This blogging thing is pretty weird business. I mean you write about your passion, hobbies, life in general etc. and totally strange people around the world will look your texts and photographs and comment then. Sometimes you really begin to wonder what’s the whole point of this all? (and I am pretty sure I am not the only one as this whole phenomenon has spreaded like disease throughout the world and shows no signs of stopping).

Well, at least it is pretty natural for you to have days of no motivation.  You stare at the empty screen and begin to think: I have nothing to say, not a hint of an idea, no words at all…

Writing about skiing is just like skiing in a way: sometimes you begin to think what the f*#& you’re doing here at all.

This post started from this kind of moment. Then I decided that I could only surf the web and check what the others have to say.

First off, check our blog roll for some fellow skiers all over the world, writing their thoughts and sharing their journeys, photos etc. Everyone in the list is definately worth checking!

And, well, here are some other interesting sites/blogs I’ve found:

http:www.thecleanestline.com – “Weblog for the employees, friends and customers of the outdoor clothing company Patagonia. Visit Patagonia.com to see what we do.” Pretty cool and VERY interesting site, if you ask me!

http://www.biglines.com/blblogs - A great community, with a blog section divided into sub-categories: general, athletes, resorts and companies. Great source of information, nice photo upload service (I use this btw.), discussion forums etc. The content is originally focused around skiing/snowboarding in the Rocky Mountains but you find skiers posting from all over the world (especially using the nice photo upload service).

http://www.philingle.com - this is a classic. Unfortunately the author (Phil Ingle) doesn’t update the site anymore but if the photos and trip reports won’t satisfy your inner skier, I wonder what will? Phil has a new site though, I quote him for this:

“Big changes Over the last couple of years there have been a few big changes in my life. We had a baby boy in October 2005 – as a result I started working more and playing less. I tore my ACL in March 2006. We moved house in June 2006. I had my ACL repaired in July 2006. Now a year later we have set up a new business in a wilder part of the French Alps. AlpineBreak.com is ideally situated in the heart of the Hautes-Alpes which is a relatively unknown alpine playground which in my opinion is far superior to the Chamonix area. I still have some work to do on the website, but from now on I am going to be posting my outings and adventures on the blog at www.alpinebreak.com/blog rather than here. There are a few riding posts up already and when winter comes along it should fill up with great skiing stuff.”

So, I quickly checked the new site too. And although there seems to be relatively few/unfrequent entries, I immediately begin to interest the possibilities of Phil’s new operating area…as I’ve noticed too that Chamonix and other big resorts are not the only option when choosing your ski destinations.

As for Chamonix, I guess this site/blog is one the best and has fresh entries as well:

http://www.birtle.com - Lots of stuff around the world too. Check e.g. the gallery index…killing time at the office just got so much easier! (as it would ever have been too hard in the first place, heh)

Good old communities/discussion forums like:

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums

and

http://www.epicski.com

are worth of checking too. And these are living communities in the best sense, bringing people together to many kind of (real world) events, yearly gatherings, ex-tempore pow day meetings and whatnot…best example might be the PM gear - a company that was created by several ”powdermaggots”  a.k.a people that met on the said TGR forums!

In TGR forums the real stuff (great reports, very good product info etc.) might sometimes got lost in all the “noise” (i.e. smacktalk, flaming/trolling, bro/brah lingo…) and in Epic forums the stuff gets very(=too) analytic by all the ski instructors hanging on the site. But still, I’ve found that reading those forums can even lead to you getting a better skier and/or at least getting better skiing! To be honest I’ve found quite alot of information and ideas to articles on this site from those forums.

Oh, and at last. This is what I found when searching for “ski-blogs”. The guy has a great name for his blog:

http://ski-blog.com - Seems like a nice “average” guy (just like us) blog. I find latest entries discussing quite alot about climate change and its relevancy. An issue that worries us too!

Huh, at least I got something done. I guess I go and pick up a beer now! Cheers!