Patrick
Active member
Day 1 of the 2009-2010 season.
Killing.it.on the River.
25 runs or $1/run. About 4500 meters. This was definitely the BEST MID-OCTOBER SKIING IN MY LIFE or the MY BEST SKI DAY SINCE SEPTEMBER 3RD...even better than the 4th at Las Lenas.
Start of a new season with very old gear. Changed the pink poles for the pink ski boots. I had to salvage piece-by-piece to be able to rebuild a ski equipment. Some really stiff, small ski boots that bought in 1993. Ski poles and ski pants vintage 1985. I had used the poles on that sand skiing back in August 2005. The only thing I got replaced from my stolen gear so far is my ski jacket.
Had plan to cross the border to make some turns and take advantage of the snow that had fallen on Monday night south of the border. I wasn’t even thinking about lift served. Then found out that Sunday River was open. Man, this is early a start for lift served. Probably the earliest start since the good old days at Kmart.
I didn’t want I was going to use for ski pants. Some bring yellow from the 80s or a more neutral look. I went for the older look. I didn’t what to expect for snow conditions. I was bringing the Fels, a straight ski with good edges and the old Rossi 7Ss that I had used at Le Massif last October. No edges on these. I even had my good slalom skis in case the run had hard and perfect coverage. At the last minute, meaning 9:30pm, ComitJo offered his old Rossi XXX. A quick 10 minutes stop at 10:30pm before leaving for Montreal. Regardless of that quick stop, I got a damn $60 parking ticket. WTF??? Anyway, I had a fourth options for skis, wonder what they’ll say that the border? Are you smuggling old skis? Didn’t know what to expect.
Got stop by the Police in Montreal. The officer thought I was talking on a cell phone (illegal in Quebec to talk on hand phone while driving)...mmmh, officer I don’t have a cellphone. Probably due to me leaning against my hand as I was getting close to my mom’s house. It was passed midnight after all.
Beautiful drive, not too much traffic heading out of Montreal, however I hit the heavy rush hour traffic in Coaticook. Next to Autoroute 10, trees at the top of Mt. Orford were white and covered in frost while the bottom was slightly passed peak foliage colours. The same scenery north or south of the border. Balsam Wilderness ski area with all it’s trail in white and colours surrounding them were spectacular. Saw one deer, but no moose. Made the 305km Montreal-Sunday River trip in 3:15.
SUNDAY RIVER OCTOBER SKIING
There were maybe 20-30 cars in the parking at 10ish and I suspect many of them were simply from the people working at the resort. The skiing today was on the T2 trail that ends at the midstation. 1 trail for 182 meter vert. While I was leaving the parking lot and riding the chair, a few people were heading down or leaving. SR had blown snow along Sunday Punch all the way to the bottom, but there wasn’t much snow and it was probably to warm at the bottom to blow any. Probably hoping to make it to the bottom by the weekend.
The conditions were pretty much “variable”. Snowmaking guns blazing a coat of icing on the goggles and on our clothing if you skied too much on skiing left. Wet snow in some places near the guns, ice pellets and a few holes in some places. As I was going laps and the snow was being skied, the conditions were getting much better. I didn’t feel like stopping and take my lunch at the bottom, so I decided to ski through lunch. Ended up skiing over half my runs with EMR from TGR which we meet in the chair a few times and skied about at the same pace.
Definitely a fun day, however not sure what this weekend was like? Skiers might need some elbow pads to make run. Ended up skiing with the XXX that I really enjoyed. Probably better than my no edges junkboard 7Ss and would have been worried about my good Slalom skis.
Left Bethel at 4pm, I didn’t have issues crossing the border, the US border guard sounded like a skier, however when I crossed into Canada. I got the full car search. I guess some people might think it’s odd to carry 4 pairs of skis across the border on October 15th.
Killing.it.on the River.
25 runs or $1/run. About 4500 meters. This was definitely the BEST MID-OCTOBER SKIING IN MY LIFE or the MY BEST SKI DAY SINCE SEPTEMBER 3RD...even better than the 4th at Las Lenas.
Start of a new season with very old gear. Changed the pink poles for the pink ski boots. I had to salvage piece-by-piece to be able to rebuild a ski equipment. Some really stiff, small ski boots that bought in 1993. Ski poles and ski pants vintage 1985. I had used the poles on that sand skiing back in August 2005. The only thing I got replaced from my stolen gear so far is my ski jacket.
Had plan to cross the border to make some turns and take advantage of the snow that had fallen on Monday night south of the border. I wasn’t even thinking about lift served. Then found out that Sunday River was open. Man, this is early a start for lift served. Probably the earliest start since the good old days at Kmart.
I didn’t want I was going to use for ski pants. Some bring yellow from the 80s or a more neutral look. I went for the older look. I didn’t what to expect for snow conditions. I was bringing the Fels, a straight ski with good edges and the old Rossi 7Ss that I had used at Le Massif last October. No edges on these. I even had my good slalom skis in case the run had hard and perfect coverage. At the last minute, meaning 9:30pm, ComitJo offered his old Rossi XXX. A quick 10 minutes stop at 10:30pm before leaving for Montreal. Regardless of that quick stop, I got a damn $60 parking ticket. WTF??? Anyway, I had a fourth options for skis, wonder what they’ll say that the border? Are you smuggling old skis? Didn’t know what to expect.
Got stop by the Police in Montreal. The officer thought I was talking on a cell phone (illegal in Quebec to talk on hand phone while driving)...mmmh, officer I don’t have a cellphone. Probably due to me leaning against my hand as I was getting close to my mom’s house. It was passed midnight after all.
Beautiful drive, not too much traffic heading out of Montreal, however I hit the heavy rush hour traffic in Coaticook. Next to Autoroute 10, trees at the top of Mt. Orford were white and covered in frost while the bottom was slightly passed peak foliage colours. The same scenery north or south of the border. Balsam Wilderness ski area with all it’s trail in white and colours surrounding them were spectacular. Saw one deer, but no moose. Made the 305km Montreal-Sunday River trip in 3:15.
SUNDAY RIVER OCTOBER SKIING
There were maybe 20-30 cars in the parking at 10ish and I suspect many of them were simply from the people working at the resort. The skiing today was on the T2 trail that ends at the midstation. 1 trail for 182 meter vert. While I was leaving the parking lot and riding the chair, a few people were heading down or leaving. SR had blown snow along Sunday Punch all the way to the bottom, but there wasn’t much snow and it was probably to warm at the bottom to blow any. Probably hoping to make it to the bottom by the weekend.
The conditions were pretty much “variable”. Snowmaking guns blazing a coat of icing on the goggles and on our clothing if you skied too much on skiing left. Wet snow in some places near the guns, ice pellets and a few holes in some places. As I was going laps and the snow was being skied, the conditions were getting much better. I didn’t feel like stopping and take my lunch at the bottom, so I decided to ski through lunch. Ended up skiing over half my runs with EMR from TGR which we meet in the chair a few times and skied about at the same pace.
Definitely a fun day, however not sure what this weekend was like? Skiers might need some elbow pads to make run. Ended up skiing with the XXX that I really enjoyed. Probably better than my no edges junkboard 7Ss and would have been worried about my good Slalom skis.
Left Bethel at 4pm, I didn’t have issues crossing the border, the US border guard sounded like a skier, however when I crossed into Canada. I got the full car search. I guess some people might think it’s odd to carry 4 pairs of skis across the border on October 15th.