Tell me about a Midwest, Finland, or other COLD places

[Maximumsushi]

So, I live in the Canadian rockies. It's rad here. We have big mountains, prerty good parks, OK snow, and pretty gnarly terrain. Whatever. It is about to get really goddamn cold for the forseeable forecast. Around -40. That happens once or twice a season. It's about to get so goddamn cold that most locals won't go up to the hills. Snow becomes velcro, rails get crazy sticky and landings are really goddamn firm.

All that said, I've heard it's really cold sometimes in Finland or the Midwest sometimes. What do you do there? Do you just say fuck it and go to the hill? Are there other options? How do you keep your feet warm?

Big ups to the real cold places.

 

[kalle.]

here in finland we just say fuck this and go skiing. i love it when it's super cold and the sun starts to rise again in the crispy mornings and you're basically by yourself up there.

 

[Saucerboyshane]

get some electric boot heaters, or boots that have them preinstalled

 

[Dilldoes]

Well in my part of the Midwest its currently 65 and raining so my feet stay pretty warm.

Pic of my local hill before the rain moved in...

 

[STEEZUS_CHRI5T]

Houghton, MI was so cold, overcast and miserable that I resented snow after my college career was complete. Cold weather is awful just stay inside.

I ended up packing everything thing I had and accepted a job offer in North Carolina. I haven’t skied a day this season but it’s 75F and sunny tomorrow!

 

[Southpaw_Skier]

Well in my part of the Midwest its currently 65 and raining so my feet stay pretty warm.

Pic of my local hill before the rain moved in...

Dang man. Is that BMBW? I went to mad River yesterday and I can assume it looks like that too

 

[Dilldoes]

Dang man. Is that BMBW? I went to mad River yesterday and I can assume it looks like that too

Hidden Valley in St. Louis.

 

[ASSholebomber22]

Lived in Fairbanks, AK for a bit. The local hill 'Moose Mountain' would only open if it was above -20 I believe. Luckily the valley it was in experienced some inversion so it was a little warmer than in town, but still. Plenty of weather closures during the season.

There were no lifts though, they used old school buses with heat to get you to the top which was nice.

Kinda miss that place. Pretentiousness didn't exist, and carhartt's outnumbered goretex 20 to 1.

 

[Jems]

Hyland hills mn, well known hill in Bloomington mn. Pretty fucking cold especially around right now but it’s not. Over winter break it would go over freezing every other day. The snow is now dogshit and it’s gonna stay that way until we get real snow in about a month.

Really good ski culture over here too, everyone at Hyland knows each other in some way.

 

[GayWolf420]

some of my favorite michigan "winters" growing up as a kid were when it would get so damn cold that the lakes would freeze over but it wouldnt snow, so you could just strap on your skates and grab your stick and just rip around the lake house-to-house trying to find people to play hockey with. then it would snow and quarter-mile drag racing strips would get plowed on the lakes and people would spend all damn weekend racing each other sun-up to sun-down. One of the coolest weekends ever was when a bunch of pro snowmobile drag racing teams came out and did some trials. Those sleds are fucking WILD to watch in person.

 

[bRADon]

Shit blows here in Minnesota. Put some layers on and send er!

 

[TRVP_ANGEL]

quebec canada

 

[nmwninjart]

Another Minnesotan here. Last January it got down to -30F° a few nights. some stupid important sensor in my car broke and it required a $1500 repair.

All the ski hills closed for those few nights.

The coldest I ever skied in was -25F. I was helping a friend set up a race course. We were thinking...God we're crazy. Why are we out here in this cold?

As for keeping feet warm on those cold days I just go inside more. Take off cold boots and expose cold toes to nice warm air. Those ski days are generally shorter. Im getting more selective these days on skiing temperatures.

Not much fun when its so cold your eyelashes stick together, or sticky rails , or such rock hard snow you're afraid to fall, or when you hit that random patch of ice you go flying.

**This post was edited on Jan 10th 2020 at 3:49:04pm

 

[bcole]

Grew up in the UP in Michigan, plenty of days would hit -20/-30 up there. School would get canceled when it would get that cold so would take advantage of that to get more time skiing. Made for some brutally cold days that probably weren't worth it but living downstate now gotta say I'm missing some of that cold weather and more snow

 

[corona]

-25 is about my limit. But it's doable. Just ski 4-5 runs and warm up then repeat.

Biggest tip is to not be hungry. Have a lot of high energy food to snack on when warming up.

 

[theabortionator]

I do kinda of miss the chill of east coast night skiing, but I also don't. CO killed a bit of my cold weather tolerance, CA has made me a pussy. I think if I hit a real cold night sesh again I would turn into a block of ice, tip over, and crumble.

Idk, I miss it though. The vibe of a good night sesh at a small mountain is pretty friggin awesome.

\

 

[MXmx]

I’m Finnish and from Minnesota.

I’d rather be cold then hot. There’s only so much you can do when you are hot and humid outside. When it’s cold, just put in more layers.

Park skiing in Minnesota is pretty common.

So, I live in the Canadian rockies. It's rad here. We have big mountains, prerty good parks, OK snow, and pretty gnarly terrain. Whatever. It is about to get really goddamn cold for the forseeable forecast. Around -40. That happens once or twice a season. It's about to get so goddamn cold that most locals won't go up to the hills. Snow becomes velcro, rails get crazy sticky and landings are really goddamn firm.

All that said, I've heard it's really cold sometimes in Finland or the Midwest sometimes. What do you do there? Do you just say fuck it and go to the hill? Are there other options? How do you keep your feet warm?

Big ups to the real cold places.

 

[a_burger]

ski some moguls on the way to the park or something, coldest ski day of my life was -75 with windchill at Sugarloaf a few years ago but me and one of my homies still managed to get 2-3 laps in at a time if we just hit some bumps/trees every lap.

 

[Lonely]

So, I live in the Canadian rockies. It's rad here. We have big mountains, prerty good parks, OK snow, and pretty gnarly terrain. Whatever. It is about to get really goddamn cold for the forseeable forecast. Around -40. That happens once or twice a season. It's about to get so goddamn cold that most locals won't go up to the hills. Snow becomes velcro, rails get crazy sticky and landings are really goddamn firm.

All that said, I've heard it's really cold sometimes in Finland or the Midwest sometimes. What do you do there? Do you just say fuck it and go to the hill? Are there other options? How do you keep your feet warm?

Big ups to the real cold places.

Live in one of the Northenmost parts of the midwest. Had a week where temps were in between -15 and -40 freedom units. Still had to teach lessons. Needless to say we spent a bit more time in the lodge than on the hill, for safeties sake. It's just part of life.

If you have nice gear it's really not too much of an issue. Having your car start consistently is.

 

[Lonely]

Houghton, MI was so cold, overcast and miserable that I resented snow after my college career was complete. Cold weather is awful just stay inside.

I ended up packing everything thing I had and accepted a job offer in North Carolina. I haven’t skied a day this season but it’s 75F and sunny tomorrow!

Hmm

 

[STEEZUS_CHRI5T]

I’m not wrong lol. How many times have you walked to class and had your eyelashes freeze together from blinking? You can’t tell me you enjoy perpetual overcast either.

 

[skiP.E.I.]

Lots of layers, warm beverages, alcohol, calories, face masks, fires and breaks inside when you're cold. A short boot pack or rail hike also does wonders when it's real cold.

 

[Canis_lupus]

Can’t imagine giving up skiing just for comfort ?‍

Houghton, MI was so cold, overcast and miserable that I resented snow after my college career was complete. Cold weather is awful just stay inside.

I ended up packing everything thing I had and accepted a job offer in North Carolina. I haven’t skied a day this season but it’s 75F and sunny tomorrow!

 

[STEEZUS_CHRI5T]

I didn’t think to include this in my post but I didn’t give up skiing. There are a number of skiing options in the Appalachians and I also take 2 week long trips to keystone each year.



App Ski Mountain has an incredible park (3hrs away) and Liberty Snowflex in Virginia is open year round.

 

[bendy___]

I do kinda of miss the chill of east coast night skiing, but I also don't. CO killed a bit of my cold weather tolerance, CA has made me a pussy. I think if I hit a real cold night sesh again I would turn into a block of ice, tip over, and crumble.

Idk, I miss it though. The vibe of a good night sesh at a small mountain is pretty friggin awesome.

\

Same, my local hill in highschool was crotched mt NH. They used to be open till 3am on the weekends. We'd make endless laps on cold ass nights till we were ready to pass out, good times

 

[BradFiAusNzCoCa]

Overall I agree about co but Loveland is cold as hell. Honestly colder than I ever felt in Finland (my Finnish wife agrees)

I do kinda of miss the chill of east coast night skiing, but I also don't. CO killed a bit of my cold weather tolerance, CA has made me a pussy. I think if I hit a real cold night sesh again I would turn into a block of ice, tip over, and crumble.

Idk, I miss it though. The vibe of a good night sesh at a small mountain is pretty friggin awesome.

\

So you’re American then

I’m Finnish and from Minnesota.

I’d rather be cold then hot. There’s only so much you can do when you are hot and humid outside. When it’s cold, just put in more layers.

Park skiing in Minnesota is pretty common.