Category: 2013-2014 Season

2013-2014 Season, Earned Turns, February, Powder Day, Tenney Mountain

Forget Me Not

Tenney Summit

After two false starts, I finally managed to skip out of work early. Three days ago, a storm dropped almost a foot on central New Hampshire. I had the prerogative to shut operations down per standard procedure when the University cancels classes. But duty called, we were needed. Despite my recent resentment towards work, I am not resentful for making the call to open. It was the right thing to do. My upbringing would abide nothing less.

My dad and I used to ski together once per season. Our family skied a lot when I was younger. But he didn’t ski much any more and sometimes that one day was his only real day of skiing all year. I really enjoyed those days. And while I wasn’t impressed with my first visit to Tenney when we skied there, I enjoyed skiing Tenney with him. I’d take another run with him anywhere if I could.

Even Okemo.

So the mountain always brings back memories since I only skied Tenney once when it was open, and we skied together that day.

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2013-2014 Season, February, Powder Day, Smugglers Notch

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.

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2013-2014 Season, Cannon Mountain, January, Middle Hard the Hard Way, Powder Day

Give It All You Got: Cannon

Today may be the best “two days after the powder day” powder day that I’ve ever had. Yesterday, I desperately wanted to ski Cannon. I knew it was going to be bananas despite being a day after the storm. But I was extremely fatigued from skiing Magic on Friday, I simply didn’t have the legs.

I responded to my alarm with ambivalent lethargy. I assumed today would fail to inspire yet still merited the effort. I wanted to ski natural snow again before the impending rain. In six hours, I made seven runs. By my standards, that is a statistic suggestive of an incredible day at Cannon.

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2013-2014 Season, January, Magic Mountain, Powder Day

Boot to Knee Deep & Cold: Magic

Sorcerer

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.

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