davidhowland14
New member
Two years in a row skiing on Dec. 22, two powder days.
Left for MRG from Gilette Stadium after watching the Pats destroy the Cardinals :smile: in a very rough-weather game. After sitting in the stadium traffic for about an hour, we struck out for Vermont. 8 hours later we got there. Our drive was complicated by slush, solid ice, traffic, high winds, blowing snow, drifting snow, lack of plowing (thank god for 4wd), heavy, heavy snow, and the fact that there is only one gas station in all of Vermont which is open past midnight. So if you ever need gas at 1am in the middle of a snowstorm, you'd better hope you're not in Vermont. We hit the sack in the MRG parking lot at 2am with about a foot of absurdly light blower pow on the ground. And it was still puking.
The next morning (today), there was easily 2 feet of fresh. We skied all day and got 9 runs in. Each run took about 45 minutes to complete. About 20 minutes was lift line+lift ride, the other 25-30 minutes was skiing boot-to-knee deep windblown powder on every trail. The woods had deeper. I occasionally would hit waist-deep drifts, and more than once I was up to my chest while turning. Today was easily the most intense day of skiing I've ever had. I'm sure I provided a great show more than once for the lift audience when I imploded/yard-saled/front-flipped on a cliff. Or maybe when I tried to ski to the car and, while attempting to jump up onto a boardwalk to get to the lot, somersaulted over myself when my tips slammed into the boardwalk deck. On one drop my pole got grabbed by a snow-serpent and ripped out of my hands. I spent about 15 minutes digging around in waist deep powder for my pole. Total blast, though. Deep, deep pow, no crowds, cold temps. Beautiful day.
As far as MRG goes, I love it. The entire place has a much different character than any other ski area I've ever been to. It's all about the skiing there, not about the condos, hot tubs, etc. Everyone was friendly, and almost all the skiers appeared to know each other and every member of the patrol. It's just a wonderful vibe and a wonderful place with extremely challenging terrain.
Now, the part you're all actually gonna look at: the pictures. I'm no samthaman, but my what I have is below.
hucking in the woods
somewhere in this sequence is a great shot. Unfortunately, neither one of these is it.
'Tis the season to air over Xmas trees...
the woods still had knee deep untracked at 2am. The wind was whipping and refreshing chute/liftline while blowing more and more snow into the trees...
I guess I felt like I needed to point at the camera for emphasis...
and then I felt like dancing...
At about 2:15 we heard a BOOM and the Single stopped running for good. According to MRG, a bolt sheared and
MRG sucks. Nobody go there.
Left for MRG from Gilette Stadium after watching the Pats destroy the Cardinals :smile: in a very rough-weather game. After sitting in the stadium traffic for about an hour, we struck out for Vermont. 8 hours later we got there. Our drive was complicated by slush, solid ice, traffic, high winds, blowing snow, drifting snow, lack of plowing (thank god for 4wd), heavy, heavy snow, and the fact that there is only one gas station in all of Vermont which is open past midnight. So if you ever need gas at 1am in the middle of a snowstorm, you'd better hope you're not in Vermont. We hit the sack in the MRG parking lot at 2am with about a foot of absurdly light blower pow on the ground. And it was still puking.
The next morning (today), there was easily 2 feet of fresh. We skied all day and got 9 runs in. Each run took about 45 minutes to complete. About 20 minutes was lift line+lift ride, the other 25-30 minutes was skiing boot-to-knee deep windblown powder on every trail. The woods had deeper. I occasionally would hit waist-deep drifts, and more than once I was up to my chest while turning. Today was easily the most intense day of skiing I've ever had. I'm sure I provided a great show more than once for the lift audience when I imploded/yard-saled/front-flipped on a cliff. Or maybe when I tried to ski to the car and, while attempting to jump up onto a boardwalk to get to the lot, somersaulted over myself when my tips slammed into the boardwalk deck. On one drop my pole got grabbed by a snow-serpent and ripped out of my hands. I spent about 15 minutes digging around in waist deep powder for my pole. Total blast, though. Deep, deep pow, no crowds, cold temps. Beautiful day.
As far as MRG goes, I love it. The entire place has a much different character than any other ski area I've ever been to. It's all about the skiing there, not about the condos, hot tubs, etc. Everyone was friendly, and almost all the skiers appeared to know each other and every member of the patrol. It's just a wonderful vibe and a wonderful place with extremely challenging terrain.
Now, the part you're all actually gonna look at: the pictures. I'm no samthaman, but my what I have is below.
hucking in the woods
somewhere in this sequence is a great shot. Unfortunately, neither one of these is it.
'Tis the season to air over Xmas trees...
the woods still had knee deep untracked at 2am. The wind was whipping and refreshing chute/liftline while blowing more and more snow into the trees...
I guess I felt like I needed to point at the camera for emphasis...
and then I felt like dancing...
At about 2:15 we heard a BOOM and the Single stopped running for good. According to MRG, a bolt sheared and
Patrol had to evac everyone off the lift. It must have been a long, cold wait up there.mrg said:
MRG sucks. Nobody go there.
