Mark Renson
New member
I hustled back to MRG in time for 2 runs which included sweep. Up the Double I went and I found great knee deep chowder surprises in Gazelle Woods. I forgot what I did for sweep, but I do remember that it was very good and made hustling back to MRG worth it. <BR> On Sunday morning, light snow fell as the day started. I was assigned Paradise-Ferret-Glades-Waterfall. Paradise was a bit tricky at the top, even though a handicap ramp has formed on the right side of the frozen waterfall. After the second waterfall on the right, the snow was great and I got that great roller coaster ride feel. Sleet/graupel fell from the sky which gave the surface a unique silky feel. Second run was down Liftline where I found great snow, as well. On Rockefeller's, I did some boot packing of some death cookies and Eric & Jane showed up. A few minutes later, I ran into them at the flagpole in addition to Rich Ramsden and Adrenochrome. Between then (approx 10AM) and 3PM was a long tree skiing fest. <BR> First run was TLN which included several shots of untracked. I lost everyone towards the bottom and wound up back on-piste. This was no <BR>problem as I knew where they were to be and I hooked up with them. We followed this with a terrific well covered descent through the trees from the top, a traverse to mid which then included a short shot of thigh deep untracked where I never had seen a line before - a testament to the deep base. I intro'd Rich and A-Chrome to a center shot which we followed up <BR>with exploring some lines we had never skied before. <BR> The rest of the day was spent combing the woods for Keith, Lori, Danny and Mr Kincade (twice), some Birdland shots, The Rat (twice), exploring some new stuff thanks to the deep snowpack, Sh*thouse Glades, the center shot <BR>(again), and a line I helped cut. As the time approached 3PM (closing time for the woods, a rule that I do adhere to as the Patrol is sensitive about the regulation), Eric suggested that we squeeze in one more; one more that <BR>would yield some untracked. I was skeptical about finding untracked, but whaddya' know, we found some in the Squirrel Shots (if you're from <BR>Virginia, you might be able to figure out where these are). There was still a few minutes left, so we hit some shots that you'd never suspect <BR>existed and I actually surprised myself by getting a face shot. After that it was still one more short shot and _still_ there was 5 minutes left for another before we ran out of mountain. All during this time, precipitation "bounced" (sleet) as opposed to splatting (freezing rain) which made for some heavy snow, but fun skiing. There was some freezing fog at the very <BR>top which created some thin crust. <BR> I was fried when I said "so long" to Eric & Jane. The problem then became how I would be able to muster up enough energy to perform sweep. For sweep, I was assigned my sweep favorite, Cat-Lynx-Beaver. <BR> I had planned on taking Monday off, hoping that the mixed precip would change to rain. <BR> The next day (Monday), no new snow had fallen. EVen worse was that I had bet the Patrol Director a 12-pack that we would get 6 new inches between end of day Sunday and midnight on Monday. Some snow squalls gave me some hope in the morning, but it was woefully short. Even worse than all of this, the freezing rain from the early evening of the prior day had created <BR>a death crust on the surface. <BR> For trail check, I was asked to pick whatever I wanted. Feeling brave, I picked Paradise. Christian then siggested I go for Grand Canyon after that. I nixed that as I wanted something more challenging, so I demanded <BR>Glades into Waterfall, which illicited a chuckle. <BR> Getting to Paradise was a chore as the upper headwall of Fall Line was horrendous frozen granular ironclad bumps. Then came Paradise which was a sea of death crust. I did not ski it, but just merely decended it. It was <BR>agonizing. I believe that I was only one of 3 to go down it all day long. <BR> I gingerly made my way through Ferret and laughed at myself for being so <BR>foolish choosing the route that I did. Upper Glades proved to be <BR>reasonable and actually kinda' fun. Ditto for Lower Glade, though certainly very "challenging" <BR> Much of the rest of the day was spent on groomers which were in great <BR>shape. But I did find some "doable" and enjoyable death crust on the <BR>Quacky headwall, Upper Grand Canyon, Cat Bowl, Periwinkle Bowl and a return trip to Upper Glades. <BR> For final sweep, I was assigned Panther-Gazelle Woods. On the latter, I had to traverse the woods to check off with the Quacky sweep and I found some incredible untracked crust. <BR> At the end of the day, much camaraderie and humor was had as we had a few <BR>reebs. Less than stellar conditions, but great fun anyway !!