It looks like one of the candidates is a snowboarder:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/040323/480/efa10103232012

Also, note how bare Sun Valley's slopes appear in the photo.

That snow looks horrific in the photos!

Nothing is better than seeing the big names on the slopes. Ah-nuld is a skier over at Sun Valley; Pope John Paul II skied until his hip replacement at age 70; Dick Cheney has a house at Jackson Hole; Ross Perot goes out to Vail; William Buckley takes (or took, not sure if he still does) an annual trip to Alta, Utah; etc etc.

But who on earth would vote for a snowboarder though?

It gets even better.

John Kerry allegedly decided to board because he didn't want to seem too snooty by slapping on the skis.

He looked half decent on a board for someone who has traditionally been a skier.

(in the interest of full disclosure, I'll still likely vote for him)

By the way, I saw James Carville in a Borders book store today. Sadly, he wasn't perusing the lates Paris Hilton naughty pictorial in MAXIM. Instead, the Democratic strategist was thumbing through a Columbia Journalism Review...

mm

Is he good or not?

No
First Day: Snowboarding
(NY TIMES)The image-conscious candidate and his aides prevailed upon reporters and photographers to let him have a first run down the mountain solo, except for two agents and Marvin Nicholson, his omnipresent right-hand man.

His next trip down, a reporter and a camera crew were allowed to follow along on skis - just in time to see Mr. Kerry taken out by one of the Secret Service men, who had inadvertently moved into his path, sending him into the snow.

When asked about the mishap a moment later, he said sharply, "I don't fall down," then used an expletive to describe the agent who "knocked me over."

The incident occurred near the summit. No one was hurt, and Mr. Kerry came careering down the mountain moments later, a look of intensity on his face, his lanky frame bent low to the ground.

Second Day: Backcountry Snowboarding
(MSNBC)Clearly needing to step it up on the macho scale, the Senator opts for an early morning backcountry hike and ski involving snowshoeing to the top of a peak and then snowboarding down. Unfortunately, due to malfunctioning binding on his snowboard, the Senator arrives late for his hike and thus misses the cold, frozen snow required for an ideal assent. The result is a three-hour-long slog through snow that is often waist deep and an aborted summit followed by a half-hour, crash-filled snowboard descent. And who said this guy wasn't tough... There are wonderful pictures of a strained Kerry arriving back at the parking lot."

Yes
First Day Snowboarding
(MSNBC) On an editorial note, it should be recorded that the local Ski Patrolman assigned to ski with Kerry said he was 'rippin' it' on the slopes.

For humor, see Scrappleface's take: http://www.scrappleface.com/MT/archives/001645.html

I'm voting for Glenn Plake. Any man who can ski a straight edge 217 cm ski through a mogul field for pleasure is the man who can kick Osama's a** all through the Hindu Kush.

"Perceptions aside, Kerry put down his skis a few years back and learned to board with his kids, according to his campaign. He loves it, says spokeswoman Laura Capps."

http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Mar/03222004/utah/150106.asp

I guess he did it to appear cool for his kids. I suppose that's a legitimate excuse.

he's a kook wannabe plain and simple. when i see him busting big in the pipe or off a booter, i'll take notice.

I never heard that he got on a snowboard to present a less 'snooty' image, but politics is strange, so it may very well be true, but, Kerry has definitely got my vote (what a perfect subject to put in a Kerry plug) . Howard Dean was by far my favorite though, well, maybe he will run again in '08. Speasking of a humerous political subject, I saw a car parked in the Whole Foods (Baltimore City location) parking lot that was hand painted blue and green all over with a million bumper stickers, one of them that said "Truth, the anti-Bush". Funny, and true...

I am so sorry, but ryan speaking of humerous political subjects Dean & scary kerry come to mind!!Dean was SUCH a joke & kerry"s policy is anything against the pres policy.Has he any ideas??We are in the middle of the 3rd or 4th world war & we need a real leader right now.BUSH everybody else is just wishy washy& wimpy!!

Andy just likes Bush because Bill Bright was co-chair of the Bush campaign in WV in 2000.

Bush is the real wimp here (and to think they called Clinton a deaft-dodger). 10 years from now the far right will still be blaming Bill Clinton for all the world's problems! Bush isn't the parent of any of our young people that are coming home either in bodybags or maimed, disfigured, with missing limbs, etc., all to fight a war so the folks at Halliburton and Bechtel, and the big oil interests can get even richer. A good start would be to cut the budget of the bloated Pentagon and it's big $$$ corrupt contractor support down to size to help get us out of this massive deficit (and help the DC area with it's traffic problem), and create a Department Of Peace in it's place. While I do feel that Al Sharpton is a big of a crackpot (and a bit of a racist, too...) I do agree with him that what we need is another new deal. Just think what $85 billion could do here at home. That could buy us one big step towards social justice, and buy us programs that could work towards closing the ever increasing wealth gap (mainly, the middle-class of this country deserves a real safety net, ie. health insurance portability, wage insurance, which is a great idea of former Clinton labor secretary Robert Reich), and the working class deserves a living wage. Read Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, if you haven't already, it's enjoyable reading, and would probably serve as a much needed wake up call to many yuppies. The bottom 50% of American citizens (which is probably not anyone on this board, just a guess) is crying out for our help!

Stepping down from my political soapbox, perhaps Bill Bright will meet people in high places after the election, and the CV area will get the BIGGEST AND BEST resort in all of the world, and the most environmentally friendly one, too. I'm probably just dreaming, but it's fun sometimes

I know for a fact that George Bush and his corporate cronies are hatching an evil plot to steel Mickey Mouse's private parts.

Mickey Mouse is anatomically correct?? Since when?

Ok, things seem lighthearted so far, but I know politics and skiing don't mix so well, and this is a skiing Message Forum. So let's try to limit the discussion to Kerry's snowboarding prowess and Bush's *continuing* refusal to learn how to ski. (Ha!) If and when Bush installs a chairlift at Camp David, I'm sure Connie will tell us all about it.

Returning to the issue of snowboarding and skiing, does anyone know if Kerry skied or boarded locally in his DC senate career?

If so, where did he go?

If he's elected, I suspect he might give Whitetail, RT, or Libery a shot because all are a convenient day trip from Camp David. We won't see him there on a Saturday, but I am curious if he would give our local slopes a shot mid-week when the crowds are smaller and things are quiet.

I'm also curious if he would go riding with the best skier in politics right now, Vladimir Putin. Putin is at least a level 7 and is fully capable of most off-piste terrain. His favorite resort outside of Russia is St. Anton, and he's a member of the Ski Club Arlberg. I guess that means we're members of the same club.

Also, for all you Head ski fans, Putin skis on HEAD i.C300s:

http://www.carve2.com/putin.html



Putin is also a big promoter of ski resort development in Russia:

http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/7033-16.cfm

Naturally, he owns a lot of property himself near Krasnaya Polyana.

PS Putin learned to ski later in life when he worked for the KGB in Germany. He's inspiration for Russian adults trying to learn the sport.

Isn't Krasnaya Polyana where Tolstoy is from? Glad to hear that Putin has at least one redeeming trait.

I disagree with Scott that politics and skiing don't mix, because that would prevent Glenn Plake from becoming President. Enough with these politicians intruding on our turf... it's time we turned the tide! Let's put the "white" in White House! A snowgun in every pot! Er, wait...

Roy:

Krasnaya Polyana is in Dagestan near Mount Elbrus (5642 m), the highest mountain in Europe. I don't know if Tolstoy was from there but I do know that the place has the potential to be a St. Anton in Russia: big vert., wonderful off-piste, great snow, etc. They just need some new lifts.

The instability of the Caucuses region is another problem--it might convince rich foreigners to avoid the place. However, Russia has a huge domestic ski market, most of whom take package trips to the Alps. Putin would like this domestic market to spend their rubles locally rather than abroad.

BTW, Putin may be so obsessed with the security situation in Chechnya because the war there interferes with his ski dreams. In any event, Putin could smoke Kerry on any slope.

I chatted with a Russian at Whitetail this winter who said he learned to ski somewhere outside of Moscow, that (memory failing) was similiar in distance away from moscow as whitetail is from dc.... no idea.

Also i just skied with someone at big sky who grew up in Tehran and learned to ski there, or in the mountains near there. I asked if it was still popular today and he said it was which surpised me somewhat, although I suppose it shouldn't have. I just pictured the "iman" saying "no way to skiing".. for some reason which reveals more about my ignorance than anything.

Not really political...

India was on the verge on building a huge resort in Kashmir when the latest war broke out. If I remember right, they have 20 pairs of rental skis and you can still go there, if you don't mind a little RPG action to liven the slopes up. And Nepal is in the middle of a communist-led civil war.

Always wondered about the Hindu Kush too... from the photos in Afghanistan, they look gorgeous.

There was an article in Foreign Affairs a few years ago dealing with the near-intractable poverty conditions of mountain communities in the third world and some rather sensible proposals for dealing with it (no living wages from what I rememeber ); I should go and dig that up and reread it. That's probably a political issue that, as skiers, is something we could get a little more involved in... heck it comes up enough discussing West Virginia! Obviously civil unrest in the Caucasus is a bigger impediment for Russia developing a large resort than environmental considerations on the Roaring Plains.

I'll bet Glenn Plake would be all over this... and he could ski Putin's butt off, too.

It would be interesting to do an around the world ski, including some of the more troubling areas... one could perhaps even make it into some sortof media event to raise awareness... yeah, yeah that's it. now all we need are some sponsors (to pay) and some media coverage, and ...

I was blown away when I skied in Andorra by the number of Russians on the slopes.

I spent a semester in St. Petersburg in 1992 and it never occurred to me that Russians would ever be able to afford to travel and ski.

I think there were more Russians there than any other nationality. One time, I chatted in Russian with a couple on the lift on my right and in Spanish with a guy on my left. It was weird.

Some day, I'd like to try skiing in Russia and other parts of eastern Europe.

mm

Where does ARNOLD come in against the politicals?Geez this is a worldly bunch we have here at DCSKI.I was lucky enough to have a father in the foriegn svc,so lets see who has experienced this.Waking up in the morning at the holiday inn in merrakesh,morrocco & swimming a few laps in the pool & then driving up into the atlas mtn's to ski the afternoon.The name of the ski area was called oclymeden or somthing like that.Somwhere between 10 & 12000' elevation I would guess(anybody know?)Also skied further north in a place called michelin or somthing like that(been a few)Beautiful though

I looked at those Atlas mountains from Gibraltar and Tangiers and wondered if there was skiing.

Is it any good? That would help me take another step toward the goal of skiing every continent before I take that chairlift up to the eternal summit in the sky....

mm

I've heard the skiing in the Atlases can be spotty and donkies are still used as lifts on occasion. I suppose a powder day is a powder day though, right?

to respond to your question a powder day is a powder day right?
well i wanna say yes but no at the same time. A utah powder day is ten times better than a powder day anywehre in the southeast. all these palces down here groom most of it out and you have to find little patches so its not really a 'powder day" where as out there the groomers leave lots of the mtn alone and you can make fresh tracks for 3000 vert feet. if you are there early enough. snow quality there utah to here or further west is much different. utah snow super dry and fluffy and here or more west it tends to be a little heavier. not the same feeling at all.

The St. Moritz tourist board informed me that Russians spent more money per capita than any other group visiting the resort this season.

Ok, Mr. Technical. But here is some heresy: I had an opportunity to ski knee-deep powder in Utah and knee-deep powder in Lake Tahoe this year and can't say I saw much of a difference. Gosh, by saying that I feel like I might as well have been at a fancy dinner party and, having sipped a 50 year port, announced out loud "mighty fine sweet wine y'all got here!"

Maybe it's just east coast unfamiliarity with great snow, but the snow at Northstar skied just fine. My impression was I was coming down a little slower than in Utah and my skis weren't sinking in quite as far (or maybe it was just easier to hop in the snow). I've skied great pow in Oregon and Steamboat as well. So... has anyone had experience with fresh "Sierra Cement" versus fresh Utah Pow that can set me straight on this?

I was led to believe the water content of Utah snow is about as low as it gets, but it varies probably -- think about around here when it snows... maybe you got a good one!

Oh yeah the water content is very different... that's one reason why avalanches are more common in CO and UT than WA and CA (snow on top gets heavy as warm sun compresses it and WHOOSH whereas out in the Cascades and the Sierra the heavier snow has a better clinginess that enables it to stick to more vertical surfaces and provide greater stability). But what I'm wondering about is the difference in skiability... seemed easier to get going in UT but easier to sink deeper too.

i never skied in bottomless powder and i'm skeptical there is really such a thing... So I always had a firmer layer of snow below the powder. It was PARTICULARLY EASY on the groomed trails, or the trials that ultimately get groomed and then have the fresh snow. EASY CITY to ski in that stuff. Off this the snow density wasn't as even and this was more challenging but only slightly... Or so it seemed.

I remember some decent snow where i went.Maybe they have put some ski areas closer to the cities where it is lower in elevation.Don't knock those donkeys!!Timberline should invest in a few,they might beat the queen up the hill!(queen is a lift)

Prince Charles and Prince William hit the slopes at Klosters:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3576369.stm