<I>(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 1/20/00. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.)</I> <BR> <BR>Now I'm not sure just how cold it was at Smuggs on Monday, but I did see Satan himself wearing turtle fur. After meeting Bernstein in the lodge we had a few laughs reading the ski report. Numbers like -27F and -99F wind-chill can be funny if you read them right -- somewhere in there I think it said "Nuclear winter is upon us! Ski before all atomic motion stops!" MB decided 49 bucks was an exorbitant torture fee so he decided to take the cheap route and just roll the windows down on the ride home instead. Satan had already put me on his tab, just before heading south for the winter.. so I set out to see just how cold it can get. <BR> <BR>Well it can get pretty cold folks.. but numbers tend to be deceptive. By the time I got to the top of Sterling it probably had warmed to a balmy -20 F and the winds had died down enough to keep the wind-chill in the negative double digits. Call me nuts, but I didn't think it was THAT bad. As long as I kept my hood cinched tight and my turtle fur over my nose, the wind felt considerably less painful than a staple gun to the cheekbone. Expose any skin though and it took seconds to crystallize.. <BR> <BR>Believe it or not, the skiing was good enough to justify taking a half dozen runs. I was by myself and it was super cold so I didn't hike to the Birthday Bowls like I had planned.. but there was only one set of tracks going into the regular Back Bowls so I knew there would plenty of untracked to go around. Getting in there was a bit of a hassle though -- the snow was so cold I had to push and pole my way all the way across the pond and through that initial deadfall section. The upper sections were all windblown and tricky, especially with loose boots (had to be, or I woulda lost toes..) but once I made it down to the hardwoods there was a good 6 inches of light and dry over an edgeable crust. It was very smooth and all mine... <BR> <BR>This was the story most everywhere off Sterling (M1 was down -- probably because the trip to the top wouldn't be survivable). Stuff with a north-northwest aspect had seen the brunt of the wind, and a lot of the stuff near the lift had been blown clean (Hershey Squirts was quite slabby). By far the best shot of the day was in the Alley Chutes, where I had the last chute all to myself and repeated it by hiking to the sickeningly steep and narrow top. What a blast... five foot drop-in, one deep turn to point off the next 6 footer, bottomless landing, orgasmic snow all the way. On the lower section I got it right the second time around, stopped worrying about speed, and just trusted the snow and myself (Luke: With the blast shield down I cant see anything! ObiWan: Just reach out with your feelings!). I was Jedi for a moment and felt invincible -- of course the windslab down lower checked my ego pretty <BR>quick. <BR> <BR>Finished the day with one last run through the Back Bowls, starting on a chute off Black Snake that threads its way through some pretty big cliffs. Further down, the wide open birch glades were sublime and once again I had them all to myself 
I quit at 2:30, as the sun (and the temperature) was starting its descent.
I quit at 2:30, as the sun (and the temperature) was starting its descent.