Okemo, VT 1/8-9/00

<I>(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 1/10/00. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.)</I> <BR> <BR>Sat 1/8: Okemo had about 70+ trails open, basically everything that had snowmaking except Searl's Way, Double Diamond, Fall Line, and Triple Sec. Quite a lot of terrain considering Tuesdays reported monsoons. Snow was being blown in Searl's Way and Double Diamond all day long. <BR> <BR>Conditions were fast. Very, very fast. It was a bright beautiful day, temps in the 20s no wind (not even coming over the top of NorEaster on the Northstar!), no clouds. The groomers had done their usual thing which resulted in a hard corduroy surface, that quickly got edged into typical packed powder. Plenty of coverage on all trails I skied, with the typical mid to end of day scrape offs on the heavy traffic areas. <BR> <BR>Like I said, conditions were fast, people were skiing fast, and so we were very busy with some significant trauma accidents. Didn't get to free ski much at all. <BR> <BR>Sun 1/9: Driving to the mountain was looking like a repeat of Saturday, bright sunshine and calm winds. But by the time morning meeting was done, so was the sun. Dark clouds moved in and a period of light snow arrived, followed by clearing and temps in the 30s down low and 20s up top. SO people skied slower, and Brad was less busy. Yippeee... I get to ski today! <BR> <BR>They opened Double Diamond today, and lower FallLine, and continued to blow on Searls. I'd say Searls will open sometime this week. <BR> <BR>I skied Some nice bumps on Chief, some great lines, and very edgeable. Only problem is, the bumps are only on the upper part of Upper Chief. Too short, but maybe that's ok cause my knees were sore by the end of the day. <BR> <BR>One good thing about this lack of snow situation is, when the snow does soften up, there's only a few inches of slush, instead of the typical foot to foot and a half that you often see in the spring. So I actually didn't mind skiing the lower part of the mountain. Kinda reminded me of spring skiing in the old days, when it was actually enjoyable to ski. <BR> <BR>Overall, Okemo is in great shape. Considering negligible snowfall, and rain last week, they were in great shape. Say what you want about McSkiing, its times like this that really make them appreciated. Despite the lack of snow, I'd recommend anyone wanting to ski to head to an Okemo like place (with respect to snowmaking/grooming reputation). As long as the temps are cold, the skiing will be good.