Mad River Glen, VT 3/20/00

[Matt]

<I>(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 3/20/00. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.)</I> <BR> <BR>A call to MRG revealed 41 trails open, which was enough to divert the rest of my group from an expensive day at Stowe. We chose wisely. Bright sun, soft snow, and minimal crowds beyond the sundeck and grill. I let my friends take the green-blue tour in the morning (the intermediates were surprised and impressed by the selection) while I sampled the leftovers on Catamount Bowl, Liftline, Glades, and Beaver. Good coverage and packed powder all around. The smell of seared meat drew me in for an extended lunch, after which I talked one friend into joining me for something more adventurous. We hit Paradise, skipping the waterfall jump for a skier's right detour through tight trees and untouched snow, feeding into the middle section of rollercoaster bumps, snowy detours, and exquisite scenery. Things got ugly near the bottom, though, as the lines converged into a icy, rocky, rooty finish. We ungracefully hacked and scraped our way down the ice patches under the watchful eye of an MRG patroller who turned out to be Penny Parsons. After stopping for a breather and a nice chat, we finished with an encore run through Ferret/Glade/Liftline bumps. <BR> <BR>Let's have another six-inch "dump" and keep this going.