The sport of skiing has brought me a great deal of happiness, satisfaction and achievement over the years. I believe this is partly due to the fact that I set goals for each ski season. Some of the goals are goofy (slide a rail), some are expensive (take the family to Val d’Isere, France), some are physically demanding (ski La 42 at LeMassif non-stop), some take some time and travel (ski all 5 triple black diamond trails in Eastern North America), others take some skill (become a ski instructor, become a race coach) and others have been life changing (teach my four kids to ski). Having goals for everything we do, whether big or small, is part of what makes life good. It gives us a sense of meaning and purpose, points us in the direction we want to go and gets us interested and engaged, all of which are good for our overall happiness and in this case our love for skiing. So, without further adieu, here is a list of ideas that may generate a few goals for your 2019/2020 ski season.
Become ski instructor
Become a ski patroller
Win a NASTAR medal
Enter the Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge
Exhaust all the days on your IKON Pass
Exhaust all the days on your EPIC Pass
Ski the steepest trails in NY, VT, NH, ME and Quebec
Teach your kids to ski
Learn to telemark
Skin up a trail
Drop the ledges on Devil’s Fiddle
Ski Upper Liftline at Smugg’s
Ski DJ’s Tramline
Enter a Master’s ski race
Ski the Powder Highway
Ski the Vallee Blanche
Ski Opening Day and Closing Day at Killington
Learn to do a 360
Ski at least 40 days
Start the long journey to become a certified French ski instructor
Go to the World Cup at Killington and cheer for Mikela
Go to Kitzbuhel during Hannekamm week
Ski one or more of the bucket list trails: Corbet's Couloir, Delirium Dive, La Chavanette
Ski the new trails at Magic Mountain and Catamount
Ski every trail at your home mountain
Call in sick on a powder day
Ski the dry slope at Powder Ridge
Go monoskiing
Ski every double black diamond at a big resort (e.g., Stowe, Killington, Sugarloaf)
Throw a bra on a “bra tree”
Participate in a pond skimming contest
Ski all 5 triple black diamonds in Eastern North America (Mont Sutton, Le Massif, Smuggler’s Notch)
Ride the single chair at MRG
Score GNAR points by yelling to someone you are the best skier on the mountain prior to pushing off
Ski Tuckerman’s Ravine
Learn to ski switch
Launch yourself above the coping in a super pipe
Visit Lahout’s in Littleton, NH - the oldest ski shop in America
Learn how to butter on skis
Learn some old school Glen Plake tricks
Ski 25 laps on Outer Limits or Stein’s Run when bumped up (see Gunbarrel 25)
Join a ski club
Learn to snowboard if you ski and learn to ski if you snowboard
Participate in a demo day
Eat maple taffy at the base of Mont Tremblant
Participate in the Sugar Slalom at Stowe, VT
Go cat skiing in the Chic Chocs
Go to a ski area/resort that you have never been to
Go rodeling at Le Massif
Ski the men’s and women’s downhill courses at Whiteface
Ski the Slides at Whiteface
Ski in every month of the year
Go inverted
Ski with your Dad and/or Mom
Create a “sick” season edit
Join R.A.S.T.A. and ski some backcountry lines
Ride a T-Bar or Poma lift
Take a lesson or clinic
Get first chair on a powder day
Enter a skier cross race
Go kite skiing
Go backcountry skiing in the Notch (between Smuggs and Stowe)
Buy a pair of grass skis and ski on your local golf course
Ski the “Front Four” (Stowe, VT)
Feed the chickadees at the Loon Mountain “bird sanctuary”
Become a shareholder at Mad River Glen
Backcountry ski Wright Peak or Mt. Marcy in the Adirondacks
Ski the Bruce Trail to the Matterhorn Bar (Stowe, VT)
Participate in a torch light parade
Buy shares of Vail Resorts (MTN) and become the owner of a ski resort
Scout some tree lines before the season starts
Take an avalanche safety course
Ski Katahdin
Drink a beer at the Wobbly Barn (Killington), The Matterhorn (Stowe) and Le P'tit Caribou (Mont Tremblant)
Learn to tune your own skis
Explore the Brackett Basin sidecountry at Sugarloaf
Ski without headphones and talk to people on the lifts
Learn to self arrest with a ski pole
Ski 24 hours straight at Ski Venture
Ski and Golf in the same day
Snow ski and waterski on the same day
Ski Paradise at Mad River Glen
Ski all the trails off the Castlerock chair at Sugarbush
Tell someone on the chairlift how great of skier you are and then fall when getting off
For 500 GNAR points, tell one of the World Cup racers at Killington - "I'm so much better than you"
Join the Adirondack Powder Skier Alliance