Editor's Welcome

In this 1976 classic, aging TV newscaster Howard Beale suddenly stands up during a live broadcast and shouts, "I'm Mad As Hell And I'm Not Going To Take It Anymore!" Pretty soon the whole country is shouting its frustration and the network finds itself with a ratings winner.

Part of me was feeling Mad As Hell one cold, sunny weekday morning as I yo-yoed some perfect corduroy off the Super Bravo quad at Sugarbush, Vt. Sliding on sensational snow is a great way to blow off tension and put life in perspective. I was skiing off my frustration at being surrounded by great stories with no place to tell them.

The established ski magazines? Forget it! Time after time I'd been told, "It's a great idea, but we can't do much with the East."

Snowboard magazines? They seem to think the only folks who ride are younger than 30.

Travel magazines? They get the bigger picture that the mountains have great scenery, restaurants and amenities all year, but miss the central point of life for a slopes fanatic. And though my syndicated ski column reaches enthusiasts in New England, what about everyone else from North Carolina to Quebec? Don't all you folks want to know about what's really happening in the East?

On this particular morning,  I was venting my frustrations to my ski partner. Turns out he felt pretty much the way I did. He loves skiing and riding in the East and was equally tired of seeing it either ignored or treated as a second-class citizen.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Frankly, we're hoping you're also Mad As Hell that Eastern skiing and riding and summer mountain recreation have been overlooked. In fact, the East posted somewhere around 25.7 million skier and rider visits last season, and if you were one of the lucky people on the slopes, we're betting you enjoyed yourself.

I, for one, think the Eastern United States and Canada have the best skiing and riding in the world.  For consistency, challenge and convenience, they can't be beat.

OK, so you might still dream of the west or Europe on occasion. But you live in the East, you ski or snowboard here with your family and friends, and you love it. Same with us.

We're going to help you enjoy it even more, find great places to play and get the best equipment. We'll help you get the most of your time and money on and off the hills.

You can help share the joy of EasternSlopes.com by telling us what you like and don't like. Whether you're Mad As Hell And Not Going To Take It Any More, or, more likely, excited by the great day you just had in the mountains, we want to hear from you.

Welcome to Eastern Slopes.

Tim Jones, Executive Editor
timjones@EasternSlopes.com