Healthy States: the impact of skiing

[Mumster]

This is a new ranking of the healthiest states. I can't help but notice that the majority are our favorite :skiplow: states.

2003 Overall Health Score Rankings:

Rank State Score
1 Minnesota 24.3
1 New Hampshire 24.3
3 Utah 19.5
4 Vermont 19.0
5 Massachusetts 16.3
6 Connecticut 14.7
7 Iowa 14.6
8 Maine 13.8
9 Colorado 13.7
10 Hawaii 13.4

I'm SURE this reflects the positive impact of skiing on health. ;)

[DMC]

I would love to move to Colorado someday... Every time I go there it just seems so perfect..

And when spent some time there during the summer - I REALLY wanted to live there... It's beautiful!

[ski&ride]

Nice to see 3 out of 4 states I've lived in are on the list. Although when I worked in Boston & lived outside the city, I don't think that counts towards the healthy part of Massachusetts (at least not for me). Only because I spent way too much time at :atwork: or out in the city having :margarita: :beermug: :partyfavor:

Mumster, it's great to see the pics of you back on the slopes since your knee injury.

ski&ride

[Mumster]

DMC:
Me too, Summit County. Occasionally I get a pang of interest in Utah, since the snow quality is even better there. But, the costs of skiing are higher in Utah.

Let's all pitch in and get a timeshare in Summit County. We can furnish it with cots, and we all bring our own sleeping bags :sleepingbag: , so it can accomodate 20 or 30 of us at once.

[M@]

Where'd you get your numbers Mumster? I did a quick google and found this:

http://www.morganquitno.com/hcrank03.htm

They list top 10 as:

State Sum Rank Change
1 Vermont 18.25 1 0
2 New Hampshire 17.68 4 2
3 Nebraska 16.80 5 2
4 Iowa 16.30 3 -1
5 Minnesota 13.84 2 -3
6 Massachusetts 13.02 9 3
7 Maine 12.65 11 4
8 Hawaii 12.55 6 -2
9 Utah 12.39 10 1
10 North Dakota 11.20 7 -3

[DMC]

#16 New Jersey!

New State Motto:
"See !!! It's not THAT bad..."

[Mumster]

ski&ride:
Mumster, it's great to see the pics of you back on the slopes since your knee injury.
ski&ride Thanks, ski&ride. It was wonderful to be :skiplow: again. That was the low point; I had repeated discussions with my knee about doing it's share of weight-bearing. :mad:

Fear not, I'm adding dynamic weightbearing exercizes to my daily exercise program, and am optimistic that it's attitude will improve by FemmesCannon Day :femmecannon: .

[ski&ride]

I understand. :mad: My MCL was fairly angry at me when I started to play hockey again (snow was melted at that point). Perhaps we can compare P.T. exercises someday soon. :femmecannon:

[elwood]

DMC,

I have often thought about moving out to CO as well. I spent a few summers in college out there just climbing peaks. Man that was awesome. I have only been back there in the winter in recent years though, and I have to say it is beautiful there year round. Forget a timeshare, we should all buy a big house out there and live there permanently!

[skicdave]

Guess Upstate NY suffered on the list since it has to tag along with NY City area... oh well. Lots of healthy people in the Placid/Saranac area! I'd be real healthy too if I lived in real ski country.

What would the healthiest ski resort be? The one with no apres ski? just raw mountains? Or is all that after skiing drinking and carousing helpful?

Tucks sure is healthy .. well healthy if you avoid avalanche season and unnecessary roughhousing on the headwall.

Not sure that Tremblant is the healthiest place. Too many smokers in the neighbourhood, lots of partying. Not healthy for the wallet either. And all that poutine is deadly on the heart.

I'd say Stowe is a pretty healthy place to hang around or Whiteface.

[M@]

I'd say Mad River Glan is wicked healthy: But I heard singles don't live as long.

Reminds me of the joke, every once in a while someone skiis up to the line at the single chair and yells, "Single?"

M@

[Bannick]

elwood:
DMC,
Forget a timeshare, we should all buy a big house out there and live there permanently! Me and the girl are looking to Colorado...should be set up at the lateset by next season I think it could be as soon as april if we are lucky. And you are all invited to visit or better yet we are in for the T4T Frat House near breck or somewhere....

[Mumster]

elwood:
Forget a timeshare, we should all buy a big house out there and live there permanently! Hey elwood :beer: :

Year round sounds fine with me. :D

[kmrnskier]

Along with Bannick and the girl, I, too, have tentative (almost definite) plans to head to Colorado. The parents move to southern Colorado in February, and I will probably follow them closely after, but to either Frisco or Vail Valley/Eagle area. So much fun, so little time in life!!

[Mumster]

KMRNskier:

Fantastic! We can hardly wait to visit you.

Gotta love Colorado. :lips:

BTW, M@, I got the list from msn.com's front page.

[kmrnskier]

Mumster - I will cram as many t4ters and their significant others into a small apt as needed.

[Mumster]

Excellent. You can expect the skidude and I to visit....will try to coax the hubby along too - he enjoys the "out west" ski experience. :skicool: :skicool: :skifemcool:

[BladeGirl]

KMRN and Bannick, at least wait until after the April & May T4T Tucks trips before you go! Bladeguy andI are staying in New England, but would love to visit!

:snowdream:
-BG

[skicdave]

Regarding the healthiest states and skiing. Perhaps New Hampshire will be losing its ranking in the near future!

See http://timefortuckerman.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001209

:skismile: :cog:

[NH_tele]

I think the healthiest ski resort is the one that's not a resort...namely the BC. You get all the adrenal rush & great feelings on the way down, but also get the great excercise, comradrie, and more wilderness feelings on the skin back up!

[RR]

Nice point, I wonder what the math is on that.

If you count all the peeps going trackless/liftless on X-C skis or on edged skis all over North America would the number exceed the count of NorAm skiers going tracked/lift served on any weekend day?

Interesting question.

[el-bagr]

Some numbers from NH for RR:

2,049,374 alpine skier visits at the state's 16 alpine ski areas
122,336 Nordic skier visits were realized by the state's 10 Nordic ski areas and the six alpine areas that also offer Nordic skiing

Plus: an “additional 363,800 visitor days occurred during the skiing season that can be directly tied to the ski areas, including 99,000 people who went snowtubing at the ski areas. Another 418,300 visitor days were recorded during the non-skiing season at ski areas for summer and fall attractions.”
New Hampshire ranked 4th in the east and 9th in the country for the total number of skier visits in 2001-02.

Source:
THE NEW HAMPSHIRE SKI INDUSTRY, 2001-2002: ITS CONTRIBUTION TO THE STATE'S ECONOMY (http://www.snowjournal.com/doc16.html)

Based on this, I bet that even if we all get stupendous seasons and are out in the bc every weekend, we will never have the numbers in the bc that are in the alpine resorts.

[el-bagr]

To add a bit more data from the WMNF (not quite the same as NH):

2,700,000 million visitors to WMNF annually
74,118 visitors to Wilderness annually (many fewer in winter)

While there is only limited Wilderness despite expansive bc skiing opportunities, I think this suggests that not many people ski bc compared to liftserve resorts.


http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/programs/nvum/reports/year1/R9_White_Mtn_final.htm#_Toc524933388