RavenTele / Ron

[cansalski]

Hell-o all,
I feel odd in this man cave, as few if any ladies join ski forums. But I felt compelled to balance some opinions. Ron and I are friends. it's a long story going back over 10 years now, back to when he was making a transition from , as he called it, "meadow skipping" to skiing at the resorts. By a very odd set of events, he helped me with my XC technique ( I am a professional in HC and started XC for cardio benefits) and I helped him with his downhill skiing. He had some rough edges and , as it turned out, I was pretty hopeless at XC skiing but he taught me a lot there even if I did eventually just let cross country go. He dragged me to Lookout and I dragged him to Schweitzer. He listened to about anything I told him, from ditch those long "climbing" poles to " you need to stop dropping the inside shoulder" and "don't rush your turns ." I am not a Telemark skier so about the first thing I told him was to throw all that free heel junk away. He never listened, but his progress was remarkable and by the end of the first season we were ski buddies, he could almost keep up and being that i have been on skis for almost as long as I can remember and I raced through college, I found that pretty remarkable. He had not skied at downhill areas since he was just a kid ! He skis smoothly and generally in control. He will wander off and ski junk for fun; I won't. I would say he's in the upper 10% of skiers in terms of speed, grace and control. I am not a tele expert, so I can't pick him to death there. In terms of personality, he's a bit eccentric, a tad OCD, has boxes of really obscure mathematical calculations that he says are "fun", and he sometimes has his whole living-room littered with papers full of symbols that look exactly like those on the movie "a beautiful mind" when he is trying to "figure something out." He loves to tease and play. He's actually very kind. There are times when he can drive you crazy. I have threatened to kick him out of my car on the way to the ski hill quite a number of times. He can draw ANYONE into an extended conversation about anything or nothing. He has a lovely girlfriend and I don't know how she manages exactly. He's funny as hell. He once told me that in college you could pick up chicks by walking around the bars speaking parts of the Latin Mass because they thought you were speaking French or something. I can say these things because he said he will never come to this site again, and he's really stubborn. Anyway, he's my friend and he has some character "flaws". we meet on the ski hills still but not nearly as often as we used to. You all should maybe talk less about someone you really do not know. For the record, he is a very good skier now. You don't think so ? Come humble him. Better yet, give me a try.
Now as for lookout pass : I grew up with skis on, bratty doctor's daughter, small town Montana (they are all small!) I raced up through college. I have skied everything there is in terms of big mountains in the west and parts of BC. I have never had more fun that I have had at Lookout Pass Idaho/Montana. Small hill, lots of snow, often very good snow.Very mellow environment, very interesting ski history and culture, and some excellent skiers. limited long steep runs, but there are some. Plenty of skiing out-of-bounds and you can slog up the St Regis Basin into the slide country if it's your thing. It's not mine. lookout has had some of best ski conditions in the whole west in this most miserable of winters. I hold passes to both Schweitzer and lookout Pass and if I had to choose between , it would be lookout.
Now BTW, look at the front page here. The threads with the highest hit counts were all started and maintained by whom ? I am sorry guys but that just screams HYPOCRISY!
I hope you all have a good season and find some kindness and tolerance for those who REALLY ARE just a bit different from you.
Oh, I should mention that Ron recently told me that his current ski goal is to at least tie if not beat Teledance in a long run racing! I am betting that he eventually meets that goal! He says he has never seen any tele skier "rip" down the slopes faster than Teledance.
Also, I would just mention that years ago I advised Ron to stay off all ski forums because he appeared to fixate on them in a sometimes not-so-healthy way. He would laugh and say "come here , read this shit. It's just like religion.it's so funny.No one agrees on anything. It's wonderful." I would ask him why he even bothered and assure him I already knew no expert skiers agree on a damned thing. He would say " they are my friends" and I would say " no Ron they are not your friends ; these people hate you and they don't even know you".

[Rodbelan]

Nice try Ron...

[cansalski]

My name is Sarah or Sally if you like -- canSALski ?. Ron has always called me Sarah, another odd thing in that everyone else calls me Sally .I grew up in Butte, Montana. I can ski better than 98 % of the people out there and I am now 55. Chances are I ski far better than you. I am Ron's friend. A real friend. I don't "tele". I have very little to add to any ski forum and I am very busy with my professional responsibilities. That's all I have to say really.

[1EyedJack]

Nice try Ron...

That's not Ron -- no or Dancing Ravens or excessive use of bold lettererd "Fk", and no stolen avatars from EYT.

Cansalski, perhaps you should read some of those highest-hit threads and get a sense of frustration and angst that Ron brought to this forum. I appreciate your defense of Ron, as I think he may be an okay person in real life and really loves skiing. I got my digs in, so I'm not innocent. Btw, I skied Lookout way back in the mid 60's and was on the Jr. Ski Patrol, got to cut in line for the poma lift . You're right -- great place. I always seemed to hit Schweitzer during a whiteout.

[MikeK]

He had me until the part about picking up girls with Latin...

Did Ron teach you how to type, use punctuation and bold your very important points? Or was it just the XC skiing?

Thanks for sharing all that Sarah. Ron had his day in the sun. So tell me what was the point of it? To save face of how good he can ski, or offer an explanation for his behavior and rationalize that it gets post counts. The Kardashians get views too but it's really not the type of content I'm interested in.

[cansalski]

Well, as I say, long ago I advised him , as a friend, to keep off the forum stuff. There was some guy named mark that he called "Telemark" , and he thought he was friends with him. I read a few of their exchanges and told him "hell no, this guy hates you. He trails around behind you making nothing but shitty comments". Ron thinks everyone is just being playful, having fun all in one big exchange of useful information if you can just read between the lines. I don't see it.

[connyro]

I can ski better than 98 % of the people out there and I am now 55. Chances are I ski far better than you.

The best skiers I know rarely toot their own horns. What does your bragging have to do with anything?

[cansalski]

Mike, what Ron taught me initially was to "herringbone" to climb a steep XC trail. It was just a lark that we met. What's with the comment on using bold fonts ? I am in a position of authority in one of our local , large hospitals, I have never needed punctuation help, at least not since maybe 5th grade.

[MikeK]

Why do you put a space after your comma , like so?

The proper way is to leave is to leave only a space afterwards, like this. You do the same thing with the semi colon. It's an odd habit.

I'm not going to argue with you Sarah. Have a nice night - and tell Ron I said hello.

[cansalski]

I can ski better than 98 % of the people out there and I am now 55. Chances are I ski far better than you.

The best skiers I know rarely toot their own horns. What does your bragging have to do with anything?

conny , you are sort of right . I think it's not attractive to be arrogant. I am still very confident in my abilities, how about you ? All any of you have to do is show up. I am the little gal in the green coat. I'll be right with Ron. Punctuation ? I don't know. I have never bothered to do this. I chat on facebook now and then. And i CAN ski better and faster than at least 98% on the mountain. Just stating facts. toot toot.