East Burke, VT – Up on the mountain, several different sets of slalom gates were drilled into the base depths coating Warren’s Way. Coaches stood by observing racers who lined up atop each course before slapping each breakaway gate with a resounding thwack. Down at the Mid-Burke lodge, still other gate runners were warming up … Continue reading Burke Mountain: Up the Academy
Bridgton, ME – Spanish music reverberated throughout my Jeep, escaped from the rolled down windows and floated toward the blue mountain sky. I couldn’t exactly figure out why my girlfriend’s music seemed strangely appropriate Down East, but it did. We arrived at Shawnee Peak on an unusually warm March morning not knowing what to expect. … Continue reading Shawnee Peak: A Down-East “Lov” Affair
Petite-Rivière-St.-François (QC), Canada – Le Massif de Petite-Rivière-St.-François is a mountain at a crossroads. Throughout its relatively short life, the resort with what may well be the longest formal name in the ski industry has prided itself on maintaining harmony with its natural surroundings and eschewing traditional ski area development. A CDN $24.8 million investment … Continue reading Le Massif: At the Crossroads
Stowe, VT – Mention Vermont, and you’re likely to conjure up pastoral /images of white church steeples, clapboard houses, steam rising from boilers in maple sugar shacks, narrow and winding dirt farm roads, and incandescent fall foliage. Skiers and snowboarders will likely also envision narrow, old-school New England trails, as well as broad intermediate boulevards … Continue reading Stowe: Picture Postcard Vermont
Stratton Mountain, VT – I just can’t help but to smile. Let’s just ignore the fact that I was grunting up the side of a ski slope with two broken vertebrae in my lower back, struggling to hold some form of traction in the snow. Forget that, all the while, an image of me losing … Continue reading The U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships: Back to Where It All Began
Brian Head, UT – The silence was deafening. Standing atop the rim of Cedar Breaks National Monument’s crimson cliffs, the enveloping stillness was punctuated only by a lone crow soaring somewhere thousands of feet below in the nearly limitless void. Far beyond, the Escalante Desert of southern Utah stretched to the horizon. The red, yellow … Continue reading Brian Head: Altitude, Not Attitude
Beaver, UT – It was an eerie quiet. As the sun descended into the cleft of Beaver Canyon, I was the only known person within 20 miles. Literally. n Granted, it was a Sunday night. It was still somewhat surprising, however, that I was the only overnight guest at southern Utah’s Elk Meadows Ski & … Continue reading Elk Meadows: Living In Your Own Private…Utah