Skiing and Roller Coasters.

Last year, when i was teaching my kids to ski, my youngest made a connection that never occured to me. Downhill is skiing is a lot like roller coasters, the differnce being, you set your own course.
The rush is about the same. If you're into jumps, there's plenty of airtime.
My question is: How many on this site ski? and did you ever make a connection like that?
Thanks.

While I don't ski as regular as I'd like to, yes, I do ski since its the closest to roller coasters that I can get (save for Chippewa Lake Park). I'd say the rush is a little more intense since you are ultimately in control of your ride down, whereas coasters are on a given course.

As for the jumps getting airtime, I'd liken landing to riding HW's Legend's Pile driver hill ;).

~Rob (Ohio Ski season starts today!!!)

Skiing and coasters are my life.

I'm not really into jumps, I can get a better and safer thrill on coasters. But I love going hard and fast, and I love the speed.

I guess I made the connection that both are thrilling and fun, and the 2 things I'm most obsessed with.

I bought an air compressor and now I am making snow in my backyard for the kids in the neighborhood to ski, board, and sled on.

Winter is the BEST season of the year.

I don't get how people complain about any of the seasons really. I think Ohio gets the best seasons of all because it gives you so much to do, whether its doing your yardwork in the spring, swimming and going to amusement parks in the summer, playing in the leaves in fall, or throwing the gobs of snow that we get in the winter, it's always something different.

Frankly, I'd be bored out of my skull if I lived in an area where the weather didn't change, like SoCal or Hawaii. I'd get sick of the beach and coasters if it was like that all the time. Here, we get a break from all of it and I prefer that.

~Rob "Needs to stop blabbing and get to work" Willi

ROS: That sounds cool! I've always wanted my own snowmaker. Great idea!
It's easy to get hooked on the speed. I don't nail every jump i make, but when i do, it feels like riding a new coaster.

Ugh. This is the second thread today where I get to express my hatred for (Ohio) winter. I don't even know why I live here... I'd *love* to live somewhere like Phoenix where it's 70 degrees right now.

Although beautiful blue-skied days like today aren't so bad. As long as there aren't huge mounds of black slush everywhere.

As for skiing, sounds fun but I've never done it.

Yeah I tell you living in the deep South like Houston and having summer almost all year round is aweful.

You can go to the beach year round, and theme park seasons start mid March through end of October.

It is really aweful not having a gloomy miserable cold winter! NOT.

Having easy access to great skiing was one of the reasons that I moved to Colorado. The other being the beauty of the mountains and the plethora of activities they provide in the summer also.

I enjoy the winter months more out here than I did in Ohio. Out here, after a snow storm the sun comes out and the roads are clear in a day. Central Ohio has bleaker winters and when it does snow the hassle outweighs the beauty/fun that the snow provides.

As far as skiing and coasters go, I really don't make a connection other than the rush. But I guess one could compare the lift hill and the ski lift and the downhill part. But to me, I love coasters and I love to ski. I don't need to draw a connection between the two as long as I get to participate in both activities.

One last note is that I moved to Colorado from Ohio. I happily gave up some of the best amuesment parks in the world and crappy skiing for some of the best skiing in the world and crappy amusement parks. Luckily I still have family that live close to CP and a bunch of friends in Columbus, so I'll get to still hit those parks on a somewhat frequent basis.

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HeyIsntThatRob? said:

Frankly, I'd be bored out of my skull if I lived in an area where the weather didn't change, like SoCal or Hawaii. I'd get sick of the beach and coasters if it was like that all the time.

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I don't think you would. Hey, if we get sick of the beach, we just drive up to the mountains for a bit of skiing. But that doesn't mean y'all should move down here, home prices are outrageous. It would be ok if the wages matched. Damned sunshine tax!

But I do miss the nice rain we'd get in Northern California. Althoght we have had quite a bit this year.

Oh...and I used to adore skiing until I blew out m' knees. Damned alcohol! ;) *** Edited 12/17/2004 8:23:34 PM UTC by janfrederick***

Skiing and coasters are exactly the same... Potential energy is stored by ascending a hill via a mechanical device (Chain Lift/Lift Chair), and then turned into kinetic energy going back down. I think they only reason more coaster freaks don't ski is the whole, you know, physical exertion thing. As for me, I'd ski every week if not for the fact I'm in Tennesse, and it's a lot further from Nashville to the mountains of West Virginia than you'd expect.
As for my profile pic, why yes, that is in the French Alps, thanks for asking ;)

I love skiing, although the old budget doesn't let me get out as much as I'd like. Like RoS, I much prefer a "downhill" style to the hotdogging jumps and such, so usually I feel like a big dork out there avoiding bumps and stuff just so I can go faster ;)

I desparately need new skis though. I got the ones I have now when I was in 8th grade when I wasn't too good at skiing. Four trips out west, one to Killington, and two seasons of 10+ times at 7 Springs certainly cured that and now my skis hold me back more than my abilities!

I ski... even though Im hours from a closest resort :(

I like to do the ski jumps too, since thats what you were relating to airtime I believe, what a rush!

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Markieb said:
Yeah I tell you living in the deep South like Houston and having summer almost all year round is aweful.

You can go to the beach year round, and theme park seasons start mid March through end of October.

It is really aweful not having a gloomy miserable cold winter! NOT.

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To each their own, as much as I love going to the beach in the warm summer months, I also love hitting the slopes (while crappy, but hey it's Ohio everything is crappy) as well. It was pretty much my personal opinion that I'd get bored with a slightly monotonous season like the locations I mentioned.

In Ohio (heck, probably in the rest of the northern states that get dumped on) during the winter I find that there are two kinds of people: the skiiers and the non-skiiers. The skiiers are the ones that absolutely LOVE the winter and the non-skiiers are the ones that equally HATE the winter. Sure the driving sucks, and the gray days get gloomy, but it makes me appreciate the nicer days when we do have them.

Although, you should ask me this question in February and March and then ask how jealous I am that you get to start riding rides and I have to wait another two months to do so ? ;)

~Rob "Is it 5:00 YET?" Willi

I go skiing every year in Riodoso and I can see how he got that connection. The only difference is u dont go 120 mph on skis lol. Now that would be fun. Ride TTD in the winter with rollerskates attached to the rails that would be so awesome.

Is it even allowed for an enthusiast to say sentences like "I'd get sick of ... coasters if it was like that all the time"? ;)

Hay I found a connection here yes I am a skiier. I am not into moguls or jumps I just like going fast. And I prefer MF to Superman.

It's funny this topic got brought up. I always love the winter just seeing the snow is nice. But today was the first day I drove in it. A normal 30 minute car ride to school took 90 minutes. I counted 10 accidents until I lost count. Bottum line it was miserable in Southern New England this morning.

The only connection that I make between skiing and coasters is that coasters are my summer alternative to riding coasters, and visa versa. I get a great rush from both of them, but definitely a greater one from skiing. No coaster can match the adrenaline rush that comes from willingly jumping off a 10 foot cornice into a rock-lined chute. But no, i am not thinking that skiing is like riding a coaster when I am skiing.

I don't make the connection, but it is a lot of fun. I love jumps because they can scare the crap out of me. Am I going to land on two skis or not? At Whitetail in Pennsylvania, they have an obstacle park for snowboarders and skiiers. There are two giantic hills back to back to jump off. I kept trying to get the nerve up to jump off the second one, but I kept snowplowing at the last second. I kept thinking "I could seriously injure myself":)

I didn't get to go last year at all. Maybe this year. It's such an expensive sport to be involved in. Thankfully, I have my own gear. I'm surprised we haven't heard from the snowboarders yet in this thread. Surely based on what I see at the resorts, there has to be several on this board.

I gotta say I find skiing much more relaxing than going to an amusement park.

I mean there aren't any lines to wait in, except the occasional lift line, but today most big mountains have high speed detachable lifts, similar to the skyride at CP, but MUCH faster, and MUCH better and 'modern' looking.

Whats cool about skiing is that the snow is always changing which makes it fun.

Skiing and Coasters are similar because unlike the sport of basketball or football where every court or field is essentially the same, every mountain and every amusement park is different in it's own way.

Both amusement parks and mountains add new investments each year to keep people coming for more.

I just find speeding down the mountain fun because you can 'be your own person' and 'design your own thrills'.

I love skiing! Unfortunately, it's been about 8 years since the last time I went at Snowshoe, West Virginia. We got snowed in and had to ski an extra day darn it. Yeah I can see the connection between skiing and coasters.