Mark Renson
New member
I had planned to meet Lars at the base at 9:00 as well as Marta. Lars also had said that Evan might show up as well as perhaps some others. Some light snow had fallen overnight, but certainly not enough to cover up what would be a frozen death crust :twisted: from the wet snow/rain/sleet/freezing rain followed by an overnight freeze.
So, I anticipated a skin to the top followed by some rude encounters with the Death Crust which woulda? meant 2000 feet of Zorro turns and struggling and sinking my teeth into cold cruel crust - beautiful.
Nonetheless, I impatiently headed up solo at a little after 9AM under sublime gray North Country skies with light snow falling and bound for the summit. After passing the midstation, I ran into the Flight Commander who had snowmobiled up to do some chores. He mentioned who he was impressed with the coverage ? and it was very impressive ? and was excited about the planned opening next Saturday. Still, I was skeptical about the potentially very punchy crust.
After de-skinning at the Stark?s Nest, I cautiously schussed down Upper Antelope along the ridge. No problems, good snow, but wait ?til I encounter a stiffer downhill and encounter some real crust, I thought.
Down the upper headwall I went and whaddya? know ? SWEEEEEET! No Death Crust! Just a nice firm base with a SWEEEEEET topping of a few inches of fluff. What a treat! I stayed on the right hand braid of Upper Antelope and was able to ski even more aggressively as a surprising number of water bars were filled in. The cautious tentative skiing one normally does during Stark Mountain preseason gave way to much more confident turns. The great turns kept up until I skinned up at the bottom of Fox.
Off the top of The Double, I launched onto the Quacky Headwall and had the same great experience. Best-darned preseason skiing I ever had on Stark Mountain. It was totally unexpected, too! I did encounter a bit of crust around the devil?s elbow on Quacky, but not enough to be a buzz killer and this gave way to some more sweet fluff down to Broadway.
I switched gears and headed to the summit, again. I started to encounter many other skiers and we all agreed that we were in disbelief over the great fun conditions. Off the summit, I headed for Cat Bowl, which had collected just a few tracks. Right down the middle of Cat Bowl, there was a sweet generous swath of untracked and again, I was astounded at the great skiing I had down the steep headwall. I have never seen it that good in mid-Winter! Once more, I schussed down the right braid down to the Midstation. So good was that run that I did it again.
I wanted one more ascent, so up to the top of The Double I went and went for Quacky again and again, I had a great run. I took the upper Quacky to the bottom of Slalom Hill and then kicked back for some sweet untracked turns (sans an ugly water bar) down Lower Panther ?cuz I wanted to see the new plantings of conifers done by the SMF on Gazelle. After checking out the great work done there (skier?s left of lower Gazelle/Chipmunk just slight downhill from where the old midstation was), I headed down the liftline in anticipation of the Death Crust. None of this was found as I had great powder turns. I ducked into the lower Chipmunk (that part that connects to Chip? Bowl below the Birdcage) and halfway down, I finally encountered some of that crust ??but I also saw where a groomer that had been just taken out in the afternoon, had left a brutally groomed track! All I had to do was make 2 Zorro turns and let ?em run to the track and follow the groomed track all the way to the bottom ? everything was going right, today!
At the bottom, I gave Dave a ride to his truck at The Rat and then drove back down to the base area to enjoy a beer. Fellow patroller Charlie showed up and he needed a ride to The Rat to which I promised him if he had a beer with me. After dropping him off, I drove up to the top of the gap to turnaround and ran into fellow patroller John who was helping someone stuck in the snow to which I assisted. Helping someone get outta? the snow, good powder, fickle weather, great turns, awful driving conditions, microbrews ? it all made for a Red Letter complete Vermont weekend!
So, I anticipated a skin to the top followed by some rude encounters with the Death Crust which woulda? meant 2000 feet of Zorro turns and struggling and sinking my teeth into cold cruel crust - beautiful.
Nonetheless, I impatiently headed up solo at a little after 9AM under sublime gray North Country skies with light snow falling and bound for the summit. After passing the midstation, I ran into the Flight Commander who had snowmobiled up to do some chores. He mentioned who he was impressed with the coverage ? and it was very impressive ? and was excited about the planned opening next Saturday. Still, I was skeptical about the potentially very punchy crust.
After de-skinning at the Stark?s Nest, I cautiously schussed down Upper Antelope along the ridge. No problems, good snow, but wait ?til I encounter a stiffer downhill and encounter some real crust, I thought.
Down the upper headwall I went and whaddya? know ? SWEEEEEET! No Death Crust! Just a nice firm base with a SWEEEEEET topping of a few inches of fluff. What a treat! I stayed on the right hand braid of Upper Antelope and was able to ski even more aggressively as a surprising number of water bars were filled in. The cautious tentative skiing one normally does during Stark Mountain preseason gave way to much more confident turns. The great turns kept up until I skinned up at the bottom of Fox.
Off the top of The Double, I launched onto the Quacky Headwall and had the same great experience. Best-darned preseason skiing I ever had on Stark Mountain. It was totally unexpected, too! I did encounter a bit of crust around the devil?s elbow on Quacky, but not enough to be a buzz killer and this gave way to some more sweet fluff down to Broadway.
I switched gears and headed to the summit, again. I started to encounter many other skiers and we all agreed that we were in disbelief over the great fun conditions. Off the summit, I headed for Cat Bowl, which had collected just a few tracks. Right down the middle of Cat Bowl, there was a sweet generous swath of untracked and again, I was astounded at the great skiing I had down the steep headwall. I have never seen it that good in mid-Winter! Once more, I schussed down the right braid down to the Midstation. So good was that run that I did it again.
I wanted one more ascent, so up to the top of The Double I went and went for Quacky again and again, I had a great run. I took the upper Quacky to the bottom of Slalom Hill and then kicked back for some sweet untracked turns (sans an ugly water bar) down Lower Panther ?cuz I wanted to see the new plantings of conifers done by the SMF on Gazelle. After checking out the great work done there (skier?s left of lower Gazelle/Chipmunk just slight downhill from where the old midstation was), I headed down the liftline in anticipation of the Death Crust. None of this was found as I had great powder turns. I ducked into the lower Chipmunk (that part that connects to Chip? Bowl below the Birdcage) and halfway down, I finally encountered some of that crust ??but I also saw where a groomer that had been just taken out in the afternoon, had left a brutally groomed track! All I had to do was make 2 Zorro turns and let ?em run to the track and follow the groomed track all the way to the bottom ? everything was going right, today!
At the bottom, I gave Dave a ride to his truck at The Rat and then drove back down to the base area to enjoy a beer. Fellow patroller Charlie showed up and he needed a ride to The Rat to which I promised him if he had a beer with me. After dropping him off, I drove up to the top of the gap to turnaround and ran into fellow patroller John who was helping someone stuck in the snow to which I assisted. Helping someone get outta? the snow, good powder, fickle weather, great turns, awful driving conditions, microbrews ? it all made for a Red Letter complete Vermont weekend!