Sugarbush, VT this past week

[Mike]

<I>(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 2/3/00. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.)</I> <BR> <BR>As anyone knows the sking is simply stellar right now. I can't imagine what Jay is like, but yesterday at SB was easily the best day of the year. Last Wednesday I was at MRG, 8-10" of fresh. Friday at North was killer snow, but the wind put everything on hold, and it was cold. I went over to South and had a great time, went into the woods, and realized it was deep in there. Sat had to go to Boston to see shaina in a show, and Sunday I was to take Shaina to a J3 race at Burke. She had a long day on Saturday, and I was worried if she was up to it, but she wanted to go. She has been skiing well lately and it looked to be a beautiful day for a ski race. As we pulled into the parking lot, she said she still felt tired, was getting a headache, and didn't feel up to racing. So I got some more coffee, turned around and drove back. While this was a tough way to start a ski day, I got to North by 10. I found Mallory and asked her if she wanted to ski some woods with me, or train with her group. They were going to mostly free ski, so she came with me and we headed off to the slide brook. <BR> <BR>Well this was the start of some incredible skiing. I got a bit lost, as usual. Mallory says that I shouldn't think about a second career as a guide. we found the top of #1 chute, and stopped for lunch. We had a great picnic in the woods, looking at the chute. After lunch I decided that #1 might be a bit steep for her, and might still be thin, so we went on to Moosy. there was so much snow that everything was open. On Friday the snow was soft and powdery as it was cold. Today(sun) it had warmed up, so the snow picked up some moisture and had settled. We ripped up the woods, hit some stuff but generally it was great. Even with the hike out, it was so good that Mallory wanted to do another. We found the goods this time, and had a great time. beautiful powder. Monday dawned with 10-12" of fresh. I really thought I was going to work, as I had skied a lot the past week, but the schools were closed. Shaina still felt sick, but Mallory was eager to get first tracks. I decided to blow off work to spend some quality time with my daughter. What a good move! As we got out a bit late, we decided to go to North. Lately South opens a 7:45 or so on a powder day, and everyone goes there. With highspeed lifts, it gets tracked out real quick. We got to North and there was oh, five people in line on Inverness. We headed up, First tracks on Inverness. Almost knee deep perfect pow. Third and fourth tracks on Semi tough. Headed over to North ridge, first down Bravo, but Cliffs was unbelievable. Totally untracked. Skied nonstop. Just killer powder. We skied real hard, Tumbler, Elbow was great, A few more on the North Ridge,and we took Lower Fis down. Just killer. One more in Inverness, and I had to go to work, and Mal was tired. what a great way to start the day. If anyone out there is looking for a reason to move to VT, this is it. <BR> <BR>I was sort of wondering how yesterday would be, but I never it expected to be better than Monday. Yesterday turned out to be the best day of the year. I know that the 3' dump in November was tough to beat, but yesterday was it. there was another 8-10" blown in over what was left from Monday. As North has been the forgotten mountain lately, it had hardly been skied in. It ws extremely cold yesterday, and the summit was on wind hold, but Northridge gave us everything we wanted. we started with semi tough which was great. Since it was so cold, the snow was powdery and had lost enough moisture to pack down. It was great. I have skied it deeper, but never better. Brambles was amazing. Bravo to Hammerhead. More of the same. As we were worried about the lift going on wind hold, we headed to some choice woods line we know. Unbelievable. Didn't hit anything. Just deep and deeper. I got off the chute, because things are so deep that you could ski anywhere. We then decided to try Spin out to Lower FIS. this was the pick of the day. We ripped down it and did it again. By now it was about 2, and my buddies had to go. I got ready to keep skiing, but I got a call from my wife that said Mallory was sick at school, and I had to get her. Oh well, So much for skiing. We had said that the only problem with yesterday is that there wouldn't be enough time to ski all we wanted. <BR> <BR>North was basically deserted, and there is plenty of snow. It would be worth checking out Thursday. the conditions right now are as good as they get. If you can clear your schedule and get up here I would do it. NOW. the powder is waiting.