The Challenge of Riding in the Winter of 2016
3.3.16
Kellie McGuire
I just watched video of Zakk Wylde playing Black Sabbath on a mini Hello Kitty guitar. It’s not the tools, it’s the talent that makes someone great.
That’s basically what the 2016 skiing and riding season has been.
Everybody can ride and ski on a powder day but in tough conditions is when the real skill is necessary.
I asked a couple of long time snowboarders, Steven Flammer and Joe Molnar, how this snowless winter has affected meeting their riding goals and the answer was not what I expected.
Flammer, said that he landed six or seven freestyle tricks that he’d never even tried before. In the past two winter condition were so good that he almost didn’t have to push himself.
“It’s like being a spoiled kid; I didn’t appreciate it,” Flammer said.
The conditions in the Catskills have ranged from icy, to frozen corduroy, to hard pack, to soft, to slush.
“Every time you go out conditions are different,” Molnar noted. “It makes you a better rider”.
And they’re right, of course.
“Bare patches of earth are just freestyle obstacles,” Molnar said.
Being able to ride expert trails in powered condition is one thing, but riding expert trails on ice or weaving in and out of grassy patches, well, that’s a whole other level of expert.
There are likely only a few days left in this ski/ride season unless Mother Nature gifts us with a spring dumping of snow, so get out there and show your expertise before it’s too late.
Kellie McGuire
I just watched video of Zakk Wylde playing Black Sabbath on a mini Hello Kitty guitar. It’s not the tools, it’s the talent that makes someone great.
That’s basically what the 2016 skiing and riding season has been.
Everybody can ride and ski on a powder day but in tough conditions is when the real skill is necessary.
I asked a couple of long time snowboarders, Steven Flammer and Joe Molnar, how this snowless winter has affected meeting their riding goals and the answer was not what I expected.
Flammer, said that he landed six or seven freestyle tricks that he’d never even tried before. In the past two winter condition were so good that he almost didn’t have to push himself.
“It’s like being a spoiled kid; I didn’t appreciate it,” Flammer said.
The conditions in the Catskills have ranged from icy, to frozen corduroy, to hard pack, to soft, to slush.
“Every time you go out conditions are different,” Molnar noted. “It makes you a better rider”.
And they’re right, of course.
“Bare patches of earth are just freestyle obstacles,” Molnar said.
Being able to ride expert trails in powered condition is one thing, but riding expert trails on ice or weaving in and out of grassy patches, well, that’s a whole other level of expert.
There are likely only a few days left in this ski/ride season unless Mother Nature gifts us with a spring dumping of snow, so get out there and show your expertise before it’s too late.
