A bitter cold wind has been blowing down from Canada for the last three weeks. Ski areas everywhere in the West are announcing their openings. For many, it is the first opening before Thanksgiving in a decade. So much for global warming!

Almost everyone who has skis or a snowboard in a closet or the garage is doing his or her own version of trying to get in shape for the first trip up the mountain. However, I’m afraid it is already too late to start serious exercising.
But, here is something you should know and do.

Oxygen
There is an almost never discussed part of early-season skiing, or any skiing for that matter, and it is this: At five or six thousand feet above sea level you inhale 25% less oxygen. 

My doctor friend Jack Eck of Vail, Colorado who has spent almost a lifetime studying the effects of high-altitude living tells me: “It is not the lack of oxygen that makes you run out of energy, but rather that you exhale too much carbon dioxide and all of your cells get out of balance.” 

Easy Does It
All I know is that the first few days of living at altitude every winter reduces my physical activity to only about half-a-dozen chair lift rides every day plus a long afternoon nap. Ever since I taught skiing at Sun Valley, Idaho in 1948, I always start out the season with a run or two down the mountain using a deliberate, methodical, old-school method, and I do it by the book. My muscle memory comes back slowly, so I ease into the season. You may want to try this approach.

My conservative start to skiing the first day or two also has a safety factor to it. In my opinion, skiing has gotten really dangerous the last few years because of the speed of skiers and snowboarders. Many on their first day of riding or skiing and are going way too fast. It makes me want to buy a set of football shoulder pads and mount rear view mirrors on each shoulder so I can see what’s coming my way. I'm a big target, and going slower reduces the chance of surprises, i.e., skier/skier crashes.

I suppose the rush to get on the slopes and as many runs in as possible is testimony to the fact that we all lose our freedom when the snow disappears every spring. Remember: Skiing is freedom.

Snow Condition Reporting
Times have really changed. You used to have to go to a small ski shop somewhere where they had a blackboard with the local resorts on it. The snow conditions were written in white chalk. They always had the blackboard in the back of the shop so you had to walk through all of the new merchandise to find out the latest snow conditions at nearby “Mt. Perfect.” 

“Hard packed granular snow” were the words used to describe every snow condition between black ice and up to two inches of new, powder snow on top of three-inch rocks. 

You could always tell where the ski shop owner got his or her free, season pass. The shop owner would always put on the blackboard that one place had at least an "inch of new powder snow"…even if a tropical rain had just swept through!

Today, websites (like Tahoetopia.com) provide us with up-to-the-minute information that is reasonably accurate.

Looking Back
As I was growing up, we went somewhere to ski every weekend in spite of gas rationing and tires without any tread left. Living in Southern California in the 1930’s and 40’s, during my early days of skiing, I was fortunate to have Mt. Waterman and Snow Valley close enough so I could do a day trip to ski them. Someone would always come up with a gas ration coupon or two, and we would be off. The trip always started by 4:30 in the morning and ended by ten that night. 

We had no idea what we were doing other than trying to make seven-foot-long-stiff-wooden skis turn on bumps that were icy on the north side and corn snow on the top. The hot, Southern California sun tried to melt most of the snow before each day was over. Sometimes it managed to melt it all before the next weekend.

Back then a trip for me was three peanut butter sandwiches long and an excitement that is still in my belly today. I even liked walking through ski shops and looking at the new cosmetics and the manufacturers suggested retail prices.

So now that the snow is on the ground, go buy your new gear and get out there and carve the snow. In the west you only have six more months of skiing or boarding ahead of you! Plan your excuses for not showing up at work and make a list of them so you don’t use the same lame one twice with your boss.

It’s time to get out and enjoy extra days on a chairlift this winter. Take along some sandwiches so you don’t take time away from skiing waiting in line or at a table in a fancy dining room. 

Editor’s Note: This is one in a Tahoetopia series written by Warren Miller, legendary ski cinematographer. For other columns by Warren, click on Warren Miller.