Yep, it's Winter in the Northern Hemisphere

[cliffrod]

As a born and bred vahmontah, nobody can believe me when I say that I have never been to a ski slope skiing.  The one-two times I strapped on The old 1 piece wooden skis to go "cross country" skiing in the field by the barn between chores, it was more like snowshoeing with the skinniest snowshoes ever.....   It was too expensive even when I was a kid in the 70's and there were always cows to milk and chores that had to be done.  gutter cleaners frozen solid with manure take priority over fun stuff every time.

I did enjoy snowshoeing a lot as a kid.  Sliding on a Travious (sp?) with a big crowd of people is the best.  But now I enjoy winter even more here in SC.  My cousin said it was 6F in Barre this morning.  It's nearly 60F here right now and it only takes a cord of wood for a cozy winter.  That's a good trade. 

[Moto]

How do we know , well , everyone gets a bit grouchy 

 Take a breath fellas , go hug mamma , pet your dog or cat , start planning for rally season , get out a map and plan some routes , go for a walk , visit a friend , post a ride report , read a good book .

 Are we good ?

 Dusty

I'm good. Grumpy, but good.

I miss the old days of economical skiing too. (How did this get to be the topic?)

More beer, please.

Moto

[Testarossa]

Yeah, it can be expensive to ski -- always has been. I used to say that if I couldn't do it if I weren't getting paid. As JohnnyVT points out there are still ways to learn on the cheap, and once you're hooked it's easy to rationalize a $900 multi-resort pass that can get you on the local hill AND is good at another two dozen resorts around the country. That's a great deal if you have the time to ski a lot. And there are always good deals around on slightly used equipment or close-outs -- just like motorcycling! Which reminds me, about the time I got addicted to skiing I was also riding my Harley/Aermacchi through a Cleveland winter because I couldn't afford a car.

Talk about extreme weather addiction: Coldest I ever was was frostbiting -- dinghy racing on Lake Michigan in November, bailing slush.