polski
New member
MRG reported 10-12" storm total, with the bulk of it falling before closing bell Wednesday. No sleet mix but some wind-loading, seemingly more so at lower elevations on Sunnyside.
Despite 5 a.m. departure from Newburyport area my buddy and I didn't make (one of the) first chair(s) as planned thanks to VT DOT being in no hurry to clear I-89, and MRG had a pretty decent crowd for midweek anyway. A lot of season passholders but plenty of daytrippers too with a line out the door of the ticket office at 8:45. Can't say we wound up skiing big stretches of untracked but we found plenty of freshies and deep bumpy chowder was fun too.
My friend had been to MRG only once, maybe 20 years ago, so I played a bit of a tour guide (though I can't pretend to be able to handle the truly most challenging stuff there ... but I'm working on it ...). Opted against starting the day in a 5-10 min line for the single and instead rode Sunnyside up and made plenty of first tracks through Gazelle Glades followed by nice chowder on ungroomed Chipmunk. Another run up the double and Partridge to up the challenge factor a bit. Then we rested our legs waiting for the single and did a beautiful Catamount Bowl to Lower Antelope, probably ROTD for me -- I was in a groove but the legs were not yet burnt.
Later runs included a great time on Lynx to Beaver and a run down Fall Line/Creamery that for me involved eating quite a bit of powder (the pow seemed particularly deep here; at one point when I was climbing out of a grand double-eject my poles sank in almost to the handles). As we tired we dialed it back to a variety of non-blacks including some groomers that were positively creamy with the fresh snow, probably even nicer for having been skied on a bit.
We finally broke for lunch at 2 p.m., and then my buddy discovered a problem with one of his ski brakes that wound up ending his day. While he was having that checked in the shop, I took one more trip up the double and mostly Quacky down, but by then my legs were spent.
Bottom line: Yes even on a weekday most of the marked trails at MRG can get tracked out pretty quickly. I'd seen it happen there before but still I needed my first MRG fix for the season. Chowder is still a blast and you'll never want for a challenge on Gen. Stark Mountain. What a workout.
No pics, left the still camera home (y'all know what MRG looks like anyway) and I need to work on stabilization with my new Flip Mino HD so not really any video worth posting here either. Maybe next time ...
Despite 5 a.m. departure from Newburyport area my buddy and I didn't make (one of the) first chair(s) as planned thanks to VT DOT being in no hurry to clear I-89, and MRG had a pretty decent crowd for midweek anyway. A lot of season passholders but plenty of daytrippers too with a line out the door of the ticket office at 8:45. Can't say we wound up skiing big stretches of untracked but we found plenty of freshies and deep bumpy chowder was fun too.
My friend had been to MRG only once, maybe 20 years ago, so I played a bit of a tour guide (though I can't pretend to be able to handle the truly most challenging stuff there ... but I'm working on it ...). Opted against starting the day in a 5-10 min line for the single and instead rode Sunnyside up and made plenty of first tracks through Gazelle Glades followed by nice chowder on ungroomed Chipmunk. Another run up the double and Partridge to up the challenge factor a bit. Then we rested our legs waiting for the single and did a beautiful Catamount Bowl to Lower Antelope, probably ROTD for me -- I was in a groove but the legs were not yet burnt.
Later runs included a great time on Lynx to Beaver and a run down Fall Line/Creamery that for me involved eating quite a bit of powder (the pow seemed particularly deep here; at one point when I was climbing out of a grand double-eject my poles sank in almost to the handles). As we tired we dialed it back to a variety of non-blacks including some groomers that were positively creamy with the fresh snow, probably even nicer for having been skied on a bit.
We finally broke for lunch at 2 p.m., and then my buddy discovered a problem with one of his ski brakes that wound up ending his day. While he was having that checked in the shop, I took one more trip up the double and mostly Quacky down, but by then my legs were spent.
Bottom line: Yes even on a weekday most of the marked trails at MRG can get tracked out pretty quickly. I'd seen it happen there before but still I needed my first MRG fix for the season. Chowder is still a blast and you'll never want for a challenge on Gen. Stark Mountain. What a workout.
No pics, left the still camera home (y'all know what MRG looks like anyway) and I need to work on stabilization with my new Flip Mino HD so not really any video worth posting here either. Maybe next time ...
Last edited:
