A
Anonymous
Guest
I must preface this great day by the events of the previous night's snowstorm. It was around 8:30 pm and I was settling in at my family's place high on the slopes of Ludlow Mountain. Erin was on the phone, and we were both going about the process of making dinner when I heard a loud whining noise inching up the road outside. From my window I could see a car coming up the road, it's engine WAY past the red line, wheels spinning in a futile attempt to gain forward momentum. Just as he crested the short steep pitch below my house, I said something to effect of how the next pitch is gonna kill him. Then his engine exploded in a fireball 6 feet high. <BR> <BR>By the time I got outside a plow had pulled over and emptied his fire extinguisher. His engine was running so fast that he had thrown a piston rod straight through the crankcase. Parts of the car lay on the road. It was spectacular. I asked him what possessed him to floor it like that and he said something about being afraid of slipping backward all the way down the mountain. Rest assured, this was no Vermonter (RI in case you were wondering). <BR> <BR>As I stood in the snow watching this scene unfold two snow laden kids stumbled out of the darkness. I told them what happened and asked them what they were doing out on such a night. Apparently their plan was to climb Okemo via the Healdville Trail then descend the ski area. The storm slowed them down and they were capping off a bit of an epic. We went inside to call their parents and found out that a S&R was already being organized to find them. <BR> <BR>Those were the most exciting 5 minutes I've ever had on that mountain. <BR> <BR>Anyway, on to what you guys really care about. I skied Magic on Tuesday. I skied open to close with a long lunch, ticking off a pretty respectable 16 runs for a very respectable 15 dollars. Storm total there was something like 18-20 inches. The snow was moderately light underneath but heavy on top so the going was SLOW. I pitied the snowboarders, they kept getting stuck all over the place. <BR> <BR>I had super fat powder skis though and was giddy as a school girl. First run was first tracks down a seamless Sorceror. I think I made 4 turns the whole way. These new skis are something else in powder, they really make it a lot less effort and maneuvering in dense trees is cake. No more tipping over cause my feet are anchored in cement. They do require a different technique though. I found myself kind of pushing down on my heels accompanied with a sort of hip swivel. They have so much surface area that you dont need to unweight at all, even when starting from a stop on steep stuff. On tracked stuff they were very stable, especially in chowda, where their size allows just powering over the chunks. Only complaint is that they make deep snow ski like shallow stuff, and you dont get face shots. Small price to pay for the added control and mobility you get in otherwise difficult snow conditions. <BR> <BR>Back to the skiing. The jewel of the day was definitely TwiGon Woods, where I made run after run only crossing my own tracks. The wind had worked the snow south of the chair so I only went over there a few times. Master Magician was pretty interesting up top. A strong up current created a bit of a reverse cornice at the top, with huge swales blown across the Wizard traverse. The headwall had about 100' of ice bulges on it and required some cautious technical turning. Notaski Trail was the same way, minus the bulges. The classic hemlock glades off Talisman and Sorceror were great though and in general you couldnt go wrong, everything was covered and deep. The only thing you really had to watch out for were the flats.. but at 94 cents/run who can complain?