Mt. Snow, VT 4/16/01

[Anonymous]

I tried to get Sven, the tele beast, to exercise the all-east pass and make tracks at evril K yesterday, but there was no convincing him otherwise. His plan called for a dirtbag, cornorific, freeheeling assault on the shuttered, corporate hulk that is Mt. Snow. Personally, I just think he hates to get up early. <BR> <BR>Not wanting to hit the hill before the sun had worked its magic, we arrived at the extra early hour of 10 or so. The sun beat down through thin clouds, and we were absolutely frying during the early part of the uphill. About halfway up, Sven noticed that the Canyon quad was running. Being the curious sots we are, we wandered over a bit and found, gasp, people skiing. What the Pete? This place is supposed to be closed. We asked some guy on the hill what the story was and he said it was an seasonpass/employee appreciation thing. We decided to head for the bottom of the hill and find out if we could snag a lift assist. At the bottom, I asked the guy at the lift if we could use our All East passes to ride up. He gave us a big smile and said "Sure. Have a ball." Well okay then, we'll do that. It was only the Canyon quad and it only went half way up, but it was free and it was good skiing. We hit it about 5 times and then put the skins on for the topping off ceremony. <BR> <BR>The skinning up was really easy and thankfully it was a bit cooler at elevation. Folks, there is a lot of snow left on that hill. The earned turns should go for at least another 2 weeks or so, especially over on the North Face. At the top, we lunched in the sun on the deserted unloading platform. The views were super. Monadnock and Wachusett to the south. All of the central VT ski areas to the north. And peeking out way to the North, some sort of snow covered massif (we bet it was Moosilaukee). Spectacular. <BR> <BR>The ski down was a most excellent adventure. We took some little bumpy things down over to the top of the Canyon chair and then ducked into the woods to the left of the leftmost trail. It was two inches of cream of wheat on top of a firm base. About half way down, the on map glade started and the wacks in the face stopped. Silky smooth all the way to the bottom. <BR> <BR>Total Vertical: Maybe 6K <BR>Total Cost: Gas for the Tacoma

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds like you lucked out on that running lift! Yep, "shuttered corporate hulk" describes it- not just the mountain, but the minds of the bean-counters who would close up shop in the midst of such stone-perfect conditions. I went to Snow many times in the last coupla weeks, knowing that the premature end was coming. Perfect weather, perfect spring snow, thick 100% coverage on- and off- piste...all of which still hold true, except the lifts aren't running. I've been seeing Mt Snow to the bitter end for over a decade and have seen them go as late as 5/1 with a *whole lot* less snow. Also, though of course skier visits were way down from peak, the parking lots were, if anything, *more* full than the same time frame in years past. Obviously the ASC suits changed the bottom-line threshold. Shades of the 'opening day' stagecraft in Oct. Not surprising, but a shame. Still, they can chisel all they like at the heart and soul of skiing...but they can't remove the magic from the silence of the woods.