Mad River Glen, 1/19/08 MLK w/e - Birdland

Spent the day at the Birdland area at MRG with my daughter - a perfect pick. There were more skiers in classes than free skiers, and even that was a small number. Never worried at all about high speed skiers, it's sequestered nicely away from the single chair terrain. The Birdcage is a great, funky mid mountain lodge (my daughter said the pizza wasn't very good, although my bratwurst and kraut was great.) No winds, sunny day, trails all groomed nicely. Anyone who wants a stress-free day on greens should consider this place. It's wonderful. Later in the day, we began venturing into the woods - the woods are good (I was so smitten, that the next day I went woods hunting at Stowe without my little one. Save for another report.)

Only disappointment was that Birdland lift was closed at 3pm. Seems to be SOP, don't know why.

Yes, these trails were all groomed, and covered. Nice 4-5" new the day before was the perfect addition. I will admit that every trail rating at MRG is bumped down a notch from many other resorts (green@MRG=blue elsewhere, blue = black elsewhere, black = off the charts elsewhere.) But it was a great confidence booster for my little one. And the people are so much more friendly than anywhere else. Birdland lift line was between zero and four mins. Sunnyside lift was about a 10 minute wait at 11am.

My daughter was so smitten about "ski it if you can" and so proud of her accomplishment that her helmet now sports the bumper sticker, and she has a sweatshirt with the same bumpers sticker logo, proudly showing it to everyone. It's a huge ego booster for the kids. She still thinks greens are green, and doesn't realize that she actually was challenging herself and improved quite a bit yesterday. If you every have the chance, take your kids to MRG. I'm afraid that I'm spilling the beans and it won't be a secret for much longer...

No joy on AZ 6-13. Many calls, no answers. No pics - I forgot to charge the camera.

p.s. Nice pair of 161cm Volkl 724's with bindings, new, for around $180 at the ski shop. Several other combos at similar prices. Overall, things were very reasonably priced in their ski shop.

Don't worry about spilling the beans billski, I doubt many people will listen. But any one that goes to Mad River need only open their eyes to see that the Glen is all about the family. Glad Birdland worked out for you two. I bet your daughter is wearing that Ski It If You Can sticker like a badge of honor, great stuff.

great post Bill!

MRG is really having a heyday taunting boarders. There was a whole tongue-in-cheek full-page article in their newsletter "The Echo" about the poachers on 12/15. They were taunted for their mis-timing and many of them scraping their way downhill, lending fuel to the no-board argument.

Their telephone snowboard was a total hoot on Saturday. After the requisite conditions, they wrapped it up by saying "SKI IT IF YOU CAN. I can. My wife can. My inlaws can. My kids can. But Jake, not so much..."