I've got all that near me, but I'm jealous that you get to live in the northern Rockies. I ski. Even without skiing, just the beauty of the Rockies is ... nothing short of amazing. I know people that say Idaho is our most beautiful State.
In a serious winter climate, you may be like most people who need to get out in the winter and play in the snow or at least the cold to keep your sanity. Otherwise the long winter and snowpack gets to be really irritating. As a skier, fresh snowfall is like Christmas morning as a little kid.
Skiing can be dirt cheap if you ski telemark. You can get gear cheap, and you don't need to buy lift tickets. You also get fresh snow, which is way more fun than the normal resort fake ice that they try to pass off as "snow."
That may hold, but don't be surprised if that changes with the much longer winter, more frequent snowfall, and it never melting but just piling up. Walking through snow: telemark skiers call snowshoes "slowshoes." It can be almost the same kinda thing, but skis keep you on top of the snow much better, and snowshoes don't slide at all. But you may find increased exhilaration with some snowshoes as compared to walking, depending on how deep the snow is. They can also be rented at some places really cheeep.
I do agree with you that just walking through fresh snowfall is amazing. Having skiid at resorts (riding chairlifts) a lot before ever "earning my turns" (climbing uphill under my own power; i.e., telemark) it's like walking through a fresh snowfall, only 10,000 x better. You see all sorts of stuff you'd never see otherwise, simply because of the vertical involved. Then on the way down, when you see birds envying your freedom and wishing they could do that, it's a completely different thrill ... then when our bald eagles return in the Spring and you get to watch them hunt the same terrain you ski? Oh man that's whole new levels of America, fuck yeah!
Whatever it takes to keep your sanity though, lots of options :)
I've got all that near me, but I'm jealous that you get to live in the northern Rockies. I ski. Even without skiing, just the beauty of the Rockies is ... nothing short of amazing. I know people that say Idaho is our most beautiful State.
In a serious winter climate, you may be like most people who need to get out in the winter and play in the snow or at least the cold to keep your sanity. Otherwise the long winter and snowpack gets to be really irritating. As a skier, fresh snowfall is like Christmas morning as a little kid.
Skiing can be dirt cheap if you ski telemark. You can get gear cheap, and you don't need to buy lift tickets. You also get fresh snow, which is way more fun than the normal resort fake ice that they try to pass off as "snow."
That may hold, but don't be surprised if that changes with the much longer winter, more frequent snowfall, and it never melting but just piling up. Walking through snow: telemark skiers call snowshoes "slowshoes." It can be almost the same kinda thing, but skis keep you on top of the snow much better, and snowshoes don't slide at all. But you may find increased exhilaration with some snowshoes as compared to walking, depending on how deep the snow is. They can also be rented at some places really cheeep.
I do agree with you that just walking through fresh snowfall is amazing. Having skiid at resorts (riding chairlifts) a lot before ever "earning my turns" (climbing uphill under my own power; i.e., telemark) it's like walking through a fresh snowfall, only 10,000 x better. You see all sorts of stuff you'd never see otherwise, simply because of the vertical involved. Then on the way down, when you see birds envying your freedom and wishing they could do that, it's a completely different thrill ... then when our bald eagles return in the Spring and you get to watch them hunt the same terrain you ski? Oh man that's whole new levels of America, fuck yeah!
Whatever it takes to keep your sanity though, lots of options :)