Read the shout out from Matt Pepin It's all Downhill from here
Tuesday, October 1 | Follow Matt Pepin on TwitterBACK IN ACTIONIt's been a while.
The last edition of It's All Downhill came out March 8, the final installment in a sporadic year for the newsletter. A new high-responsibility, high-stress, high-anxiety position at the Globe (I now run the sports department) left me with little time to write about skiing, something I've done the past several years for the Globe on my own time as a matter of personal interest.
The new job also cut sharply into my skiing time, leaving me with less to write about anyway. In the 2017-18 season, I logged 13 ski days. Last year, I had six, all thoroughly enjoyable but a far cry from recent years.
I'm not bellyaching. I know what I signed up for, and needed the first year on the job to gain a certain level of comfort, and also get our department up to full staff.
We're there now, and I'm feeling more comfortable at work, and I'm feeling pretty good about my ski outlook for the 2019-20 season. I've been planning my annual getaway with a friend, talking with my family about possible trips and our gear needs for the new season, and secretly plotting individual getaways because I love skiing alone.
The newsletter format may have to change a bit —some weeks may be only a collection of links to news, videos, and other snowsports content I come across. But other weeks will continue to have personal essays or real reports from the mountains or the New England ski scene. I'll shoot for more consistency with weekly or bi-weekly sends of It's All Downhill.
Ski season is almost here. The cold wind that blew off Boston Harbor as I walked to the train station one day last week was a sure sign that winter is coming. I received a print copy of Ski Magazine in the mail. I paused on my way to TD Garden this week to gaze through the window of The Ski Monster shop on Canal Street, daydreaming of the approaching season.
Hopefully it's better than last year.
If you enjoy It's All Downhill, please encourage a friend to sign up, too. CLICKING INMARK YOUR CALENDAR: The Boston.com Ski & Snowboard Expo is Nov. 14-17 at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston. Next year, the event moves to Boston's Hynes Convention Center. Sign up for the expo's mailing list to receive discount ticket offers and the latest details.
PASS PLAY: The latest entry in the multi-resort ski pass game is the $199 Indy Pass, which provides up to 72 days of skiing/riding at 36 independently owned ski areas in North America, including six in New England. Many of the locations in the Eastern Region are on the smaller side, although it does include Vermont's Magic Mountain and Bolton Valley. Ski Magazine had a good story about the pass when it was introduced in August.
AN INTERESTING FELLOW: The story that intrigued me most in Ski Magazine's gear issue that recently landed in my mailbox had nothing to do with gear. Jenny Wiegand's profile of 68-year-old billy barr , who lives in the Colorado ghost town of Gothic and spells his name all lowercase, was fascinating. In addition to skiing — he sometimes skis 4 miles to a bus stop so he can go shopping — barr spends his winters observing the weather and tracking weather data in virtual isolation.
GIVING BACK: The Killington World Cup Foundation, which provides support for the women's World Cup event each November in Vermont and provides funding for competitive snowsports programs in the Northeast/mid-Atlantic regions, has given more than a quarter-million dollars to nonprofit organizations for development programs. Details can be found on the foundation's website, and tickets for the World Cup Nov. 29-Dec. 1 are on sale now.
QUITE AN HONOR: Buck Hill, the small Minnesota ski area where American ski racing legend Lindsey Vonn got her start, named a rope tow in her honor this week. "Kildow's Climb" — she was known as Lindsey Kildow back then — will include signs along the way that tell her story.
INDOOR SKIING? An indoor ski slope in New Jersey at the American Dream complex is set to open in late October. The people behind it say up front they are not trying to replicate the outdoor experience, and also view it as a gateway facility to get more people involved in skiing and snowboarding. Honestly, it sounds like something that might be fun once. NJ.com has a closer look at "Big Snow America."
QUICK-HITS: The Boston Bruins' "Skate and Ski" promo is back, a $99 deal that includes a ticket to select games and a lift ticket at Loon ... Here are a whole bunch of trailers for this season's ski films from the major filmmakers ... Here's a list of who will be inducted into the Vermont Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame this year ... Here is Ski Magazine's "Gear of the Year" from the 2020 equipment issue.