Category: Vermont

2010-2011 Season, January, Mad River Glen, Powder Day

Cautious Exuberance at Mad River Glen

Lynx: Second Run of the Day

My calves were still throbbing from Thursday’s powder romp. So I cured them–Hair of the Dog style–by dropping into FallDice to Glade for a warm up run. My previous pain suddenly seemed so much less than my current state of agony. It worked! The light powder was exquisite and I yelled my approval loudly. The shock eventually numbed the pain but my performance and stamina were severely taxed. On the next run, I found delicious chopped up powder with occasional untracked on Upper Antelope to Lynx to Beaver.

Tree lines of all varieties and elevations were safely skiable using cautious exuberance. More of the former is safer but more of the latter is a heck of a lot more fun. Almost everything was in play from upper elevation tight softwood corridors to low angle thwack jungles. Mid-mountain birch options skied the best and retained the most untracked lines. My third run selection was stupendous: barely tracked to untracked to single tracked. I returned to this location on my fifth and final run to claim second tracks and close my eights. Untracked snow depth varied depending upon the last time each line were hit. Anything from a few inches to knee deep. Hell yea.

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2010-2011 Season, January, Pico, Powder Day

Pico: A Slope for the Win

Outpost Double Chair Offline

There are many lessons to be learned from this past storm. And even more lessons to be learned from my decisions and reactions—in many ways sound but yet still lacking. One of my key management tenets is to “assume your assumptions are wrong”. But I failed to apply this to my storm chasing decision making process. I had the perfect plan if only my assumptions were correct. But they were mistaken in many ways.

Formulations for the powder day decision began with the fact that Magic Mountain and Pico Mountain would both be closed on Wednesday and open on Thursday with a full component of untracked powder. Targeting Thursday instead of Wednesday presupposed Northern New England wouldn’t get much snow, that the storm would start late morning, and untracked would never amount to more than a few inches due to being constantly skied in. This season of all seasons, I should have known not to bet against Cannon.

Another unforeseen monkey wrench in the plan was Killington Season Passholders pillaging Pico the day after their powder day at Killington. I relied upon memories of my last day at Pico, a two foot weekend dump in which I got uncontested first tracks down Summit Glade with no line at the chair. But I forgot about the situational context. I forgot that everyone else knew what I knew about Pico opening Thursday. I forgot there would be absolutely no surprises with this storm.

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2010-2011 Season, December, Mount Snow

New Year, New Area: Mount Snow

Bumps on Beartrap

When I wrote that I would attempt to rekindle some lost passion for skiing by exploring new locations, it was written with deliberate intention. Not some whimsical spur of the moment New Year’s resolution, so easy imagined yet more easily neglected.

Following through takes effort and often involves disconcerting action in direct contrast with normal habits. It involves deliberate and mindful mental recalibration. Creating a moment in which we allow ourselves to engage in something different and novel. And allowing ourselves to enjoy it for what it is rather than fighting against it, resistant to changing hard ingrained habits. It’s easier to make excuses than take the ride.

Mount Snow is was the furthest distance from home and most southern destination on my list. Driving south to ski is normally reserved exclusively for Magic Mountain powder days. Yet I found my car pointed south down I-91 on dry pavement and passing by the normal Magic exit. List aside, I had no other plans today and Mount Snow was one of the few ski areas not on holiday black out for vouchers. Reports of good bumps and warm spring-skiing-like weather solidified my decision.

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2010-2011 Season, December, Powder Day, Smugglers Notch

Smuggs! Powder Day!

Upper Chilcoot at Smuggs

When you are still scoring boot deep untracked an hour after a leisurely lunch break, you know it’s been a very good day. If you were not at Smuggs today, you might want to stop reading at this point. But if you were one of the few killing it at Smuggs today, you’ll want to read on to relive the day that was.

The decision on Smuggs should have been a no brainer. But I had also been considering Cannon and Jay as options that were significantly closer; each with their own merits. But neither could claim the merit that made Smuggs the clear choice: a top to bottom lift pod opening up for the first time this season three days after the last snow storm.

Madonna I spun for the first time this season today to the tune of no lines excepting the first two rides. I rode single–on a Saturday, at Smuggs, on Mandonna I, on a powder day–many times. Yet the line for the Sterling Lift was out of control. What could cause such madness? The only open run from the Madonna summit was Upper Chilcoot–a total luge run–to Link (later joined by McPherson’s to Playground on natural). Without powder below it, Upper Chilcoot was a great reason for most skiers to wait in line for Sterling.

Riding the Madonna I Lift at Smuggs

For the rest of us, the day was a boot deep (and often deeper!) waterbar filled extravaganza. Patrol was displeased by what was happening and I earned a warning. But they soon relented and disappeared after having briefly guarded entrances and exits: powder to the people. The powder was stunningly delicious, soft but with support without being overly dense. Perfect cream cheese. Deep enough so that coverage and base damage were not issues though waterbar hoping was a skill in much demand.

Run after run, more tracks were laid down. But the untracked remained late into the day. And the tracked one time still skied exceptionally well. Today was a triumph after a difficult start and stop beginning to the season. Smuggs is only one big dump away from being fully online excepting glades and the steep stuff. Low angle glades still deserve caution.

Madonna from the Midway

Last Run Today at Smuggs, Still Boot Deep Untracked, Still Smiling

2010-2011 Season, Earned Turns, Killington, October, Powder Day

Never Cut Your Loses: Killington

Steve on Royal Flush

The thought had been nagging me for the past few weeks: I was decidedly not ready for the season to start from a gear perspective. Nothing had been pulled out of the closet. An inventory had not yet been taken. New jackets still retained their store tags. My recently mounted new Dynafits had not been inspected for DIN setting accuracy nor tested so I could learn the features. Ready or not, the season starts now. Ready? Set. GO!

Killington or Mansfield? Reports had confirmed a foot of snow near the summit of Killington but I repeated my mantra not to bet against Mansfield. Besides, I hate the drive from Ashland to Killington even though it is twenty minutes shorter than Ashland to Stowe.

While I should usually not bet against Mansfield, I should also know by now that one in the hand is better than two in the bush. That you never get greedy when you know of a sure thing. You keep hammering the known quantity as long as it remains good because you might get skunked when you go in search of something better.

Sheets of rain blowing sideways greeted me at the Mansfield Gondola. The snow barely started near the base of the slopes and was very thin and spotty for a few hundred feet. The Front Four did not look in play from the parking lot. I suspected skiing was likely good up high but I resolved that I was not skinning in a drenching rain.

Rather than wait for the rain to stop, I opted to drive to Killington where I suspected they had top to bottom skiing, more snow, and no rain. I guess I never learn… But this was rather defaulting back to the known quantity when the greed did not pan out. Sure enough, I made the wrong decision when I left home but made the right decision in revising plans.

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