The California Girl

Author: Megan Michelson
Local News Editor

As an avid skier, I was frequently forewarned prior to coming to college in Vermont about the insufficiencies of East Coast skiing in comparison to the Lake Tahoe, Calif. ski conditions that I was used to. However, I disregarded most criticism and warnings in sake of the fact that attending one of few colleges in the country that actually owns its own ski area within a 25-minute drive from campus would be worth sacrificing a slightly superior quality of skiing. Although if I had known then what I know now, after experiencing the icy, narrow runs at local ski resorts, I would have replaced the word slightly for a more drastic differentiation in the caliber of skiing on either coast.

First of all, the snow conditions on the East Coast seem to range from hard packed ice to a softer packed ice and there is no such thing as an East Coast powder day. The up to your waist, sugary powder that blesses skiers in the West is a phenomenon that skiers on the East Coast can only dream about. The average natural snowfall during a season at Killington in Vermont is 250 inches compared to the average 450 inches at Squaw Valley in California, hence the abundance of those subtle "low coverage" signs seen frequently in the East. I was told that some days the icy slopes on the East are so blue and clear that skiers and snowboarders can actually see their reflection in it, whereas the only thing that is blue and clear on the West Coast is the sky.

The stereotypes associated with California's warm and sunny weather are not totally incorrect. Even in the middle of winter, snow lovers rarely have to endure a temperature below 30 degrees Fahrenheit and more often than not, the sun is shining. However, on the East Coast, temperatures seem to linger around an almost intolerable zero to 20 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill factor of much lower. To describe this more accurately, let me say that I have never had to wear more than one layer of long underwear before coming to the East Coast.

The West prides itself in varied terrain including open bowls, steep chutes, tree skiing and moguls. The East, on the other hand, settles for more mundane options of trails that range from groomed intermediate runs to groomed and mogul-filled expert routes, all of which are narrowly cut trails with relatively short length and vertical drop. With the thin, closely packed trees, there are few available glades or tree skiing alternatives and a wide, open bowl is about as hard to find at ski areas on the East Coast as it is to buy a lunch for less than ten dollars in the on-hill dining facilities.

Even the rating of difficulty of runs on the East Coast is less than those offered at West Coast ski areas. A black diamond at Sugarbush in Vermont, which is intended to appeal to advanced skiers and snowboarders and is generally categorized as such as a result of its vertical pitch and length of run, is equivalent to a blue square or intermediate run at Alpine Meadows in California. Therefore an intermediate skier from the West can immediately be transformed to a skier capable of embarking on runs in the East labeled for expert skiers only.

The peak elevation of East Coast ski areas normally rests around 4000 feet, whereas in the West, it is typically about double that elevation at the top of the mountain. With the aid of a majority of high-speed quads and six-person chair lifts on the West Coast, it makes completing an ample amount of runs accomplishable on any given day. However, with the slower pace of East Coast chair lifts and the lack of sufficient high-speed quads, even the number of runs plausible in one day is less than out West. Considering ticket prices still stand at the outrageous $60 a day average on either Coast, the number of runs possible on the West make it more worthwhile financially.

All in all, skiing in the West is undoubtedly preferred over East Coast conditions, however who really has the right to complain given the circumstances of having a monthlong schedule that provides for limitless days of skiing? I certainly do not.