When I was in UT and CA skiing powder (at least a 10 turn shot of untracked every day and some days all powder), my friends back in the mid Atlantic were giving me lleh for what I was missing. I took to telling them you cannot ski all the powder all the time. God does not like that. Well, it has caught up with me; today I began doing my penance - for all the powder I have skied this season.

It was Stowe in dense pea soup fog with light rain. I got the Outback lubed after driving across the country twice without an oil change, and arrived at noon. Took a ride on the triple to start the day and could not see 50 feet when I got off the chair. Only a few hundred vertical feet at the bottom were fog free, but not rain free. I took Crossover and the Over Easy transfer to Spruce, where virtually everybody was. How to have fun over there? There were 2 short runs of training gates set very easy. So I did drills, tele them - easy, monomark them - pretty easy, reverse-a-mark them hitting the first turn with some speed - challenging and fun.

I'll be at Stowe all week. Tomorrow looks like more of the same and I may snowboard, or maybe ride light edgeless XC skis; that's what my friend Chip would do.

I wrote this today (copyright reserved)


eGm 03/22/2010

Well, you ski it.

Denis, that is exactly what the White Grass man was doing Saturday at T-line.

Your day reminds me of the day I first took my ski amigo, Marcus, to Stowe. I skied Nosedive by memory and Marcus followed my voice. It was the only time I wished that Stowe had a mid-station unload.

I look forward to your continuing TR.

Day 2 is a bit of a shaggy dog story, long and convoluted. It began much like yesterday, rain + fog. I came with some items to return to MEC in Montreal for a refund. MEC is Canada's REI, only their store brand stuff is better and cheaper. They have remained true to their roots whereas REI has gone yuppie. http://www.mec.ca/Main/home.jsp

Bottom line of this diversion is I am going to ALASKA. My son and I will be flown from Talkeetna to a remote glacier in mid April, just the 2 of us and a guide for 6 days of powder skiing. Apr. is prime time in AK for powder & scenery. Days are long and reasonably warm after the equinox. We had signed up for a group trip with a different outfit back in Dec. That trip, which required us to have our own winter camping gear, fell thru in Jan. due to insufficient sign ups. So we arranged our own trip for the 2 of us. I have wanted to see and ski ALASKA all my life and I'm not getting any younger. The tent we bought was Mt. Everest quality (= not cheap). That plus 2 appropriate sleeping bags set us back $800. This new outfitter will supply the tent and rent us sleeping bags.

So today I was going to do some skinning in the rain just for a workout to build up for AK. Instead the weather seemed to be telling me that today was the day for returning the unneeded stuff to MEC Montreal, so I did. Just before leaving I saw a thread on SkiVT-List titled, "Free BJs for All". It turned out that today is Ben & Jerry's annual free cone day. I stopped at the World Hqrs in Waterbury on the way home but alas, the line was about 100 yards long. So only one thing on today's list got done but it was the most important.

You're starting to get on my nerves.

Day 3

The predicted 3-5" overnight did not happen. It was pretty clear that Stowe would have dust on crust since it froze hard overnight with < 1" of new snow. My friend Matt K invited me to the Cochran's slalom race and I went. He used to coach there. I saw US ski team members and an Olympic champion go by from 10 feet away. It blew me away. TV slows the action enormously. This event is held annually, as a benefit to raise money for Cochran's, one of the great institutions in American skiing.
http://www.cochranskiarea.com/
and
http://www.cochranskiarea.org/history.html
It started when a VT farmer built a rope tow on a 300 vertical foot hill in his backyard for his kids and neighbor kids to ski after school. It is still there, with more facilities but no more vertical. It has produced over 100 US ski team members, a couple dozen Olympians, an Olympic Gold Medal, and a Hahnennkahm Combined Championship (I believe the only one ever won by an American).

Olympian Sarah Schleper placed 3rd in the women's Div., 2006 Gold medalist Ted Ligety did not make the podium in the men's Div. Bode Miller, Lindsey Vonn, and Julia Mancuso did not show up. Virtually all other members of the US ski team were there including 3rd generation Cochrans, Jimmy and Tim Cochran and Jessica Cochran Kelly. I was enlisted as a "slipper", someone to sideslip and snowplow the course to smooth out the ruts between racers.

Denis

Have you tried Gracie's on Mountain Road? Recommend giving it a try if you have not.

Glenn

He's only kidding. We're enjoying the reports from "our man in Vermont". Something tells me your penance will be over soon and you'll be enjoying some heavenly spring ski conditions.

I couldn't escape the spiritual similarity of Cochran's to Whitegrass. The skiing focus is different, almost a polar opposite, but the spirit is the same. Any Whitegrasser would love it.

Thanks for the updates Denis!

We are headed to the Stowe area for Spring Break. We'll be camping and skiing Sugarbush, Smugglers, MRG (April 1st $3.50 - just gotta act like a fool!), and of course Stowe. We have coupons for basically half off those places (couldn't afford it for a family of 4 otherwise!).

We'll be driving up Sunday and skiing thru Sunday (sunrise service on top of Mansfield!)

Feel free to offer any advice for the trip!

Hey that's cool. Where are you camping ????? sunrise service on Mansfield sounds great.

We're planning on camping (22' RV) at the only place open in the winter - Goldbrook. Haven't been there before but have talked to the guy on the phone.

Two years ago when we did the same thing in New Hampshire, we ended up in Walmart parking lots because the few campgrounds that were open, were all icy.

After driving 11 hours up to NH we got stuck in the first campground, eventually got out and went to another only to slide around a bend and into a snowbank. It took me and a guy at the campground (think Dustin Hoffman in Rainman) about two hours to get out.

Around midnight we rolled into the Walmar at Littleton. Turns out the gauge on our propane tank was broken so even though it said "full" it was really "empty".

Being new to RVing, (and having an old RV that we bought off of ebay) I didn't know why we didn't have heat. The second night was in the parking lot next to Cannon. 18 degrees. contacts froze in their case.

The amazing thing is the wife and kids are excited to do it AGAIN!

Hey Steve we're (family of four) going to Stowe for the week too. Where did you find 1/2 off coupons?

Thanks

myrto, not sure what Steve is using, but here's some more discount info to add to the mix: http://www.dcski.com/ubbthreads33/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=57149&Searchpage=1&Main=6030&Words=coupons+map&Search=true#Post57149

Thanks, Jim, there are some great deals, unfortunately Stowe is not quite as generous as the others.

Steve - That's a good story. You have a great wife, better hold on to her! My wife is also wonderful but would have been living at Sunset Beach by now.

I got the 4 of the maps Jim referenced above through the mail. As for Stowe, if you go to the link below, it shows a calender.

http://stowe.com/mountain/resort_calendar/month/

You can get $99 two day tickets for Sat. and Sun.

What are your plans for the week? What's your take on the weather forecast?

Pagamony,

I hear you! I think somewhere I mentioned that the last RV/ski trip was two years ago. That's because last year Spring Break was a cruise in the Caribbean! While she likes her skiing, she likes her beaches too!

I expect to be here next week. M-F only since my pass is M-F only. I can be reached by PM.

Today was a great day of spring skiing. It froze hard last night but warmed very quickly in strong sun. I expected this and so showed up at 10, which turned out to be perfect. I hit the "magic hour" when the corn ripened and skied for 2 hours more as it turned to glue. By pure chance I met a guy named Josh who used to go by Bushwacker in PA on DCSki. He is a very good skier & Stowe instructor, who was hanging out with ski school buddies to rip it up on their day off. After 2 runs I realized I couldn't keep their pace so I excused myself. We had originally planned to meet on Fri. AM but neither of us is too keen on that. It was 55 at 2 PM today; tonight it will go below zero with a predicted high of 10 and strong wind tomorrow.

For my final run I poached Chin Clip and found powder from 2 days ago blown into the troughs and turned to cream cheese. It skied beautifully until the last few hundred vertical when it resembled those glue traps used to catch crickets and mice. This made life real interesting as I slowly floundered on free heels back to lower Gondolier hoping not to be spotted by one of NSP's finest.

All in all a fine day.

More on the Cochran's slalom if anyone is interested;

SKI RACING's brief report on "The Other National Championship": http://skiracing.com/?q=node/1436

"World Cup giant slalom champion, Ted Ligety explained the attraction: 'It's just so much fun to do. It's like going back in time to the essence of ski racing.'"

The results;

http://www.vara.org/news/resultsviewer.asp?eventnumber=4971

If you like the looks of MRG, or you've been there before, hit Magic Mountain on the way up.. it's a quiet place, hopefully on the way back up. Great way to avoid the all-groomed mountain full of New Yorkers experience that is Stratton.

The day looked most unpromising with a hard freeze last night and no new snow on the ground in Stowe where I was staying. I checked a bunch of area snow reports and decided on Mad River based on 2-4" new and Marketing Director Eric Freidman's statement that there was powder skiing on the upper mountain. As I drove into the MRG parking lot there was a guy wearing outrageous plaid pants getting his gear out of an outrageous yellow Jeep. It was longtime friend Wes, founder and guru of the SkiVT List, an internet group much like DCSki. I pulled up alongside and suddenly we had an FSC* quorum of 2. It was the best skiing I've ever had on 4" of new on top of a frozen moonscape. The powder was light and easily dissipated on our first run or 2, but it seemed to stiffen as the weather warmed and it supported turns much better as it did so. We were amazed as we took run after run in untouched powder with no competition. Mad River always rewards her faithful.

* Friday Ski Club. Skip work to ski, make it up another day, another tradition started by Wes.

Yesterday 3/28.

Skied Mad River again today. My daughter and family have their season pass there and Sun. is their ski day. The skiing was not at all bad but the day was made great by watching my 3 grandsons tearing up the bumps and woods as only 3 brothers egging each other on can do. They whooped, they ripped, they occasionally fell. Skiers stopped all over the mountain to gape at them and make comments to their Dad sweeping the rear to pick up the pieces. I was shocked to see the 6 yr. old has surpassed his 9 yr. old brother and is rapidly gaining on the 12 yr. old. Big brother has adopted the role of trying to talk him out of doing anything extraordinarily stupid. My daughter is suffering from a thumb badly sprained recently and could not make a strong pole touch without a lot of pain. So the two of us skied groomers at warp speed. We expected a spring skiing day but the surface never softened until about 3 when the bottom third softened ever so slightly. I used my alpine carvers which will stick to anything. Tele for this old fart with that crowd would have been insane. Everybody had a blast.

Steady light rain at Stowe today over about 2" of new snow. It was heavy going. I decided to tele the ungroomed thick glop for a challenging workout. It was. It was the kind of snow (term used loosely) where you had to keep the rear foot weighted at all times. Getting front footed for even a millisecond means you are going down. I arrived at noon and did 4 runs on the gondola slopes and quit when I could no longer ignore my screaming quads. It was more fun than not skiing.

3/30

Today was not bad at all, provided you got your skiing in before the rain turned steady at about 1:30. I got in a couple of runs on the gondola which were challenging due to the variable conditions. I was fairly disgusted with myself, so I went to Spruce to do drills. The surface was buttery over there with rain wet snow. Did a bunch of drills and finally dawn broke on Marblehead, the best drill of all is one of the simplest. Leave your poles at the bottom and ski without them. It forces you to use your feet and body position and ski centered. After a half dozen runs doing all kinds of turns, parallel, telemark, monomark, reverse telemark, I realized that I am not losing it but am getting lazy. I need to do more of this.

Where did you do your drills at Spruce?

Where did you do your drills at Spruce?

On a very mild slope reached off a double chair that goes only part way up. It's where the ski school was teaching their lessons as well. There were only 2 lifts running from the bottom.

Okay. Know the area. Trying to live vicariously here Denis!

I skied at Stowe today. It was 64 deg. and great but I am concerned about how long this can continue. The gondola slopes in particular are showing larger and larger brown spots and they are unlikely to be able to groom in the next few days if it doesn't freeze at night, which it may not do. I skied in just a shirt. Many were out there in winter parkas; I have no idea how they did it.

This weekend will be it for me for eastern skiing. I leave for Alaska on Apr. 14. Hopefully it will not be as warm as this weekend in VT or I may be in for an "Escape from Lucania" experience.*

* I won't give anything away but it is a MUST READ for any real or armchair ski mountaineer.

you know, I hope that was a very long shirt, else it would have been quite the sight. I know Vermont can be liberal but that may have strechted the sensibilities....

A little more on yesterday,
http://list.uvm.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind1004A&L=SKIVT-L&D=1&T=0&O=D&P=19030

Mad River's season ended yesterday as the unconventional terrain event was held on the upper mountain. The temp. hit 82 in the parking lot and torrents of water cascaded down the mountain in dozens of places. By noon time it became obvious to all that it just would not be possible to have skiing today. I have never seen VT warm so fast so early. VT has had a real aberrant winter. I skied yesterday until early afternoon when I had to quit due to knee pain. It was 77 deg. in the lot. Yesterday I just watched, not wanting to risk my knees just before the Alaska trip which begins on Apr. 14. Many friends were there and it was a great social occasion.

As good as February was here in the Mid-Atlantic March was not bringing warm nights and rapid daytime thaw. I thought we would be skiing corn deep into April.

Thanks for the updates Denis, and have fun in Alaska. I will be looking forward to some stories...

March has definitely brought a lot of warm weather and rain to the east, a lot worse than I remember in recent years.

Well, we got back from Northern VT last night. I'll try to post a quick trip report later. In short we did Sugarbush Monday in the rain and Wednesday. Nice place. Smuggs Thursday and Friday. (Really liked it. Wish more glades had been open but Highlander Glade was great) Stowe Saturday and Sunday. Like Denis, we only skiied Stowe from 8 till noon. (Too hot, too much mud, too much work.)

None of the family skied on Easter Sunday, but that is not to say that the day lacked excitement. The 3 grandsons and a couple of neighbor boys went out to kick a soccer ball around. It was too hot so they all jumped in the neighbors backyard hockey rink, now a pool of muddy water. Soon they showed up at the back door looking like drowned rats. Boy #2 asked for a tissue. When I inquired, 'why does a guy who looks like you do right now need a tissue. It won't help much." He took his hand off his mouth to reveal a bloody lip and said that his brother had hit him in the face with a shovel, "but he didn't mean it."