Mark Renson
New member
<I>(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 2/23/00. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.)</I> <BR> <BR>I was - still am - feeling burnt out from these monumental last few weeks of the best Eastern Skiing I've ever had. It has been very difficult to report on these last few weeks as every day has been a fantastic white blur. <BR> I reached deep down inside of me and locked the hubs and lumbered out onto I-495 at about 7:15, Friday evening in the dump of wet snow. At the Bedford toll booth on the Everett Turnpike, I bellowed out "PowwwWWWWderRRRR!" to the toll collector and she responded with "ayuh, ya' likin' this, huh"; at Hooksett the response was a long blank stare followed by "ayuh". <BR> Rolled into the HSC at 12:45 PM and was in awe of the huge snowbanks. The snoring in my assigned room was deafening and I was wired, so I had to crash on the couch in order to get a sane night of a little sleep. <BR> Saturday morning at about 7AM, I headed to the Patrol Shack and grabbed a shovel to score points with the patrol. It was the right move 'cuz when we were done, we headed back in and Head Patroller Steve Pardy bellowed out "Ya' with us Renson?". Somehow, I knew what that meant, so I put on my ski boots at a frenetic pace and headed for The Single for my reward. Up the Single we select few went. As we ascended into the mixed forest of spruce and white birch, I was reminded of glad I was of my "mission" in life to explore via physical adventures. At the top, we were given some instruction (Code of Silence, here) and off I went into Catamount Bowl into the untouched. It was a bit windblown and I was tired, but I knew that I had to keep up with my fellow patrollers so that they could see that I'm competent on planks. <BR> In order to fulfill 2 critical requirements of our Patrol duties for the morning - inspect trails for the public and bag untracked - I knew that Glade would be the proper choice. I took the little used upper entrance - just downhill from Mid' and made deliberate turns through the merge with Liftline and dropped into the dark forest and revelling in the knee deep. Into the body of the Upper Glades I went, barely feeling the bumps cushioned by the 9" new and then into Lower Glades, making my own tracks. A quick traverse over to the top of S-Turn and into Periwinkle Bowl rounded out the fantastic run. <BR> We quickly gathered at the Double and lumbered uphill for another one - gotta' inspect the trails off of the Double, ya' know. By now, I was loosened and went for one of my favourite combos - Upper Gazelle into Panther. Same deal here - soft, elegant easy-to-ski bumps. I reminded myself that I should avoid the woods, especially since Head Patroller Pardy caught me with my hand in the cookie jar, last year. <BR> Given this, towards the bottom of Upper Panther, I did the obvious - I cheated, dammit. My own personal HUD (Heads-Up Display) pinpointed a tree band that Jay, OTH Mike & I worked on last Summer and I went full throttle and dive bombed into it. That was so good, that I unloaded through some uncut trees and dropped into one Jay & I cut in September that has been skiing so nicely this season. After that, I was into the clear and soared into Lower Chipmunk. Normally, this is scraped due to the exposure, but on that day, it was virgin untracked and I did the obvious followed by a repeat of the S-Turn/Periwinkle combo. <BR> WHOA! A treat ! <BR> At the head of the Single line was Young 20th Jedi Warrior. His expression and "samochuvstvie" (A Russian term for state of being - the observable mental/physical/emotional aspects of the person) captured the Mystique of The 20th - it was written all over him ...... <BR> <BR>INTO THE PAST ...... <BR> ...... it was April, 1993. Six inches of new fluff had fallen on a deep snowpack and we ducked the rope and ventured onto Paradise and then over into the <ahem>. I took a fall with my feet in the air and went butt first into a tree. Later that night, we went to the Mad River Barn and I had it in the back of my mind that we might stumble into then MRG owner Betsy Pratt. We sat at the bar and I made eye contact with an older woman. Hmmm, I thought that was her, so I figured I'd test her. <BR> "Ahem" I bellowed, "whacking that tree today was nasty". She looked up and growled "Which one of MY-Y-Y-Y-Y trees did you hit?" <BR> Yup, I knew who I stumbled into. Much varied conversation ensued ranging from skiing to Ancient Greek history to NCAA basketball. I revealed to her where I whacked the tree and she heartily corrected my choice by emphatically stating "No, no, what YOU want is-s-s-s THE TWENTIETH" and then she proceeded to tell me where it was. Do ya' think there are any ski area owners that would do that? <BR> My first foray into The 20th was on Pearl Harbor Day weekend, 1997 with Dave Barcomb. Snow was wet and heavy and I got bombed. Finally, on my 3rd try this year with Rich Ramsden, things finally clicked for me and I had a fantastic run. The humbling mystique of The 20th had given way to the glorious mystique ...... <BR> <BR>BACK TO 2/19/00 ..... <BR> Nick had this amazing aura about him. On his own he has done trail maintenance in there and has ventured there solo in ritualistic fashion on powder days. On Saturday, he was there to worship, again. <BR> I forget the order and many of the things I did afterward. I think I hopped on the Double for my 3rd run and dropped into Partridge - getting fresh, knee deep blah, blah - and then dumped out onto Slalom Hill on the left. Then, a light popped on in my head and I realized I was on the incorrect side, so I traversed to the right in order to position myself for those jug handles and shots on the right that rarely fail me ... and they didn't as they rewarded me with the thigh deep and continued onto the steep lower face. <BR> Next, I went onto Fall Line, finding soft barely detectable bumps and leisurely wandered between Fall Line/Paradise and was made acutely aware of the fact that I was in the midst of the most fantastic Eastern Skiing I ever had, dropping off of stumps, ledges and bagging thigh deep in a dreamy state. Over to the crossover and into the trees again, letting out esctacy whoops and then heading down into Canyon, finding fantastic snow on the right before shooting over to a band I helped cut in November getting virgin you-know-what. <BR> I ran into Nick from a distance who was deeply involved in worship. He revealed to me that he was "lapping" and that he had taken only 1 run all year that was completely on-piste. <BR> I eventually ran into Rich ... _a_*_&#_@ Woods, more pow, then DE where I got some "crotch shots" in untracked and then suprised ourselves by finding candy in some non-descript trees off of Bunny - an unlikely spot .... more ... pow ... freshies ... smiles .... ecstacy ... drooling ... pow ... pow ... fluff ... candy .... giggling, whooping. <BR> In the liftlines, many conversations were heard, all with the same statements - "oh, I blew off work on Thursday .... I cancelled an appointment Tuesday ..... blow this off .... that day was fantastic .... what work? .... fluff ... pow .... dump" <BR> I forgot what run I took for sweep. I think it was Liftline .... whatever it was, it was good. <BR> Sunday, it was sunny .... I forgot much of what I did .... found more untracked. At mid-morning, I wanted to re-create my blissful Fall Line experience from Saturday. At the Starks Nest, 2 patrollers - Studley and Hoppy - blurted out "Mark, ya' with us". SOmehow, I knew that it was The 20th. "C'mon, we're goin' to The 20th". <BR> ... change of plans, for me. <BR> Traverse in was the easiest I had ever seen. Great coverage and no fallen trees or nubbins' to spook me like all of last season had. It was tough tryin' to keep up with the other 2, but I knew that I had to meet their challenge. Not too far from where Wes had taken us the prior week, Hoppy pointed out a track that required "scocching" under the spruce. My pole handle popped out when I caught a stump, I re-assembled and led the charge. We found very few tracks and had a great run. We paused to catch our breath and I spotted an opportunity, so I took a chance. It produced and we nailed fantastic, light, prime thigh deep. Who knows, maybe this line had never been touched, this season. It was by far my best trek ever into The 20th. <BR> Ran into Denis and Kathleen Baumann and took them on a Canyon-to-Tree Band that I cut run. Afterwards, I ran into semi-Lurker Gary Crofton and his family. It was a special day as the second of his 8 year-old kids had been baptised in The 20th on that day (the other had been christened in The 20th a week ago). Gary & I took a run with both 8 y/o twins, barely keeping up with the kids on the near perfect bumps in Grand Canyon. <BR> I did sweep on Fall Line. Snow quality was still high. <BR> Today, a water pump failed on The Single, thus making the Double the lift for the day. This prsented opportunity as I wandered down Fox and over Ferret into Glades/Liftline. Since most associate those trails with The Single, I had much solitude (yes, it is easily reached from the Double) and enjoyed the great snow, there. <BR> In the morning, I actually had to do trail maintenance. A new groomer had is still learning the ropes and he left a few rough spots that I had to remedy on Quacky - I had to perform some not-so brutal grroming. When the Single eventually opened, I had to perform this chore again on Upper Antelope. Sweep was on Quacky and into Birdland. <BR> I'm fried. I'm leaving stuff out 'cuz I forgot.