Mad River Glen 2/12/07

[Zand]

Date(s) Skied: 2/12/07

Resort or Ski Area: Mad River Glen, VT

Conditions: Powder on top, all kinds of fun stuff underneath

Trip Report:

Woke up at around 8:15 Monday morning to the most glorious sight I'd seen in quite some time. Snow was falling and had already accumulated a good 3". I got ready, ate breakfast, and headed down German Flats Road for a 9:30 arrival at MRG.

First run was up the Single with a nice long and powdery run down Antelope to Snail. Besides the sharp corner/steep drop portion of snail after crossing Birdland, it was 100% beautiful powder on top of groomed snow. Only PITA parts were the aforementioned steep part and the flats of Easy Way.

Next run was also up the Single and down Catamount Bowl. Only 1 person had gone down before me so I had nice powder covered bumps. Kept on cruising down to the Moody's/Canyon combo. Moody's was very nice and Canyon had already been beat up with revealing rocks and dirt. Seemed like most people who went down that morning decided to head to the bottom on Canyon. I took Bunny from the halfway point and ended on a sweet bump-filled Rockefellers.

Headed back up the single and down Catamount Bowl again. Turned out a bunch of people tracked it out after I went down the first time, but at least it made the bump lines more visible. At the bottom of that I headed down Lynx. By then the snow had stopped and the wind started gusting. It wasn't much of a sustained wind at all, but every 15 minutes or so there would be a VERY strong gust that would leave you in a whiteout for a few seconds. The wind whipped up some big drifts and cleaned off some slopes as well. Lynx wasn't effected much by that point (IDK why I even talked about the wind right here... but now you know haha). There were plenty of rocks to play tag with, but most were avoidable. About halfway down, I went into the trees on accident and sunk myself into chest deep snow. I had to click out of my skis, dig them out, and get out of the drift I was in to get back into the trail. Fun adventure there. Beaver was fun as well with similar conditions.

Took my next run up the Double and down Slalom Hill, a nice steep bump run. Any MRG historians know why they call that slalom hill? I can't see them getting a groomer up a run that steep to be able to make a slalom run out of it. Or maybe I just missed something. From the bottom of that I headed down the lower half of Gazelle which was fun and bumpy. I followed Easy Way to S-Turn and One Way. One Way was pretty nasty. At the end of that, I fould a short but steep drop through some trees right near the base of the Double so I dropped off that. Headed into the Basebox for a quick drink and a check on the internet to see what the latest was on this incoming snowstorm.

Headed back up the Double and took a run down Quacky. I was expecting a cruiser, but it ended up being a bumpy and quite steep run. Fun though. Took Chipmunk from there which was similar before taking the same run to the bottom that I did earlier sans One Way.

Next run was up the single and down Fall Line. I tried looking for Paradise but couldn't even find it, not that I would've skied it anyway. Anyway, Fall Line starts steep and is relentless the entire way with all kinds of very narrow chutes and twists and rocks. Just a classic black diamond. Took Upper Glade from there. Most interesting part was when I must've got a tip hung up on a rock or root or something because I did a tip stand that only Glen Plake could do better. I actually was in the air long enough to say "Oh sh*t, here comes some fun" before sliding down about 300 feet of the trail on my stomach, most of the snow going up my shirt. Turns out I left both poles at the start of the slide so I unclicked and went to get those. Heading back down, I wiped out and slid right past my skis so I had to hike to those. Just an adventurous run. The conditions were interesting as you really had to pick and choose lines to avoid rocks. Took Bunny from the halfway point as Lower Glade looked very nasty.

Took another run up the Single, hitting antelope top to bottom. Upper was a nice cruise and Lower was good most of the way. A few drops were a bit rocky, but those were avoidable. I held my speed at the bottom all the way over the bridge and only had to hike about 300 feet to get out. Certainly a lot shorter of a runout than FIS. Headed in for lunch at that point.

I headed up the Double after lunch, this time down Quacky to Porcupine. Quacky was like before. Porcupine was full of crud, but not bumpy and also had a few drifts. Took my run to the bottom from there.

Headed up the Single again, this time Gazelle pretty much top to bottom besides the cutaround on Panther that goes around the cliff. Gazelle was pretty beat up, but pretty fun with the steep bumps. Once again took my run to the bottom from there.

Next run was up the Single and down Chute. The nastiest part was the cutaround around the cliff. It was pretty much all Earth and had its down little cliff to contend with. Got around it OK. The rest of the run featured good lines, especially to the left. There were some rocks, but not as many in the lines to the left.

Boarded at the midstation after that and did a run on Antelope to Bunny. Both were similar to how they were through the course of the day.

It was 3:50 at that point, so I took the Single one last time and took Antelope to Snail... well... almost. Snail was closed to I resorted to Periwinkle. It was actually a good thing as Periwinkle doesn't contain any nasty areas and still had untracked areas to play in. Took my run to the bottom one last time from there.

Well, I had an incredible weekend in the MRV and can't wait until my trip back up there next year. I'll have a Wachusett report this Friday, Sunapee midweek next week, and then 24 hour skiathon at Wachusett next Friday.

[cbcbd]

Good stuff. I should be there this Sunday, can't wait to go back.

For Paradise... where you get off the single - look to your right and sidestep up that hill behind the Stark's nest - keep going

If you meant that you found Fall line from up there but missed Paradise... well, can't help ya there

[Zand]

I'm assuming you mean that you'd have to keep going into the trees after getting onto Fall Line.

[cbcbd]

Originally Posted by Zand

I'm assuming you mean that you'd have to keep going into the trees after getting onto Fall Line.

Lol, actually, I did the same and missed Paradise all together, only going down Fall Line... but I was so stoked with other trails anyways I completely forgot to go back and look for it.

So, I'm really saying that I can't help ya

[kcyanks1]

Originally Posted by cbcbd

Lol, actually, I did the same and missed Paradise all together, only going down Fall Line... but I was so stoked with other trails anyways I completely forgot to go back and look for it.

So, I'm really saying that I can't help ya

There is a path through the woods past the turn for Fall Line. Instead of going down Fall Line just continue straight. Eventually you'll hit a warning/danger sign about serpants lurking places, or something like that. Go a little past that and it will open up into an identifiable trail.