Mount Snow 11/12/07

[andyzee]

Yeah my body hurts in the wrong places. Not much burn in the quads but lower back and gluteous maximus pain.

Do you know how to ski a groomer? The only time I ever see you is in the bumps, don't see you entering them, don't see you leaving them, just on them. It's like a Twilight Zone thingee. :blink:

 

[Greg]

Do you know how to ski a groomer?

I'm pretty sure he doesn't. Chute was the place to be yesterday. I did not get bored running laps over there at all. The snow depth was truly impressive. Nice and soft, no hard pack, and ungroomed early season lovin'. Was Mount Snow spared much of the rain last night? Yesterday was the day to hit Chute. They'll probably be forced to groom it out soon.

 

[JimG.]

Date(s) Skied: Monday, November 12, 2007, 9:50 am - 3:30 pm

Resort or Ski Area: Mount Snow, Vermont

Conditions: Manmade snow, bumps, hardpack. mostly cloudy. Cool, no wind.

Trip Report: Left the Waterbury area after dropping off the kids around 7:20 am and made it to Snow at 9:50. Saw JimG. skiing as I walked in. Told him I'd meet at the triple in a few.

Wasn't waiting long before Yooper showed up who I met at Sundown once a few seasons back. Chatted with him for a bit when austin arrived and eventually some others. After a few intros, we were off. Took a top to bottom on Canyon and Standard. A bit of hard pack on Upper Canyon, but smooth manmade the rest of the way. It took me a while to figure out the Cabrawlers; definitely different skiing. We all headed to the meet-up spot to meet the rest of the crew. At one point later in the day, Austin and I were trying to figure out how many people from AZ were there. Here's my best estimate (sorry if I miss anyone):

Zand
Greg
bvibert
ALLSKIING
JimG.
andyzee + Vee
roark
mattchuck2 + friend
Grassi21
awf170
2knees
powhunter + Jonnypoach
loafer89 + Warren
180 + family
skibum9995
Yooper + daughter
MrMagic

So 17 AZers plus friends/family. There was also other Hunter skiers that JimG. knew besides 180 + family. A large group of us hit Chute which was awesome. Sweet manmade snow with fun bumps and whales to play on. some funky lines, but still awesome skiing and a lot more of a challenge than I expected today. Sweet stuff! We banged out a few more Chute runs before lunch, then headed back down the base. I was starting feel a bit more comfortable on my skis.

We saw the rest of the crew at lunch and pretty quickly headed back up to the top and to Chute. I skied there the rest of the day finishing it off with a run with Zand and Austin. We then cruised it back to the base. finished at 3:30, rolling by 3:50 and home by 6:30. All in all the best first day of skiing I've ever head.

Good to meet some new AZers in Zand, mattchuck, Austin, skibum and MrMagic. Skiing with the rest of you is always a pleasure. There is definitely some skiing talent on this board. Can't wait for Hunter 12/14 now!

I encoded all the vid so I'll try to throw something together tonight. The crappy freeware encoder didn't do the best job, but you'll get the idea. I have to invest in a quality app to rip the DVD data to something I can use in WMM.

Great day!

What a great crew! And the Hunter Crew made it even better.

Superior first day conditions. Mt. Snow deserves alot of credit. TONS OF GOOD MANMADE SNOW! Chute was tremendous. Got better and better as the day went on. I finally left Greg, Austin, and Zand when they went for their last run down Chute. I guess it was about 3:15...good thing because my legs felt like they were giving up on the way down Canyon. 6 hours of fairly continous skiing on variable and bumpy terrain was a great first day effort.

Feel good today...regular workouts for the past 60-70 days make a big difference.

I know I didn't get to talk to Loafer but I know I saw him because I recognize the pic of Warren. Next time Loafer. I think I did get to at least talk to and ski some with everyone else. Enjoyed finally meeting Zand, Austin, ALLSKIING, Mattchuck2 and friend, powhunter, Jonnypoach, skibum9995, Yooper, and MrMagic.

And so skiing 07/08 has begun.

 

[Grassi21]

I'm pretty sure he doesn't. Chute was the place to be yesterday. I did not get bored running laps over there at all. The snow depth was truly impressive. Nice and soft, no hard pack, and ungroomed early season lovin'. Was Mount Snow spared much of the rain last night? Yesterday was the day to hit Chute. They'll probably be forced to groom it out soon.

Although I did get abused on that one run down Chute it was fun. I had one stretch of turns that felt pretty good. I would have stayed on Chute longer if my technique (or lack there of) allowed it. Letting the bumps tell you where to turn and not checking any speed leads to a not so graceful face plant. Did you get that shot andy? How about that close-up of my hind-quarters? ;-)

 

[Greg]

Great day!

What a great crew! And the Hunter Crew made it even better.

Superior first day conditions. Mt. Snow deserves alot of credit. TONS OF GOOD MANMADE SNOW! Chute was tremendous. Got better and better as the day went on. I finally left Greg, Austin, and Zand when they went for their last run down Chute. I guess it was about 3:15...good thing because my legs felt like they were giving up on the way down Canyon. 6 hours of fairly continous skiing on variable and bumpy terrain was a great first day effort.

Feel good today...regular workouts for the past 60-70 days make a big difference.

I believe, Jim get the consistent skier award, yet again. His precision on skis can be likened to that of a brain surgeon. Looked to be in mid-season form on day one. Thanks for the tips.

Great day indeed! Mount Snow and Peak resort should be very proud of this effort.

 

[Greg]

Although I did get abused on that one run down Chute it was fun. I had one stretch of turns that felt pretty good. I would have stayed on Chute longer if my technique (or lack there of) allowed it. Letting the bumps tell you where to turn and not checking any speed leads to a not so graceful face plant. Did you get that shot andy? How about that close-up of my hind-quarters? ;-)

I'm glad you tried it and I'm glad I made the effort to ski it with you. I was tailing you at one point in the middle and you looked very, very good. This should be a breakthrough season for you.

 

[bvibert]

It was great meeting all the new faces and and seeing those that I've met before again. I think the others have covered most of the AZer's that attended, but I didn't see anyone else mention that we also got to meet the infamous Luke, aka MountSnowReporter. For awhile it seemed like every run we ran into a some more AZer's!

Really great conditions all around, big props to Mount Snow!

I'm pretty sore and/or stiff all over today, but it's a good feeling!

 

[JimG.]

Great day one. Nice to see the AZ's there. Next time we need to see your families too!

http://picasaweb.google.com/sheahunter1/MountSnow111207

I showed my 11 and 13 year old sons the video...now they're sorry they didn't go.

This really sums up the job Mt. Snow did because my boys don't really like early season skiing...they say they get bored.

Nothing boring about yesterday.

 

[andyzee]

Did you get that shot andy? How about that close-up of my hind-quarters? ;-)

Ask and ye shell recieve, sorry I missed the face plant

 

[Grassi21]

I'm glad you tried it and I'm glad I made the effort to ski it with you. I was tailing you at one point in the middle and you looked very, very good. This should be a breakthrough season for you.

Thanks man. On the mainface I tried to hang with Skibum and Roark for some time. I saw them hauling tail and tried to keep pace with them. I never caught them but it was fun to point 'em down hill a bit and work on some larger radius turns.

Despite my lead legs I will be on the Skiers Edge today! Looking forward to the Hunter AZ gathering.

 

[JimG.]

Ok, some of my pics can be found at http://killingtonaccessrd.com/cpg/thumbnails.php?album=108 here's some highlights:

Wow! You actually snapped as I pointed at you.

A 1 in a thousand shot!

 

[Grassi21]

Ask and ye shell recieve, sorry I missed the face plant

Sweet! I need one of those Wide Load signs... :lol:

 

[JimG.]

Dodging all those gaper in starter jackets and jeans makes you very quick on your feet.


BTW, Andy: Did you try to catch everyone in their worst possible moment?! Our form is bad the first day, but not that bad!

Also, you owe me $3. I'm expecting it to be in the mail by 4pm today... Anyway, thanks for organizing the groups tickets. Did you end up selling the last two tickets?

You're OK Austin.

And despite my occasional ball busting you're an excellent skier too.

 

[loafer89]

Dude I forgot it was your birthday. I know based on today's conditions it must have been a good b-day. I feel extra special seeing that I helped out the b-day boy who lost is stub. :lol: See you at Sundown.

Thanks for the stub, that was the strangest thing to have lost my ticket while out on the mountain, and it would have sucked to have had to buy another ticket. Wouldn't you know that such a thing would have happened on my birthday of all days. From now on I am keeping the stub with me after I buy my ticket.

I'll try my best to meet up with you guys at Sundown, but it will be alot harder as Warren now goes to school in coventry and I work in Bloomfield, so the drive to pick him up and then go back to sundown would be $$$$$$ in gas. I will probably do a few trips solo when they have a decent amount of the mountain opened, especially gunbarrel.

 

[skibum9995]

It was great to get out and meet some new AZers. I was impressed my the quality of the snow for this early in the season. Thinking about heading back on Thursday. I did a few runs on Chute before lunch, it was nice but bumps aren't my thing and they wrecked me. Spent the afternoon cruising the main face until I left at 2. Awesome day.

 

[skibum9995]

Thanks for the stub, that was the strangest thing to have lost my ticket while out on the mountain, and it would have sucked to have had to buy another ticket. Wouldn't you know that such a thing would have happened on my birthday of all days. From now on I am keeping the stub with me after I buy my ticket.

I also lost my ticket sometime during the first run. Fortunately nobody asked to see it for the rest of the day.

 

[awf170]

You're OK Austin.

And despite my occasional ball busting you're an excellent skier too.

Thanks Jim. Also thanks to yesterday I figured out what I need to work on with my skiing. Even though I skied over 10 runs done Chute I didn't wipeout or even come close once. If you don't fall you aren't pushing yourself hard enough. At the Huntah gathering I will make it a point to ski a lot faster and harder. That basically what you told me yesterday, right? I wasn't really listening, but I think I heard you say something about how skiing faster improves your technique.

 

[2knees]

Even though I skied over 10 runs done Chute I didn't wipeout or even come close once. If you don't fall you aren't pushing yourself hard enough. At the Huntah gathering I will make it a point to ski a lot faster and harder. That basically what you told me yesterday, right? I wasn't really listening, but I think I heard you say something about how skiing faster improves your technique.

I like the way you think Austin. BTW, that was one hell of a display you put on yesterday. Very good bump skiing.

 

[JimG.]

Thanks Jim. Also thanks to yesterday I figured out what I need to work on with my skiing. Even though I skied over 10 runs done Chute I didn't wipeout or even come close once. If you don't fall you aren't pushing yourself hard enough. At the Huntah gathering I will make it a point to ski a lot faster and harder. That basically what you told me yesterday, right? I wasn't really listening, but I think I heard you say something about how skiing faster improves your technique.

I told Greg that sometimes you have to slow down to speed up.

Slow down long enough to keep from flinging yourself down a line so you can smooth out and not be a rocket just deflecting bumps without any ski rotation.

Good bumpers have an awesome mix of quick complete turns and good A&E.

And you would enjoy watching a World Cup bump event live...those guys ski FAST.

 

[Greg]

From today's snow report:

Mountain operations is sticking to a minimal grooming plan......Chute is going to stay ungroomed for the true New England diehards.

That makes me want to go back tomorrow!