Category: 2006-2007 Season

2006-2007 Season, March, Saddleback

Sunny Day at Saddleback

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Sledhaulingmedic and I made our annual pilgrimage to Saddleback in Maine this fine Sunday afternoon. A brilliant blue sky with occasional puffy white clouds and very comfortable temperatures were enjoyed throughout the day. I donned a fleece and windbreaker for the Spring like temperatures that climbed into the forties. Generally, snow conditions never truly softened up despite some excellent corn being harvested on some lower mountain trails.

While Saddleback accurately reported 1-2″ of fresh snow over night, they downplayed the NCP they received prior to the change over. Snow surfaces were firm and many trails scheduled to open never had the rope dropped including Muleskinner, Upper Intimidator Glades, and Nightmare Glades. Just as well that the Glades were roped, but I was sad not to ski Muleskinner. Ropes dropped late on Supervisor,and Upper Tight Line to mixed results on firm surfaces.

We found the lower mountain slopes in better condition than most upper mountain trails, so we hammered the lower mountain in the morning after finding firm conditions up top. The lower mountain was slow to soften up but eventually we found the goods on the southern aspects.

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2006-2007 Season, March, Powder Day, Stowe

Stowe, VT

Originally, I took Wednesday through Friday off to utilize a Ski Club deal on cheap skiing at Stowe. Based on the weather forecast, I bailed on pre-purchasing the three day ticket and went for the single ticket on Wednesdayonly. Essentially, including the Ski Club membership and discounted lift ticket, I paid full price but it was a worth while gamble. If this had been excellent conditions, I would have been skiing three days at Stowe for only $39 per day (which would have included the cost of club membership). Things do not go as planned sometimes.

I used this opportunity to demo the Volkl Mantra in a 177cm at the Pinnacle Ski Shop on the Mountain Access Road. Suffice to say, the Volkl Mantra is one helluva ski. But not the ski I was looking for and I am glad I demoed the ski before I pulled the trigger.

I had expected better conditions today considering all the recent snow but I forgot to take into consideration the high wind earlier this week. Many of the groomers were hard pack with occasional wind blown boiler plate. This is where the Volkl Mantra really wowed me. These skis have Volkl’s typical groomer chewer technology and the last time I rode a ski that ate up hard pack like this was the Volkl Six Stars. The Mantra sure was not at the Six Star level, but was able to really rip the groomers with similar style. This performance enhancement was a harbinger of my verdict on the skis as they compromise too much as a one ski quiver with their stiff, beefy, and damp groomer-ripper esque style.

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2006-2007 Season, Jay Peak, March, Powder Day

Best Day of the Season at Jay Peak!!

Epic. Spectacular. Sensational. Best Day of the Season.

Originally, the plan for the weekend called for two days at Mad River Glen. Yesterday’s storm was good but less than I had expected at The Glen. Assuming Jay over reported Sunday’s snow totals, I considered both areas about even in Saturday snowfall. Sunday morning I opted to ski which ever ski area had a better report (with interpretation for the usual Jay Hype and artificial snow total inflation). Jay reported in with about double the snowfall that Mad River posted and I was feeling the Jay vibe. Great call on my part as we scored minimum knee deep untracked on almost every run today at Jay.

Met up with Dan after a few runs off the Jet Chair and we tore up the trees all day long. Halfway through a tree shot that I thought was not worth trying, we were skiing “only” boot to knee deep slightly tracked, and I turned to Dan and said “this is acceptable.” I had to laugh at such a statement considering any other day that shot would have been sublime.

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2006-2007 Season, Mad River Glen, March, Powder Day

Tree Skiing at Mad River Glen

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A really nice day at Mad River today. This was my first powder day at Mad River and it was super sweet. The storm total was about sixteen inches as counted through the entire afternoon and including last night. Some upper mountain trails fared poorly during the rain storm and some exposed mogul tops were in a sad frozen looking state. In a matter of fact, I side cut around the Waterfall on Paradise because the main line looked particularly unfriendly. But for the most part, everything filled in nicely with the best snow (of course) in the trees.

My morning started off just peachy. After a 5:30a alarm to account for slower then normal travel times, I went out to warm up my car only to find that the drive had yet to be plowed. After a pathetic attempt at driving up the drive way with almost a foot of snow on the ground, I proceeded to shovel out a lane for one of my tires doing the bare minimum work to allow my car access to the road. After half an hour and a couple attempts, I finally whaled my car up the hill, around the corner, and onto the road. Road conditions sucked heading out of St. Johnsbury on Route 2 but were better after getting through Danville. Made it to the parking lot only 10-15 minutes late and the initial line for the single was still working its way through the coral, so I didn’t miss much!

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2006-2007 Season, Jay Peak, March, Powder Day

After Three Brutal Days of Cold, Spring Arrives With Some Rain

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This was a weird, interesting, and occasionally really fun day of skiing. After a quick up and down the Jet Chair, I started off the morning with my skins on for the first time since December. Nice to be earning some turns again as the powder machine has finally been turned off and fresh snow required hiking. Unfortunately, temperatures were warm this morning and the fresh untracked was heavy and difficult to ski. Still a fun adventure was had with a combination of lift serviced and earned turns this morning.

Finally began my lift serviced activity around 11a after my morning jaunt. While switching to alpine gear at the car, the sun changed to rain. Not sleet, not hail, not freezing rain, etc. Nothing crystalline about the quality of the precipitation. The precipitation was being absorbed into my jacket instead of bouncing off. It was a fantastic two months of below freezing temperatures without a thaw, but the melt out begins today. Thankfully the base is still very deep. At one point today, I plunged my pole down into the snow below the handle!

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