riverc0il
New member
Or, why I still think Stowe is too expensive until Sunday.
The sun was bright with not a cloud in sight. Blue bird skies with a slight breeze to keep things cool. We all looked longing out of the windows all day long. I had enough at 3pm and headed over to Mansfield for some turns. The One Run for the Price of None Tour marches on to the beat of a different drummer.
Pulling up to the Gondi Base Lodge, I noticed several skiers coming down Gondelier. Must have taken Rimrock over for their last run. For their adventerous spirit, they scored some interesting conditions no where near the epic corn up top and also earned a walk back to the Forerunner side from the Gondi Lodge. I doubt it was worth the effort for them but it was more than worth the effort for me!
Skinned up Gondelier in its entirety before bending around the Waterfall up Perry Merrill. Gondelier was covered mostly well except the halfway point sporting a big ole' strech o' grass down the center and 5-10' patches on either side. Everything else was wall to wall with depth to last another week at least. One switchback was excessively dug out by a cat as seen below in the pictures but not down to the ground yet.
This was my second time hiking up under the Gondola and it continues to amaze me that this short and quick hike accesses 2000 vertical feet. The hike goes by so quickly, probably the easiest 2000 verts I have ever hiked.
When I arrived at the top, two skinners were fresh on my heels. I should have asked if they were VT-l'ers, but was not really in the socializing mood. I noticed one of the cars was sporting a plaid bumper sticker when we were all leaving.
Turns felt so nice off the top of Perry Merrill and around the bend. Nice small and slow turns, took it real easy and mellow milking every turn for all it was worth. It felt really great to be skiing, after work no less on Vermont's highest mountain with perfect weather and not a cloud in sight. Pinch me. Someone left half eights for me to close after rounding the bend on Perry Merrill, that was fun.
Then I hit the top of Gondolier and pure unadulterated euphoria set in. Folks, this was PERFECT CORN unlike any other corn I have skied. It felt better than six inches of fresh, no joke. Folks that end their season before April have NO IDEA what they are missing. When you nail perfect corn like that, there is no tool available to measure the size of the shit eatting grin that crossed your face while carving those sweet arcs.
Wish I had more time to skin up again. If I had known conditions down lower would not have been as good, I certainly would have lapped upper Gondolier two or three times. But I had the sun setting behind Mansfield and I had provided my girl friend with a reasonable ETA to expect me at home. So downward I went, crossing over back onto Perry Merrill where Gondolier got pinched down to the sides. Conditions were still nice corn, but not primed for harvest like above. Eventually, the snow ran out for a few feet at the switchback onto Gondolier where the groomers had bulldozed a path through the snow. A short walk had me clicked into my skis again and zipping down lower Gondolier.
No pictures of the fantastic sunset over Mount Mansfield, cam was in the trunk when the color starting going crazy. No clouds though, so it was not an epic sunset, just a perfect end to a great day. I gave a drunk gave a hitch down the access road to another bar, karma goes full circle for the guy that gave me a lift after skiing the Bruce with no Toll House Lift in operation in December. All smiles after that late afternoon quickie. Jay Peak is a quicker drive, so the remainder of my post work turns will likely be from Jay here on out.
The sun was bright with not a cloud in sight. Blue bird skies with a slight breeze to keep things cool. We all looked longing out of the windows all day long. I had enough at 3pm and headed over to Mansfield for some turns. The One Run for the Price of None Tour marches on to the beat of a different drummer.
Pulling up to the Gondi Base Lodge, I noticed several skiers coming down Gondelier. Must have taken Rimrock over for their last run. For their adventerous spirit, they scored some interesting conditions no where near the epic corn up top and also earned a walk back to the Forerunner side from the Gondi Lodge. I doubt it was worth the effort for them but it was more than worth the effort for me!
Skinned up Gondelier in its entirety before bending around the Waterfall up Perry Merrill. Gondelier was covered mostly well except the halfway point sporting a big ole' strech o' grass down the center and 5-10' patches on either side. Everything else was wall to wall with depth to last another week at least. One switchback was excessively dug out by a cat as seen below in the pictures but not down to the ground yet.
This was my second time hiking up under the Gondola and it continues to amaze me that this short and quick hike accesses 2000 vertical feet. The hike goes by so quickly, probably the easiest 2000 verts I have ever hiked.
When I arrived at the top, two skinners were fresh on my heels. I should have asked if they were VT-l'ers, but was not really in the socializing mood. I noticed one of the cars was sporting a plaid bumper sticker when we were all leaving.
Turns felt so nice off the top of Perry Merrill and around the bend. Nice small and slow turns, took it real easy and mellow milking every turn for all it was worth. It felt really great to be skiing, after work no less on Vermont's highest mountain with perfect weather and not a cloud in sight. Pinch me. Someone left half eights for me to close after rounding the bend on Perry Merrill, that was fun.
Then I hit the top of Gondolier and pure unadulterated euphoria set in. Folks, this was PERFECT CORN unlike any other corn I have skied. It felt better than six inches of fresh, no joke. Folks that end their season before April have NO IDEA what they are missing. When you nail perfect corn like that, there is no tool available to measure the size of the shit eatting grin that crossed your face while carving those sweet arcs.
Wish I had more time to skin up again. If I had known conditions down lower would not have been as good, I certainly would have lapped upper Gondolier two or three times. But I had the sun setting behind Mansfield and I had provided my girl friend with a reasonable ETA to expect me at home. So downward I went, crossing over back onto Perry Merrill where Gondolier got pinched down to the sides. Conditions were still nice corn, but not primed for harvest like above. Eventually, the snow ran out for a few feet at the switchback onto Gondolier where the groomers had bulldozed a path through the snow. A short walk had me clicked into my skis again and zipping down lower Gondolier.
No pictures of the fantastic sunset over Mount Mansfield, cam was in the trunk when the color starting going crazy. No clouds though, so it was not an epic sunset, just a perfect end to a great day. I gave a drunk gave a hitch down the access road to another bar, karma goes full circle for the guy that gave me a lift after skiing the Bruce with no Toll House Lift in operation in December. All smiles after that late afternoon quickie. Jay Peak is a quicker drive, so the remainder of my post work turns will likely be from Jay here on out.
but regardless, Stowe is probably the number one resort in New England for skiers bringing skins to head up higher. Likely, they would frown on skinning up an open trail during their hours of operation though. As I mentioned, I certainly wasn't alone heading up there.