MARCH 2007 - It's with mixed
feelings that I write this March column. This is the last issue of
Sierra Ski News for the season and once that happens I get pretty bored
well into spring and summer -- at least until May or June when I have
to start planning for the next season.
To say this season has been bizarre for this
publication is an understatement. For the past seven years I've had too
much material to fit into every issue. This season I've had to search
and scrape together anything I could find to put on these pages.
In the past, dozens of press releases filled my
mailbox announcing events well in advance. This season the press
releases I did get announced events a week -- two at the most -- in
advance. That doesn't work very well for a monthly publication and
caught me entirely off guard.
Increased printing costs and decreased advertising
revenue made me want to bury my head in the snow for much of the
season. SSN literally went from its best season ever (last year) to its
worst ever (this year). What's a ski newspaper to do? Regroup and
go after it again, of course! See you again in October of 2007.
NOVEMBER
2006 - I guess time does go by when you're having fun.
Over the summer I dug
out copies of an old magazine I used to write for called Sacramento
Sports. If
memory serves me, the magazine was only around three or four
years, but what I found in one of the issues dated 1983 was telling.
It was a column I'd
written called "On the Slopes" and would you care to guess what picture
accompanied it? Yup, the same one you see on this column. Ouch!!!
I knew the picture was
old, but not that old! Add some gray to the sides and chub the cheeks a
bit and that's me today.
I've always liked that
picture, but I guess it might be time to update it - if I can ever find
a decent one to replace it.
I also found it
interesting that 23 years ago I was griping that lift tickets at Squaw
and Heavenly were the most expensive in the Sierra at $22. And I was
wondering how they could possibly justify it when the newly expanded
Sierra Ski Ranch was only $16.
Ah, the good old days.
MORE "ON
THE SLOPES" COMING SOON...
