Mark Renson
New member
<I>(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 12/12/99. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.)</I> <BR> <BR>Pack the gear, lock the hubs, get in the truck and head North. Winter had commenced and I wanted to be THERE. Some flurries started halfway between Concord and Lebanon and <BR>snow was on the ground in earnest when I got ascended out of the White River after Exit 3 in Vermont. <BR>At the Basebox, I hiked around, postholing and getting snow down my shoes, <BR>picking up snow and throwing it around. MRG was flexing its snowmaking power with 2 snowmaking cannons buzzing away on the Practice Slope through the night. <BR>Next morning, I set up my AT gear (Tua Excalibur Mito's with Silvretta EZ-Go bindings) and launched on my skins from the Hartford Ski Club at 7:25AM under dreary skies. "Explore Stark Mountain" was my mantra. The <BR>bottom trails - Rockefellers, Easy Way, lower Bunny were brutally scoured from the winds that Spencer had warned me about. Skinning up to the bottom of Lower Glade/GC, I hypothesized that trails/slopes with a NE-N aspect <BR>were toast, but those with an eastern to SE orientation would be have some candy. As a test, I shuffled over to Porcupine, took a compass reading and recorded an eastern aspect and observed better snow cover. <BR>Via Porcupine, I arrived at Broadway. Here, the complexion of the mountain changed dramatically. Large drifts and more snow was observed. Ascending to the Midstation, I could see where skier's left on Chute had potential. I continued to the Catamount/Antelope braids and found scoured virtually unskiable conditions. Through the haze, I was <BR>unable to determine coverage on the Catamount headwall. On the Antelope headwall with its SE aspect, generous cover was discovered - ah ha, my theory was starting gain credibility! <BR>Sun broke out at the summit and I was above the clouds. At the top, I joined 2 other MRG regulars. One of them climbed onto the railing of the Stark's Nest with skis on and launched onto Chute, bagging at least 15 feet of air. Wel-l-l-l, that wasn't for me, so I headed for Catamount Bowl, following the 1 set of tracks. Coverage was excellent, boot-top powder was <BR>great!! At the bottom, I went back into ascent mode and went back to the top via Antelope. Second run down Catamount was even better with my increased powder confidence. At the bottom - where I ran into scoured ice and rocks at the intersection with Antelope, I slapped the skins back on and cut through the woods (very narrow connector not on map) to the Chute ledges. <BR>On Chute, I found 3 other tracks, all of which went over the ledges. Cover on the left was fine and I got some great knee deep and also occaisionally hit bottom with a hard thud. At midstation, I negotiated bare rocks via conencted snow patches and descended via Broadway. <BR>I initiated another ascent via Fox and headed for the top of the Double. Coverage on Fox/Vixen was outstanding (ah ha, E-SE aspect) and I anticipated a great run down Quacky - THE run that always pays off in my MRG pre-season rituals. <BR>I met others at the top, including instructor Steve on a snowboard (see, you can snowboard at MRG). I then launched onto the Quacky headwall, just to the right of another set of tracks - CANDY !! Real swe-e-e-e-E-E-t !! <BR>Soft consistent powder and no hitting bottom all the way to the bottom (except a water bar). My ace-in-the-hole paid off again!! <BR>I went to the top of the Double again. Target this time was Gazelle. I made a broad turn and found some more candy on the left side - but snow was a bit shallow and I did get tripped up by a tuft of grass. I headed for <BR>Panther and found good snow, but it was not deep enough and made things tricky. Back onto Gazelle and down to the Broadway-Periwinkle crossover,where I initiated another ascent. <BR>Off of the top, I went for Vixen, seduced by the great cover. Snow was great, but just a little more pitch was needed in the untracked to make for a great run. <BR>One more trip to the top of the Double. Can't go wrong with Quacky, so I <BR>targeted that one again. The word was out and about 10 sets of tracks were on it. But, I found great untracked on the right and had my usual stellar pre-season Quacky run. I turned onto Gazelle and descended until I hit <BR>scoured spots at the intersection with Lower Panther. I made the short ascent up lower Panther to the bottom of Slalom Hill and observed some others chewing up the tricky windslab. <BR>It was getting late and I was running out of gas, hence I felt it wise to head down the mountain. I didn't find anything promising in Birdland, so I slowly skirted rocks and ice down Periwinkle, ending a fun day of powder <BR>skiing for all practicle purposes. <BR>BUT WAIT !!! .... the more I descended, the more great untracked I found <BR>and I was soon skiing in earnest, again. I cruised into Periwinkle Bowl near the bottom and found some very enjoyable - though not deep - fresh windblown snow for some of the most pleasant skiing of the day. This continued 'til I reached the bottom next to the Double loading station. <BR>Tough technical skiing, but the rewards were there !!!! The new Tuas worked great in the windblown and difficult conditions - highly <BR>recommended.