PDA

View Full Version : Random observations from our fantastic ski day Sat Jan 31



TimKeogh
02-01-2009, 03:46 PM
That 7 inches of light, sweet powder made for one heck of a great ski day!

Around 8:30 AM, we saw a really bad accident on Rte 100, just uphill from Hardwood Union HS. Turned a blind corner and had to break hard to avoid rear-ending the 2 cars stopped already. A tour bus luckily was stopped, not involved. One car had flipped off the ledge and landed against a tree, it could have fallen another 100 ft if not for the tree.
On the way home we noticed a curious lack of guard rails in that spot where the car went down. Before & after it had long sections of guard rails.
I had an injury voucher that expired in Dec 2008, was pleasantly surprised it was still honored by guest services.
Got over to lower FIS as soon as possible in the AM, was rewarded with a lot of freshies – light as air powder and no one else on the trail.
Like an idiot I did not have my pole straps on and slid about 30 yds down Upper FIS, could not find my pole. Gave up after 15 minutes of looking, got a loaner set from the Rental shop.
Lunch time was the most crowded I have seen Mt Ellen’s lodge in quite a long time.
Was really nice to have Slidebrook running. Enjoyed the ride and fantastic views, you could see forever yesterday, including the White Mountains.
When we descending down towards LP, we noticed a very packed parking lot (like 90% vs 33% at North) and thought we made is mistake venturing to South.
Lift lines at Bravo, were still less than 5 min wait, but the trails had a lot of traffic on them – had to watch out.
Noticed new fencing along Valley House traverse to slow people down before getting to the Valley House double unload – GOOD IDEA.
Coming back to North, we saw 2 different skiers doing Slidebrook by themselves – thought that was kind of a no-no.
Could not get a table or barstool at the Mt Ellen bar, it was PACKED! We were not annoyed or anything but with our quads killing us, we had to sit.
So we scarfed down beers and wings at Waterbury wings and relived all the awesome runs of the day. :lol:

shadyjay
02-01-2009, 05:45 PM
Tim,
Sounds like you had a great day at the mtn yesterday. Slide Brook made its debut yesterday but some ferocious winds kept her idle today (report of a 60mph gust in the basin). There is no set limit to how many people you have to have with you in Slidebrook, but the recommendation IIRC is 3. At least it wasn't just 1 person in there! On the way home I passed the remains of the incident on 100 and wondered what happened. I live in Waterbury so I've been to Wings - great place and I know some people who work there. Mtn bars are quite crowded on the weekends. I still have to get over to ME as its got a lot of great terrain and usually less crowded than LP. Glad you had fun.

HowieT2
02-01-2009, 08:52 PM
saturday was one of the best days I can remember. Groomers, trees, everything was great. Me, Boze and the boys hit slidebrook twice (the deuce). check out the start of our end of the day run. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmLskn0KKm8
I got there at 9:45 and it was so full I had to park behind the building. But I still didn't wait on any significant lift lines and the GH was OK for lunch.

Strat
02-01-2009, 10:28 PM
That Slidebrook entrance looks gorgeous...... I wish I were home..... though snowshoeing around the Cornell Plantations is certainly better than no snow activity...

Yard Sale
02-01-2009, 10:31 PM
Howie-

That death defying video is a good one. LMAO. Keep'em comin'.

HowieT2
02-02-2009, 09:20 AM
Howie-

That death defying video is a good one. LMAO. Keep'em comin'.

That's why there is only video from the traverse. It was tricky enough holding the camera while skiing.