"skiing" news and stories

You're slopeside, the air is crisp, the sky is cobalt blue, and you're bundled up in the hottest snow bunny outfit that $17 could buy at the swap meet. You wanna kick up your 25 pound ski-booted feet, have a cup of something steaming hot, and since you're feeling so good after your morning runs, you wouldn't mind spending a good $13 for...a slice of pizza?

Wait!

While there's probably nothing wrong wtih biting into a slice of cheese pizza (other than the barely-legal prices), there are a few things that, from my experience, I just wouldn't eat in the Alpine lodge. Since every place from Tahoe to Sugar Loaf can be different, it doesn't have to do with sanitation and food safety, nor with health (What? Pizza isn't healthy?),  but more like...keeping it fun on the mountain.

1. Coffee - Do not drink coffee. Okay, maybe one cup at 5 am when you wake up just to get the blood flowing, but if you have more than one cup, suddenly you're going to have to go to the bathroom while you're suspended mid-air on Chair 9, just as it stops because some idiot at the top lost his poles. One cup of coffee. That's it.
2. Beer - I will admit that beer goes so well with the slopeside grilled burgers, but be careful. It's cool to have one, two or even three, but when you're standing at the top of double-black-diamond Devil's Ditch, you don't want beer goggles making it look easier than it is. Trust me, just like beer goggles in the bar, you'll regret it the morning after. Besides, bloated beer bellies will be tough to stuff back into your ski pants, hottie. 
3. Chili - Chili is actually a good meal because it's warm and pretty nourishing with protein and vegetables. However, chili also has beans which, though they give you fiber which is also very good for you, might give you something else. That lovely internal perfume that will get vacuum packed inside your ski clothes, only to release it's malodorous whiff when you shift in your seat on the chairlift. Hey, if you're riding with family, that's cool. But what if you're skiing solo and ride up the chair with a stranger? A cute stranger? Oh, the embarrassment.  
4. Candy -  I love candy, and to be honest, I love when chocolate candy bars like Snickers get all frozen cold in the mountain air. But everything you know about candy and energy is true. You'll have a sugar high, then hit the wall. And that's not good if you plan to hit "The Wall" on the east moutain.
5. Sushi - I don't know what it's like on the East Coast or in the Rockies, but suddenly it's becoming chic to serve sushi in the Lodge. Why? Who eats sushi while they're skiing?!? It's healthy and it's protein, but it's cold. Besides, I've never seen a sushi chef in the Lodge. Who's making the sushi? The kid who's on winter vacation working at the resport so he can snowboard for free during the week? Oy.

If you're heading up into the mountains for a ski trip this winter, you are going to need some supplies. Clearly skis, coats and hats are in order, but what about the really important things, like food? Driving up those long, icy mountain roads isn't fun and, unless you have to stop to put chains on your tires, you really want to minimize the time you spend out of your car before you either get to your hotel or out to the ski lodge. A supply of snacks in your glove box is just what you need to get you through those long drives.

• Packaged snacks with a long shelf life, like granola bars or snack bars, are nice to have around. They offer a balance of sweet and healthy, in addition to being satisfying.

Now, as a native Floridian, the idea of getting to a restaurant by trekking up a snowy mountain does not immediately appeal to me. The Denver Post, however, recently ran a review of three Colorado restaurants that ask diners to do just that. Some of the restaurants, like Copper Mountain Stables, also offer sleigh rides to their high-elevation dining rooms. In Copper Mountain Stables' case, the dining room is a replica of a miner's tent that seats 38. Similarly, the Tennessee Pass Cookhouse features a large yurt (pictured here) that seats 40. Prior to arrival, diners gather together and hike up to the structure, which sits at an elevation of over 10,000 feet. The Pine Creek Cookhouse, amazingly enough, is an actual cabin, which seats 100. You can choose to ski, sleigh, or snowshow the 1.5 mile trail to your dinner. As you might expect, menus for all of these places feature hearty, game-heavy fare.