Mad River Glen, VT: 04/05/08

riverc0il

New member
This was definitely a morning to sleep in (oops) as thing were quite firm out of the starting gate. But man, did things get really good later in the day. Really really good.

Got to the mountain at 9:15am and headed up the Single feeling a little chill in the air and could barely see two chairs in front of me due to fog. Triple Crown Bump Comp was being held today and they wanted it on Chute and were sending the bump comp folks down Chute to break up the crap. They went with Chute and had a good time. I skied down frozen groomer tracks on Upper A and then on ward down to Bunny for a top to bottom frozen groomer tracks quad burner. My skis haven't been tuned in about a year at this point and the edges were no match for the frozen snow. I slid my way down to the Basebox and awaited awf170 and eatskisleep to arrive.

After hanging out for half an hour, I chatted with the guys and we all headed back out for a run down Chute which had been cut up by the bump compers. Better than Upper A but a far cry from spring skiing. Down on Canyon, bumps were actually surprisingly sweet with especially nice lines in the middle elevations of the trail. We hit the double for two more runs down Canyon to Waterfall which got better every run due to lower elevations warming up and traffic being focused on Canyon for the lower mountain bump run of choice.

Then it was back to the Single for some top to bottom action under the Chair including some sensational aerials under Tower 10. I will take another, thank you very much! We ultimatley took four runs down Liftline including two from the mid-station which means I skied Liftline more today than all my previous days at Mad River combined. It was skiing nicely, especially later in the day when things started to soften up. Unlike Cat Bowl which we did twice and both were pretty crumby runs. But one of those runs sent us down Catamount which was fun and on to Lynx/Beaver which was the best I have ever skied it (not often due to generally poor conditions most days I have been there). We finished that one out with a few choice bumps on Rockefellars which signaled the beginning of the corning up of bumps on the lower mountain. Things were going to get good after lunch.

We did another Chute/Liftline and a Chute/Glade with Upper and Lower Glade skiing marvelously (another run that I rarely get to on most days). Trees were calling us so we hit the double for a pair of sweet steep tree runs, righteous. What started out as "I might not have come if not for shareholders day" was gradually turning into a spring day to remember. By the time we worked our way down to Periwinkle Bowl, my legs were begging for mercy. So, of course, we did Chute/Liftline then back up for a stupendous tree run, and finished off with a mid-station Liftline run right at the closing buzzer. Faaaaantastic.

Not a bare spot to be seen any where on open trails except perhaps right before the final pitch on Snail. Fall Line and Paradise were never opened today though I think the rope could have dropped after lunch time based on Cat Bowl conditions. Certainly not pretty but doable by MRG standards. They should almost certainly be open tomorrow. Upper mountain above the mid-station never really warmed up and only cleared the clouds as the lift was shutting down for the day. The rest of the mountain setup perfectly with corn that never got mushy and bumps that always felt right. I spent more time in the bumps today than I have all season.

Got to chat with Patrick a few times in the lodge, but we were always either coming or going in the opposite direction and never got to share some turns, unfortunately. Joegm missed a perfect opportunity if he was not entered in the bump comp as it looked like a pretty small field. Any one not out tomorrow for the perfect corn bumps on pretty much all terrain options would certainly be missing out. I got to work at 3pm but I should be able to squeeze off about four hours at Cannon.
 
It was nice to see you Steve. I finally just arrived in Ottawa - that was a long and hard drive, especially after the glass of champagne and supper in Burlington.

Morgane wasn't interested in the double, we only skied it once even if the snow was better. 9 run day for 5600m vert (95% bumps), not bad for starting at 11ish. 7 runs in a row after lunch.

I'm going to bed, I need to bring Morgane to a birthday party tomorrow morning.
 
riverc0il said:
This was definitely a morning to sleep in (oops) as thing were quite firm out of the starting gate. But man, did things get really good later in the day. Really really good.

Triple Crown Bump Comp was being held today and they wanted it on Chute and were sending the bump comp folks down Chute to break up the crap. Better than Upper A but a far cry from spring skiing. Down on Canyon, bumps were actually surprisingly sweet with especially nice lines in the middle elevations of the trail. We hit the double for two more runs down Canyon to Waterfall which got better every run due to lower elevations warming up and traffic being focused on Canyon for the lower mountain bump run of choice.


Joegm missed a perfect opportunity if he was not entered in the bump comp as it looked like a pretty small field.


our crew tends not to do these comps 1) becasue they are on weekends and we refuse to ski on weekends under just about any circumstances and 2- the issue of timing....there is at least a 50% chance that things like this and , even worse this year, the bear mountain mogul challenge , end up with conditions and surfaces that can often times be worse that jan or feb....i don't understand that why they don't get that pushing the comp's back into the second and third week of april , if the base is there, is a much better way to offer better surfaces for spring mogul skiing...if the snow and base is not there , fine, but certainly this year, K could have , should have pushed it to the second week of april and mrg could have probably done the same....might be temepted to deal with the weekend crowd issue if the comps were pused back , otherwise it's not worth it to us....especially when a week like what is coming up in on tap... as bizzare as it sounds, for me, after 5 months of waiting at the bus stop, the ski season is just begining....will be at wildcat and / or mrg tues, wed, thurs and maybe fri this week for some real skiing :P ...no face mask, no 9 layers of clothing and bumps top to bottom in the sun... 8)
 
Weekend crowds? I guess that the fog/clouds helps be the people away. :roll:

At $35 for a lift=ticket with most of the mountain open, you cannot go wrong.

PS. I don't think I've ever seen some many people skiing Chute/Liftline.
 
Patrick":p1a5hur5 said:
Weekend crowds? I guess that the fog/clouds helps be the people away. :roll:

Jay aslo had no crowds. Never had to wait more than 5 chairs. 8" of wet snow that compacted down to about 4-6" made exceptional spring conditions.
 
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