Ski Sundown 1/2/2009

First day of the new year for me (and first time out in over a week!). Arrived to a nearly empty parking lot and got on the snow sometime near 9:30AM. Jeff found me immediately so I skied with him the entire time. Conditions were pretty nice. Mostly packed powder, some churned up powder on Canyon Run that was a lot of fun, some ice (and yes, ice, not hardpack). Jeff found Greg and Abby on Exhibition at one point so we stopped and chatted with them. Abby is adorable! The next time we ran into them, she wasn't too happy so their ski day was over. We did our last 3 runs on Gunbarrel, which were better than I expected. I was tentative on the first run and stopped a few times (thankfully Jeff didn't just barrel by me and leave me in a cloud of powder ) but I was feeling much more comfortable by the 3rd run down. But my legs were shot and my quads were screaming; the day was done sometime after 12 noon. By that time, people were being shuttled from auxiliary parking and the lift lines were getting long; good time to quit.

Thanks for skiing with me today, Jeff! I had a blast!

severine said:

Jeff found Greg and Abby on Exhibition at one point so we stopped and chatted with them. Abby is adorable! The next time we ran into them, she wasn't too happy so their ski day was over.

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We had to be home around noon so we were done at that point anyway. We had just finished gathering ourselves after Abby stopped on that mound and then slipped backwards and fell so she was a little bent. About 30 seconds after you guys skied away, she stuck her tongue out at me and flew down exhibition. :lol: Kids are cool.

We got there about 9:15. Took a run on Little Joe since today was Abby's first day with poles. She wasn't quite sure how to hold them, but she never let them fall behind her. She kinda held them up in the air in front of her. :lol: We then did 3 runs on Sensation. The snow over there was great - talcum powder quality manmade. Then one run down Tom's/Papoose and then a snack break. Then three more down Tom's/Papoose. She skied great today and seemed to like the poles a lot. She started to strait-line a few trails claiming she likes to go fast. :-o

Snow was pretty good on the main mountain. Mostly machine groomed. Some of the snow on Ex was getting scraped away. I guess it was legit ice underneath showing up, but it seemed you could still hold an edge on it. Stinger seemed to get a bunch of snow, but Temptor didn't. We saw Chris Sullivan in the lot on the way out and he indicated they lost a pipe yesterday, but it's been fixed and they plan to dust the bumps tonight.

I guess I can start including these days with Abby towards the day count since we're off the bunny hill.

First day with poles vid

They're a tad long (34"), but I'm hesitant to cut them down. The highlight of this vid is the roar and then her hauling ass down the perilous Papoose! :lol:

Jeff and I thought it was cute how she would just go straight down; no turns! Glad to hear she recovered well from her scare. You can tell her there were plenty of times Brian had to talk me down after a fall, too.

severine said:

Jeff and I thought it was cute how she would just go straight down; no turns!

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Yeah. Not sure what was up with that today. She's usually much more turny. I think she got worn out and just decided to go straight towards the end of the session. Plus the poles were probably distracting her. Maybe a future racer?! Yikes. Gotta work on that. :razz:

Great conditions out there today, but I am glad I got there early since when we left it was getting crowded. Also the lodge was probably the busiest I have ever seen it, had a hard time finding a chair to take your boots off and eff all of you that take your boot bags and leave them on the tables/chairs while you go out skiing, the lodge is good size, but not big enough for each skier to have their own reserved table for the day.

Well Carrie it looks like your fear of Gunbarrel is gone, great job, you didn't slip once.

Abby was a totally different skier today, usually she is full of turns, today I watched her straight line lower ex twice, must be the new poles:lol:

Greg said:

She started to strait-line a few trails claiming she likes to go fast. :-o

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You have to stop reading GSS's trip reports to her at bedtime. :razz:

Greg, a little pole teaching tidbit/trick for your daughter that the instructors at Mount Snow are using with my daughter right now. Tell her to pretend that she needs to use a pole to pop a ballon on the snow before each turn. Sounds weird, but the last 2 days using that technique, my almost 5 year old daughter has gone from just using her poles to help her across flat areas and in liftlines to now making legitimate poleplants most of the time!

drjeff said:

Greg, a little pole teaching tidbit/trick for your daughter that the instructors at Mount Snow are using with my daughter right now. Tell her to pretend that she needs to use a pole to pop a ballon on the snow before each turn. Sounds weird, but the last 2 days using that technique, my almost 5 year old daughter has gone from just using her poles to help her across flat areas and in liftlines to now making legitimate poleplants most of the time!

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Neat suggestion. I'll try it.

Glad you guys had good conditions today. I guess I should have drug my ass off the couch after you got home and headed over myself... The sound of the crowds didn't make that proposition too appealing though...

bvibert said:

Glad you guys had good conditions today. I guess I should have drug my ass off the couch after you got home and headed over myself... The sound of the crowds didn't make that proposition too appealing though...

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I can't imagine the bumps were any better than yesterday. Early tomorrow morning will be a good time to hit Temptor.

Greg said:

I can't imagine the bumps were any better than yesterday. Early tomorrow morning will be a good time to hit Temptor.

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Temptor was a bit icy today. Crowds from 2-4ish sucked. Gunbarrel was a mess.

12-3:00- very tough due to crowds and lines. Packed it in.

o3jeff said:

Well Carrie it looks like your fear of Gunbarrel is gone, great job, you didn't slip once.

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It wasn't graceful, but I did get down without incident or fear. Just focused on the task at hand and did my best to stop as little as possible. If it had been scratchier, I don't think I would have done as well. But I enjoyed Gunbarrel this time. And thanks!