Resort Skier vs. Backcountry Skier, ROI

The best backcountry skiers I know are also all confirmed lift skiers, and coincidentally have quivers  . . .

The best backcountry skiers I know are ones who are pleased with nature and especially pleased by the winter environment and all its challenges--they find fulfillment in bc endeavors because of the environment, not despite it.

They may not have the latest equipment, they may not be the most proficient or the most adventuruous or the strongest or the loudest ... but they are most of who they are in the bc.

to follow up on acarey...My "return" from skiing has nothing to do with # of runs.

It's like eastern philosophy vs. western. I ski to be, not to go somewhere XX number of times.

So, I don't know what "best" BC skier means, but the most "Dedicated" backcountry skiers ski in the boackcoutry b/c the "being" is so completely different from a ski area.

Koda, firstly thanks for starting this provocative post. I think it's getting highly entertaining and it's interesting reading posters views and pretensions. I love it.
However there is a backstory.

As you know there has been a series of censoring, locking and banning due to negative content.
RonJ , the moderator stated in a previous thread that TAY's goal were for only positive and uplifting content and that posters who didn't comply with this should go elsewhere or be banned in future.

Additionally in a threead by Snowwolf , you said the following.

Apparently others on here are gunning to hijack threads, when there is even a "hot air" section where they could legitimately start their own topic. From what I have read, not one of your posts has started out provocative and has in fact been informative, its clear that you love the mountains and love your sport, thank you for sharing.
I don't post much myself, but am loosing interest here on TAY...

RonJ then replied,
Quote}You should post here more, Koda.
Your positive feedback will help keep TAY the kind of community that you enjoy frequenting. As the numbers of contributors continues to grow, keeping the atmosphere the way we want it falls on the shoulders of the users as well as the moderators. The more we all ignore the sniping and hijacking, and instead praise the behavior we prefer in our community, the more likely it remains the way we want it.
Thanks for your comment.}end quote.

Well I'm glad you took RonJ's advise and stayed around as I find your post entertaining, provocative( and despite your protestations... I'm sure you knew it would be) and certainly not uplifting or "giving" back to the TAY community. It's mildly divisive and has already started pitting resort skiers;sidecountry skiers and bc skiers into defensive modes. If you read the posts carefully with an honest mind you can tell that the always perceptive Marcus realized that and hence his post and to a certain degree( IMHO) so did GregL.
Do I have problems with this, fuck no..... I love it as it's a discussion forum and it's interesting seeing who and what they post...... But let's call it what it is.
I'm sure RonJ's proud of you and this post.

HAHHA hypocrites..... I love you all..... welcome to the club.

The best backcountry skiers I know are also all confirmed lift skiers

The best backcountry skiers I know are ones who are pleased with nature  

What a great topic.   If I could choose a way to be, I would go with Acarey.  I work M-F and lift ski at night to keep conditioning or on the weekend if BC conditions are terrible.  My ego won't allow me to relax and accept not being a strong skiier, and I think I enjoy BC more when I have the legs to let me choose my line.  As I get older, it gets harder and harder to do the things I could do when younger.

Aging gracefully is going to be hard for me

Well, you really need include beer in this analysis, BC skiers drink PBR from the can and resort skiers from the pitcher.

As for price per day the first pow turn is really expensive and the rest are free BC or lift served don't matter.

Man this can be a tough crowd here... Well, my post isn't the most "uplifting" I had no intention of it dividing the ski community between the resort skier and the backcountry skier. My only intent with the post is comparing the cost... perhaps maybe skewed in a way to justify my touring habit for the fun of it. I did not suspect this would be so popular...

For the record,I grew up resort skiing and resort skiing is fun and I'd be up for going again sometime, I've met a few good touring partners over the years and we always come up with fun tours so the past few years I've had my opportunities in the backcountry.Keep in mind, I'm a typical weekend warrior on my home terrain Mt Hood, where there is not as much side country options with all the closed boundary policies strictly enforced (primarily by Meadows), so it's either a 100% day in the BC or a 100% day in the resort.... I have a feeling if I had a resort with an open gate policy I would be an avid season pass holder like many of you lucky skiers on this thread. That said, I hope I didn't offend any resort skier, if so I apologize, but this is a backcountry skiing forum, and this is an "idle chatter" column so I thought it fun to post this and perhaps read others perspectives on the cost of backcountry skiing. (I enjoyed reading JP_'s reply... I think he got the idea of the post)

"welcome to the club"... am I fully initiated here? And for God's sake lets let the White Pass thread drift away...

Lets just have fun here with this thread, perhaps someone else here has justified his touring habit financially?