Mark Renson
New member
I was really psyched for some good Vermont skiing on Saturday. What I did not realize was that I was to be coerced into taking a Senior OEC clinic 'til 1PM. OK, time for skiing. <BR> I wasn't out for much - just some good mellow skiing on skier packed surfaces on a standard-issue Vermont Winter day. After cramming a dry sandwich (no mustard or mayo) with nothing to drink, I hopped on The Double. Quacky was the pick and at Birdland, I ran into Todd Fisher and Ben. Ben is addicted - no bondage bindings for him ... nope, he's hooked. <BR> We entered the trees and found a sea of bumps - un oh, time to roll up the sleeves and start bashing, I thought. Bumps turned out to be perfectly shaped, soft and very user-friendly. My spirits were now up. Later, we bagged S**th**se Glades (a favorite of Denis). The going was a bit gnarly, but we had fun and I used several turns as a way to "clinic" - as in work <BR>on my tree skiing skils by trying to quietly link some tricky turns through some tight trees, etc. <BR> Another run down the middle in the trees and we Ben & I wanted more. We sniffed around the edge of a trail when it dawned on me that I should check my watch - it turned out to be 3PM, exactly. On the patrol, I have found out that if you are to follow 1 rule, it should be the "stay outta' the woods after 3PM" regulation - they're sensitive about that. <BR> That ended the bark eating fest. Cat Bowl and Liftline followed and I finished the day by sweeping Fall Line with lurker Charlie Bates and descending via Creamery and Bunny. The great afternoon skiing fed my soul and I was very happy at day's end !!! <BR> That night, the light snow fell - ahhhhh. I partied with some freinds at The Battleground and shared some trip pictures. Chugging up Rte 17 to the great virgin powder fields (the MRG parking lot), I couldn't resist, so I made tracks with my Tacoma pick-up. After making the initial tracks, I went back and then back again, making some neat "8's". Then I "spooned" both sides. <BR> Next morning - bright perfect skies, some alpenglow on Stark Mountain, crisp dry air AND 4" new of very light fluff !! I went up the Double and was assigned to check Panther (yea!). Great fluff on a firm, but soft base - sweet ! Bagged some great lines in Gazelle Woods and Quacky and played around a lot of little woods shots all morning long. It seems that many new lines are opening up due to the debris from the '98 Ice Storm finally settling (a theory). Great skiing !! I ran into Plaids Ben & Barry Bloom, <BR>Todd Fisher and Gary Crofton. The day ended with me sweeping Fall Line with lurker Charlie Bates, again. <BR> It's great to be back in Vermont ..... though with the dreadful forecast up ahead, ummm, well we just gotta' hope for some wraparound effect snow. I was told that there was to be a net increase in the snowpack.