Mark Renson
New member
Fighting off a cold and pumping a lotta' iron made me feel like I got run over by a truck by the end of the week. On Saturday morning, I looked up at Stark Mountain and it looked like it was ran over by a truck ......
Well, I wanted to get some required 1st Aid Practice outta' the way so I signed up for Stint on The Single and I opted to do Check/Sweep there, too, for Saturday. There was only 1 way down - Upper Antelope - and Canyon was the only expert trail open. On the whiteboard, I wrote "Edging Skills or Hospital Bills". Man, it was a treacherous weekend; a few inches of snow would make the place come alive, but that's still gotta' happen.. At the Stark's Nest, as Patrollers circulated through, I had them hide an avalanche beacon so I could practice and get something outta' the day. Fellow patroller Margie the Tax Attorney (omigawd, that title gives her a White Collar Drone Quotient almost as high as mine :lol: ) did the best of hiding a beacon, leaving some succor tracks of hers on the crust. For 1st Aid, I only assisted on all of our scenarios, so I came up empty-handed for credit. Then for Sweep, I got Practice Slope, though maybe that wasn't a bad thing when ya' think of it. Yeah, it was a tough weekend, alright and at the end of Saturday, I still felt like I got run over by a truck.
That night, I heard rumours of maybe 5" of snowfall being a possibility. Since I was born yesterday, I actually believed it. The next morning, the Nor'incher dumped 1/32" of new and it was puking at a rate of 1/128" per hour. When I blurted out the latter statistic, the Flight Commander responded with "PUKING?!?!?!? .......Dry Heaves is more like it".
I was still determined to get some credit for 1st AId Practice, so I signed up for The Single, again. Trail checks were taken and I prayed that Canyon would be taken. Sure enough, nobody signed up for Canyon and it came down to Jeff who has a wife, 2 young kids and acts like a responsible adult vs me who has a truck with 240k+ miles on it. So, take a big guess as to who got assigned Canyon. After some doable turns just off of Broadway, I ran into utterly wretched conditions - beyond porcelain - down to Bunny. Lower Canyon was actually doable. First Aid practice was tough - as it should be - and Geordie gave us some good tips. As the day progressed, some advanced terrain off of the Double was opened. Panther was brutal and I ain't talking about BRUTALLY GROOMED, either. Some interesting technical skiing opportunities were presented, however. On the Quacky headwall, powder had drifted in to as much as a whopping 1' maybe even 2" in the troughs between the ironclad bumps which was actually kinda' interesting and rewarding. Other interesting technical opportunities were to be found on Gazelle, Panther, Porcupine headwall among others. The novice Broadway was terrifying where it merged with Fox and Vixen. Birdland had some good skiing as long as you went at a cautious speed. Turns during the weekend had to be made deliberately and cautiously and with an iron fist. For Sweep, I got a break - if you could call it that - and was assigned Bunny.
That night, some of us patrollers hanging around - including Dr Oliver, our well mannered Manhattan doctor - were invited to an impromptu party held by one of the Homeowners. This gave us a chance to behave like anything but adults as much foolishness was had. I was surprised at the end of the night that Mark V a fellow HSC member could actually still pronounce "conviviality" as in good 'ol Mad River Conviviality.
Sooooo, today, I went up the Double and take a big guess who got assigned the most wretched open trail on the mountain which was Panther. Just like I had the prior day, I wrote in "Oh Sh*t" in the comments column on the Trail Check sheet. It was even more brutal than the prior day if you could believe such a thing. I headed up The Single and there was still some trail checkin' to do and whaddya' know it turns out we were opening some of the mid-mountain advanced terrain - Upper Glade, Lower Slower Glade, Liftline, and Beaver. 'da Beav' and novice Broadway remained on the list and Aaron our MIT Egghead walked in behind me. I ain't as smart as he is (who the hell is) and I ain't as brave either so you know where I went. I ain't dumb. Later on, I felt bad about leaving Aaron stuck with Beaver, so I felt obligated to ski it. After negotiating some lunar terrain across Liftline and some coral reef after the intersection with Lynx (Lynx was closed, thank Gawd), I was pleasantly surprised to find doable terrain on 'da Beav' . I made 2nd tracks - yes, there was 1/8" to as much as 3" deposited by the Nor'Incher in the troughs - and actually had a few somewhat enjoyable turns.
As the sun set over the Dacks, it had come time to do Sweep. In the Starks Nest, I was dumb enough to make the comment that Beaver actually was doable even though I suspected that because of my big mouth during the day had caused many to track out Beaver and reduce it to a porcelain nightmore. So, take a big guess who was assigned Beaver for Sweep. The truth be known, it was actually still in doable condition. I was reminded that Beaver was my favorite Sweep run and I had an enjoyable Sweep run.
Well, I wanted to get some required 1st Aid Practice outta' the way so I signed up for Stint on The Single and I opted to do Check/Sweep there, too, for Saturday. There was only 1 way down - Upper Antelope - and Canyon was the only expert trail open. On the whiteboard, I wrote "Edging Skills or Hospital Bills". Man, it was a treacherous weekend; a few inches of snow would make the place come alive, but that's still gotta' happen.. At the Stark's Nest, as Patrollers circulated through, I had them hide an avalanche beacon so I could practice and get something outta' the day. Fellow patroller Margie the Tax Attorney (omigawd, that title gives her a White Collar Drone Quotient almost as high as mine :lol: ) did the best of hiding a beacon, leaving some succor tracks of hers on the crust. For 1st Aid, I only assisted on all of our scenarios, so I came up empty-handed for credit. Then for Sweep, I got Practice Slope, though maybe that wasn't a bad thing when ya' think of it. Yeah, it was a tough weekend, alright and at the end of Saturday, I still felt like I got run over by a truck.
That night, I heard rumours of maybe 5" of snowfall being a possibility. Since I was born yesterday, I actually believed it. The next morning, the Nor'incher dumped 1/32" of new and it was puking at a rate of 1/128" per hour. When I blurted out the latter statistic, the Flight Commander responded with "PUKING?!?!?!? .......Dry Heaves is more like it".
I was still determined to get some credit for 1st AId Practice, so I signed up for The Single, again. Trail checks were taken and I prayed that Canyon would be taken. Sure enough, nobody signed up for Canyon and it came down to Jeff who has a wife, 2 young kids and acts like a responsible adult vs me who has a truck with 240k+ miles on it. So, take a big guess as to who got assigned Canyon. After some doable turns just off of Broadway, I ran into utterly wretched conditions - beyond porcelain - down to Bunny. Lower Canyon was actually doable. First Aid practice was tough - as it should be - and Geordie gave us some good tips. As the day progressed, some advanced terrain off of the Double was opened. Panther was brutal and I ain't talking about BRUTALLY GROOMED, either. Some interesting technical skiing opportunities were presented, however. On the Quacky headwall, powder had drifted in to as much as a whopping 1' maybe even 2" in the troughs between the ironclad bumps which was actually kinda' interesting and rewarding. Other interesting technical opportunities were to be found on Gazelle, Panther, Porcupine headwall among others. The novice Broadway was terrifying where it merged with Fox and Vixen. Birdland had some good skiing as long as you went at a cautious speed. Turns during the weekend had to be made deliberately and cautiously and with an iron fist. For Sweep, I got a break - if you could call it that - and was assigned Bunny.
That night, some of us patrollers hanging around - including Dr Oliver, our well mannered Manhattan doctor - were invited to an impromptu party held by one of the Homeowners. This gave us a chance to behave like anything but adults as much foolishness was had. I was surprised at the end of the night that Mark V a fellow HSC member could actually still pronounce "conviviality" as in good 'ol Mad River Conviviality.
Sooooo, today, I went up the Double and take a big guess who got assigned the most wretched open trail on the mountain which was Panther. Just like I had the prior day, I wrote in "Oh Sh*t" in the comments column on the Trail Check sheet. It was even more brutal than the prior day if you could believe such a thing. I headed up The Single and there was still some trail checkin' to do and whaddya' know it turns out we were opening some of the mid-mountain advanced terrain - Upper Glade, Lower Slower Glade, Liftline, and Beaver. 'da Beav' and novice Broadway remained on the list and Aaron our MIT Egghead walked in behind me. I ain't as smart as he is (who the hell is) and I ain't as brave either so you know where I went. I ain't dumb. Later on, I felt bad about leaving Aaron stuck with Beaver, so I felt obligated to ski it. After negotiating some lunar terrain across Liftline and some coral reef after the intersection with Lynx (Lynx was closed, thank Gawd), I was pleasantly surprised to find doable terrain on 'da Beav' . I made 2nd tracks - yes, there was 1/8" to as much as 3" deposited by the Nor'Incher in the troughs - and actually had a few somewhat enjoyable turns.
As the sun set over the Dacks, it had come time to do Sweep. In the Starks Nest, I was dumb enough to make the comment that Beaver actually was doable even though I suspected that because of my big mouth during the day had caused many to track out Beaver and reduce it to a porcelain nightmore. So, take a big guess who was assigned Beaver for Sweep. The truth be known, it was actually still in doable condition. I was reminded that Beaver was my favorite Sweep run and I had an enjoyable Sweep run.
