Mount Snow 3/3/2009

[Euler]

Took a quick trip to Mt. Snow this afternoon. Snow ranged from pretty hard and scratchy on the groomed trails to really soft and nice on the natural snow trails. I skied Rollercoaster, Upper Challenger, Olympic (groomed, which was disappointing), Ripcord, Upper Ledge, and Hop.

The snow on the ungroomed trails up high on the mountain was fantastic...soft, with a light coating of powdery goodness. It was so good, in fact, that I was convinced to ski Ripcord for my first time...I was a proud 41 year old! I did the steepest part of it one turn at a time, but even one turn at a time is something on a trail that steep. I'm really pleased to be improving at skiing like this in the middle of my life...I only really started seriously skiing about 6 yrs ago and I can see improvement each time I go out. (I just have to remember to stay out of that 1/2-pipe!)

After getting Ripcord out of the way we headed over to Upper Ledge which was my ROTD. The ledge for which the trail is named was pretty well covered by the insane amount of snow that fell last week and the moguls were spaced and sized just right to allow me to get into that swoopy mogul rhythm that is just so amazingly satisfying.

Finished up my day on Hop...the upper half was great, and the bottom half was starting to go into the "freeze" part of a thaw-freeze cycle. That lower part really didn't ski badly, only that in comparison to the rest of the snow I was on today, it was a bit sub-par.

It was only 6 quick runs today, but man the superb quality made up for the small quantity!

 

[Glenn]

Nice work! Congrats on skiing Ripcord! You really appreciate the steepness of that trail when you start going down the main pitch. That's sweet that you skied it for the first time. Bet it felt damn good when you got to the bottom and looked up at what you just came down.

Sounds like the mountain is in good shape. Thanks for the report! I'm thinking Sunday/mon/tues(a few days off!Wooo!), we'll stick to the North Face and Sunbrook.

 

[Jisch]

I'm heading up to Snow tomorrow with my wife - she's a rank beginner and terrified of heights. Always a trip getting her up and down the mountain. Actually getting her on the chair is not nearly as hard as getting her to aim her skis down hill.

We're going to try and get a lesson for her tomorrow - hopefully it will give her more confidence. She's a trooper for trying this, yet again.... I am not a good teacher, she's not a good student, or both, I think a professional lesson will help a great deal.

John

 

[reefer]

Nice Report! We do appreciate the first hand weather reports also. I was in the same boat. Pretty much started skiing seriously at 40, still improving at 50. "Never slow down, never grow old............"

 

[EOS]

Congrats on conquering Ripcord!! It's a great feeling that first time.
________
Harley-Davidson Model JDH

 

[MommaBear]

...and the moguls were spaced and sized just right to allow me to get into that swoopy mogul rhythm that is just so amazingly satisfying.

I love your description - I have never been able to quite describe it, but you nailed it for me. Know what trail I'm am heading for on Sunday.

Congrats on doing Ripcord! Can say I've hit it once - and was outskied by my then 6 year old...lol! Maybe I'll venture over there as well - have heard many people trying it for the first time this year. Seems like it probably has more snow on it now than ever before, making it less daunting to tackle (or at least less likely to slide right to the bottom when I fall!)

I think its great you can get out for a bit here and there - take what you can, when you can. :beer:

 

[MommaBear]

We're going to try and get a lesson for her tomorrow - hopefully it will give her more confidence. She's a trooper for trying this, yet again.... I am not a good teacher, she's not a good student, or both, I think a professional lesson will help a great deal.

John

I'm a strong believer in professional lessons for spouses. It's good for the marriage. (speaking from the experience with a "natural" mogul skier spouse who just couldn't understand get why I couldn't "get it" faster).

 

[oakapple]

I'm planning to visit Mount Snow for the first time on Sunday.

Does anyone else find it annoying that they've renamed about half of their trails over the last two years? I'll read reports from a couple of years ago saying that somebody skied a particular run (e.g., "Standard"), then find on the map that it's no longer called that.

 

[Glenn]

I'm heading up to Snow tomorrow with my wife - she's a rank beginner and terrified of heights. Always a trip getting her up and down the mountain. Actually getting her on the chair is not nearly as hard as getting her to aim her skis down hill.

We're going to try and get a lesson for her tomorrow - hopefully it will give her more confidence. She's a trooper for trying this, yet again.... I am not a good teacher, she's not a good student, or both, I think a professional lesson will help a great deal.

John

If you get her up to the summit, Long John is a nice long green cruiser. It shouldn't be too busy tomorrow. Saturday and Sunday are usually a different story though. But the trail is fairly mild and shouldn't frazzle her at all.

oakapple,
It took a bit of getting used to. But since I never knew the names of the trails in the first place. Luckily, vcunning's oldest son knows the name of every trail. So when we all get together, I can call on him to help me out of the names of the trails that I skied that day. :lol:

 

[Jisch]

The thing that freaks her out is when the trail "disappears" in front of her. She gets the feeling like she's going to somehow get sucked off the mountain and land on the buildings below. Not logical, but real to her.

John

 

[Glenn]

The thing that freaks her out is when the trail "disappears" in front of her. She gets the feeling like she's going to somehow get sucked off the mountain and land on the buildings below. Not logical, but real to her.

John

That shouldn't really happen on Long John. There's "maybe" one area where the trail does that. It's mostly a flattish trail with a nice long view of what's ahead of you. I'm thinking she'll be pretty comfortable on it. It may boost her confidence too; realizing she came down from the summit.

 

[vcunning]

It took a bit of getting used to. But since I never knew the names of the trails in the first place. Luckily, vcunning's oldest son knows the name of every trail. So when we all get together, I can call on him to help me out of the names of the trails that I skied that day. :lol:

Yeah . . . he helps me out with quite a bit of stuff. At 8 he knew all the trails and lifts (and by lifts, I mean current name, old name number of poles, number of chairs). If he could only remember to hang up his clothes and buckle his ski boots after skiing, we'd be all set.:lol: