Sharon
New member
The plan for our 4 day ski weekend had changed half a dozen times by the time the weekend was complete. We had planned to hit 2 Jeep days, but on account of cold weather and warm friends we did not get to either this weekend. <BR> <BR>We started by heading to Tug Hill where 3 feet of snow had blown in off Lake Ontario. While we didn’t get to the epicenter of that snowfall, we did find over a foot of fresh fluff as we broke trail over the mellow terrain of Winona State Forest in below zero temperatures. <BR> <BR>We spend the night with our friend Carolyn in Lake Placid and braved temperatures near 20 below to get to the outdoor hot tub. Saturday Carolyn took us skiing on the old Mountain Road to Keene. Nice terrain that is on the backside of Pitchoff mountain. We crossed over a few beaver ponds and got some nice views of cliffs and icefalls and a bunch of fun downhills. The 2 hour ski gave us plenty of time to get to Vermont before dark. <BR> <BR>After stopping at the bakery in Bristol for a blueberry pie to bring to our next hosts (and a scone for the road), we climbed the App Gap. Cresting at 4:20pm, we stopped at the overlook near the Long Trail to paid homage to the setting sun and enjoyed our elevation. I stepped out of the car to see what 40 below wind chills felt like. That didn’t last too long. <BR> <BR>Plans of going to Bolton Valley's Jeep day fizzled and the possibility of going to Jay Sunday morning faded when our host said that he would like to ski with us at MRG. Since we were just 5 minutes from MRG (vs a 1 ½ hr drive to Jay), the decision was easy. At least MRG was open, because the last 3 times we went to ski there it wasn’t due to lack of snow. This was <BR>our first succesful visit to this Vermont classic. Temps rose above zero, though the wind kept the chill much lower. Armed with activated coal toe and hand warmers as well as enough layers to call me the Michelin lady I never got cold, and never broke a sweat either. Though my TM18s would have been a better choice with the firm conditions, I got to try my new Super <BR>Stinx. We did some easy groomed cruisers in the morning. The trails with natural conditions were bullet proof rock dodges, something I was not willing to venture into too deeply with only intermediate skill on telemark gear. At lunch I switched to alpine gear to check out some of the gnarlier terrain. While I didn’t find much powder in the woods, there were some places where the wind had blown some of the flakes, which was a relief from the porcelain bumps between the rocks. I did take note that this terrain would be totally awesome with a foot or more of fresh snow, despite the meager conditions. I cannot recall what trails we ran, as I was merely following our host. The place was practically empty, and probably for good reason. It's dumping there today. Go figure. <BR> <BR>At 4:20 we decided to check out the trail that leaves from our host's land on skinny skis. We were pretty beat from the day in the wind on the ice at MRG and daylight was burning quickly, so we only climbed 3 hills before we wildly slid back down to where we started. Conditions were fast. <BR> <BR>Monday morning the sun rose on the new glistening snow. Only 2”, but that was enough to etch some arcs at Sugarbush. We got to use our Warren Miller vouchers for free skiing. We got an early start and headed 5 minutes up the road, opting for Lincoln Peak. Parked in the 2nd row! Loaded the Super Bravo and found Birdland to be untracked. So we tracked it up. Just 2” on top of boiler plate. It was carveable, but nothing to write home about. The lower part of this area on Lower Organgrinder and Jester under the snowguns <BR>was much creamier and enjoyable, despite the raging manmade snowstorm. We took a couple of runs over there before heading up the Heaven’s gate lift. <BR> <BR>Ripcord was ugly. Dust on bullet proof bumps. Dreaming of pockets of windblown, we went over to Paradise with much hope. While we found some <BR>nice untracked fluff on the trail and beyond, we still had to deal with the ice moguls. This really made my knees ache. So we decided to ski something that was better managed. Organgrinder was really nice. Groomed smooth, it probably had new snow blown onto it in previous days, which made for a fun, fast, carveable surface. We went back down to the Super Bravo and took a run over to Twist and Moonshine where fresh powder and empty trails were ours for the taking. <BR> <BR>After a quick break, we met up with some of our local buddies and went up the Gate House lift to the North Lynx lift. Both Sunrise and Birch had new manmade snow and were in great shape. We did 2 runs on each and went back over to the Super Bravo to check out Steins that had guns blasting on it all day with no traffic on it. We weren’t even sure it was open until we got there. A blasting snow gun greeted us at the top of this narrow trail, and one by one the four of us dropped in to the manmade snowstorm. Though <BR>the visibility was fair to poor, the snow conditions were dreamy for man made snow. We sliced fresh arcs in the talcum powder, though some guns gave off a damper, stickier snow which ripped a ski (a telemark ski) from my friend's boot. That run is quite the quad burner. It has nice continuously steep pitch for a good distance. We really enjoyed the long runs at <BR>Sugarbush. I have always loved the terrain there, and today was no exception. Temps in the mid 20s really made for a great day at The Bush. <BR> <BR>We might have checked out Castlerock, since it was open, however, the bullet proof conditions of non-groomed trails made the decision easy to blow it off and stay on the managed terrain. <BR> <BR>We skied until 2pm and hit the road. We arrived home to 6” of new snow and still falling! Looks like I’ll be skiing every day for a while, either out the door, or across the county at Greek Peak. Sunday was day 17 of lift served and this weekend and I racked up an additional 3 days of touring making total days on skiing skis to be 12. These numbers should increase significantly in the next 2 weeks. <BR> <BR>Tuesday is Teletuesday at Greek Peak, but the winds have picked up wildly and there's a wind chill warning in effect. Weds will have better conditions, as we are expecting a few more inches of snow, and less winds by then. Should be worthwhile to wait another day and try out the trails out my door and ride the lifts when the wind is not so fierce and the temps are above zero. <BR> <BR>Reports from my local tele-posse speak of powdery conditions all over the hill, nary a patch of ice to be found! <BR> <BR>We’ll be staying put here in central New York for the next coupla weeks since it looks like conditions are prime.