Mad River Glen 1/19

[KingM]

I went to Mad River Glen yesterday with my wife. I have passes to both mountains but she only has a MRG pass so our plan is to go there every Wednesday through the end of the season.

First thought. The mountain was deserted. I skied one whole run off the single without seing a single other person. About half the skiers I saw were ski patrol guys.

It was cold, but it's been worse. Same for the snow. Okay in places, quite icy in others, but once again, I've seen worse. I think what it comes down to is a variety of factors. Mediocre snow, cold, mid-week, and what has so far been a slow year for skiing. It all adds up to empty ski trails.

As for the skiing, I found the non-groomers more challenging than I was expecting. There was a weird combination of different kinds of snow and I found myself off-balance a couple of times when the trail didn't look particularly tough, but where there was an unexpected layer of rigid snow or some hidden ice. I even fell once on Quacky (QII or QII, I don't remember) which is not that challenging of a trail. I think there was some ice under a deceptively smooth looking surface, because when I came down my ski caught on something and I flipped face first and my head smacked into something pretty solid.

Thank goodness I was wearing a helmet. I think that's the first time I've ever used it for its intended purpose and it saved me from anything worse than an "ow!" Without the helmet I'd probably be nursing a concussion right now. My shoulder's also sore, and that must have happened during the same fall, though I didn't notice anything at the time.

 

[KingM]

Oh, one other thought. With 4-5 inches of freshies, today should be a lot better skiing at MRG than yesterday. I'm hoping to go to the Bush today for a few quick runs, but if I do I'll just add the report to the bottom of this one. With the fresh snow, the cold temps and a week of snow-making I expect Sugarbush to have some pretty good conditions, apart from the cold, of course.

 

[KingM]

I went to Lincoln Peak at Sugarbush today and did eight runs, mostly off Gatehouse Express, but a couple off Super Bravo as well . The snow was in pretty good shape. It was cold, especially when the wind was blowing, but not unbearable. Even so, I stayed off the upper mountain because of the wind/cold.

I was still a bit sore from yesterday, but wanted to go today because tomorrow will be so cold and then we're at the weekend, when I can't ski. After the first run I was hurting, but I loosened up a bit as things went along. All in all a good way to spend a couple of hours.