Sharon
New member
The weather forecast was foreboding and thoughts of bailing on this trip crossed my mind, especially after the 4 epic days we had last week at Whiteface. But I had 2 ski pals on board to share the 6 1/2 hr drive to Stowe. When we arrived Friday night, our friend Bruno, who had snowboarded that day did not have anything very good to report. He said it was solid and 40 degrees was not enough to soften things up without sunshine. The report was for rain, fog and clouds for the rest of the weekend.
Saturday morning the sun was shining in the valley which was most encouraging. The mountain tops were still in the clouds, but the clouds broke up and moved around a lot all day, never completely overtaking the sky. The snow softened up and layers of clothes were left in the car.
We met up with a very large group from the skivt-l ski discussion group. We started off with about 20 skiers and each run we snowballed into a much larger group, topping out somewhere close to 45 people. I have never skied with such a large group. But this group was comprised of people who live to ski and ski to live and most were excellent skiers, willing to ski wherever the group would go. Wes and his 7 yr old son WIlliam led the pack and we went to a number of different locations in the woods. William is proving to be quite the budding skier. The snow softened as the temperatures climbed. We skied hard until noon. Pam and I dropped more clothes and refueled and hydrated at the car, the phat skis came out and we went up to meet the group for more adventure.
Right after lunch, Pam and I took a run with Allen Taylor and Sam Lozier (you may see their exploits on TGR) and a few other guys on the closed Goat. I don't know why this run was closed. It skied very well. We also skied the woods on both sides of Goat. At one point we had 40 people duck the rope at Goat, all dropping into the woods like nobody's business. It was quite a mob scene. We were the only crowd on the mountain. When we got down to the lift, we were the lift line. When we were on any trail, it was crowded. We often stuffed ourselves into the woods. We were a mob scene. It was a whole nuther type of skiing, but fun none-the-less.
Saturday's conditions softened to a creamy corn on the traveled surfaces, but the snow was rotting like crazy on the less-traveled surfaces. It was sometimes very tricky skiing through the woods on that rotting snow. It would really grab your ski and keep you from turning. A few close calls were had. Being with such a large group made it much easier by letting the first people "groom" it out for us, "human groomin".
For a last run, Allen and Sam led the group again under the rope at Goat and we dropped into what is called Pipeline. This was pretty challenging for most. Hop turns and side slipping were required as well as a log and rock crossing. Once through the narrows, it opened up nicely and the skiing was good the rest of the way down. It was a fitting way to end the day and we were ready for apres ski libations.
We had a tailgate party in the parking lot afterwards and many beers and hot dogs were consumed.
Sunday the group was lighter and the skiing was much less exciting. It was cooler and less sunny. It had snowed about a half-inch which really did help the conditions. It would have been much more icy had it not snowed. Anything ungroomed skied like a coral reef. Not the most pleasant and quite chattery. We kept it to the groomers and made it a short day so we could get home at a reasonable hour not thoroughly exausted.
Saturday morning the sun was shining in the valley which was most encouraging. The mountain tops were still in the clouds, but the clouds broke up and moved around a lot all day, never completely overtaking the sky. The snow softened up and layers of clothes were left in the car.
We met up with a very large group from the skivt-l ski discussion group. We started off with about 20 skiers and each run we snowballed into a much larger group, topping out somewhere close to 45 people. I have never skied with such a large group. But this group was comprised of people who live to ski and ski to live and most were excellent skiers, willing to ski wherever the group would go. Wes and his 7 yr old son WIlliam led the pack and we went to a number of different locations in the woods. William is proving to be quite the budding skier. The snow softened as the temperatures climbed. We skied hard until noon. Pam and I dropped more clothes and refueled and hydrated at the car, the phat skis came out and we went up to meet the group for more adventure.
Right after lunch, Pam and I took a run with Allen Taylor and Sam Lozier (you may see their exploits on TGR) and a few other guys on the closed Goat. I don't know why this run was closed. It skied very well. We also skied the woods on both sides of Goat. At one point we had 40 people duck the rope at Goat, all dropping into the woods like nobody's business. It was quite a mob scene. We were the only crowd on the mountain. When we got down to the lift, we were the lift line. When we were on any trail, it was crowded. We often stuffed ourselves into the woods. We were a mob scene. It was a whole nuther type of skiing, but fun none-the-less.
Saturday's conditions softened to a creamy corn on the traveled surfaces, but the snow was rotting like crazy on the less-traveled surfaces. It was sometimes very tricky skiing through the woods on that rotting snow. It would really grab your ski and keep you from turning. A few close calls were had. Being with such a large group made it much easier by letting the first people "groom" it out for us, "human groomin".
For a last run, Allen and Sam led the group again under the rope at Goat and we dropped into what is called Pipeline. This was pretty challenging for most. Hop turns and side slipping were required as well as a log and rock crossing. Once through the narrows, it opened up nicely and the skiing was good the rest of the way down. It was a fitting way to end the day and we were ready for apres ski libations.
We had a tailgate party in the parking lot afterwards and many beers and hot dogs were consumed.
Sunday the group was lighter and the skiing was much less exciting. It was cooler and less sunny. It had snowed about a half-inch which really did help the conditions. It would have been much more icy had it not snowed. Anything ungroomed skied like a coral reef. Not the most pleasant and quite chattery. We kept it to the groomers and made it a short day so we could get home at a reasonable hour not thoroughly exausted.
. How about early September?
