Passion

My passion blog for this semester has covered my most important skiing experiences to date… what now?

Now I hope to share with you the places that I want to go skiing in the future. Maybe I’ll inspire you to travel to some of these places or maybe I’ve inspired you already with my past memories. Nevertheless, let’s get into some of my dream ski resorts and the reasoning behind each.

Every passionate skier wants to have a mix of domestic and international ski trips. While I’ve only skied in the United States before, I 100% have dreams to expand my horizons and ski elsewhere. I will highlight two resorts, one in Canada and one in Switzerland that I want to go to at some point in my life.

Mont Tremblant

Mont Tremblant is a resort in Quebec, Canada about an hour and a half northwest of Montreal. The resort has 102 ski trails and 14 lifts. However, the draw for me is not the actual ski statistics. The base village of Mont Tremblant ski resort is a pedestrian village full of colorful lodges, shops, and buildings. It looks like something straight out of a Christmas movie!

I also like how it is in the French-speaking province of Canada because I’ve been playing around with the language and I want to gain more exposure to it however I can.

My favorite places that I’ve been skiing so far are the ones that offer more of an experience than just skiing itself so it makes complete sense to me that I’d be interested in Mont Tremblant. The resort also has a gondola which just elevates the whole experience for me because I feel like the real deal!! Hopefully, I’ll get to go to Mont Tremblant in the near future!

Zermatt

Regardless of skiing, Switzerland has always been somewhere I’ve wanted to go, and I was supposed to…but COVID happened. So for now, this is all just a dream, but I would love to go to Zermatt Ski Resorts. The resort is located near the border that Switzerland shares with Italy and sits opposite the so oh-so-famous Matterhorn.

The resort is advertised as “Europe’s highest ski resort.” The Zermatt Resort is actually an aggregation of a few different ski resorts in the area since there are so many different mountain peaks and areas to account for. There are more trails or “pistes” than I will ever have time to ski in a single trip but that’s what makes it so exciting. Similar to Mont Tremblant, there is an alpine village in the middle of all the ski resorts.

I will need to work on my skiing abilities before I make this trip but it will be amazing when it happens. I’m sharing a lot of pictures so you can see how beautiful the area is!

Thank you again for tuning into this semester’s Ski with Me passion blog! Through the highs and lows, I’ve loved all of my skiing experiences so far and I can’t wait to make more memories!

For a background on what happened previously…refer to Blue Knob Pt. 1.

^Seconds before ‘the fall’

I looked back at him at the exact moment he fell. He had chosen to ski along the side of the hill and he was going too fast for his liking so he made himself fall backward to stop moving. When he leaned backward, his left ski unattached from his foot and the tip of it hit him and he went down. I laughed because I’ve had plenty of nasty wipeouts like that but you just laugh them off and keep going.

He waved me over and I told him to just get up and retry. He waved me over again and yelled that something had happened. I made my way up the slope to him (not an easy task in skis) and I saw him lying like a starfish on the snow.

He said that his neck really hurt and he couldn’t move his head or arm without extreme pain. The first thing I did was ask him to move his feet to make sure he wasn’t paralyzed in some way. He wagged his foot so that was a relief.

The second thing I thought was that it could be his collar bone. I asked him if I could look at it and when I did, I could tell it wasn’t right. There was no longer a complete, normal-looking collar bone. I tried to call ski patrol from my phone but there was no service. The only way to get ski patrol would be to ski down the hill to the very bottom, to ride the lift up, and then go in the lodge which was at the top of the hill. So I had to leave him there while I went to get ski patrol.

Eventually, I found someone and I skied back down to Seth to tell him someone was coming. First, a ski patrol guy came down to assess the situation, and then he called for a snowmobile. The man also concluded that it was his collarbone and he made a makeshift splint from a scarf he had. The snowmobile took him up to the lodge so the nurse could check him out and they could fill out some paperwork.

The only way back up the lodge was again to ski the whole way down to the bottom and ride the long lift up to the top. I skied down with ski patrol and rode the lift up with Mike (pictured right) who found us first. I had a good conversation with him about skiing and which places I’ve been to. It was a very calming ride up to the top, considering I had been feeling sick to my stomach about Seth’s situation.

When I got to the top a while later, they told me I should drive him to the hospital. So I pulled the car close to the door and when he was ready, we loaded him into the car. He didn’t cry at all and the whole ride to the hospital he was very mellow.

At the end of all of this, he ended up breaking his collarbone in three places and had to get surgery. He got a plate and 7 screws installed. He was never mad at me for any of it happening but I still felt terrible because my Christmas gift to him was a broken collarbone and a four-hour surgery.

This was by far the worst experience I’ve had skiing but I hope it doesn’t stop him from wanting to try it again sometime.

This week, I’ll be talking about a ski experience that was not quite as positive as the others. This was also one of my most recent times skiing so it’s still very vivid in my mind. Enjoy part one of this chaotic story!

My mom is usually my skiing partner but she had foot surgery over the winter that kept her off the slopes, so I had to find someone else to go with. My boyfriend Seth knows that I love skiing and he’s always wanted to go with me, except he wanted to try to snowboard.

I decided that as my Christmas gift to him, I would pay for his rentals whenever we decided to go. He wanted to go snowboarding and I said he could, I just wouldn’t be able to teach him or help him do it because I’ve only ever skied before, and because of that, he decided to ski as well.

I picked Blue Knob for our first ski adventure together. I had been there once before with my mom so I knew that they have more green runs than Tussey, so Seth would probably have more fun with more variety. Blue Knob also gives much more of a resort feel than Tussey so it would be an even better experience. We left my house in the early afternoon so we could get there before our twilight tickets started at 4:00 PM. We got to the slope and both of us super excited! We got our tickets and rentals taken care of just in time before the twilight session began. We made our way to the bunny slope (where the beginners learn how to ski) and I explained how to snap in and out of the skis, how to use poles, the difference between pizza and french fries, and that it would be hard to get the hang of everything right away.

On the way to Blue Knob, he was saying that he would be skiing the terrain park by the end of the night and knowing how long it took me to ski well, I just laughed along in my head.

I first had to teach him how to get up from a fall…since the first thing he did was fall. When he would get up and start down the hill, he would get scared and fall on purpose to stop himself. Eventually, he got the hang of it a little bit and we skied the bunny slope a few times.

After he was feeling confident, I suggested that we go to a different green slope to get a change of scenery and maybe start working on his turns. We made our way over to Upper Mambo and started down the hill.

I went first so I could look back up at him and make sure he was following. There was a hill in the middle of the slope that I sped up to go over and then stopped at the bottom of that hill for him to catch up.

I looked back and I was shocked by what I saw…

Join me next week for part two!!

So far, the coolest place I’ve been skiing is Killington, Vermont. My mom was turning 50, so I suggested we do something super fun to celebrate. She thought a weekend ski trip would really fun so I immediately started researching. After a few days, we landed on Killington.

The nickname for the resort is “The Beast” because it’s so large…much bigger than any place I’ve ever been before. Killington has 155 trails, 21 lifts, 6 different mountain areas, and Killington Peak (where the gondola unloads) which at 4,241 feet, is the second-highest peak in Vermont. The biggest draw towards Killington for me was that it had at least one gondola. When I was younger, I decided that I would know I had “made it” in the world of skiing when I went to a place that had a gondola.

My mom took me out of school early so we could start our 7-hour road trip up to Vermont. We passed the Catskills in New York, cute churches in Vermont, and quite a few other ski resorts. It was late when we got to our hotel which was about 3 minutes from the base of the mountain so we went to bed right away and slept hard, preparing ourselves for some long skiing days ahead.

Seeing the mountain for the first time in the morning light was something I will never forget. I immediately got so excited for the next few days. My mom and I got all suited up in the base lodge and chose to ride on the gondola first. It was definitely a different experience than I’m used to but I loved every second of it. When we stepped out, the top of the mountain was covered in snow and it was just so magical. I felt like I was on top of the world and I just wanted to take it in for a few minutes.

We skied our little hearts out over the next few days. There was no way we would have been able to ski every single run/offshoot/jaunt but we tried our hardest. We hit all six mountain areas, with my favorite being the runs serviced by the main gondola. Similar to Holiday Valley, my favorite trails were the ones that looped through the trees. My all-time favorite trail was called Solitude and it started at the very top and went away from the resort through the trees and ended up being a 4-mile trail that took us to the very bottom.

The first night we went to “the first Irish pub in Vermont” and were treated to traditional Irish grub with live entertainment.

There were so many more fun memories, trails, and experiences that I enjoyed over the course of the weekend but unfortunately I can’t fit it all into a blog post.

I highly suggest Killington to anyone who’s looking for a new mountain to tackle. I wrote down all of my experiences in my travel journal so I can refer back to them when I go back…because I do plan on going back.

P.S. All photos (except the Resort Map) were taken by yours truly!

Continuing the small ski boot saga… we went to a store called Mud, Sweat, and Gears in Ellicottville, NY to talk to an employee about my boots. The store was in an abandoned warehouse with exposed brick and ceiling pipes and it was just an experience in itself. We brought in my old boots and my skis (just in case my ski’s bindings had to be adjusted) and sat down with an employee to discuss the problems I was having. He said normally when people feel that measure of numbness, it is simply because the boots are too small. Apparently, there is a pressure point in your legs that a tight ski boot hits just perfectly to make your legs go numb. So, as a salesperson, he suggested I get fitted right there for new boots.

There was no way I would have been able to enjoy the rest of the trip if my feet were numb the whole time so my mom agreed to buy me new boots. I had the same pair of skis for a while because I hadn’t grown so we figured it was safe to finally get me a good pair of boots.

I tried on a few pairs, which is an interesting experience because there will always be uncomfort when wearing ski boots, so you have to go with what feels the least uncomfortable.

There was a pair on the wall that especially caught my eye. They were white, silver, and gold Dalbellos and they weren’t super outrageously expensive. While I tried them on, an employee there said he would wax my skis for free while we were shopping, which was really nice because I hadn’t had my skis waxed in a long time and it always makes the trip much more enjoyable.

I tried on some other boots just so I had options to choose from and while I did that, the employee who was helping us put the Dalbellos in a special contraption. After I had tried on the other boots, he took them out and had me try them on again. This time they were warm when I put them on. He explained that the lining is heat reactive and molds to your feet when heated up to ensure the most comfortable ski experiences.

They felt like a cloud… and that never happens for ski boots. They also included a few other features, like the switch on the back of the boot that you can pull up on to go into walking mode because ski boots are notoriously hard to walk in. It softens the angle on the boots and then when you’re ready to ski again you just snap the switch down again to lock the boots into place.

I still use these boots to this day and they have never made my feet numb or upset me.

After finding the perfect boots, the rest of my trip was amazing! My mom and I celebrated on the last day of the trip by splitting a waffle from the Waffle Cabin on the slopes. The Waffle Cabin makes the best, crunchy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, waffles with a sugar coating, and chocolate drizzle. Nothing beats it after a long day of skiing.

The next time I got Waffle Cabin was in Killington, Vermont which will be highlighted a few blog posts from now!

The last blog post described my first trip to Holiday Valley…logically, this one will describe my second, which took place two years later and was much more chaotic.

At this point, I was finally finishing up growing… my feet were getting bigger, I was getting taller, and my arms were getting longer, so prior to this trip, I got all my ski equipment from the Tussey Mountain Ski Swap where people donate or sell their used items for a big second-hand sale. It just made sense to get my equipment second-hand since we were unsure of when I would grow out of it.

Well, I did in fact grow out of my boots… and I found that out way too early into the second Holiday Valley trip.

Our first full day after arriving, we all suited up (we went with the same family as last time, rented the same townhouse as last time) and drove to the parking lot that was closest to the main slopes. We ended up having to park in the overflow lot, which seemed really far from the lodge where we were to buy our lift tickets. That walk made for an irritating start to the day…we had all our warm clothes on and ski equipment in hand, trudging through an icy, gravel, busy parking lot.

A long while later, we were finally ready to hit the slopes. The last thing we had to do was put on our ski boots because they’re so uncomfortable you don’t want to spend any more time than necessary in them. We made our way to the main lift, Mardi Gras Xpress, and finally started our ski day.

On the few-minute ride up to the top, I noticed my feet were starting to get numb. It was the beginning of March when we went and the rest of my body felt fine so I knew they weren’t numb because of the cold. I unloaded at the top and loosened the bindings on my boots, hoping that would make a difference.

It did not.

I got a few runs in, mainly on greens and blues, trying to push away the uncomfort before I couldn’t stand it anymore. I eventually ended up undoing my boots and skiing with them completely undone because that was the only way they would feel fine on my feet.

Skiing around with open boots is not ideal and not safe and it left me with very sore shins the next day. 10/10, would not recommend.

My mom noticed how much I was struggling and suggest that we leave the slope and drive to the closest town, Ellicottville, which was sure to have ski shops, to see what could be done to fix my situation. I will continue the ski boot saga in my next passion blog post. Be sure to stay tuned!!

At this point, I’ve turned into quite the little skier so we decided to ramp things up a bit. The same family that we went to Peek’n Peak also asked my mom and me if we wanted to join them at Holiday Valley. The resort has lodges, hotels, cabins, cottages, condos… all sorts of options for staying over. It also was much bigger than any other ski resort I had been to at that point. In a typical season, there are about 60 trails open, with 13 lifts servicing those many runs. Holiday Valley is just outside of an adorable little town called Ellicottville in New York state. It was about a three-hour drive from my house so my mom took me and my friend, Julia, out of school early one day in 5th grade. I still remember how exciting it was to leave school early and get in the car my mom had packed and start a fun road trip.

By the time we got to Holiday Valley and the condo we were staying at, it was dark outside but I could still see the lights along the slopes. It seemed extra cold when I got out of the car which just made me extra excited for the next few days at Holiday Valley! The condo was also very cool! We stocked the fridge and everyone was assigned to their rooms… all the kids were downstairs in bunk beds, while the parents each had their own rooms. My mom got the loft room which was very very nice.

The following morning we all got up early to start our ski day. We went to the lodge to buy our multi-day lift passes and made our way to the slopes.

We started out on Mardi-Gras which I would classify as the main lift and it was different than any lift I had been on before. Due to the resort being very popular, they tend to have a lot of visitors during the winter months. To combat long lines for lifts, many resorts have employed express lifts which are slow from loading and unloading but fast while you’re going up the hill. At first, it was scary to be going that speed, but eventually, I got used to it and learned to love the lack of lines.

I skied my little heart out while I was there, going to bed each night with sore muscles and a smile. There are multiple areas of the resort, spanning over multiple faces of multiple mountains. The areas with all of my favorite slopes are on the eastern side of the resort, these areas are Tannenbaum, Spruce Lake, and Mardi Gras. In case you ever end up at Holiday Valley, I’ll rank a few of the runs for you.

1. Swiss Twist (Serviced by Mardi Gras Xpress Quad) is a black diamond that twists through the trees, on a luge-like trail that offers beautiful scenery and an adrenaline rush.
2. Mistletow (Serviced by Tannenbaum Xpress Quad) is a blue run that goes through huge pines that usually have snow on them and it transports you to a resort in Europe. I love skiing underneath the trees and it always seems quieter on this side of the resort.
3. Cathedral (Serviced by Spruce Lake Quad) is also a blue run that gives off a feel similar feel as Mistletow, in that it goes through the grand pine trees.

That’s where I’ll end for this post… get ready for Holiday Valley pt. 2, coming soon!!

The year after I went to Peek’n Peak, my aunt, uncle, and cousins invited my mom and me to ski with them at a small resort in northern Pennsylvania called Ski Denton. They had rented one of the on-site cabins and there was more than enough room for my mom and me to join them. They are the definition of an outdoors family… they hike, bike, kayak, and ski very frequently, so I knew skiing with them would teach me a lot since I was still a beginner at that point.

Ski Denton, located in Denton Hill State Park, near Coudersport PA, is no longer open due to business troubles and lack of sufficient revenue. It was a relatively small ski resort, however still bigger than our little Tussey Mountain. The resort had 22 runs and 5 lifts servicing those runs. The majority of the runs were beginner and intermediate, which made it perfect for me to learn.

The emphasis of the lessons my uncle was giving me was on my turns. He explained that my poles are just for balance and that I should keep the center of my body facing downhill instead of completely following the turns with my whole body. It was frustrating to be critiqued on every movement I made but it made me a much better skier in the long run.

My favorite trail was a green (beginner) called the Sidewinder. It zigzagged through the trees down the steep face of the mountain and it was really quiet and peaceful. Since going on that trail, I discovered all of my favorites are trails that go through the trees, whether beginner, intermediate, or advanced, I would much rather go on a trail through the trees than a large open face on the side of the mountain.

The end of Sidewinder met up with the bottom of Avalanche. Avalanche was the first double-black diamond I had seen in my skiing career and it gave me chills just to look up at it. It wasn’t open when I was there because there wasn’t enough snow covering it, but it was still awe-inspiring with a vertical drop of 518 ft. The resort’s single claim to fame was that it was the home to “The Avalanche,” and resort media would claim it was the steepest trail in the East. To this day I’m not sure whether that is true or not, but it definitely was stepper than any run I had ever seen. Seeing it inspired me to make it a goal to go down a double-black diamond someday. At this point in my skiing career, I have only gone down two, but I know I have many more ahead.

My trip to Ski Denton was fun, not only because I got to spend time with my family, but because I got to spend time improving my skiing skills as well!

Ski you later!

My first time skiing somewhere other than Tussey Mountain was at a resort in New York about an hour away from Erie, Pennsylvania called Peek’n Peak.

I was in 4th or 5th grade when we went on this trip with another family who skis. We stayed in my friend’s grandparents’ house with her family which was about an hour away from the resort. Since the Erie area, where they live, is right off Lake Erie, they get a lot of lake effect snow. The night before we were going skiing, there was about a foot of snow that had piled up. That made the commute to the slopes very difficult and I will never forget slipping and sliding on unplowed roads just to go skiing.

At this point, I was still a pretty beginner skier so I went on all the greens (the easiest runs), and I remember doing some blue (intermediates), but I was pretty uncomfortable on those. I don’t remember a whole lot from the trip but there are a few things that really stand out to me.

Something that many bigger resorts have is a “magic carpet.” This is like a conveyor belt for skiers. It’s usually near the most beginner slope because many young kids who are learning are too scared to get on the ski lifts (aka me when I first started). They’re supposed to be really easy for kids to use but a lot of people fall getting on and off of them… I may have been one of those people.

I also distinctly remember one run, I’m not sure if it was green or blue but it was undoubtedly my favorite. It was really long, wide, and it had big rolling bumps the whole way down which added something I’d never experienced at Tussey.

The ski lift that serviced that run was the most popular of the resort and for some reason, people like to carry things with them onto the lift and throw them on the trees next to the bigger lifts. If you’ve ever been to any bigger resort, you’ve probably experienced what I’m talking about. As an elementary schooler, I was very confused why there were various “undergarments” and mardi gras beads hanging from trees. I would like to say I understand why it happens now, but I really do not and I don’t know if I ever will.

I also vividly remember that Penn State Behrend was holding an event in one of the lodges and both my mom and my friend’s mom work for Penn State so all of our families were free to enjoy the food and drinks that the event had. I remember being really cold from skiing for hours and going into the lodge to get free, hot, baked potato soup. I will also remember that baked potato soup for the rest of my life because it was so good.

I should go back to Peek’n Peak sometime soon and relive my favorite memories!!

Until next time!

Hello! Welcome back to my passion blog! This semester, I’m going to be doing something a little bit different. We all know by now how much I love “travel and tea”, so I thought I’d tell you all about something else I love to do…ski!! There’s just something amazing about putting on all your warmest layers to spend a day outside in the snow.

I’ve only been to a few cool ski resorts so far but I have it on my bucket list to ski out west, and to ski in Europe on the Alps. Mountains have always amazed me, and living in central Pennsylvania, we have our small ridges but not massive, craggy peaks that look over everything around it. You can find those types of mountains in the West and in Europe. So that’s for the future, and I’m positive I will get to experience those mountains someday…but for now, let’s talk about some of my favorite/craziest/weirdest skiing experiences.

So of course, we have to start at the beginning… my first skiing “experience.” My first experience didn’t actually end with me ever putting on skis or even stepping foot on the snow. I went to the local ski “hill,” Tussey Mountain. If you’ve been there before, you know what I mean when I call it a hill.

My mom and I drove up to the bunny slope to look at it before getting out of the car…. I started bawling my eyes out.

I decided then & there that I was NOT going skiing that day because the ski lift was just too far off the ground for my 3rd-grade self who was deathly afraid of heights. So I waited another year and tried again… I was still scared of the height but I decided my desire to go skiing outweighed my fear of heights. 

And that’s the start of my ski story.

After quickly overcoming the fear of ski lifts, I could not get enough skiing. I wanted to stay for hours and hours every time and I would get upset when my mom said that we had to leave.

At this point, my mom could tell I was serious about wanting to ski so that Christmas I got new skis, boots, and poles. They were all purchased at the annual Tussey Mountain ski swap, so they were used but they worked and that’s what mattered. For my first two years of skiing, all of the lessons, the falls, and the successes took place at Tussey Mountain. I had no clue what other resorts had to offer. The next few years I would find out just exactly what I had been missing…and we will get into that next time!