. Anything smaller than 100mm in the waist are called all-mountain skis by West Coast skiers.

#2. East Coast skiers can ski ice. West Coast skiers don’t have to.

#1. Three inches of snow is a powder day to an East Coast skier. 3 inches of snow is “dust on crust” to a West Coast skier.

rickbolger

Hey that’s great and most of it true.  I recall my first time skiing Colorado, a local was sitting in the lodge complaining about the ice.  I laughed because I thought they were kidding.  They weren’t!  I was able to push my pole down its entire length into Colorado “ice.”

mapnut

Way back in the ’70s one of the ski magazines had a great article comparing Eastern, Western and European skiing (yes, the ski magazines had some great articles once upon a time), and there was a section on ice that went something like:Eastern terminology                  Western equivalent terminologyPacked powder                             IceHardpack                                       IceFrozen Granular                            IceCrust                                              IceIce: A groundwater upwelling or burst snowmaking pipe that freezes many inches thick on the slope and is blue, black, green or yellow                              Never heard of such a thing.Boilerplate                                      Part of the lodge heating system.

joshua_segal

<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“rickbolger”>Hey that’s great and most of it true.  I recall my first time skiing Colorado, a local was sitting in the lodge complaining about the ice.  I laughed because I thought they were kidding.  They weren’t!  I was able to push my pole down its entire length into Colorado “ice.”</blockquote>

Funny.  I remember being at Steamboat and commented to some locals about the great powder.  “Powder?” they said. “Where did you find powder?”

I said that I didn’t remember the trail name but described the lift. They quickly figured out exactly where I had been.

They replied with incredulity, “You could ski that concrete?”

riverc0il

I guess I am a west coaster at heart…

JimK

East Coasters are technical, West Coasters are tactical.

LiftGuy

<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“JimK”>East Coasters are technical, West Coasters are tactical.</blockquote> Good one!

Cannonball

East Coast skiers think Colorado is “West Coast skiing”.  West Coast skiers know that Colorado is 1,000 miles away from the West coast. 

MissDaEast

<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“Cannonball”>East Coast skiers think Colorado is “West Coast skiing”.  West Coast skiers know that Colorado is 1,000 miles away from the West coast. </blockquote>

Another good one!

skipro77

I believe that the only ice I’ve ever encountered out West was in the bar.

Bill29

Many years ago, at Aspen, I was standing at the entrance to a chairlift - Little Nell, I think. It was a day where there was no live and people could ski onto the lift without stopping. There was a patrolman standing near the spot where they made a turn to get to the chair. He was warning skiers to “watch out for the ice.”

It looked a little firm  to me, maybe a bit crunchy and you could hear the skis scrape just a bit. But I couldn’t see any ice and said so to the patrolman.

“Are you from the east?” he said. “Yes,” I said. “So am I. Out here they think this is ice,” he said.

I said, “back home this is good to excellent.”  He agreed, and he also agreed that western skiers have a wonderful life.

joshua_segal

<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“skipro77”>I believe that the only ice I’ve ever encountered out West was in the bar.</blockquote>

The Broadmoor in Colorado and the San Bernadinos in CA have snow surfaces that are similar to the east.  There are probably others, but I haven’t done much skiing in the west.

steamboat1

I’ve experienced some pretty crappy conditions out west. Hard as a rock.

Cannonball

I’ve skied some pretty nasty ice in AK.  Which is very west, and very coast. 

mapnut

I expect boilerplate occurs when they have man-made snow and/or a long period with no new snow, plus heavy skier traffic. Also I’m sure they get freeze-thaw cycles,. But do they get rain?

Cannonball

<blockquote class=“Quote” rel=“mapnut”>I expect boilerplate occurs when they have man-made snow and/or a long period with no new snow, plus heavy skier traffic. Also I’m sure they get freeze-thaw cycles,. But do they get rain?</blockquote>

Not sure if this question was directed to my AK post just above it.  Yes, AK gets a LOT of rain.  Alyeska has to be one of the rainiest resorts in the country.  Last season the had near-record snowfall at the summit, and near-record rainfall at the base. 

I think that’s kind of a theme in this thread.  It’s the “coast” part that generates ice and other undesirable conditions.  That’s why I joked in a previous post about the Rockies being considered the West “Coast” by eastern skiers.  Obviously they aren’t the coast and that’s why they don’t deal with the ice that we know and love(?).  Skiers in AK, coastal BC, WA, OR, and CA know what it means to be on the coast just like eastern skiers do. 