Photos up!
At the suggestion of Xwhaler, I went up to Ragged after the storm to meet up with him and a few of his friends. Nice guys, thanks a ton for letting me join y'all!
He was running a bit late, but I was able to get there with time to spare and was able to hop onto the first couple of chairs on the 6 pack. I rode with a patroller who was riding up the lift with a dog. We chatted, he told me the whole mountain was fair game. He wound up taking the chocolate lab into the woods to ski down with him. Pretty cool, I'd never seen that before.
Back to the story! Being one of the first people at the top in the morning, I followed one guy into Karens Dream/Rags to Riches. We put the first few traverse tracks in to get the glade. He took a conservative way down the entrance, avoiding the drops in Rags to Riches since we weren't sure what kind of cover there was. He stopped at the bottom of the small 2 cliffs at the entrance. I yelled "hows it look?" He yelled back "wish I was you!" I took that as an 'all clear' and tossed myself off them first thing in the morning. I landed in super soft, powdery snow. I lapped that trail a couple of times and noticed that no one had gone into the chute like entrance to Karens Dream yet. On the next ride I got one of the first few lines down that pitch, but that little nook didn't take long to track out/scrape off.
I lapped that a few more times, ran down Twister/Big Rock/Mikeys/Cabin Fever a couple of times, and found some awesome woods somewhere between Lower Ridge and Easy Rider. Due to the run out, I didn't try all too hard to try and find those fantastic trees again.
After the run out, I saw that they just started to allow folks on the quad to Spear Mountain. I skied on and promptly went into Not Too Shabby. Which, as it turns out, isn't shabby at all! I was treated to some more first tracks in the ravine- over and over again. Must've lapped that for about an hour before deciding that it was time to enjoy the untouched powder under the quad on Ragged Edge. The snow had the appearance and possibility that it would be crusty on top or powder on crust, but I figured "what the hell?" and went for it anyway. Well worth it! I put a few of the first lines down that area moving more and more to skiers right under the lift testing the snow little by little. Absolutely awesome. I did that a few times and eventually took my first run on a groomed surface. The cord was super soft and incredibly carvable.
I randomly met up with a 55 year old lady in the woods off Cardigan (Knob Gobbler and Devils Den) or something like that. She wasn't bad at all so I hung out with her and we made some tree runs. Hopefully I'm still skiing in the trees at 55! We did a few laps in and around the trees until we finally ran into XWhaler and crew. They were hauling ass and I wanted to get in on that! But- being a considerate person, I hung in there with the older gal and made sure she got out of the woods safely before bidding her farewell.
Skied the rest of the day with Chris and his friends who were all very good skiers. The conditions started to track out and deteriorate from their former powder glory and eventually we called it quits to kick back a couple of beers in the lodge.
I'll put up some photos tonight!
The drive in was promising.
About 1/4 of the way down Rags to Riches
Collection of powder off to the skiers left of Ragged Edge. Was awesome.
In the ravine somewhere
Caught one of the first couple chairs up on the quad.
The untoutched bit right under the chair skiers left off Ragged Edge. This was an absolute blast.
At the suggestion of Xwhaler, I went up to Ragged after the storm to meet up with him and a few of his friends. Nice guys, thanks a ton for letting me join y'all!
He was running a bit late, but I was able to get there with time to spare and was able to hop onto the first couple of chairs on the 6 pack. I rode with a patroller who was riding up the lift with a dog. We chatted, he told me the whole mountain was fair game. He wound up taking the chocolate lab into the woods to ski down with him. Pretty cool, I'd never seen that before.
Back to the story! Being one of the first people at the top in the morning, I followed one guy into Karens Dream/Rags to Riches. We put the first few traverse tracks in to get the glade. He took a conservative way down the entrance, avoiding the drops in Rags to Riches since we weren't sure what kind of cover there was. He stopped at the bottom of the small 2 cliffs at the entrance. I yelled "hows it look?" He yelled back "wish I was you!" I took that as an 'all clear' and tossed myself off them first thing in the morning. I landed in super soft, powdery snow. I lapped that trail a couple of times and noticed that no one had gone into the chute like entrance to Karens Dream yet. On the next ride I got one of the first few lines down that pitch, but that little nook didn't take long to track out/scrape off.
I lapped that a few more times, ran down Twister/Big Rock/Mikeys/Cabin Fever a couple of times, and found some awesome woods somewhere between Lower Ridge and Easy Rider. Due to the run out, I didn't try all too hard to try and find those fantastic trees again.
After the run out, I saw that they just started to allow folks on the quad to Spear Mountain. I skied on and promptly went into Not Too Shabby. Which, as it turns out, isn't shabby at all! I was treated to some more first tracks in the ravine- over and over again. Must've lapped that for about an hour before deciding that it was time to enjoy the untouched powder under the quad on Ragged Edge. The snow had the appearance and possibility that it would be crusty on top or powder on crust, but I figured "what the hell?" and went for it anyway. Well worth it! I put a few of the first lines down that area moving more and more to skiers right under the lift testing the snow little by little. Absolutely awesome. I did that a few times and eventually took my first run on a groomed surface. The cord was super soft and incredibly carvable.
I randomly met up with a 55 year old lady in the woods off Cardigan (Knob Gobbler and Devils Den) or something like that. She wasn't bad at all so I hung out with her and we made some tree runs. Hopefully I'm still skiing in the trees at 55! We did a few laps in and around the trees until we finally ran into XWhaler and crew. They were hauling ass and I wanted to get in on that! But- being a considerate person, I hung in there with the older gal and made sure she got out of the woods safely before bidding her farewell.
Skied the rest of the day with Chris and his friends who were all very good skiers. The conditions started to track out and deteriorate from their former powder glory and eventually we called it quits to kick back a couple of beers in the lodge.
I'll put up some photos tonight!
The drive in was promising.
About 1/4 of the way down Rags to Riches
Collection of powder off to the skiers left of Ragged Edge. Was awesome.
In the ravine somewhere
Caught one of the first couple chairs up on the quad.
The untoutched bit right under the chair skiers left off Ragged Edge. This was an absolute blast.
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