jaywbigred
Active member
Well, I've been skiing a ton (new job starts April 4th...so I've been trying to ski as much as possible--if anyone is at Mt. Snow midweek the next few weeks, let me know) and have totally been slacking on TR's. However,today was so ridiculous that I feel the need to chime in.
Mt. Snow was running a major promotion today for $17 tickets. I am not sure if that is the best idea on St. Patty's day, but they did it last year so I guess it worked. I rolled into the Carinthia parking lot at 8:50 and already the entire upper lot and a good portion of the 2nd lot was full. But the lift was ski on, and there were blue bird skies with temps around 40.
The first run down was firm but not scratchy. Lots of fun. As I worked over to the Main Face, I noticed Summit Express was stopped. I started to carry speed over to Canyon, but then saw it was also stopped. So, hoping that this was just coincidence, I got in the singles line for Summit Express and was 3rd in from the front.
Well, it was not coincidence. Apparently there was a power outage. I waited it out and it took about 40 minutes to allow people back on the chairs. In the meantime, they did get them going with AUX, but would not let people back on, I assume the idea being to get everyone off and then see if they could fix the power issue. I assume their Aux capability is limited, as they ran the Summit Express, at least, on the slow motor the whole time. They were running Canyon on Aux too, but not sure if that was full speed or not. Eventually they got everyone off both lifts and they sat empty for awhile, and then eventually the power sputtered back on. The lifty said it was trees on the power line. Strange, bc last night's weather wouldn't seem to have caused something like that, but who knows. However, you could just barely see what looked like some frantic cutting/clearing being down about 200-300 yards uphill from the Summit Local on skier's left side of that last little section of trail.
The snow coming down the next run was fantastic. The line when I got back to the bottom was not. I waited 24 minutes in the singles line for the Summit Express. The longest I have ever waited there before was 14 minutes. Unreal.
I immediately headed to the North Face. Although still in the shade, the bumps on Challenger were great. A huge improvement over Tuesday. The lines at the bottom of tNF were very long, the longest I have ever seen them over there, but they moved. The singles line took about 2 minutes.
After a couple runs on Challenger, I headed to Sunbrook. Again, great snow going down on Thanks Walt. Headed straight for Beartrap. 3-4 minute line for the double on the skier's right side of the line.
The snow was soft on the bumps themselves, but the troughs were very fast, without being icy. Speed control was an issue, but by about the 3rd run I was skiing them in a way I was satisfied with. I will add that they have the kickers still in place from the competition a few weeks ago, but they are not open. This is too bad. I wish Mt. Snow would follow Blue Mountain's lead and leave the kickers open to the public (Sidenote: does anyone know of any other mountains that do this? I'd love to post something on the Mt. Snow Passholder's website and be able to point to a couple other places that DO leave the kickers open...). That, or, if they are done being used for comps, take them down so they don't interrupt the lines. Beartrap is not a long run, and breaking it up twice to ski around the closed kickers is kind of a PITA.
After a couple more runs on Beartrap (skier's left side of the line was almost ski on), I decided to call it a day and make my way back to Carinthia.
A major breakthrough for me occurred on Tuesday when I said "F it" and went and hit the Nitro jumps for the first time in my life. This is after a couple of weeks of dabbling with the 3-4 kickers in Titanium, struggling mostly, but eventually clearing the transitions.
Well, I worked up the courage to try Nitro out, and, much to my surprise, found it a lot EASIER than Titanium. The bigger jumps with the steeper approaches made it easy for me to clear the transitions. Yes, you are in the air longer, but I also think the sight lines are better so you feel safe landing. With the steeper approaches, I didn't feel like I had to go so ridiculously fast to make sure to clear. A decent pace and a little pop was all I needed. I am happy about this, because, at age 31, I am not sure how many more years it is going to be smart to attempt to complete a 3, which has always been a goal of mine since back when they were called helicopters.
Anyway, hit them again today. With softer snow, it was a little tougher to clear the transitions, but I still made it, although I did not land as far down as Tuesday. Still lots of fun though.
When I got the bottom, the Carinthia lines were unbelievable. Longest I've ever seen there. So I called it a day bc I need to be back in Jersey by 6, and I smell like a$$.
Here are some pics:
First run cord.
Line forming during 40 minute lift stoppage due to power outtage.
Our realtor, Andirons re-developer, and general man about town, Rich Kaplan, looking totally retro/like a ski patroller extra from Aspen Extreme (that's a complement).
North Face lines. Bad angle, sorry.
OMFG Carinthia line....
Mt. Snow was running a major promotion today for $17 tickets. I am not sure if that is the best idea on St. Patty's day, but they did it last year so I guess it worked. I rolled into the Carinthia parking lot at 8:50 and already the entire upper lot and a good portion of the 2nd lot was full. But the lift was ski on, and there were blue bird skies with temps around 40.
The first run down was firm but not scratchy. Lots of fun. As I worked over to the Main Face, I noticed Summit Express was stopped. I started to carry speed over to Canyon, but then saw it was also stopped. So, hoping that this was just coincidence, I got in the singles line for Summit Express and was 3rd in from the front.
Well, it was not coincidence. Apparently there was a power outage. I waited it out and it took about 40 minutes to allow people back on the chairs. In the meantime, they did get them going with AUX, but would not let people back on, I assume the idea being to get everyone off and then see if they could fix the power issue. I assume their Aux capability is limited, as they ran the Summit Express, at least, on the slow motor the whole time. They were running Canyon on Aux too, but not sure if that was full speed or not. Eventually they got everyone off both lifts and they sat empty for awhile, and then eventually the power sputtered back on. The lifty said it was trees on the power line. Strange, bc last night's weather wouldn't seem to have caused something like that, but who knows. However, you could just barely see what looked like some frantic cutting/clearing being down about 200-300 yards uphill from the Summit Local on skier's left side of that last little section of trail.
The snow coming down the next run was fantastic. The line when I got back to the bottom was not. I waited 24 minutes in the singles line for the Summit Express. The longest I have ever waited there before was 14 minutes. Unreal.
I immediately headed to the North Face. Although still in the shade, the bumps on Challenger were great. A huge improvement over Tuesday. The lines at the bottom of tNF were very long, the longest I have ever seen them over there, but they moved. The singles line took about 2 minutes.
After a couple runs on Challenger, I headed to Sunbrook. Again, great snow going down on Thanks Walt. Headed straight for Beartrap. 3-4 minute line for the double on the skier's right side of the line.
The snow was soft on the bumps themselves, but the troughs were very fast, without being icy. Speed control was an issue, but by about the 3rd run I was skiing them in a way I was satisfied with. I will add that they have the kickers still in place from the competition a few weeks ago, but they are not open. This is too bad. I wish Mt. Snow would follow Blue Mountain's lead and leave the kickers open to the public (Sidenote: does anyone know of any other mountains that do this? I'd love to post something on the Mt. Snow Passholder's website and be able to point to a couple other places that DO leave the kickers open...). That, or, if they are done being used for comps, take them down so they don't interrupt the lines. Beartrap is not a long run, and breaking it up twice to ski around the closed kickers is kind of a PITA.
After a couple more runs on Beartrap (skier's left side of the line was almost ski on), I decided to call it a day and make my way back to Carinthia.
A major breakthrough for me occurred on Tuesday when I said "F it" and went and hit the Nitro jumps for the first time in my life. This is after a couple of weeks of dabbling with the 3-4 kickers in Titanium, struggling mostly, but eventually clearing the transitions.
Well, I worked up the courage to try Nitro out, and, much to my surprise, found it a lot EASIER than Titanium. The bigger jumps with the steeper approaches made it easy for me to clear the transitions. Yes, you are in the air longer, but I also think the sight lines are better so you feel safe landing. With the steeper approaches, I didn't feel like I had to go so ridiculously fast to make sure to clear. A decent pace and a little pop was all I needed. I am happy about this, because, at age 31, I am not sure how many more years it is going to be smart to attempt to complete a 3, which has always been a goal of mine since back when they were called helicopters.
Anyway, hit them again today. With softer snow, it was a little tougher to clear the transitions, but I still made it, although I did not land as far down as Tuesday. Still lots of fun though.
When I got the bottom, the Carinthia lines were unbelievable. Longest I've ever seen there. So I called it a day bc I need to be back in Jersey by 6, and I smell like a$$.
Here are some pics:
First run cord.
Line forming during 40 minute lift stoppage due to power outtage.
Our realtor, Andirons re-developer, and general man about town, Rich Kaplan, looking totally retro/like a ski patroller extra from Aspen Extreme (that's a complement).
North Face lines. Bad angle, sorry.
OMFG Carinthia line....
