Happy Next Tuesday, everyone!  <3

So what was I doing just now, just before sitting down to post?

Why, I was thumbing around on GROWLr, of course.

Perhaps you’ve heard of GRINDr, the less hirsute predecessor to GROWLr, or even BLENDr, it’s heterosexual counterpart—although BLENDr was developed by the same team which begat the much gayer original. No? Well, at its core it’s a social community app, one that is used for securing dates, hookups, and pictures of men quite (un)cleverly taking portraits of their reflections in mirrors. The biggest difference between GRINDr and GROWLr is, as you’ve probably guessed per my association, GROWLr’s abundance of fur. Scintillating. (For Yours Truly, anyway.)

The straight version of these apps makes little sense to me; I can’t see men-seeking-women and their vice versas needing the kind of forced opacity that people in the gay community seem to enjoy from GRINDr and its children. Gone are the cruising grounds of old. In their place, we have smartphone apps. Ones with adorable mascots, at that.

Just now I was thinking about why I continue to use GROWLr. I’m not immune to boredom, but I’m hardly lonely or unfixed for libidinal outlets—dear Robert obliges me well on that front. I’m also not an exhibitionist, by any means. Sometimes I like the feeling of being stripped down the elements of what another person might find sexy about me, unsteady though improving as I am in the image I have of my own body. Other times I feel like a fetishist’s token, like one of those transparent anatomy models with its insides torn out and covered instead with garish fiber-optic follicles, the skin beneath held at a lesser value, if it had any to begin with.

But then, someone I find attractive “woofs” at me, and I remember that, sometimes, I think about these things far too much.

Huh. That post turned out fruitier more fruitful than I’d hoped.

Since the Great Pass Wars that began in the late 90s, the choice for many Colorado residents is either the Colorado Pass or the Rocky Mountain Super Pass. Both are outstanding values for anyone who hits the slopes more than five or six times a year (like, duh, why wouldn’t you?), and if you snu-snu (yeah, that’s the name I’m giving to the practice of skiing or snowboarding, since no one has ever come up with a good name to describe both, and I know it’s from Futurama, why do you think I chose it, besides I’m not sure if the Futurama writers didn’t abscond it from someone else even though I guess I could Google it and maybe find out if it’s a reference to something, but, and anyway I might change my mind down the road ’cause it’s my blog and I can do whatever I want, including writing really long and dangerous and ill-advised run-on sentences in a convoluted parenthesis explanation scenario that would be better off in a separate post but now that I’m on a roll I think I’ll just keeping rolling with it, ooh did you see that snowboarder who jumped into the opening ceremony of the Olympics, jeesh talk about pressure but he stuck it so mad props, oh hey is that my mac ‘n cheese on fire on the stove?) a bunch you can get your cost of snu-snu down to pennies a day. Almost.

But the problem with buying one pass or the other has always been your friends who bought the wrong other pass. It’d be great if all your friends had the same pass, and you could all snu-snu together all the time, but people gots their loyalties, and who’s to question loyalty to a mountain?

Anywhoo, Copper recently debuted their Swinger’s Pass offering any season pass owner a Copper lift ticket for $39. Just show up at the Copper lift ticket window with your other ski resort season pass and they’ll trade your 39 greenbacks for a day of snu-snu. From their Interwebz:

End Mountain Monogamy and Come Get Some!

There’s no question of loyalty here. It’s just a day riding a mountain with easier access, free parking and fewer crowds. Any season pass holder worldwide: Sneak over to Copper Mountain for a day and pick up the Swinger’s Pass for the easy price of $39! Get to Guest Services or to the Ticket Windows of Copper Mountain to purchase this sexy deal. This product cannot be purchased online.

Don’t have a pass to anywhere? Check out the High Four.

Deal is subject to change. Not valid 3/12 – 3/27/10 or 4/5 – 4/9/10. Limited to 1 day per person.

Not a bad deal. Now you can go snu-snu for cheap with a friend who has the other pass and get some strange. On the slopes, people. I know what you are thinking, and I would never resort to sex to promote snu-snu. And neither would Intrawest. I mean Pwder. Pshaww.

Trail map of the Mt. Greylock Ski Club in Massachusetts. Keeping it real with 350 of vertical and no crowds. (Courtesy Mt. Greylock Ski Club)

Valentine’s Day is for skiing, and diamonds are for saw blades.

The Times Union in Albany, NY, has a nice feature on the Mt. Greylock Ski Club in South Williamstown, Massachusetts, a private ski club that’s keeping it real. The club gives members access to skiing the way it used to be. This ain’t no Yellowstone Club. Thank God for that.

From the story:

Steve Melamed, a graduate student from Bard College, is an avid skier who comes here most weekends with his fiancee, Marisa Shuman.

Shuman was not a skier when they met. He brought her to larger resorts, but she wasn’t interested. However, she loves it here.

“It saved our relationship,” he says.

So hats off to small ski areas, simple pleasures, and love. (And a hat tip to Uncle Lou for the tip.)