Mark Renson
New member
The PD warned us of lousy conditions as Saturday was shaping up to be another standard issue Year 2002 Death Crust kind of day. With the mountain cutting back on Pro Patroller time, we volunteers became even more important and the PD thanked all of us for coming out to patrol. Up The Single I went under gloomy skies. I was assigned to close the Cantelope Chutes and check Cat Bowl. We nervously scraped our way down ironclad bumps, across the frozen moss of the headwall crux and into the lower bump field. We then proceeded to close off the traverses to Chute. <BR> After skating down the porcelain on conditions equal to the prior Sunday, I headed up the Double and had some hairball bump skiing on the Quacky Headwall and lousier skiing down the rest of Quacky. <BR> I had to do a noon hour stint at the Starks Nest and we decided to close Cat Bowl. We got Tim, a patrol candidate to close it and sweep it. He was hesitant and we gave him the option of doing a visual check from top and bottom. Eventually, his can-do attitude and big 'nads came through and he skied it, checking into us per our direction from the midstation phone just to make sure that he was alright. <BR> Afterwards, I skied down Upper Antelope and it had turned to raw crap. I did not ski it, but sideslipped and scraped it, instead. It was ugly. I wound up doing sweep down that, too. On Sunday, the "Nor'Incher" of the prior night had dumped a 1/8" on the mountain and had drifted in certain spots to a 1/4". The word for the day was to start taking things down as plans are to make next weekend the last gasp. Conditions were greatly improved from the prior day; on a scale of 1 - 10, they went from a minus 3 to a zero. I checked Robin/Wren and then scraped my way around the mountain. <BR> During a noon stint, Employee-of-The-Month Bart (he used to teach telemark lessons and now he's a pro patroller) checked Cat Bowl for a possible opening and he suggested that we check again in a half hour to see if it softened. Per Bart's direction, I then tried to open Catamount Bowl. After I ducked the rope and sampled the ironclad bumps coated with the 1/8" of snow from the prior evenings Nor'incher that drifted in spots to 1/4", I tried real hard to visualize doable skiing and wanted to open it sooooo bad for the telefest, but I just couldn't do it. I sadly radioed into Bart that we just couldn't for the public <BR> In the afternoon, a miracle happened - certain spots to the skiers left of The Double actually became skiable as the temps soared past freezing on certain sunny aspects! Birdland became awesome (well, maybe not - let's not go overboard). I stopped to check out the NATO bump contest on Slalom Hill where Dylan did a 720 on telemark gear and Craig Barnard did a front flip on free heel gear, as well. Dylan patrols with us and runs the freestyle program at MRG. Craig teaches kids including never-evers and does an incredible job of it and parents are very happy to have him teach their kids. Craig also makes sure that snow is put in the beer cooler in the Patrol Shack for end-of-day refreshments (after sweep and all Patrolling tasks are completed, of course) and is fun to party with. Check these out if ya' don't believe me: <BR><A HREF="http://140.160.204.19/video/tmtips/MRGheli.mpg" TARGET="_top">http://140.160.204.19/video/tmtips/MRGheli.mpg</A> <BR><A HREF="http://140.160.204.19/video/tmtips/MRGFlip.mpg" TARGET="_top">http://140.160.204.19/video/tmtips/MRGFlip.mpg</A> <BR> Penny, Tim and I had to shut down the Birdland lift. It was the last day for this novice area lift. I was pleased to see the long line of people in chairs as the lift made its last turn, happy to see that so many appreciate some gentle novice terrain including some of the gnarliest skiers on the mountain. It was a sad shutdown as I pulled a sled from the cache down and we made sure padding and 'boo was removed. <BR> Sweep was down the Gawd-awful Upper Antelope. I was assigned to check Periwinkle Bowl which I did not realize was open. Down the headwall I went over a strip that was ski-length wide and a line of bumps. It was actually great fun! <BR> The skiing really stunk except for some stuff around Birdland, but patrolling makes a big difference for me as it has added a new interesting dimension to the sport. Lousy conditions actually become more fun when you patrol. It looks like next weekend is the end ..... unless !!