akale15

A year removed but do you still have a buddy this way? I moved out here almost 2 years ago and have been looking for some more skiing opportunities. Rocky Mountain Ski at Soda Lakes is a nice place but would be open for other options with local skiers.

I'm moving to COS in Oct and would love to find a place to ski as well. Any info would be appreciated!

course ski 1 day (if I'm lucky) and free ski 1-2 days a week.....no tournaments since college @braindamage even a couple days later your metric isn't to far off. Cost and accessibility are my biggest prohibitors. Those of you M/W4+ with the boats and the sites are the only reason I'm still skiing. Its a large undertaking, both time and money, for a working family with young kids if access isn't in your backyard.

Likely relocating to the CO Springs area. What are the closest options for skiing around the Springs?

@escmanaze your insight on this is very interesting and I much appreciate your comments. I have been extremely interested in the Utah area for quite some time due to the endless opportunities of outdoor activities but despite what appears to be a fairly large skiing community the lack of water availability does pose issues. While I, like others, feel the community aspect with a large number of homes trying to share (2) small lakes seems like an overcrowding issue it does seem to provide more pro's than con's specifically for what I know about the Utah market. I will say though, being from NE Indiana it is awfully hard to fathom spending $190k on a lot for access to 39 acres of water to share with 145 other families but understand that is a harsh reality of the real estate market for our friends to the West.

@TacticalSpeed I used to live and ski there in Paducah, PM me I can share some contact information with the lake owner.

Horrid season, probably less than 25 times through a course and less than 50 rides all season. Couldn't get started until June due to a crappy spring, traveled a lot for work, never ran my -28 off pass...trying to put 2019 in the rear view. Don't get me wrong though, a crappy season is better than no season (aka 2015). Here's to a better 2020!

Was playing around on Ski-it-Again today and was looking as some of the reasonably priced homes for sale in CA. Specifically in Newberry Springs and Bakersfield. From just a quick view there are a half a dozen lake sites, many multi lake sites, in Newberry Springs and with S CA weather you have the benefits of skiing year around. However the area appears to lack much infrastructure and with the closest major city of San Bernardino a little over an hour away it has me wondering what you would do for work? Bakersfield I understand as it is a larger city with apparent industry to support a common living..but the Barstow area? Are we talking remote work, or longer commutes into the city, retirement? I work in the construction industry and report to an office or jobsite daily but with all of these beautiful ski sites available in more remote yet beautiful areas had me wondering how I could support it while not sacrificing 2-3+ hours of my day getting to and from work....

@scotchipman I couldn't agree more...I would love to get out of the Midwest and move to the Rockys! Although NE IN does have its fair share of lakes it does lack any amount of forests and the winters are cold and windy with little to no snow. Sure it may be affordable and a "great place to raise a family" but geographically it sucks. Unless of course you are a farmer or like long straight and majorly potholed roads (specificity Interstate 69 between Fort Wayne and Indianapolis). Hopefully the migration can happen in the near future...

@jcamp the N lake at Twin Oaks Lakes in Paducah, KY has a notch out for a utility pole, with power lines running over a portion of the lake. I used to ski at this site...it was also the site of the 2018 Southern Regionals.

@ski4xtc Nautique is showing a MSRP of $79,694

@MS I couldn't agree more. As everyone has mentioned a little research and willingness to help out goes a long way. In fact it is how I've been able to ski post graduation but @Chef23 makes an excellent point. Since we've had our first child my skiing has dramatically decreased. I lived 12 min from a ski site and maybe skied 8-10 sets a month. A "quick" set easily turns into 2 hours. When you have a 1 yr old skiing from 5:30 to 7:30 doesn't coincide with meal and bed time very well. That being said the argument then becomes how do we make skiing more "convenient" and in my opinion the convenience of being on a private lake or having close direct access to a course is extremely challenging without a large financial backing.

@Murrski to your point about post graduates...funding the cost of skis, vest, ropes, etc is doable if you prioritize this as a hobby. The bigger and more cost prohibiting hurdle that is keeping post grads out of the game is finding/affording a place to ski. If you don't happen to live near a ski club (ie. pay a membership to ski the site) then you typically have (2) options: 1. buy property and build a lake (not practical) or 2. buy a residence on a ski lake community. While the second option seems to make more sense as a mid 20's something kid it's extremely unlikely that buying a $500k house is even feasible. There are a lot of new ski sites up and coming but the lots to build are extremely high (some as much as $350k) and then you still have the expense of building a house to meet HOA requirements which could be another $350+k. Add a boat on top of that and I'd go to say there are very very few late 20's who could swing that. If you graduate, spend 4-6 years not skiing because of availability and affordability what is the true likely-hood of that skier coming back to the sport?? Just my $0.02

@Joeprunc I have gone through a very similar progression as you this season. Started the season with an opner of -15@32. After running a lot into -15@36 but not having much success with the -22 pass it was suggested to me on dropping the -15 and work at -22@34. I now open practice with two passes at -22@34 then to 36 and have missed just a few passes at -22@36 since making the transition (a little over a month now). Currently stuck at 3 to 4 buoys at -28 but its just a matter of time...

@joeprunc my story is almost identical this year. Started the season off with an opener of -15@30 and was regularly working my way into -15@36. After most of April, May, and June I was fed up, had to do some traveling for work and was off the water for about 2 weeks. I came back open minded and focused on correcting the bad habits that kept me from dropping the -15 line length before. After about a week of running 95% of my -15@36 passes and getting a few at -22 my ski partner @bbrannan suggested dropping -15 entirely. I now open with two passes at -22@34 before jumping to 36. Since making the change first of July I can honestly say I haven't missed but just a few passes at -22 and getting 3 at -28 quite regularly. Since I was starting to get into -28 I also decided I was going to reward myself and ditch my 8+ year old ski for a D3 ARC and have been extremely happy with the decision. Although I haven't ran -28 yet I know with some more coaching and water time it'll happen soon.