My Retirement Year: An Ongoing Skiing TR

[skiJ]

thanks -

That's from LittleBigLost's, 'A pic or two... ' thread.
If you are not familiar with it, I urge you to look it up -
Dj has mentioned LBL above, and I urge you to take a day from Driggs to ski with my friend ( who snowboards ) somewhere...
LBL is connected at KellyCanyon ( it's not far ) ( I don't know that he would go for the day rate at 'ghee )

Again, I wish you a great season !
the year I approached a hundred days, my knees were so sore by mid-March, I went in and got my 191cm Mantras canted
( my knees ached until September that year )

... wishing you a great season ! !!

skiJ

[Little Big Lost]

I have an Indy pass. Pomerelle, Soldier, LTP, Tamarack, Brundage, White Pine, Red Lodge, Beaver Mountain and Powder Mountain are on my list. Gimmie a holler, doesnt take much to get me to go snowboarding.

[Djongo Unchained]

I'd go down to the Beaver.

[Little Big Lost]

I'd go down to the Beaver.

Deal. Tate and I both have Indy Passes this season. Hoping to use it somewhere this weekend. Looks like snow is coming.... Soldier looks like it's going to get pounded.

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

I'd go down to the Beaver.

I see what you did there...

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

I have an Indy pass. Pomerelle, Soldier, LTP, Tamarack, Brundage, White Pine, Red Lodge, Beaver Mountain and Powder Mountain are on my list. Gimmie a holler, doesnt take much to get me to go snowboarding.

Will do. I have an old Army buddy that lives in Boise and I'm definitely gonna visit him so a day or 2 at the Idaho Indy resorts is definitely in the cards.

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

Day 10: Pats Peak, NH (Indy Pass):
After taking Thursday and Friday off to accompany Mrs. MNIAW to Boston for some medical appointments (and a drive-by linkup with singlecross and Mrs single), I sat out the hot rain yesterday and got boosted at 2:45. I got pretty run over from Pfizer #2 so didn't want to venture too far from the 603 home base today. Decided on Pats Peak, a classic New England 700' vert feeder mountain that's about 30 minutes from our eastern casa and is an Indy resort.

I haven't skied here in 45+ years and had vague memories of the place. As I walked up there were at least 4 people in bright red jackets providing guidance for the lost and semi-lost.

I rode up a fixed grip triple to the top with a couple of instructors who were talking about their "passport" program. It offers 4 90-minute lessons, season rentals, and a season's pass for $460. That's how you grow the sport! The ride up was over bare but steep ground

Pats had the entire mountain that wasn't covered in snow freshly mowed to minimize the amount of snow needed. After a couple of laps, the line grew top about 3 minutes...apparently, that's too much for Pats Peak so they opened another fixed grip triple to the summit and it was ski-on for the rest of the day.

The summit was snowy and I proceeded to rotate on the 3 RODs down, 2 blues and a black that was steeper than anything at Okemo.



Pretty sure the mountain with the antennas above the center of the lodge is Sunapee, where I skied last Sunday with savemeasammy. On lap #9, the Pfizer truck started tailgating me so I headed home. It did catch me and I slept through the 1:00 football game but am feeling better now.

Tomorrow is Stratton to link up with a good friend that used to run F&B for Magic...he's bartending at Stratton now.

[savemeasammy]

The mountain you are looking at is Kearsage (99% sure). Pats has it’s obvious shortcomings, but they definitely crank out the snow. It’s better when the vortex double is spinning. You avoid most of the runout, and it’s pretty damn fast for a fixed grip lift! They also have a park that is away from the main mountain, so that helps spread things out.


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[MyNameIsAugustWest]

The mountain you are looking at is Kearsage (99% sure). Pats has it’s obvious shortcomings, but they definitely crank out the snow. It’s better when the vortex double is spinning. You avoid most of the runout, and it’s pretty damn fast for a fixed grip lift! They also have a park that is away from the main mountain, so that helps spread things out.


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Yup, Kearsarge.

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

Day 11: Stratton, VT (IKON)

After a surprisingly good day yesterday at a small Indy, I decided to see what the conglomerates did to handle the most recent reset (on 12/11). Stratton certainly looked a little worse for the wear as I prepared to head up. A note on that...I'm booting up at the car like last year even though the crowds are small. It's a moot point at Stratton as they aren't letting people inside except in their cafeteria and bar (more on that later). Okemo (Epic) is allowing people to boot up inside and store bags in their lockers and cubbies.


The T2B gondola was on wind hold so I had to ride 2 chairs to get to the top. The wind hold was legit. Gusting easily to 50 up there. The upper chair is well protected and that's the only reason it was running. The SMS kids have graduated from drills to bashing gates so they closed off 2 of the 27 open trails but there was plenty of room to spread out the few free skiers that were out there today.


Once again, I was impressed with the job that these areas have done to manage the snow despite mother nature being a real bitch lately. Some ice balls but mostly sugary snow over a firm but edgeable base. It was supposed to be warm today but low 30s and 50-ish mph winds made it feel like the coldest day of the year so far.

Did about 15 laps and then headed in to the upstairs bar (Grizzly's). The guy that used to run F&B at Magic is now bartending there and it was great to catch up. We're pretty good friends and we hadn't chatted in about a month. Had a Fiddlehead and 6 wings to end my day. I didn't really think about it until I was driving home but pretty sure my bill was just for the wings. Glad I left a big tip (38%).


Still not 100% over the remnants of getting the Pfizer booster late on Saturday but hopefully will be 100% by tomorrow. I'm thinking Mt. Snow (Epic) because the North Face there is the most challenging open terrain in SoVT right now.

[Aldo]

Excellent reporting! I've always thought the Stratton midweek option gets you a ton of quality laps throughout the course of a season!

Are you finished with those wings?

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

Day 12: Mt. Snow (Epic)

Mount Snow is about 45 minutes from our VT base camp and I haven't been there this year so thought I'd giver 'er a go. The report last night and this morning looked promising. Sunny skies, diminishing winds and 2 trails open on the North Face...sounds better than Okemo.

It did not disappoint. Got there 15 minutes before 1st chair and the lot was pretty sparse...more employees than customers it looked like. Headed up the bubble 6-pack from the base to the summit and for once the weather report was accurate. Brilliant sunshine and no wind to speak of. Headed straight over to the North Face. The view over there is pretty spectacular:

Looks like Stratton was a bit cloudy at the summit and that same mountain that I skinned years ago with ML242 is looming in the distance. What's sad is that the reservoir isn't frozen and there's no snow in that wilderness area....

The North Face is the steepest terrain (other than Magic) south of Killington in Vermont. The 2 trails that were open weren't scary steep but I had to keep my speed in check. Not because of the crowds tho


I'm working on fitness mostly these days and the steepness and hardness of these trails kept me on my edges. After 10 laps of T2B nonstop skiing (and skiing onto the lift obviously) my quads were feeling it. I also did 10 T2B nonstop laps on the main face (front side) which were not challenging in the slightest but enjoyable cruising to give my quads a break.

The main bitch I have is the choice of lifts on the North Side today. See the pic below

The lift to looker's left is obviously higher than the one on the right. It was not open today. The main face is just a little further to looker's left. What this meant is that in order to ski the trail on looker's left, or to get back to the main face of the mountain, I had to hike up about 50 vertical feet. Don't get me wrong, I have no qualms about hiking for pow turns and do a fair bit of skinning throughout the year but for groomed hardpack? C'mon Vail.

[Peruvian]

That lodge at Pats Peak is beautiful.

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

That lodge at Pats Peak is beautiful.

The terrain is what it is...a 700 vert feeder hill but they make the most of it and people love that place. It's literally 30 minutes from the lake house.

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

Lucky 13: Stratton, VT (IKON)

In comparing the 3 conglomerate resorts in SoVT, I have come to the conclusion that the snow is best at Mt. Snow, Stratton is in the middle, and Okemo is waaay behind the other 2. Before Vail bought Okemo, it was the undisputed king of snowmaking and grooming in the area. Hmmm, maybe bigger isn't always better.

Another easy day to be outdoors here in Vermont where it can be below zero, snowing sideways, or raining...often in the same day


SMS kids seeding some bumps. Had never seen them do it before.


One of the attractions at Stratton: This carved bear is at the summit. There's tons of bears on this mountain and in big snow years, they have to shut down before all the snow is gone because the bears wake up and start chasing the skiers.


A few thoughts on another ski area that I won't be skiing this year:

The ski area in the pic is Bromley, aka the Sun Mountain. It faces due south which is about the dumbest thing you can do with a ski area yet they make it work. I've had some great days skiing at Bromley and back in the days that we thought Magic might collapse, our bailout option was always Bromley. In past years, they've offered their Spring Loaded pass which gives you 4 days between March 15 and the following Christmas week for about $130. I always bought that and got my 4 days in late November/early December. They did not offer it last year which is sad because Bromley has great terrain and a very easy-going staff of Patrollers. Pic below is from early December a couple of years ago on a trail that may have been closed but it was snowing so hard we couldn't really see the ropes.

Unfortunately, there's a snowmaking pipe that runs right down the middle of that trail...ask me how I know. No harm but we did eventually get caught by the patrollers who told us to be more sneaky. Good group over there. I miss Bromley. But it's way to damn expensive to ski there without some hookup.

[powbmps]

Great stuff MNIAW! Strangely enough, the downturn in Sunapee's snowmaking/grooming quality happened at the same time as Okemo.

Lucky 13: Stratton, VT (IKON)

In comparing the 3 conglomerate resorts in SoVT, I have come to the conclusion that the snow is best at Mt. Snow, Stratton is in the middle, and Okemo is waaay behind the other 2. Before Vail bought Okemo, it was the undisputed king of snowmaking and grooming in the area. Hmmm, maybe bigger isn't always better.

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

Great stuff MNIAW! Strangely enough, the downturn in Sunapee's snowmaking/grooming quality happened at the same time as Okemo.

Yeah, gonna go sample it tomorrow just the same. I'll be in a blue FRS jacket and Mars Red pants in case you're out.

[Aldo]

This is truly inspiring man, seriously enjoying you bringing us along. Thank you.

How’s the home hill looking?


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[MyNameIsAugustWest]

This is truly inspiring man, seriously enjoying you bringing us along. Thank you.

How’s the home hill looking?


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Sadly, it's mostly brown. They did blow all of last night in hopes of getting a variation (Vertigo) on the WROD for Saturday's opening. On a positive note, I have load tested the BLT taps and they are cleared hot for public consumption. New F&B guy this year but a familiar and friendly face and we won't be disappointed.

[Aldo]

I like the way they’re thinking- vertigo- still a ways to go but we’ll get there. Sounds like the safety net will be securely in place in the BLT!


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[MyNameIsAugustWest]

Day 14: Mt. Sunapee, NH (Epic)

It's been 10 days since I last skied here with savemeasammy and since then we've had 2 rain events and only 1 very small snowmaking window. The last time, there were 2 RODs to mid-mountain and then a single ROD back to the chair from there.

We got a smattering of snow last night before the temps rose into the mid-40s overnight. A little drizzle but not like the last 2 events. Got to the area and the "Drop Off Only" signs that led me astray the last time were gone. I parked close and headed on up.

Not clear and sunny but, "could be worse, could be raining."

Anyway...there were now 3 RODs to mid mountain and 2 RODs from there back to the chair. I just rotated through the options ripping big GS turns on the cream cheese over a firm base. Unfortunately the non-RODs looked like this:

SoVT and SoNH are looking at a potential 8" of snow Saturday into Saturday night but there's nothing underneath. At least places like Sunapee have done extensive summer work to prep the trails to open with minimal natural snowfall. They have some tasty looking tree runs but not going to tempt fate by heading in there.

Always have to snap a pic of the lake when I'm here


There were very few people there and I skied onto the lift every time. I like riding up and meeting new people but I'm not pushy about it. In today's case, it didn't really matter because there were no other lift riders in the queue when I went through. 15 times in just over 3 hours. Another good day and I'm happy I'm skiing and not sitting in front of a computer screen all day (just enough to type this up).

Sorry about the sideways thumbnails...I fought with TGR for a while to get that pic rotated correctly...

Day off tomorrow to take Mrs. MNIAW to Boston for some medical shit. Opening day at Magic on Saturday!

[AmmergauerTele]

I love this thread - makes me so psyched. I liked in Germany one full winter on the border of Austria, I was on skis 115 days that year, about 70 at resorts. Kept a tracker on Excel that I still have with how much vertical, snow conditions, etc. Love it!

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

I love this thread - makes me so psyched. I liked in Germany one full winter on the border of Austria, I was on skis 115 days that year, about 70 at resorts. Kept a tracker on Excel that I still have with how much vertical, snow conditions, etc. Love it!

Exactly where in Germany? I lived near Nürnberg for 4 years (1988 - 1992) and skied all over Austria and absolutely loved it.

[AmmergauerTele]

I lived in Oberammergau, just up the hill from Garmisch. Mostly skied at Garmisch Classic, Zugspitze, Erhwald, Lermoos, and some trips a little further in Austria, Italy, and once to France and Germany. Can't wait to go back. Got the green light from the wife to plan a trip for Xmas 2022!

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

I lived in Oberammergau, just up the hill from Garmisch. Mostly skied at Garmisch Classic, Zugspitze, Erhwald, Lermoos, and some trips a little further in Austria, Italy, and once to France and Germany. Can't wait to go back. Got the green light from the wife to plan a trip for Xmas 2022!

We did a Christmas week in Lermoos one year. Loved that region. Many days in the Arlberg and also many in the Zillertal.


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