Mark Renson
New member
On Saturday night at the Mad Mountain Tavern while downing a few Long Trail's with Christian, a fellow MRG patroller, Lowell George's voice boomed over the juke box ..... <BR> <BR>"Well, I've been down to Tucson ...." <BR> <BR>Christian, that's an easy one - _Arizona_, I bellowed out. <BR> <BR>" ... and Tucumcari" <BR> <BR>Ya' know where that is, Chris ? .... No? .... that's in _New_Mexico_, I chimed. <BR> <BR>" ..... Tehachapi .... " <BR> <BR>How 'bout that ? .... stumped .... that's in _Southern_California_, I lectured. <BR> <BR>" ..... and Tonapa-a-a-hh" <BR> <BR>Try that one, I quizzed. "_Washington_" was Chris' answer. Nope, that's in _Nevada_ down by Boundary Peak - a 13,000 footer, I replied. <BR> <BR>That roundabout tour of the American Southwest kinda' described my trek from the Hartford Ski Club to the MRG Patrol HQ in the morning. It was brutal crossing the unavoidable terrifying frigid ice sheets in sub-zero cold as I gingerly zig-zagged the 500 feet to my destination, finding the sparse spots of sand and crust to gain traction to safely reach my destination. Ice had to be a few inches thick in some spots. <BR> <BR>In the base area, the Patrol Director was agitated as we had to scramble to get the mountain together for the public. Compunding the problem was that many patrollers chose to stay away, leaving just a few die-hards to carry the load. <BR> <BR>We loaded The Single for a Milk Run of the unpleasant kind. Normally, this type of run before the public is one of erotic untracked powder porno. This time it was to break up death cookies, rope off treacherous slopes and pick up blowdown debris resulting from the prior day wind storm. The temperature at the summit was minus 18 with a wind chill of minus 50. Beautiful blue skies, though - a classic bitter cold blustery New England Winter day was in store ! Ahhhhh, it's about time !! <BR> <BR>Conditions on Upper Antelope were actually nicely groomed. We performed chores that I mentioned before and then headed for the Double. Fox and Vixen were actually very nice groomed conditions. I had to then inspect Snail/Periwinkle which was ungroomed. Yes, it was hardpack ... but it was actually edgeable. The bumps on the P-Bowl headwall were actually surprisingly negotiable. We did not open that trail combo for the day, but the decision was made to open progressively tougher terrain as the day went on. <BR> <BR>I went over to Quacky I and found edgeable bumps on the steep crooked headwall (it's a sandbag - it's really expert terrain, not the designated intermediate). I then did a little inspection. I went over to the side and poked and prodded in some untracked. Folks, it's not that bad - the rain had percolated through the surface. Granted, there's some crust and grainy consistency, but it seemed doable and not the horrendous bolierplate that I thought it would be. I headed further down Quacky and checked out some tracked off-piste (not really skiing, put poking and prodding) and found that it was not glare ice, but a reasonable surface. I did not do any off-piste on, but I could tell that the snow cover is not a disaster. In fact, I coulda' sworn that I saw fresh tracks in the loose granular going into the 20th. Folks, I suspect that a half foot of snow is all that is needed, and we're back to those conditions that have been spoiling us this Winter. <BR> <BR>I did venture onto Canyon (yup, we opened that, Catamount Bowl, Chute, Gazelle, Upper Panther and Slalom Hill as the day wore on) and found hardpack that was actually doable as long as I was deliberate and careful. It was not that bad ! <BR> <BR>Towards the days end, I did a very cold cruiser from the top of The Single down Antelope/Broadway/Bunny and surprised myself by doing the entire 2,037 cruise non-stop. I didn't dare stop for fear of catching hypothermia if I stood still. <BR> <BR>Final sweep run was down Quacky. Man, it was cold. .... but damn, I loved it ! The blue sky, bitter frigid fresh air, the wintery landscape below me and way off to the White Mtns and the sound of the wind lifted my spirits. <BR> <BR>At the bottom, we broke out some beers and Steve the Patrol Director sincerely thanked us for our efforts on a trying day. Much laughing and camaraderie was had and we all agreed that conditions coulda' been a lot worse. We did not mention much about the cold - so what, we all had fun ! <BR> <BR>A great day was had ! ..... HEY, I had a blast !!! <BR> <BR>Note: On Staurday, The Rockpile had it's highest wind speed in 5 years - 145 MPH with an average for the day of 97MPH with wind chills below 100F.