My Retirement Year: An Ongoing Skiing TR

[Peruvian]

It happened!

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

This is great. congrats
Pls post pics and hoping it's a nice, sunny, slush bump kind of day.

Have you considered squatting at the base of Killington and going for like 120 or 125 days at this point?

Oh to be young again

As skiJ noted, I'm hanging on by a thread.

Day 100: Killington, VT (Ikon pass)

Rode up from Magic with my neighbor BH who admitted he actually has a TGR account/handle...Lane Meyer. I've known him for almost 10 years and this secret comes out today.

Superstar is really fat with snow.

Linked up with Goniff, Vt-Freeheel, and Peruvian and off we went.

We skied a few runs on Snowden (last weekend for anything but the Superstar quad) and it was pretty sweet with soft snow everywhere and just enough adventure skiing to keep things interesting.

Headed over to the Superstar side to lap that chair for a bit


After a total of 10 laps, we were feeling the need for refreshments so we headed back to Bay 1.


The sky was yellow and the sun was blue (a nod to KQ's thread...) and I really felt more like hanging out than going back out to ski with the building crowd. So I did.

The K-Zone folks were right next to us and we mingled (GuyInShorts and MrsG are maggots who are also K-zoners).


A whole crowd of Patrollers from Magic were also in our immediate area and the afternoon was 1 big party. Cabinfever and his better half also hung with us for a while. Vt-F brought a bottle of Lawson's Fayston Maple Imperial Stout to celebrate day 100. Those of you familiar with the beer scene in VT know how special that really was.

And so the circle was completed...

Day 1 was at Killington with Vt-F and Day 100 was also.

I'll post a closeout summary tomorrow but here's a spoiler...I'm not doing this again!

[kokomas]

Congrats MNIAW! Nice work and hi to BH and Goniff as well

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[Brownski]

Beautiful day for number 100. Great job.

[Iowagriz]

Congrats! The thread has been a great follow

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[Aldo]

Yeah man!
Ha - lane Meyer!
That’s a good one.

Congrats though Mniaw that’s quite a feat ! Looks like 120 is fully within reach…

Bb knows.


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[singlecross]

Well done MNIAW, well done! I look forward to seeing you this Summer on the Coast and also showing you around Saddleback next Winter. Be well until then!

[Djongo Unchained]

Way to go Mag, that's a great challenge and you've hammered it out in the leanest of seasons.




.

Thanks for letting all of us be a part of this, it's been fun. Hope to ski ya again next season.

[Blackbeard]

Congrats on Day 100 MNIAW, been fun to follow this thread


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[MyNameIsAugustWest]

Congrats on Day 100 MNIAW, been fun to follow this thread


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And thanks again to you for gifting me those vouchers to Ragged. One of many great days I had this season.

[UCMERIP]

Well done MNiAW!
Thanks for sharing.

[jhyatt]

I'll get up and fly away!
Thanks for sharing your journey. Looking forward to Vol. 2.

[petey_]

No one cares that you skied 100 days in your retirement year.



















Well, maybe a little. Thanks for the stoke!

[slatham]

Congrats MNIAW. Glad to have witnessed in person at least those 2 small slices of this epic adventure. If next season doesn’t bring the quantity of 100, may it bring the quality of deep snow.

[skinipenem]

Great stoke and congrats!

"I wanna be" retired - Ramones

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[MyNameIsAugustWest]

As promised, here's a wrap-up/summary of my season. Despite the lure of going higher, I'm seeing the doctor tomorrow to get on the way to getting my knee repaired and hopefully don't lose the whole summer of gravel riding and sailing.... It woudn't be possible to get to 120 anyway as Killington goes down to Fri-Sat-Sun after today so they only likely have 12-15 more days to operate. Unless I wanted to skin up Stratton multiple times (no thanks).

First the financials:
I bought 5 passes this year but being retired military definitely has its perks...
Epic Pass - $135 for retired military
Magic Pass - $285.14 for retired or active military
Indy Add-on (using Magic as my home mountain) - $164.67
IKON Base + - $789 for retired military (I bought late, at the full price minus the $200 military discount)
Grand Targhee - $759

I also paid for 1 day at Killington for Day 1 - $37.50 using the 50% off Express Card that they give to me for free as a military retiree.

For a grand total of $2,170.31

I came in at 100 days so my daily cost for lift riding was $21.70

Cheapest cost/day pass was obviously the Epic Pass at $9.64/day
Most expensive cost/day pass was the Grand Targhee Pass at $33.00/day

I skied at 19 different ski areas this year. Originally, I had wanted to ski many more (mostly Indy resorts) but the shitty snow and higher gas prices kept me from wanting to travel. I did have a few "firsts" this year:
* Berkshire East (MA) - great hill...I want to go back when the woods are skiable
* Grand Targhee (WY) - have always wanted to go and now I want to go back. Got 23 days there and I never got bored.
* Ragged (NH) - another hidden gem with incredible tree skiing. Trying to justify buying their pass at only $379
* Snow King (WY) - often overlooked but I'm going out on a limb and saying most tourists wouldn't really like it because it's so damned steep
* Sugarloaf (ME) - it's hard to say what the best resort in the northeast is but it's not hard to say that Sugarloaf has got to be in the top 3.

The ones I missed but really wanted to hit (have never skied at any of these previously):
* Attitash (NH) - One of only 3 areas in NH I've never skied; their Vail shitshow was well documented throughout New England
* Big Sky (MT) - yeah, we were close and had 5 days to burn on the IKON pass but I rode the lift with so many folks from the Bozeman area that kept telling me GT had far better conditions.
* Black (ME) - legendary trees but a long way from anywhere
* Black (NH) - supposed to be a lot like my home hill (Magic) but the low snow year and its location kept me from getting there. 3rd ski area I've never skied in NH is Bretton Woods but I have no desire to ski a mountain flatter than Okemo.
* Saddleback (ME) - would have tried to get there but they closed shortly after I got back to New England from Wydaho. Next year for sure.

Most days at 1 area: 23 at Grand Targhee
Shockingly, I skied more days at Stratton than at Magic (18 to 17) due in large part to early and late season and also having Magic closed M-W.

Easily the best part of this journey has been meeting or re-connecting with people from this board. The list is long and I hope I haven't missed anybody. In some semblance of the order I skied with all of you (chronologically)
Vt-Freeheel (day 1 and also day 100)
Goniff
savemeasammy
powbmps
Lane Meyer
RustyGroomer
OrangeGondola
GetAmped
DoWork
Aldo (we never actually skied together but drinking together at the BLT counts in my book)
buttahflake (again, didn't ski with him but we caught up for 30 minutes or so at his shop)
kokomas
Djongo Unchained
GBB
Muted Reborn
StevieD
schwerty
BabyBear
SkiJunky05 (didn't ski with him but drank beer at kokomas' house with him)
EastOrBust
slatham
cabinfever
singlecross
ticketchecker
Biggins
Peruvian

Notably absent from the list above is FussyDutchman who is one of my closest friends but since I stopped working in BTV, it's just been 1 miss after another on connecting. I will definitely ride with him next year at Smuggs (which I also didn't see this year....).

My goal next year is to ski enough to be in shape when the good snow gets here (fingers crossed) but also try to ski in only good or better conditions. Too many days this year were not that enjoyable but I was out there trying to hit a number....

Would love to get back to the Teton Valley but Mrs. MNIAW has already said no more 6 weeks gone. Maybe for just a week or 2.... (or 3). Also, haven't been to Utah since Goniff and I hit the pow jackpot in January of 2017 and it's been far longer since I went to the Tahoe area. So many options. We'll see what the future brings.

Finally, I want to say thanks to all the folks that followed this thread and sent words of encouragement. Sorry we didn't connect in person but your presence here was noted and deeply appreciated.

[BC.]

Great thread….enjoyed reading about your adventures.

[turnfarmer]

Thanks for he inspiration!

[Buzzworthy]

Lots of smiles in this thread, including mine. Pretty impressive feat and it’s very been fun to follow along!

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

So....I did leave off a few people on my list and they are not going to let me hear the end of it...

MMP who I text with almost daily and skied with a bunch. Sorry my friend. Just too close.
JGB@etree - another Magic regular who I saw on almost all 17 days I skied there.
Buckethead - we never rode a lift together but I certainly yelled at you from the SS lift more than a coupla times.
Lynchdog - it was only 1 day but it was great to re-connect!

And to the good people that I ski with a bunch but aren't on TGR
JFR
Bank-mang
Ant (aka Tony)
Gary E
Mike B
Jeff with a G
Bob L who is a phenomenal skier and a great friend
Lisa McG who, in my opinion and many others', is the best skier at Magic
Stefan B who does most of the video work for Magic and usually gets 1-2 seconds of me into their promo vids https://www.facebook.com/skimagicvt/...30472818461538
Les V who is the skipper/owner of the boat I crew on for races on L. Champlain

[Vt-Freeheel]

I am so grateful for the time I spent skiing with you this season. Always a good time filled with entertaining conversation, laughs, brews and a mutual love of sliding on snow. Only regret is not making it to Magic this winter to enjoy the amazing food provided by your wonderful wife.

This picture says it all

[biggins]

You're my hero.

[MrsG]

Congrats on your 100 … nice accomplishment! Hope the knee issue gets repaired quickly so you can get back to staying young!!

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

And a few more mags that I left off my list:
speedfreak
MrsG
GuyInShorts
MisterMoose

[Buster Highmen]

++++