thesnowway.com – Page 124 – full of allusions

March 23, 2006October 6, 20122005-2006 Season, Mad River Glen, March

Mad River Glen Says “It Ain’t Over”

After closing up shop last week due to a horrible melting period and rain storm followed by a rapid freeze, Mad River Glen fired up the Single again earlier this week to the delight of skiers everywhere. At least those skiers that still think it is ski season. The foot of fresh that Mad River Glen received last week was wonderful for the Upper sections of the mountain but only succeeded in covering up potential obstacles down low. After a lot of wind blown snow and grooming, Mad River Glen was able to open up again despite thin cover conditions dominating the lower mountain.

Having taken the previous day off to rest and recuperate for four days in a row of skiing, I opted to burn my first of three Mad Cards today with hopes of returning on Saturday and Sunday to use the remaining two. My vacation this week has been wildly successful scoring some exciting skiing and great conditions and today was no different.

I began my morning by heading up the Single and descending down the groomed roller coaster that is Catamount. Peering up at Cat Bowl, I noticed some enticing bump lines so I boarded the Single at the mid-station and skated over to Cat Bowl. Coverage was mostly good with some occasional thin spots and loose snow on skier’s left. While maintaining my line down skier’s left, I thought that the bumps would be perfect once things warmed up a little. But I would not have the opportunity to return later to find out.

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March 20, 2006October 3, 20122005-2006 Season, Jay Peak, March, Powder Day

Lots of Untracked at Jay

SICK SICK SICK! If anyone thinks that this season has sucked, they have not been paying attention! Reports of this season’s premature ending have been greatly exaggerated. Thanks to orographic lift and a great location, The Jay Cloud continues to churn out massive amounts of snow on an almost daily basis refreshing lines with six inches of snow throughout the weekend. Though snow fall totals from the night before were only six inches, up to twelve inches of untracked could easily be found in addition to the occasional shot of knee deep. Despite only having a moderate amount of new snow in that magical 6-12″ range, Monday was my best lift serviced day of skiing this year. With exception of skiing a few groomed trails in between the trees, I essentially skied nearly untracked powder all day long.

Forgetting that powder hounds would still be out en mass even though it was a Monday, I took my time getting ready at home. As a result, despite getting into line for the Tram at 8:45 A.M., I still waited for the third Tram Car to ascend to the Summit of Jay Peak. My delay could not have been more fortunate! Despite not being able to make first tracks down Valhalla, my delay resulted in an even better occurrence. As I departed the Sky Haus, I heard my name being called out. When I turned around, I saw none other than Austin who posts on AlpineZone and FirstTracks!! Online. Austin said he would be running late and hopefully we could meet up later in the day. Turns out I was the one running late and Austin arrived earlier than planned. The unexpected run in provided great company and a skiing partner for the afternoon romp through Jay Peak’s extensive glade network.

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March 18, 2006November 17, 20092005-2006 Season, Jay Peak, March, Powder Day

Powder Left Overs at Jay Peak

With the Jay Cloud in full effect thanks to Orographic Lift, Jay Peak along with most of the Northern Green Mountains picked up over two feet of snow in three days. Most of that snow fell mid-week from Wednesday through Friday, so knee deep untracked was impossible to find by the weekend. However, the new powder falling overnight was more than enough to refreshen the glades and make skiing primo for Saturday. Jay Peak may exaggerate their snow totals occasionally, but no one can exaggerate the fact that Jay Peak gets a ton of snow when most other New England Ski Areas come up empty.

Arriving at the Stateside Lodge at 8 A.M., I noticed that the parking lot attendants were already packing the cars in like sardines. Despite the parking situation, due to Jay Peak’s far northern location, the majority of skiers did not arrive until late morning leaving fresh lines for the early birds. However, by 10 A.M. all the lots were full and the Jet Chair was averaging more than a ten minute wait.

Jay Peak had reported in on Thursday morning with two feet of fresh snow. By Saturday the best I could find on the mountain was the occasional one foot of untracked which was a rare find indeed. The rest of the snow was either tracked up, packed down, or blown away by the high winds. Due to those high winds, the Groomer Trails were a pathetic mix of wind blown hard pack, frozen granular, and the occasional legit icy patch. Not that any one skiing Jay Peak would want to ski the Groomers… they only reason to ski at Jay Peak is heading into the trees.

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March 11, 2006October 3, 20122005-2006 Season, Burke, March

Burke, VT

I arrived at Burke with a 50% off Big Burke Day coupon in hand at 8:30 A.M. to boot up. As per my dining experience at the Tamarack Grill during my recovery period, two enthusiastic employees greeted me as I ascended the new stairs to the recently renovated Sherburne Base Lodge. Those employees were en route to the drop off area to help lug equipment for families, kids, and parents with way too much gear and too few hands. Nice touch.

Entering the lodge, I was amazed at the amount of employees working hard to ensure guest comfort and satisfaction. My initial impression with the Ginn Resort Burke Mountain is that no expense is to be spared in ensuring a first class experience of the highest quality for all skiers; with most especially the family with stressed out parents in mind. I still can’t believe the bag check is complimentary. I headed over to “The Igloo,” which is their brown bag area doubling as a kids play pen, booted up, left my bag in the corner, and headed over to the new quad.

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March 7, 2006October 3, 20122005-2006 Season, AlpineZone Meet Up, Loon Mountain, March, Video

AlpineZone.com Meet Up at Loon Mountain, NH

Originally, I was planning on returning to Cannon Mountain for a Tuesday Two-fer, but changed plans to ski at Loon with Greg from AlpineZone.com. Having skied with Greg once before, I knew we would have a fantastic time skiing together despite the limited expert and natural snow terrain at Loon; which barely missed out on the foot and a half Cannon received over the weekend due to notch effect snow. The company more than made up for lack of challenging terrain as we ripped up the expert level groomers on Loon’s North Peak.

We started the morning by ascending the Seven Brothers Triple Chairlift and skiing down to the North Peak Express Quad where we would spend most of the morning skiing the groomed expert terrain the lift services. Skiing the trails Right to Left, we started by making a quick cruising run down Walking Boss before proceeding to ski under the liftline on Flume. Finally, we took Sunset to Angel Street and decided that Angel Street definitely was the most fun and had the best snow. We would return often to Angel Street throughout the morning.

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