Perhaps the best book ever written?
A few weeks ago, I was up skiing with my friend Tim, and he introduced me to the book Squallywood. This may in fact be one of the best books ever written. I read it cover to cover the night he showed it to me.
The book is about all the big cliffs and hardest lines at Squaw, along with how to ski them, and the ski videos they've been in. They have a system rated 1 to 10 for difficulty. People say I'm a good skier, although I think I'm not really that good. I think that maybe I'd be willing to try one of the lines in the book that's a 1 on a powder day.
In addition to the descriptions, there is a list of places to stand and watch people huck these lines, as well as the GNAR point system for basically local skier tough-guy points. I think that most people will not understand this at all, which is why I think it's genius.
When I got home after the trip, I ordered the 2nd edition of the book. What could they have improved, I wondered? Well, several things:
1. Some people have since skied some previously unskied lines. Nice.
2. They added a chapter about epic crash stories. Awesome.
The only drawback about the book is that it's about Squaw. I'm really not a big fan of Squaw because I had a bad experience there a few years ago where it was late in the season and a few friends had asked me to go up and sell some day passes they had left over. I did so, and one of their undercover security people pulled me into a room and started being all gestapo on me threatening to arrest me and stuff. I didn't feel like I was doing anything wrong, and they way overreacted, which was lame. So, I generally take my business elsewhere unless I'm with someone who really wants to ski there.
Anyway, I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a good skier, or claims to be a good skier. The GNAR point system even gives bonus points for the ego claim: you get extra points for riding up in the tram and exclaiming loudly "I'm the best skier on the mountain!"
The book is about all the big cliffs and hardest lines at Squaw, along with how to ski them, and the ski videos they've been in. They have a system rated 1 to 10 for difficulty. People say I'm a good skier, although I think I'm not really that good. I think that maybe I'd be willing to try one of the lines in the book that's a 1 on a powder day.
In addition to the descriptions, there is a list of places to stand and watch people huck these lines, as well as the GNAR point system for basically local skier tough-guy points. I think that most people will not understand this at all, which is why I think it's genius.
When I got home after the trip, I ordered the 2nd edition of the book. What could they have improved, I wondered? Well, several things:
1. Some people have since skied some previously unskied lines. Nice.
2. They added a chapter about epic crash stories. Awesome.
The only drawback about the book is that it's about Squaw. I'm really not a big fan of Squaw because I had a bad experience there a few years ago where it was late in the season and a few friends had asked me to go up and sell some day passes they had left over. I did so, and one of their undercover security people pulled me into a room and started being all gestapo on me threatening to arrest me and stuff. I didn't feel like I was doing anything wrong, and they way overreacted, which was lame. So, I generally take my business elsewhere unless I'm with someone who really wants to ski there.
Anyway, I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a good skier, or claims to be a good skier. The GNAR point system even gives bonus points for the ego claim: you get extra points for riding up in the tram and exclaiming loudly "I'm the best skier on the mountain!"
Labels: skiing
posted by Chris at 9:08 PM
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