why does east coast skiing suck?

whats up with all this east coast hate? east coast prepares you for pretty much everything and makes you a way better skiier. plus, tons of good skiers have come out of east coast. B-dog, Dadali, Dumont, Wallisch and a bunch of others that i can't remember
 
This thread was started in 2001, you joined in 2009 and thus you have to get the fuck out of these forums.
 
lack of powder and very few decent sized hills pretty much. that being said MSLM's park is in the east and is pretty legit, makes up for lack of decent runs i guess
 
We bitch cause we don't ski Killington or Mount Snow. Most of us ski 250foot vertical hills that have under 15 runs. That take 15 seconds to get down. But we still ski as much as we can because we love it. Because any skiing is better then none.
 
hahaha fun bump.

I fell in love skiing on the east, and as I'm relatively new to skiing regularly out west, most of my best ski experiences were back east. There really is a pretty shocking culture shock in moving in either direction, and it's fun to see how the culture on the mountain mirrors the culture off.
I see ski movies where guys are skiing Chamonix, and other small (I'm sure it's not so small, but you know what I mean) European towns and skiing is so incredibly ingrained in the culture, and in some cases, is almost just a practical form of transportation, and less a passion.
To ski on the east, especially in the Mid-Atlantic, is just something all together different in that it's less of a cultural thing, and more a niche form of family entertainment like packing the kiddos up and going to Disney World. The people really into skiing/boarding are few and far between and usually something of an oddity (I know there are really strong race, and park I would think now, programs in New England and wherehaveyou, not where I'm at, b).
The EC has its charms, no question, but damn...there is a whole other sort of fun to be had Colorado and westward. Sorry my EC brethren.
 
pretty much that.

But the one thing I like about small PA mountains in the vibe where everyone knows everyone.
 
there needs to be a separation between skiing in the upper east and skiing like NJ/PA/Lowest NY. Cause I've been to vermont and I've been out west to CO. And it's different in all three places.
 
martini, lj, will, andy, ian compton, erik olson, dale talkington, charles gagnier, jp auclaire, and i believe shea flynn but i could be wrong
 
The list of West Coast skiers is more impressive, if we are talking about guys who rip mountains apart. Look at the guys getting big mountain segments, they are from the west, JP and Hugo excetpted. Hoji, Sage, Seth Heim, Abma, Rahlves, Tanner, Flahr.....Just look at the guys who are getting flown in helis is AK and BC. Most of them came from the west, with a few exceptions. I'm not going to go down the list, as it is massive, but more of the guys who have produced bomber big mountain segments are from the west. As for urban or park.....Maybe the east produces more of those types of skiers, I don't care about that stuff.

Having grown up back east, I don't agree with all the homerism about the east coast making someone a better skier. If you take two people, and have one grow up at Squaw, one at Mt. Snow, then all other things being equal, the Squaw skier will end up better. The terrain back east is flat compared to the stuff out west, and anyone who does not think west coast guys ski ice has never lived there. The worst ice I have ever skied was out west. Frozen railroad tracks from slush gone bad, on steep terrain, is worse than anything back east.

Growing up skiing icy bumps will make you a good skier, but going out west is a completely different ball game. To say it gets easier is absurd. The steepness of the terrain makes everything different. Moving out west is the best thing an east coaster can do to improve their skiing.

The idea that an east coast skier CAN"T become a great big mountain skier is bullshit, but I would still rather grow up skiing out west. The most important thing, however, is to ski a whole lot. The more time you spend on the hill while growing up, the more comfortable your body will get on skis.

As to the skiing back east sucking....I grew up skiing icy bumps, and I loved every minute of it. Ski bumps, glades, the park if you want. The east does have great parks and pipes, so take advantage of that. I loved skiing back then, and I don't think I ever regretted going skiing. So what if there is nothing scary like Squaw/Jackson, you can still have fun skiing. Enjoy every ski day, because we are all lucky to be skiing. Every day you are skiing, instead of at work or school, is a good day!

It should be noted, that among the east coasters who do eventually kill big mountains, almost all of them have strong technical backgrounds. They have backgrounds in either racing, or moguls. This should be food for thought for park kids who diss racing.
 
I'm from the east coast and I hate it (granted PA is more midwest). The mountains are tiny, we never get good snow, and there is little to no BC.

And to anyone who says no good skiers come out of the EC, the NS posterboy Tommy Walnuts is from PA.
 
I like the bump.

^Seth went to Burke Academy in VT.

Jeremy Jones (snb) is from MA.

Good skiers come from all over.

I'm from NH. went west, came back, and now I'm PERMANENTLY moving back to Wyoming, to live long and ski hard til I die.

before you even get into the snowpack... western north america terrain is more open and vast, it's got far less dense scrub trees, and the mountains are just bigger.

Then there's the snow.

last season I tried pretty hard to get some east coast backcountry worthy of anything in the west. it's so much more of a crap shoot on the east and it takes way more effort. but, the joy is still there.

 
The whole issue of density is something I've never necessarily consciously put my finger on, but now that you mention it, it's absolutely true. I have to say, while the west obviously has terrain that's on a different level, there's just such a wide variety of options that you can find incredibly fun, yet mellow stuff, in or out of bounds. Back east, it's almost like there's a much steeper jump in difficulty going from the groomers to looking into playing between them—mostly a result of the density that you mentioned.

You can definitely cut your teeth in the east, and damn well can find your edges haha, but I feel like the west offers a more approachable learning curve as there's just so much more diverse terrain in terms of technicality, exposure, pitch, etc., that you can really incrementally step up your game.
 
THis. Where the biggest jumps in the park is 35 feet and everyone is allowed in it. Gapers cutting you off 24/7 and just rolling over the jumps making them flat. Added to the fact all the straight airs they do make every single landing icy as fuck. I live in quebec where the average temperature is -20. And the only skiing we do is night skiing cuz most of us teenagers cant afford to go in the day time and have school. our season is jan to march. but we still go everyday cuz thats all we got. THats why we bitch. On the ski hill rating, we;re at the very bottom of the list
 
You need to come to montana and Utah. You will imeadiatly redgrave that statement.

East coat pow day will never be close to a pow day at snow bird. Park wise,there just isn't that much snow on the east so I feel some of their features lack size.
 
I don't think the East Coast sucks at all. If you think the East Coast sucks, you're really missing out on a lot. There are many mountains in the East Coast with decent vertical and pitch. Sure you don't get anything close to the continuous snowfall and challenging terrain of the West Coast, but there's still a lot to offer out on the EC, epecially terrain park-wise. To be honest, I enjoyed the East coast parks more so than the West coast ones I rode this season. Not to say that the West doesn't have better parks overall, I just don't think you can count the EC out.
 
i believe that the reason east coast skiing is not as epic and snow filled as the west coast is because of ullr. Back in the 1600's, Puritans from england baned the worshipping of him. As a punishment, Ullr cursed the east coast with bad winters that are extreamly cold, and yet somehow yield less snow than other areas of the world and have have occassional rain storms in febuary.
 
East coast for life! I love New york, my ski season is 4 and a half months long and I live 30 mins from my local hill. Also what most of the West doesn't have... NIGHT SKIING
 
Are you serious. If someone would have made a thread about this everyone would have been saying "OMG REPOST WHAT A NOOB".

So what if it is a 10 year old thread it still has a legitimate discussion going on.
 
Alcohol had an influence, but bitter much? lol I would agree but I really dont think there is a problem east coast vs west coast anymore. I mean tupac and biggie are both dead, The hansons pretty much ran the east coasts shit in music in the 90's (irrelevancy is fucking awesome) and then Tammy Wallnutz got spit out of the east coast like a crack baby on skis and is loved by everyone. and now its 2011 (real talk) and kids are getting too serious about the competitive nature of skiing and not looking into why their parents got them into the sport to begin with. To me thats bigger than any problem that I have ever seen in skiing, Live. Love, Have Fun, and Ski.

Good talk NS, I am going to go buy a 6 pack and enjoy myself on the lake
 
Not gonna lie, hard-packed, moguly ass, tight glades are pretty damn fun. That doesnt mean i'd choose it over knee deep pow, we make the best of what we have.
 
1309496292aledlewis_toystories_02.jpg
 
idk maybe the simple fact that the east doesn't get nearly as much snow as the west, therefore the skiing industry may not be as large as out west or other places... stupid fucker.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top