"Man, it was reeaallly good up there." - author unknown (could be any number of people)
The ski season has definitely arrived. Technically, that may not be news, but a recent exchange with a friend reinforced the fact that it was really here. While the conversation– which occurs regularly throughout the winter months– can vary in its specifics, the basic gist is always the same. It goes something like this:
Friend #1 “Did you get to out there today?” (there can be a ski area, a part of an area, a specific run, Highlands Bowl etc.)
Friend #2 “No, I couldn’t. I had to [give reason]” (reasons can vary from work, family commitments, court appearance etc.)
Friend #1 ” Dude, it was [really good/epic/sick! etc.] Might have been the best day ever up there, it [enter why]” (it was knee deep, waist deep, untracked, just opened etc.)
It’s a simple conversation with only two critical components. First and foremost, it must be established that friend #1 got out and friend #2 did not. Also critical is that friend #1 is of the type that enjoys telling his or her friends, in their own exaggerated way, that they missed out on something they seem to believe might never be experienced again. Some people are exceptionally good at playing the #1 role. I’d say they know who they are but yet I sometimes wonder if they even know they do it. I probably shouldn’t name names.
We’ve all at one time or another missed out on some good skiing and knew it. It’s obvious as you head to some other commitment that the two feet of new snow in town should make conditions pretty good. The phone call or text isn’t necessary. But once it gets started, and even if you aren’t the type to gloat, it kind of becomes a fun to give it back to someone later who did it first to you.
It started off particularly early this season. I got the call last Wednesday night. The mountain officially opened to the public the following day but as a charity event for the Aspen Valley Ski Club you could ski on that Wednesday for $35. There was no new snow on either day and the base depth could be measured in single digits. Textbook early season conditions existed– there were rocks, icy spots, snow guns everywhere and the amount of open terrain was quite small. Yet right on cue, my phone rang Wednesday evening. After I revealed that I didn’t make it and was planning to go up in the morning, my friend #1 told me with complete sincerity, in a truly sympathetic tone as though he honestly believed he experienced something special, something that I completely missed out on,”Man, it was reeeaaaalllly good up there.”
I smirked and said,”I bet it was.” And the game begins.
I like to share stoke as much as the next guy, but the whole “you werent there?!?” thing drives me crazy. I make an effort to avoid doing it. I feel like responding…”Oh, you weren’t here in ’84 when it snowed 100 straight days..oh…it was reeaaly good. or “Oh you missed out on January ’96?…oh…sorry to hear that…it was epic, best ever”. I mean come on, if someone missed out on a good time is it necessary to make sure they know they missed out? Apparently it is.
btw, great blog ted, thanks for putting in the work.
Classic. I like to refer to these “got out there today, while you didn’t” people as one-uppers. Since their day is always one-up of what you possible could have done on the same day.
True and true.
On a more macro level, back in our most recent ‘best year ever’ of ’07-’08 I heard form more than a few seasoned veterans while riding the gondola how it was almost as good as 82-83. Apparently even the best year in twenty can be ‘one-upped’. They can have it, I’m sure they tore it up on their Rossi 4S’s and Salomom SX80 rear entries(in orange).
And don’t the high speed lifts and modern equipment enable many more quality runs and thus offset the slightly deeper base of that early 80′s banner year? A 100 day/year skier gets 3x as much vertical as their early 80′s counterparts.
It reminds me of a saying a friend of mine throws around when someone’s trying to claim some nostalgic awesome-ness from ‘back in the day’– just tell the guy, “The older you get, the better you were.” – that’s courtesy of Stephen Parziale
Yeah, nothing like the grizzled local yammering about back in the day, especially when they get off the gondy and ski away in perfect attack turtle form.
But, let’s give the rear entry Solomons a break… they worked OK for Marc Giradelli.
Now, I finally picked up my pass…off to der shlopes!
It’s funny because golf is totally different. After a round of golf, most golfers are looking to be consoled. For example, someone will get off the course and say, I shot 87 but had four three putts. And on 17, my ball hit the cart path and bounced out of bounds into Roger Daltrey’s hot tub.
In fact, even Tiger Woods often gets off the golf course unhappy despite shooting a course record 63. And, even worse, the other day he discovered that he has something in common with a baby seal: he, too, has been clubbed by a crazy Scandinavian. And all those cars in his garage? He now has a hole in one.
I’ve got more, a LOT more, but I’ll stop there.
I’m definitely gonna be No. 1 to No. 2 tomorrow… provided he’s not there.
I was thinking the same thing.