The tale of my last 4 days in VT is told in a separate trip report. This trip also confirmed that the title of best skier in the family has been passed. I knew it would happen but did not expect it so soon. My daughter was a college racer and my son-in-law is just a great athlete. Nevertheless, they can no longer keep up with their oldest son. That happens you say, kids have no sense of caution and will just point and go. Well there is more. On Friday, we rode the Madonna 1 lift at Smugglers Notch for most of the day. The liftline is long and rises in 3 steep pitches, the steepest is about 1000 vertical feet at about 40 degress. It is a series of cliffs and ledges with just a few patches of snow between them. By mid afternoon a handful of young hot skiers were carefully picking their way down from one patch of snow to another as we watched from the lift. One mistake and you would rag-doll 1000 vertical feet. My grandson announced that he would ski it and his parents gave the OK. So up to the edge he goes, a 9 year old blue eyed gunslinger, 4' 6", 60 lbs. He studied it for 15 seconds and then ripped the whole thing non-stop at speed, getting 10-20 feet of air over all the cliffs and ledges. There were gasps from the lift riders and then wild cheers. OMG - look at that!!! That kid's got balls!!! Then he went back and did it 2 more times. The torch has been passed.

thats a great story, and something that should make anyone proud, even tho you no longer hold the torch sounds like you hit VT at a perfect time too!

Most people dream that their child will win the Olympic Gold, Superbowl, etc. However, what your grandkid did, that is a much better dream.

Brings back fond memories of my son when he was doing that at the same age Sounds like you have a future x-games competitor.

Wow that's an incredible story Denis. I'll bet you would have killed to have a camera for that one!

Cool, sounds awesome! That must have been something to see.

Great story Denis. Gotta love that fearlessness, but something tells me it was a good thing Grandma wasn't watching or both she and the boy might not have lived to tell the story.

Denis,

That's an impressive accomplishment for a skier of any age, much less one who weighs only 60 pounds and is under 10 years old. Sounds like your family may have a future ski pro. How many days a year does he get to ski?

Wonderful story...although the conservative in me is a teensy bit nervous about it.
The Colonel