Some sucky pics for some even suckier skiing

[awf170]

Believe it or not, not all my days are like Monday at Black. Actually, most of the time I manage to find the worst conditions imaginable. Refusing to ski groomers and always trying to find powder has led me to some pretty awful skiing. Here are some pics of it:


Watatic:

Looks pretty good, right? Wrong. That is 4 inches of the lighest powder MA has even seen on absolutely no base. I hit ground ever turn. By ground I don't mean grass and other nice soft things. 90% of the time it was rock.

MRG:

See that ice sticking out? Well, that is what was under that whole little chute. There were also stumps sticking out. Yeah, it ruled...

Oh, I actually got a pretty decent pic too.

Wachusett:

I stood at the top of this thing for a while contemplating whether it was a good idea. Guess what I decided? One jumpturn in and I uncovered a sheet of ice that was under the 2 inches of snow. I slid down it on my side.

Down hiking would have been way easier. After a few hundred more feet of vert. I gave up skiing and just hiked down. It was that bad. I still managed to wreck while hiking . I was one the phone with Marc, hiking down not really paying attention, and stepped on an icy branch. I landed flat on my back and in the process of falling threw my cell phone straight up in the air. Thank god Marc called me back or else I probably would have never found my phone. :dunce: After that I got my skins on and raced the magic carpet. I dominated. Left like 10 child in the dust. They must think I'm pretty awesome. Then I found a chewy bar skinning up the beginner area, it was a bit frozen but still quite delicious. The end.

 

[mondeo]

I would expect nothing less. Good TR.

 

[Danaxxmiller]

nice pic but that sucks about the ice sorry man

 

[wa-loaf]

Nice Wachusett BC!

 

[Zand]

Nice Wachusett BC!

If we get some decent snow soon I really feel like skiing Pine Hill Trail. Just need to cover the 10 thousand rocks along it first. A true double-diamond on Wachsett!

 

[JD]

Awesome. Down hiking with skis on is a skill BTW. As is climbing trees with your skis on. They fall into the double black diamond skinning catagory.

 

[Glenn]

The pole laying in the snow in this pic tells the entire story. LOL!

 

[billski]

Nice report. I wonder if those guys ever did the Thunderbolt trail? They never answered. I decided against it for exactly the reason you reported - lack of any base.

Have to dig this report back out when we start to whine about poor conditions. Grass skiing is OK, but gravel skiing?

I'm glad you found some hero snow off the magic carpet

 

[twinplanx]

This is one of the top ten TR I've ever read. LOL

 

[severine]

Always entertaining, Austin.

 

[2knees]

i sometimes wonder if you'll ever see the age of 25. :lol:

 

[cbcbd]

Good stuff, man

 

[SkiingInABlueDream]

you're sick. props. seriously.

 

[Marc]

And somehow I manage to be there only for the crappy stuff and never for the good stuff*.



*Except the Chic Chocs last year, that was actually amazing. That was it though. And that one time at MRG.



Was that the ice palace in your pic btw?

 

[awf170]

If we get some decent snow soon I really feel like skiing Pine Hill Trail. Just need to cover the 10 thousand rocks along it first. A true double-diamond on Wachsett!

You don't need base. You'll be fine. Though I have feeling the ice storm did a number on it. I took a look at the top of it and trees were completely bent over the trail making it look basically unskiable. Which sucks since it actually skis quite nicely with a good base.

Awesome. Down hiking with skis on is a skill BTW. As is climbing trees with your skis on. They fall into the double black diamond skinning catagory.

Heh. I love extreme skinning. Earlier this season I decided to skin upper FIS at Sugarbush even though it only had about 8 inches of snow on it. Just trying to prepare myself for some gnarly Chic Choc skinning.

Have to dig this report back out when we start to whine about poor conditions. Grass skiing is OK, but gravel skiing?

Ugh, gravel skiing sucks. Grass skiing on the other hand is very nice. I'll take 6 inches of untracked on top of grass over 6 inches on top of a flat, hardpack groomer surface any day. I love when you come to a stop and there is grass jammed everywhere in your bindings and boots. That's when you know the skiing is good.

Was that the ice palace in your pic btw?

Yep. Such a fun little shot, sadly it didn't have enough snow. It was still sort of fun though since it had to be straighlined. At least the run out was super soft.