Ski Sundown Opening Day - 12/3/2005 (Night)

[Greg]

Date(s) Skied: Saturday, 12/3/2005, 7:40 PM - 10:05 PM

Resort or Ski Area: Ski Sundown, New Hartford, CT

Conditions: Loose granular, manmade; Clear, calm, cool night.

Trip Report: Left the house shortly after 7 PM and got a call from BeanoNYC while making my way up Route 8. He indicated he was at the mountain and we agreed to keep an eye out for each other. Got my lift ticket, booted up in the lodge and was on the snow by 7:40. I figured I'd hang at the base and keep an eye out for BeanoNYC. Within minutes a guy skied up and asked if I was Greg. We were off. The A Triple was the only lift to the summit tonight. Never more than a 2 or 3 chair wait all night. The mountain did a great job laying down enough manmade to cover all open trails adequately. The open runs were Canyon Run, Noreaster, Temptor, Stinger and the Exhibition base area. Coverage was just about side-to-side.

I did take a double-release wipe out on my second or third run in some little rolls down near the base: "Hey BeanoNYC, I'm Greg the dork, nice to meet you..." Despite that, we had a great time cruising the mountain. It's been years since I did any extended amount of night skiing and that coupled with some great company made for a fun night. Most of the trails had nice LGR on the sides with some hardpack in the center of the runs. A couple of nice hits scattered around the mountain including one at the top of Noreaster. We had a lot fun popping off that. Stinger had terrain elements throughout the run which was a bummer as that was the steepest run open. Perhaps the terrain park will stay there this season? It would be great to let Gunbarrel become the mogul run it once was vs. the designated terrain park.

A really beautiful night. No wind and cold enough to make it comfortable to have full winter gear on (sans goggles). It was great to meet a new AZer and have some company on the lift. We skied for roughly 2 1/2 hours non-stop and probably did close to 15 runs. Tough to get a decent night shot with my camera, but I put up a few pics here.

[BeanoNYC]

Nice to meet you Greg! The skiing was great. The company was even better. That fall wasn't bad at all. It's better to fall once like you did than almost fall a bunch of times like I did! Greg, I'm real impressed with your turns. I'm going to work on turning more! Thanks for the good times!

[Greg]

Originally Posted by BeanoNYC

It's better to fall once like you did than almost fall a bunch of times like I did!

For only skiing as long as you have been, you handle yourself pretty well!

[bvibert]

Sounds like a good time, sorry I missed it! By the time my shift ended at 5 I was wiped out. That coupled with the fact that I forgot my poles at home, I would have had to track someone down to give me a pass (I wasn't able to get my employee pass yet), and I wanted to get home to see my daughter before her bed time made me decide to just head home. I'm really wishing I had made a different decision now...

[Greg]

No worries, B. Once the baby is born, I'll be staying local mostly. Between me, you, Beano and ALLSKIING, we should be able to get a CT crew going at Sundown and Mohawk this season.

[BeanoNYC]

Originally Posted by Greg

No worries, B. Once the baby is born, I'll be staying local mostly. Between me, you, Beano and ALLSKIING, we should be able to get a CT crew going at Sundown and Mohawk this season.

Yep, certainly a good time. I'll be back!