Well, I got in 25 days of skiing for the 2026 season. I had some fun of course, but I also had several extremely scary experiences this year, like I’ve never had before. Like going down green runs with signs that read “Easy Way Down”, only to find solid ice. This happened at least three times, totally unexpected. Why there were signs indicating “Easy Way Down”, I do not know, but they were wrong, and nearly killed me. Skiing is supposed to be fun. Skiing on a one car wide cat track next to a cliff where you can’t see the bottom (The Last Spike at Revelstoke), is not that much fun. Trying to ski on runs that are solid ice, is not that much fun. None of these things are fun for me. The stress you have to deal with when faced with poor conditions can have the ability to remove any fun from the equation, which is a total drag.
After all, I ski to have fun, not to get scared.
I’d also like to share how my lack of bike riding during the 2025 spring, summer and fall that I usually do (but didn’t do last year) to prepare for winter 2026 may have caused a super painful intercostal strain that almost sidelined me at the end of January. At one point, I could barely get out of bed. I had to go home and see my doctor, get physical therapy, etc., before I could go back out skiing again. The good thing is I did do all my other exercise routines during 2025, so overall, I’m in good shape.
I had no way of knowing, but it turns out I picked to worst year to buy both the Epic and Ikon passes. The lack of snow caused some pretty bad conditions at many of resorts in the west. The funny thing is, a few western places like Big Sky Resort and Wolf Creek had plenty of snow and good conditions almost all year. Yet most of the Colorado and Utah resorts suffered. It was a real hit or miss year…
Hopefully, 2026-2027 will be much better!
The good thing is, I made it through this season without getting injured. Let It Snow. Yeehaw!