Live from Sugarbush - 1/26/96
The Deuce Brothers
to the quirky weather we've been experiencing the last week or so.
After the torrential rains last week, it took the groomers and snowmakers
a few days to get things back into decent shape. The weekend was scary,
due to the large crowds and scarcity of snow. But as Monday rolled into
Tuesday, the conditions got much better, assuming one stayed on the
groomed trails. I put in numerous runs on Ripcord and Organgrinder, and
spent an afternoon kicking around at Mount Ellen. The groomed stuff was
great, the ungroomed stuff was scary as all hell.
Tuesday afternoon, it snowed about three inches, making for a promising
Wednesday.
Then Wednesday, it rained again. Not the drenching monsoon we had last
week, but rain nonetheless. After showing up for morning clinics, and
seeing that there were no students, seven of us figured since we were
already wet, we might as well head up and ski at least one run. We
slogged down Stein's in heavy wet powder, doing jump turns and laughing
the whole way down. Despite the adverse conditions, this will probably
be one of the runs I remember for a long time after the season is over.
Go figure ...
Thursday was supposed to be my day off. I really had no intention of
even going to the mountain. But I woke to find about four inches of
fresh on my car, so I got my act together and made the first chair at
8:30 AM. I skiied over to Heaven's Gate with Dave Seymour (another
regular first chair guy), and we headed up to the top. Ripcord was
great, with the new snow sitting on top of a very solid base. I took
five runs on Ripcord, and one on Spillsville before heading down Jester
towards the Valley House chair.
I got there to find Snowball closed for grooming, and had no choice but
to ski Stein's even though it didn't look so good from the lift. I was
right. It was damn scary. All the slush piles we had pushed up the day
before had frozen in place. I could swear that I could make out some of
my turns from the previous day preserved in ice. The snow that had
fallen the night before was just enough to hide the frozen chicken heads
from sight, but not hide them from your skis. It was frightening. It
was challenging. I survived.
Today was a much better day, once again assuming one stayed on the groomed
stuff. Ripcord was in great shape. Same with Grinder, Snowball, Spring
Fling, Jester, Birdland, Hot Shot, Pushover. I give the snowmaking and
grooming staff a lot of credit. Thanks to them, I had a great day of
skiing with my groups.
Tomorrow is touch and go right now. Originally, they were calling for
rain, but as of right now, the weather report is calling for 1-2 inches
of snow, followed by sleet or freezing rain, changing back to snow by the
evening. We may get out of this mess yet ...
I'll try to keep you posted.
Scott Gurst (66 ski days this season, and counting ...)
--
Scott Gurst - Ski Pro Josh Goldner - Race Department Director
Matt Flanzer - Ski Pro Scott Fliegelman - Owner, Mad Mountain Snowboards
The Deuce Brothers - at the new Sugarbush - thed...@sover.net