Sunday River 2-10-07

[uphillklimber]

Date(s) Skied: 2-10-07

Resort or Ski Area: Sunday River

Conditions: Variable, packed powder to groomed ice

Trip Report: The night before had some unusual preparation. My wife wants me to pack the lunch, so I negotiate (unsuccessfully) that she can sharpen the skiis while I pack the lunch. She asks if they really need to be sharpened up. I said it doesn't take too long and we may need that. I end up packing the lunch also.....

This trip started out early enough for first tracks. I headed out and got in line with about 2 dozen others at the Barker quad. I thought my wife was right behind me, so I wasn't sure why my wife wasn't with me, but I really wanted that first run, so up I went. I knew there would be trouble when I got back down..... I chatted with another fellow who also wanted to be skiing when the lifts opened. He said it was windy last Saturday and yesterday, indicating that any recent snow wasn't neccesarily still on the trail.

First thing I do is head down Right Stuff. I am thinking this is nice, groomed packed powder. As I charge over the headwall, I am greeted by a 20 foot patch of blue ice that a groomer has corrugated, followed by 10 feet of snow, followed by another 20 foot patch of corrugated ice, then 20 feet of snow and then ice and snow. I get thru all of that and slow it down. I check over my shoulder and it's only me and two snowboarders on this trail. It's plenty wide, so I widen the arcs a little and we are all riding down just fine.

(That was to be a portent of what this day would be all about. I paid good attention to form all day. Knees and ankles about a fist apart, weight slightly forward on the tongues of my boots, and hands holding a make believe lunch tray. I am shocked at how well this is working on these variable conditions. Most importantly, when I hit the skids, because my feet are so close together, they do not split out on me. I am pretty much in control, even when stopping on ice. )

Back at the bottom... my wife is waiting for me, jestering. She asked why I couldn't wait for her, and I replied that I didn't think she would mind waiting for me. Turns out that I took a trail she generally would not take, and wanted nothing to do with after I told her of the conditions. Her goggles ahd lost the strap when she put her helmet on, and she put it back together, then opted for her backup pair of goggles, which is what delayed her getting out on the trail.

We go back up the Barker quad and head down Lazy River, there are the same sort of conditions that I encountered on Right stuff, to a lesser degree. Surprisingly, not so many folks on the trail, so widening the arcs was okay, and you know, this is actually pretty good and loads of fun, even when we hit the ice. We just ski across it. Both of us are working on form, which provides loads of control and boosts our confidence greatly. We head up North Peak and head on over to Jordan Bowl. We can not believe the difference in wind that we are encountering. It is howling, so much so that Oz and Jordan bowl are not open. We come down Northern lights and go up the slower quad again. We head back over to Aurora and ski there for a bit. I thought we were going down Dream maker, and my wife informs me that this is 3D. Normally, we don't this trail in these conditions, as it bumped up. But today, it is just variable ice and snow and hardpack and boilerplate. And it is okay!!! I ask her how she feels about having sharp edges on the skiis now. She appreciates that the edges are sharp.

Back to Barker for a break and we ski out again. North peak quad is constantly stopping, seems the staff are bring groceries up to the lodge via the quad. So we ski there a bit and head back for lunch. We knew some fellow AZers' were there, so we looked around a bit, but found none. There are so many people, we could not locate any of them. Oh well, back to skiing.

We head over to White Cap next. They had been blowing snow all over White heat, and it is packed. Loads of people going down. It's easily the busiest trail of the day. Most were challenging themselves and it showed, while some were riding it. It is do-able for most, and they can get their bragging rights. We pass on it, instead doing Jim's whim and obsession. We also take a run down moonstruck, a nice easy green. My wife's form on the green was almost perfect, so I try to work jer up a few trails tougher so she can gain a little confidence in her form. Only thing is, at that end of the resort, you have easy greens and challenging blacks.

We take Heat's off out of there. Still working on form. On the way down, not quite sure how it happened, but I ended up in the back seat and hit the uprise at the same time. It sat me right down and I flailed all over the place. I picked my self back and skiied out onto Cascades, covered in snow. My wife joins me a moment later and says, "You too?" Turns out she did the exact same thing right behind me. We figure the light might be real flat there or something, but it got us both at the same place.

Next up, Tempest. They are having moguls!!! We gotta watch this. This is where the boys and girls are. They are impressive. No men and women here, only boys and girls. This is a young persons sport! I am truly impressed. At the jumps, there are many back flips and land and keep on going, hit that mogul.... WOW!!! I gotta wonder where these kids practice these backflips for competition??? Inverted arials are not allowed most places. I strike up a conversation with some one I see regularly at the River. No he does not post on AZ, but he tells me that he was the subject of the rock slide incident at Tuckerman's. I exclaimed "That was you!". He also explained the scoring system for moguls and we are all just impressed with what we are watching.

Back over to Aurora. They are done with the groceries, so we ski all over there. We take opportunity to work on form. I am just having a ball on this crud. My wife has an opportunity to work on her form on some greens and blues, and is gaining confidence. Today, we are skiing this crud and finding sweet stuff also. But the day ends like any other day and we are pleased with today's fun. We want to ski again next wekend, but it's a blackout day and we have a hiking trip into Baxter for the weekend. A couple weeks away and we head for Sugarbush. We love that mountain!!!

[Bob R]

Nice report. Were Airglow and Northernlights in good shape?

[uphillklimber]

Airglow and northern lights were like many that we found. The conditions varied from packed powder to groomed ice. Relative to the rest of the resort, they were at least par, but I wouldn't gop much above that. Surprisingly, the softest trails there were the ones with active snow making, like White Heat. But they were also the most crowded.

Kinda a mixed blessing here. If the trails were in pretty rough shape, you pretty much had them to your self, so you could take wide arcing turns and control the ride real well, without having to worry about crowding anyone out.

[Bob R]

Interesting perspective on the crowding issue. Sounds like a big storm will help cure alot of the negitives.