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summitchallenger
11-18-2007, 04:26 PM
Date(s) Skied: November 18, 2007

Resort or Ski Area: Sugarbush

Conditions: PP/FG, Moguls

2007-2008 Report: 2.

Trip Report: Day 2 of the Sugarbush “Preview Weekend.” A real beauty this morning…driving up to the mountain was great with the clouds lifting off of the mountains and bluebird skies. It looked like midwinter, folks. I made good time considering that I was tired from Saturday, had a statie following me all the way from Middlesex to Waitsfield (!) and then got behind a very slow van on German Flats Road. Oy. I pulled in at about 8:40 to get a nice spot in the lot…second tier. Everyone else was still sore from Saturday I imagine…

Got booted up and headed out…on the lift at 9:04 am. It was a midwinter morning for sure…cold temps and nice blue skies.

Dropped the bag in Allyn’s and then charged down a corduroy Downspout. It was pretty firm…but nice carving. Upper Jester was nice and soft…great corduroy and worth the early morning drive. The next run I decided to hike up to the top and take in the view. Amazing…as was the fresh tracks off the top and the :o from people asking, “where did he come from?” Later in the morning, I saw more folks hiking up for the view…I guess I started a trend.

At 10am I met Teleo and Lostone. We were the first members of the SkiMRV gathering. We did three runs together…first one down a becoming skied-off Jester. Lostone called it…folks were not skiing Organgrinder today…but rather peering down it and saying, “boy that looks slick,” or “boy my legs are too tired,” or both. So Jester got hammered pretty quickly as did Downspout.

Still, a nice day to be out. Teleo and I did jump onto Organgrinder and both of us took a fall or two. It was a bit icy in between and the cover was getting thin on the sides…other than that, not bad.

We met back up with Lostone and did a closer down Jester to Allyn’s. I grabbed my bag and Teleo and I were some of the first skiers to ski top to bottom…Lower Downspout was covered pretty well amazingly…considering that they had not been blowing on it for too long. The very bottom was thin…and the snowguns made for interesting skiing, but it sure beat downloading. My legs were burning. We got to the bottom to find Win supervising the situation…

All in all, just the right amount for me and my sore body. I left at about 12 noon. Good sized crowd, but the icy Jester and Downspout, with some congestion, made it a bit too much.

Lostone and Teleo are good skiers. Lostone was doing his ambassador thing…even though he was going stealth. Very nice. Teleo was out for some turns…and taking time away from the kid and wife. He thought that she might get out this afternoon. I’m sure the weather was amazing. Nice meeting treeskier and seeing Strolz from a distance…going to have to take some runs later.

It was also nice running into ski resort observer. We had a great chat in the lodge. He’s a nice guy…a hell of a skier I imagine. So a good group of folks…more fun today…hope to rendezvous with you on Thursday for some more skiing and riding.

Lostone
11-18-2007, 08:59 PM
And from my side:
I was heading for the lift. One of the lifties, while scanning me, asked how I was. I answered that on a day like this, heading up the mountain, how could I not be great. There was a guy on teles, in front of me, by himself. He stopped and commented how you always feel better when you are heading up the mountain.

We rode up together. We were talking about this and that, and at some point I mentioned the message board. He asked if I was talking about this board. I asked if he was a poster, and which one. He said that he was Teleo. I recognized the name, and asked if he was going to get together with the others. He said he was thinking toward it.

I told him what I'd posted about being there if the cycle allowed it. We took off down Downspout. He was saying he was hoping he could remember how to do it, but he was quite smooth. I had thought to leave him for his first run, but we were moving at ≈ the same speed, so we went up Heaven's Gate together.

As we were getting to the top of the lift, I checked my watch and it said 9:53. Chances that we couldn't make it to Allyn's by 10:00 were... very small. We got off the lift and headed down Jester. Snow was noticeably harder than yesterday, but still fine. For mid November? GREAT! :wink:

We got to Allyn's and there was Win. I introduced him to Teleo. Then, as Win was checking his phone, I noticed someone standing out on the deck, obviously waiting for someone. The way he was looking around, I had the feeling he didn't know what the person(s) he was waiting for looked like.

I went out and asked him if he was looking for the message board get together, and he was. Under intensive interrogation, he admitted to being Summit Challenger. We took off to do a few runs. We did 2 more Jester to Downspout loops. When we hit the deathspout part, on the second, it was very crowded. When we got to the bottom, I told them that I'd been asked to not ski if it got crowded and that had been my definition of crowded, so I was going to head in.

Of course, as we looked up the trail, there were about 5 people on it. Everyone was in one pack, as we made our way down, that time. That happens, sometimes. :roll:

At the top, I headed down Jester, toward Bravo, and they decided to hit Organgrinder.

I got down to Allyn's. Said hi to a number of people, then started up the hill toward the lift. I couldn't help but notice there were a lot more people heading out, than those coming down, off the lift. I stood there, with my skis in my hands, watching people. Gave directions to one gentleman and a group of three who were asking how to get to the other lift. I told them that i could give them all the trail info, but that it would be easier just to follow the snow. The woman in the group said that I was making it too easy.

After standing there a bit, thinking about the greater number of people leaving and the fact that when we had looked back up deathspout, there were so very few people on it, I decided I had to try it one more time, to make sure that it was too crowded. As I was heading down, Teleo and Summit Challenger appeared before me.

We rode up again, and when we were at the top of Heaven's Gate, I heard the radio say that we were now top to bottom.

At Allyn's, I left the other two. They were deciding what they were doing, as to taking lunch or declaring the end. I wanted to see what the bottom was like.

It was a little chancy. They were leaving the option for people to download, and I think that was good. The guns were going all the way, and the skiable part was narrow at places, with some waterbars and some sticky snow. Still... It was mid-November and we were skiing to the bottom.

:D

Great finish to the sneak preview of what I'm hoping will be a great ski season. Looking forward to... later in this very week! :D

Only one pic for the weekend:

Summit Challenger is to your left.
http://forums.skimrv.com/albums/2007-2008/t100_3174a.jpg

summitchallenger
11-18-2007, 09:14 PM
There goes my cover... :wink:

Now you all have a sense of what I look like.....

Hawk
11-19-2007, 08:33 AM
I guess I will just add to this.......What a great weekend. Had some bad timing so I missed everybody at Allyns. Saw all of the usual suspects during the course of the weekend. Good to see all of the instructors out on Sunday after their intense day of training. :wink:

In a nut shell - Saturday - Skied Organgrinder mostly. Great broken pow early then perfect mid winter bumps. Saw that young man looking for his ski. I think it was a great sacrifice for the snow gods...... :) Jester was fast and furious. Learned a new word on the lift. "Jestercross" Seemed appropriate. Castlerock for Switchback....Yum. :)

Sunday - Rewind, hit play. Got a little skied off as the day went on but you could still find the soft stuff if you looked in the right places. :wink:

Lastly, and I know some will disagree but.....It was great to ski a longer more consistent pitch to start the season. And that's all I got to say about that.
8)

teleo
11-19-2007, 08:46 PM
guess my cover is blown too. that didn't take long :wink:

Was nice to meet up and ski with everyone. Hopefully the start of a good long season.

HowieT2
11-19-2007, 09:01 PM
I guess I will just add to this.......What a great weekend. Had some bad timing so I missed everybody at Allyns. Saw all of the usual suspects during the course of the weekend. Good to see all of the instructors out on Sunday after their intense day of training. :wink:

In a nut shell - Saturday - Skied Organgrinder mostly. Great broken pow early then perfect mid winter bumps. Saw that young man looking for his ski. I think it was a great sacrifice for the snow gods...... :) Jester was fast and furious. Learned a new word on the lift. "Jestercross" Seemed appropriate. Castlerock for Switchback....Yum. :)

Sunday - Rewind, hit play. Got a little skied off as the day went on but you could still find the soft stuff if you looked in the right places. :wink:

Lastly, and I know some will disagree but.....It was great to ski a longer more consistent pitch to start the season. And that's all I got to say about that.
8)

Thanks for the "young man" reference. i just had my 40th birthday so I appreciate that. If sacrificing a ski is what it takes for a good winter, I'll do it every year (besides I have an extra now for next year).

shadyjay
11-19-2007, 09:31 PM
Loosing a ski on opening day is def. a bummer. But I may have had something a little worse.............
My first chair lift ride of the season - the Bravo - had me in Chair #13 !!!!!!!!!!

Luckily my day ended up a lot better than last year's ribs-bruising episode on Panorama at ME. While that did put me out for a couple of weeks (after another "ride 'em if you got 'em day the day after), I was able to rock through my best season ever. This season's first day ended with a couple Long Trails in the CRock Pub. Life is good!

And now my first trip of the season is behind me, with more to come. I post all my trip reports and photos on my web site (click the link in my sig, then click BOARDS on the home page). Hope to take more videos this year of the action. Let's see how creative I can get!