Mark Renson
New member
Anticipating a forecasted early season dump, I eagerly rolled onto I-495 in the evening rain. Rain persisted ?.and persisted. Uh-oh, I thought. Then around Bethel VT, sleet, ice and frozen sludge fell from the black skies. Driving became brutal all the way to The Hyde Away where I quaffed two well-earned pints. Rain and sleet persisted and I hoped for a changeover to real snow overnight.
Next morning, I was disappointed and ditched an idea to skin ?n grin on Stark Mountain and opted for Glen Ellen, instead. For $35 ($25 if ya? brought a can of food), ya got a ticket ?.not bad. What was uppity Stowe charging? ?.$95 to ski on icy crowded trails with hordes of UVM students or something like that? Up the GMX and then Summit lift I went as most of the open skiable terrain was on the upper mountain. I went for a Rim Run and headed for Looking Good, as that trail was just that with a layer of ungroomed new fresh wet snow. It skied surprisingly well since I expected heavy knee wrenching glop ? but I found pleasant wet fluff on a firm base. For my second run, I scooted into the top of F.I.S. but ?.ummm ?ahem? ah, yeah, with the murky visibility and some crust I encountered, I opted to traverse back onto Rim Run for some fun cruising. After some laps, I hooked up with some of the Sugarbush Ambassadors and we cranked it up a few notches. They peer pressured me into making turns down the right side of F.I.S. and whaddya? know, I found some good snow and loosened up with some pole plants ?n swing turns which gave me some flashbacks of Tucks and followed this up with fast cruising down Rim Run ? there! , now I felt better and was truly ready for the season! We all kept up a fast pace and racked up several laps. We made a few on the Elbow/Cruiser combo ? 20 years ago when I first skied here, that was considered THE classic Eastern cruising run. The wet packed snow was fun and was continually refreshed during the day with light snow/rain/sleet/freezing rain/snow.
Later in the day after Gawd-Only-Knows how many laps, I ran into Lars and his crew and we just kept up doing laps at a spirited pace ? FIS, Elbow/Cruiser, Looking Good. Then we ran into Peter and STILL kept up doing laps at a spirited pace. Everyone including the GMVS was whooping it up on this day as fun ski conditions were indulged on the upper mountain!
For the last run, we went for FIS and about halfway down, I was running outta? gas and I started to take my time and did some easy conservative turns. Wet snow was had on the final pitch down Straight Shot (the only way down to the bottom). Even though the storm pretty much fizzled, everyone seemed to be happy with the day. Open skiable terrain was a bit limited ? the Blue Heavens of Semi-Tough and Brambles and the Brave Green World of Walt?s Trail (these are off of the Inverness lift which also services the Inverness trail which is that huge McTrail eyesore that resembles the deck of the old aircraft carrier Yamamoto painted white and tilted) which are some of my favorites, were not open.
I hooked up with Peter later on for some Margaritas. Whaddya? know life was pretty cool in The Holy Land on Saturday.
Next morning, I was disappointed and ditched an idea to skin ?n grin on Stark Mountain and opted for Glen Ellen, instead. For $35 ($25 if ya? brought a can of food), ya got a ticket ?.not bad. What was uppity Stowe charging? ?.$95 to ski on icy crowded trails with hordes of UVM students or something like that? Up the GMX and then Summit lift I went as most of the open skiable terrain was on the upper mountain. I went for a Rim Run and headed for Looking Good, as that trail was just that with a layer of ungroomed new fresh wet snow. It skied surprisingly well since I expected heavy knee wrenching glop ? but I found pleasant wet fluff on a firm base. For my second run, I scooted into the top of F.I.S. but ?.ummm ?ahem? ah, yeah, with the murky visibility and some crust I encountered, I opted to traverse back onto Rim Run for some fun cruising. After some laps, I hooked up with some of the Sugarbush Ambassadors and we cranked it up a few notches. They peer pressured me into making turns down the right side of F.I.S. and whaddya? know, I found some good snow and loosened up with some pole plants ?n swing turns which gave me some flashbacks of Tucks and followed this up with fast cruising down Rim Run ? there! , now I felt better and was truly ready for the season! We all kept up a fast pace and racked up several laps. We made a few on the Elbow/Cruiser combo ? 20 years ago when I first skied here, that was considered THE classic Eastern cruising run. The wet packed snow was fun and was continually refreshed during the day with light snow/rain/sleet/freezing rain/snow.
Later in the day after Gawd-Only-Knows how many laps, I ran into Lars and his crew and we just kept up doing laps at a spirited pace ? FIS, Elbow/Cruiser, Looking Good. Then we ran into Peter and STILL kept up doing laps at a spirited pace. Everyone including the GMVS was whooping it up on this day as fun ski conditions were indulged on the upper mountain!
For the last run, we went for FIS and about halfway down, I was running outta? gas and I started to take my time and did some easy conservative turns. Wet snow was had on the final pitch down Straight Shot (the only way down to the bottom). Even though the storm pretty much fizzled, everyone seemed to be happy with the day. Open skiable terrain was a bit limited ? the Blue Heavens of Semi-Tough and Brambles and the Brave Green World of Walt?s Trail (these are off of the Inverness lift which also services the Inverness trail which is that huge McTrail eyesore that resembles the deck of the old aircraft carrier Yamamoto painted white and tilted) which are some of my favorites, were not open.
I hooked up with Peter later on for some Margaritas. Whaddya? know life was pretty cool in The Holy Land on Saturday.
I think the day tix cost $45 too. I heard that full season rates are $65. My season pass was $800, and that was "discounted" because I'm a "young" adult .