SallyCat

Were we not all tenth graders once? :-) I like being single: I do what I want.

Plus, once you're 50 or so, you stop giving a shit about what the callow young think of your wrinkles and bifocals! I never could flirt successfully at any age. Tried it once last year with as much success as Napoleon's Russian campaign. I had to change skiing venues for a while out of sheer humiliation. Kudos to those with the guts and confidence for it, fo sho.

Seriously.

Well then, I just switched loyalty from the upper to the lower lot.

Lol, I think my beer trip report came out sounding more negative than I meant it to. It was really fun and well worth the price of admission!

Well, Beer Fest was ok; it was a spectacularly beautiful day to be at the top of the ridge. The DH biking was the best I've seen it all year. I quit about 3pm only because my hands were so blistered I couldn't hold onto the bike. Otherwise I would have skipped the fest and kept riding. At the fest, they give you these tiny glasses and you go around getting samples. Mostly the breweries only had two or three types of beer, so you couldn't be too particular about what you wanted to try. I accidentally ended up trying a pineapple shandy, which was as disgusting as you'd imagine. The pourers seemed to be mostly Blue Mountain staff, not reps from the breweries, so you couldn't really get much info about the beer except to just Google it. The process was a bit labor-intensive; sort of like eating crawfish--a lot of work for a pretty small reward. I kept wishing I could put together a "flight" of five or six samples and sit down away from the crowded vendor tables and just enjoy the beer. I actually ended up getting a pint of Lagunitas at the Slopeside bar. On my way out, I saw some guy leaned against a tree in the parking lot puking up a storm while his girlfriend consoled him. I can't imagine how he managed to even acquire enough beer to get that sick. That's a lot of trips to the tables with a tiny glass. Still, it was festive and fun, and a beautiful day. Blue has done a really nice job with the whole summit area; it's a great place to hang out.

Ok, done. I'll do some DH mountain biking in the morning and beer it up in the afternoon.

Is it worth the $35 ticket price?

https://www.themaxpass.com/?utm_source=supply&utm_medium=GBMP&utm_campaign=MP17&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI3eG5_vvo1QIVRDaBCh3GYQ2FEAAYASAAEgJYYfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds 5 days at each mountain, no blackout dates. Considering it costs close to $100 to ski at some of the big resorts, it should be worth it. I put down a deposit on the $599 price this spring; it's up to $679 now.

Yeah, but I'm on an income-based payment plan, so my payments are lower but I'll be 70 before I pay it off. I work at a private school: no pension. This is the life I chose; no whining. Anyway, sorry to hijack. I'm very psyched for ski season! I may get a MAX pass if I can swing it. I have a free place to stay in VT, so it would be a good way to check out lots of new mountains.

I make a bit less than 60K a year and pay almost $700 a month in student loans. Not complaining, it was my choice, etc. But teaching requires advanced degree work but doesn't pay well, particularly in the early years of your career. So you defer your loans because of low income while you're starting out, and sometimes get thrown off track by car repairs, med bills, or whatever, and next thing you know the interest has accrued to med-school levels on a teacher's salary. I love my work; wouldn't want to do anything else and I'm resigned to never owning a home or having a secure retirement. But we need good teachers and this isn't a way to attract them, because let's face it, it's a sucker's game, financially. (I work a second job year-round to pay for ski passes and travel and such.)

SWEET! I had people over the other day to help drink all the booze I'd somehow accumulated. Result: they all brought beer and now I have more than I started with. Friday night plans taken care of: craft beer and ski video marathon!

If you're jonesing for gear reviews, PugSki has a whole section of review of 2018 skis. http://forum.pugski.com/threads/2018-ski-review-index.4508/ Be fun to have a category devoted to sharing favorite ski/ride videos. I really like this one just for the sheer joyfulness of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz4F2X1xSc8

To be clear, mounting a binding isn't something I'd do after watching a YouTube video or something; just that if I ever have the chance to get real training, I would jump at it. I brought those bindings back to the shop that mounted them, and they looked them over and said they were fine. So, whomever did the mount messed up and then the shop tech didn't even notice. Maybe the same person, I dunno.

Thanks, I'm definitely going to learn to do my own mounts. I can always just bring it to a shop for a release test. Way cheaper than a mount anyway.

Actually I'm not at all handy by nature, having grown up in the suburbs of Long Island with parents that always just "called a guy" to fix stuff, and then becoming a historian/teacher. It was mostly just wanting to have well-tuned skis and not having a lot of money. But I've really enjoyed the learning process and I love being able to take care of my gear. It's a very pleasant zen-like escape from grading and planning to go down in the basement with a beer, listen to a podcast, and so some waxing and tuning. I will definitely be at Blue as much as possible this winter. Look forward to meeting some PASRS!

I think when Epic closed down I heard about it. My first year skiing I had a LOT of questions, so I read forums pretty regularly. Thanks to Epic members, e.g., I now have a whole tuning workshop in my basement and can take care of everything on my skis except base grinds and binding work.

Funny, I posted the same question on PugSki prior to posting here and didn't get any replies. Then just now there was an angry flurry. I made a half joke about giving the bindings a bad review and the whole thread went to DEFCON 1 ALERT. A bunch of people piled on about how Salomon is a "good company" (no argument from me there, btw.) and that their other bindings have been around forever and are great. So I shouldn't write a bad review of these bindings. It feels like they're trying to gaslight me. Funny and strange bit of intense brand loyalty there!

Thanks, I was afraid of that. Just didn't seem right (the gap). If I have to remount, I'm going to get different bindings. The heel lever problem is super sketchy, and nothing about these bindings gives me confidence. Will contact Salomon and see what they say.

Long story, but in June I bought a pair of skis in Mammoth, CA, and had them mounted. Skied them the next day, and later in the day they started squeaking really badly. I also noticed some movement in the toe (my boot moving within the toepiece, i.e.) Brought them back to the shop, which looked them over, did a round of release tests, tightened a screw in the toepiece and told me they were good to go. The next day the squeaking resumed, so I brought them to the Mammoth Mtn. ski shop for a second opinion. The guy there said they looked ok, but that I had three different DIN settings between the two skis. No idea why that would be the case. So, I skied my creaky skis for the rest of the trip. I kept asking around, though, and I've been told that squeaking could be a sign of a bad mount and to check for space between ski and binding. There is very visible space. Also, the heel lever on one of the skis is loose (see video): https://facultyjacobin.com/2017/08/08/temp-file-salomon-warden-ski-binding-heel-lever/ I'm back in PA and wondering what to do with these skis. If they were mounted improperly, can they be fixed? If not, what do I do next? Here are pics of the space between ski and binding:

When and where is karaoke? (Couldn't send a PM--system said no dice.)

Raining men you say? I like those odds...

This might explain it. Seems to show that there are just more single women than men in most places. http://labs.time.com/story/see-the-ratio-of-single-men-to-women-where-you-live/

Yeah, way more than half my travel is solo. As a single, socially-awkward Plain Jane who is also very old and loathes dating, I simply wouldn't be able to do most of the things I enjoy if I didn't go alone. But I don't regret it; the benefits in terms of confidence, competence, and heightened awareness are awesome. And I wasn't exaggerating about the people I met in Mammoth; they were universally warm, friendly, helpful, and fun.

Missed them by a couple of weeks. I skied with the fabulous nopoleskier last winter at Elk, though. I hope to meet CJ at the western Diva gathering if I can make it.