Okemo, VT 12/5/99

<I>(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 12/6/99. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.)</I> <BR> <BR>My friend Matt and I cashed in on the food drive day at Okemo on Sunday. I felt kind of cheap snatching up the 3/$1 canned corn at Price Chopper, so we threw in a few boxes of Stove Top for the sake of philanthropy. $20, with a three item donation, got us lift tickets good for about 3.5 to 4 runs on the front part of the mountain, plus 2 runs on the lower section. They were claiming 18 trails and 7 lifts. A really questionable trail count and I only saw 5 lifts, including the poma. Sapphire, Jolly Green, World Cup and Defiance were the primary choices. Matt and I rode off the summit chair for the first time at 9:20 and set the pace for the day with fast laps on Sapphire and World Cup. The snow was soft and very edgeable. We found plaid Beatnik Malczyk at around 10:30, with girlfriend and others and joined up for a run on Defiance. Unfortunately we lost Jerm and his crew on our first run together. Matt and I decided to grab an early lunch around 11:30 so we could get back out at noon and avoid some of the crowd that was quickly building. After lunch we found Jerm again and skied out the afternoon with a hard charging pace. My legs wore out quick at the 10-15 minute lap times we were turning. We bailed at about 3:15, but only after Jerm and I poached a run in the "snowboarders only" half-pipe. Who's news school? Obviously not me. I'm going to have to practice up on my rodeo 540s. <BR> <BR>later, <BR>Jon

<I>(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 12/6/99. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.)</I> <BR> <BR>regarding the snowboarder only policy; most of these resorts seem to be lagging a little on this silly separation between boarders and skiers wouldn't you say? ( stowe and smuggs excepted... anywhere else i'm not aware of ? ) don't get me wrong , i'm no boarder hater... i bought one after 2 times and really enjoy it, but i still ski 90% of the time cause skiing is where it's at!!!.. have any of the nit-wits that make these policies seen the new teton gravity research flick " the realm " ? they ought to take a look because, not for nothin, but some of these new school skiers are pulling off stuff that is mind-blowing... and they ain't on snowboards boys!!!. what i have seen on this film by these new school kids is quantatatively much more impressive than just about anything i have seen hucked on a board...if anyone has not seen it you gotta check this out... it really is unbelievable... almost as unbelievable as restricting an area of a SKI resort from the skiers...give me a break!!!