Season Opener 2013

Just me & Steve.  We have no people :(

Top to bottom coverage is nice.  Sunny, blue sky, and about 40 degrees.  Made some nice turns through the Glades and enjoyed a beverage afterward.

Later on we joined neighbor Bruce at Sushi Yoshi, a quick stop at the Lookout, and had dinner at Choices.  Monkfish does not disappoint.

Today we are ready for day 2 and crave the sunshine of day 1.  

February Break

Saturday: Steve & I get up late after I find him drinking Bourbon with Dave S. at the kitchen table Friday night. Windy, but burn a few calories. Trail of the day--the one that leads to the Yellow Yurt.

Sunday: Lovely skiing, but Byron skis up the OUTSIDE of the half pipe and blows a calf muscle. New adventure--taking the Base Shuttle back to the K-1 parking lot. Parking lot attendant pisses me off by not letting me drive through the upper parking lot to retrieve limping Byron. Immediately after I drive off, he lifts the cones and puts the sign away. I'm writing a letter. Trail of the day--not Grizzly.

The Tim & Dee Show blow into town. Five minutes later they are bickering about something important. One hour later, Tim is asking for a hammer and drill for a project he wants to start. Oy!

Monday: Wonderful day with Tim & Dee. There is a lot of corduroy and that is good. Dondi & his kids arrive early and meet us at the Yellow Yurt where the famous Tom-the-slowest-bartender is pouring the drinks. Trail of the day--Tim's ride down to the gondola station on route 4.

Tuesday: Off to Okemo after hours of figuring out deals, coupons, pass promotions, again, Oy! Okemo was great!! Typical Okemo--flat and fast and good snow. You never kill yourself there. Trail of the day--anything in Jackson Gore.

Wednesday: The Schricks arrive and we go back to Killington with the family. Cameron, Tim & Dee do Snowshed 'til you're dead. With all the green circles, Cam is in heaven. He practices his turns for hours! Tim & Dee love the break. Mia can't find a black diamond she doesn't like, until she takes a digger on Mouse Trap. But there's no stopping Mia. A short break later, she's back in the saddle. The snow falls all day. WOOT! Trail of the day--too tough to call. Cam would say Snowshed. Mia would not say Mouse Trap.

Thursday: 12 inches and falling. Carol is a powder hound. Schrick is maniac. The Stairs, Breakaway, Jug, Vagabond, lower Patsy's. Timber is back! Annie & Mace arrive. Trail of the day--Into the Light.

Friday: Snow is done falling. Michael and his clan are here. Steve is the Pied Piper and Leader of the Pack. Four boys follow him everywhere! "We wait for no one" is their motto. Every wooded trail, bumped trail, gnarly trail, they're in! Patsy's, Stairs, Ovation, Superstar Woods, and still they wanted more. Steve was happy to pass the pack back to their parents. Michael bought him a well deserved Bloody Mary. Trail of the day--Steve says Thimble, I say Devil's Fiddle kicked ass! Soft, deep powder. I win on that one.

We'll see what Saturday brings. It doesn't look good.

February 18

Skiing not bad! Skied 9:30-2:30. Can count the number of days we've done that this year. Got a few inches last night. Snowing now. Can we get 3-4 out of this? Cascade good in the morning, Highline & side trail off lower Chute excellent in the afternoon. Mid 20s. Sun in and out.

BB had three under 30 men to "instruct" while Pete played poker back in the city.

Missing stories: Michael's aversion to water, the bra story, Lennie and the afghan, having two too many Goombay Smashes.

January 21

We need snow.

Cold but not windy. Where did Monday's 16 inches go?

Dew Tour here. Only one trail open at Bear. Except for OL which we didn't do.

Michael made coffee, lunch, and dinner. Looking forward to pulled pork butt.

If he'd only shower...

Last Week

I say to Stephanie's boyfriend, "Wow, I was watching you jump off of everything."

Stephanie's father says, "As long as he's not jumping on anything, we're all set."

Steve says, "They're seniors in college. They should be doing it five times a day."

This is lunch conversation.

Christmas Week

It has been a different kind of Christmas week up here--the kind with no snow. While Bob & Steve dealt with elder care in Manch, the good wives came up and skied on Tuesday. It was lousy. Barely a flake on the mountain. We went to happy hour at the Lookout with young men to our left who ignored us and older men to our right who didn't. We were "Leo-ed" as Leo, starter at Green Mountain and Chatty Patty spent hours telling us all about themselves. Leo did ask Diana twice about herself, "so do you rent at Glazebrook for the whole season?" Twice. Or maybe three times. Not great listeners.

Wednesday was a much better day on the mountain. Bob had come up the night before and Steve came up in the morning. It had begun to snow and got better and better all day. Run of the day was at the end when ski patrol dropped the rope on the West Glade and we got 8 inches of freshies. We then went down and did another 8 at the bottom of Highline in our secret stash.

Thursday was 6 degrees and windy when I got there, and rose to 14 by the time I left. We were a sad little trio. Steve didn't ski Thursday. He may have broken a toe walking around the condo. He went back to Manch to be a good son. By 11 o'clock I needed a warm-up, but trying to get a seat at the K-1 lodge was ridiculous. With no summit lodge and Bear closed, the place was a madhouse. P.B. told me they are down 500 seats on the mountain. We had hot chocolate with people just like us only older. They even called the Snowdon Quad the double-double. They bitched about this and that, and remembered the good old days with Pres Smith skiing in 1959. I thought I was looking at us in a time warp.

Lift lines were 15 minutes long. The K-1 was down, and they weren't running the Snowdon Cripple. We took Superstar up for one run. At the top everyone is filtered down the icy Suicide Alley to avoid the Superstar Headwall and get to Skyelark. If one person went down, the whole stream was going down. The mountain really needed to put a snowgun on that. The skiing there was good because everyone was stuck in the alley.

Today is supposed to be much warmer. The rest of the week is not looking good for accumulation anywhere in the East.

Day 2

We skied 10-2 with newcomer Joe. It got to be 50 degrees and was sunny all day. You don't get too many like that. Had a drink in the Yellow Yurt where they ran out of white wine. Shameful. It was all interrupted by a flip-flop footed guy carrying his beloved on his back through the snow and mud. She had gorgeous boots which are clearly not for inclimate weather. He lost his flop at one point, but he recovered. Upon entering the Yellow Yurt, there were cheers and hoots and someone said, "Get that boy a Jager!" He deserved it. Chivalry is not dead! But the Yellow Yurt has no liquor, either.

We had a drink at Casey's Caboose and an appetizer (50% off)and then a delightful dinner of steak topped with roasted jalapenos and melted cheese and a baked potato and delish Leisel-made guacamole.

Day 2 for me & Steve. Diana & the nephews came out as did Pete & BB.

Off to do it again today.