We listened to the Snowtime ads, and "took a snowday." It was glorious, and the snow was wonderful! My son Dan and I took off for a few hours, and made a series of fast, smooth runs. We stayed on the front side, but I understand the expert trails were also in excellent shape. We covered all the open intermediate trails, and Snowpark and Sidewinder in the beginner area. We could have done the back slopes but, with no lines or crowds, we enjoyed where we were. The sun shone, the weather was in the 40's, and the view from the top of the mountain was breathtaking, as usual.
Of course, by the end of the day, the trails became more slushy and cut up, but that is to be expected. It will be amazing if they hold up to the weekend's onslaught, and the expected rain on Sunday. Several thousand people are expected this three day weekend. I am so glad we got there first! And, it was a nice break from the recent arctic cold!
We debated whether to visit Whitetail or Liberty - I am very high on both of them. Liberty is also in excellent shape. We will continue to alternate between them, and try to visit Roundtop, the third Snowtime resort.
On a heavy note, I did feel guilty skiing, while there is so much suffering going on in Haiti. But, I said prayers on top of the mountain, and hope I can try to help them in some small way.

I just got back from night skiing at Whitetail and the conditions were fantastic. I skied on my K2 Recons (made in China btw) and they were great. Floated and carved on the snow with pleasure.

It was truly magnificent tonight.

I was there on Wed afternoon and it was as crowded as I have ever seen. The parking lots were full. You had to watch for people heading for their car and vulture a space. There were a half dozen demo vans there, perhaps the reason for the crowd. Glen Plake was there autographing posters in the cafeteria. Seems like a very down to earth guy.

I had a great day at Whitetail yesterday, Saturday.

My first lift ride I jumped on with Jason who taught me my first snowboarding lesson twenty four years ago. He was carving really nice trenches on a freestyle rig, but he made a small mistake that resulted in a crash which he believed resulted in a broken arm. He took a couple more runs, "Should be OK until the adrenaline wears off", then drove himself to the hospital for xrays.

First lift ride after lunch, I caught up with Maury who gave me my first Telemark lesson. About as long ago as the snowboard lesson, but someone I've seen many times in the intervening years. I was on a snowboard, so Maury asked me if I wanted to teach a guy, they had no snowboarder available to teach. I said sure, so I got to teach a guy in the Wounded Warrior program!

I didn't realize that the lesson was part of Wounded Warrior until after it was over, I didn't even know my student was a vet. Although I taught snowboarding for a few years, Matt was the first student I had who was above the beginner level, so it was a lot of fun. This year is his first season, third day back on a snowboard since getting busted up by a car while motorcycling in 2002. He had snowboarded for about eight years before the collision, so he was very happy to riding again!

I thought of you Connie, when I realized I had just participated in this excellent program, which I know you are involved with.

Crowds weren't bad, snow was great. Wet man-made, a little sticker than wet granular, but whiter! Big, soft bumps. The white snow, brilliant sun, blue skis and big bumps made it feel to me like some place out west, but when I mentioned to a fellow on the chairlift that it didn't feel like Pennsylvania to me, he whined about how last Saturday it was cold and wonderful, but now sadly it feels like Pennsylvania again, because it was too warm and the snow was melting. Yeah, whatever. I had a blast!

Thank you Rod, Denis, and Eug. Enjoy great snow! (although maybe not today). Yours, Connie Lawn