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Anonymous
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I headed out in pretty stiff snowfall that had continued from Saturday afternoon. The roads were slippery and slushy and I was driving the Jeep since it was on the end in the driveway and I didn't want to take time to move things around. I also stopped by Mickey D's for breakfast to go since I didn't want to spend time fixing it before I left. Ever try to drive a Jeep Wrangler 55-60 MPH in slush and fish out food from a bag in the passenger seat? What's a little egg on the floor anyway? I got there about 20 minutes to 9 which was real good for the drive all things considered. First run was gondi to over to mid station to leave my bag at the saddle lodge. Then down Twister to Tahawas glades. Yessssss, the rope was down. This turned out to be quite a trudge in the deep powder. The hill was considerably steeper to climb than I remember because of the lack of base to blend in the contour. My skis were well waxed from a recent tune and slipped backward consistently with every step I tried to go forward. I was huffin' and puffin' and sweating pretty well by the time I started down but that was instantly forgotten as I encountered almost knee deep fresh over base that was hardly noticeable, probably due to the fact that they never, if ever, open the sucker and it hasn't been skied much lately. Big long GS turns in soft silent powder were awesome. They really ought to go through there in the fall with a brush hog and clean out the beech sapling shoots. Those little suckers were a pain in the knee caps but were not enough to trip me up. I skied off one big rock and landed the drop in soft powder and crossed a stream that runs down the middle of the glades that I had never noticed before because of snowcover. Cranked a few turns in untouched snow and had to jump back across the little brook with no breakthrough. At one point I glided over a downed tree that I hadn't noticed and it shot me into the air somewhat. Good thing my tips went over it and not under. 
At the bottom the drainage stream that runs down the outer side of Tahawas trail where the glades meet it was open and needed either jumping or strategic negotiation. A second trip down this was in order but I did a slightly different entrance than the official one. Someone had hit this before me but there was still some pretty deep powder to thrash through and work up a sweat getting to the goods. <BR> <BR>Then it was up to the summit with a trip down Lies. Hands down, the best carving surface I have every encountered on that trail. Then a trip down Chattimac in huge powder moguls and pretty stiff ice in between them all. This was the porous carveable type surface as opposed to the solid can't get an edge in type. Straightbrook glades were awesome and with a little careful picking I could find untracked lines by probing farther away from the main fall line routes. I did this several times with different variations including a complete run down the lower lift line. Double barrel was closed as well as Chattimac glades. I really felt this was going to be my last day using my pass and openly took a run down Chattimac glades. They sure seemed just as good as SBG. I can never figure out their trail opening logic. Hawkeye was very carveable all day long but got scraped off pretty good. Although people were falling all over it I had no problem holding a turn any where I tried. Maybe it was the Volkl V3's? After lunch I redid the two Tahawas runs again and same sequence off the summit. When you find a good thing you should stick with it, and it was good. I even stumbled on a little chute and trail that looks like a bootleg glade that someone cut or doctored up a little. If anyone wants to ask about it just back channel me. It definitely isn't on the trail map. I went back to try some more Tahawas glade runs about 2:45ish and got there just after it was roped off. I finished up with a couple of cruiser runs down Twister and under the North quad chair and called it a day.
At the bottom the drainage stream that runs down the outer side of Tahawas trail where the glades meet it was open and needed either jumping or strategic negotiation. A second trip down this was in order but I did a slightly different entrance than the official one. Someone had hit this before me but there was still some pretty deep powder to thrash through and work up a sweat getting to the goods. <BR> <BR>Then it was up to the summit with a trip down Lies. Hands down, the best carving surface I have every encountered on that trail. Then a trip down Chattimac in huge powder moguls and pretty stiff ice in between them all. This was the porous carveable type surface as opposed to the solid can't get an edge in type. Straightbrook glades were awesome and with a little careful picking I could find untracked lines by probing farther away from the main fall line routes. I did this several times with different variations including a complete run down the lower lift line. Double barrel was closed as well as Chattimac glades. I really felt this was going to be my last day using my pass and openly took a run down Chattimac glades. They sure seemed just as good as SBG. I can never figure out their trail opening logic. Hawkeye was very carveable all day long but got scraped off pretty good. Although people were falling all over it I had no problem holding a turn any where I tried. Maybe it was the Volkl V3's? After lunch I redid the two Tahawas runs again and same sequence off the summit. When you find a good thing you should stick with it, and it was good. I even stumbled on a little chute and trail that looks like a bootleg glade that someone cut or doctored up a little. If anyone wants to ask about it just back channel me. It definitely isn't on the trail map. I went back to try some more Tahawas glade runs about 2:45ish and got there just after it was roped off. I finished up with a couple of cruiser runs down Twister and under the North quad chair and called it a day.