MRG: How Bad Could it Be?
Most of my vouchers were blacked out due to the holiday and I desired additional conditioning. So I decided to use my Mad Card despite the holiday weekend. How bad could it be?
Very, actually.
Category: Vermont
Building the Base: MRG
This past week’s storm really helped with base building in Northern Vermont. But I was as much concerned with my own personal base building. I hit Mad River Glen in an effort to continue working towards mid-season form. With the trip just two weeks away, I decided top to bottom thin coverage at Mad River Glen would help.
The Honeymoon Resumes at Smuggs
This past January was a horrible month for me personally, sub-par skiing was not the worst aspect. But with only four days of skiing including one terrible day, it was a mostly forgettable month of skiing as well. After two exhaustive weeks at work including a 13 day work week and a significant number of 12-15 hour days, I was ready for some fun.
I was expecting a decent amount of fresh powder with limited terrain. What I got was a decent amount of terrain with limited fresh powder. The official report came in at four inches but it was unevenly distributed with very little at the base and perhaps a little more at the summit. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to open up Freefall (for an hour), Liftline (excepting the steepest pitch), and many upper mountain off map trees. It was not what I expected but I was not disappointed.
Boot to Knee Deep & Cold: Magic
Northern Vermont hasn’t been able to catch a break since before Christmas. Another storm slammed into southern New England and southern Vermont’s Golden Triangle was the big winner for ski areas. Magic picked up a foot and a half which opened everything except the trees.
Due to the cold temperatures, I expected light fluff over a questionable base. However, the powder was supportive though not bottomless. Supportive enough to merit excitement but the powder hid a thin base that occasionally punished said excitement with treachery. It was a sporting kind of powder, encouraging reckless abandon but rewarding cautious exuberance.
Mad River Glen: Opening Day Powder
Yesterday at Jay was nice. Today at Mad River was better. Three days ago, Mad River announced that it would not open this weekend. But the forecast turned in favor of General Stark Mountain and opening day was set. A foot of dense fresh setup perfectly on the limited but existing base. All trails were open on occasionally thin but ample coverage. Bottomless it was not but cheers and shouts of joy rang out across the mountain, nonetheless.