My weekend got off to a slightly inauspicious start as I got 45 minutes from home, late on a Friday night, and realized my ski pants were hanging on my laundry rack
. Not quite brave enough to turn up to my first gathering in jeans, so I turned around and made the trek back home. Finally got to bed around 12:20am with snow coming down hard from all directions. Luckily, I was staying at one of those typically New England motels that time forgot and the owner very helpfully checked me in over the phone, gave me a room number, left the key inside so I could drive up and pass out, and waved me off with a cheery grin in the morning. Turns out his kindness was the real omen of things to come.
Saturday
Got up bright and early to brilliant sunshine and about 3" of fresh snow. Ended up booting up in Snowshed awkwardly next to a large Skitalk group debating whether to walk over and go "I recognize your faces from the internet." Decided against it. Took a warmup run off Snowshed, which remains some of the best beginner terrain in the east, and then off to Superstar, where I continued to hover awkwardly until
@Tony S (I think) introduced himself. Took a first run with Mr. and Mrs.
@Marker who is even nicer (and taller! Or maybe I'm just shorter) in person before somehow losing them and catching the back of the big crowd. Linked up with
@DebbieSue, another new gatherer, acquired
@James as an eminently qualified babysitter for the morning, and off we went. Deferred to the expertise of
@Guy in Shorts (also incredibly nice, encouraging and supportive guide, generous with his local knowledge, etc.), who turned out to be Guy in Pants, and headed for the top for a few laps in some soft bumpy stuff before stopping for lunch at the Peak Lodge and heading over to Bear to check out the party. I may be the only one who thought the conditions on Wildfire were not bad at all. As is the way of our people, we then had to ski Outer Limits just to say we did, then died overheating in the coastal Florida climate at the base.
Back to winter with an ill-advised lap of middle Ovation, which had beautiful inviting easy bumps until you got to the exit which was... mud and vegetation. May or may not have straddled a bush and gotten stuck. Skied in the late afternoon in a splinter group with
@KevinF and
@Pumba my FX85 buddy until... "I think that was Tony" "Looks like he went to the bubble" so we hauled ass to the top of Snowdon to just barely catch a glimpse of an orange helmet flying off into the distance. "I think he went that way" and off we went at top speed. Ah. My nemesis from weeks past. Great Bear. Always looks great from the lift, never that nice close up. I at least arrived in time to watch the others pick their way down, and followed the route that minimized free stone grinds. Poor Kevin was not so lucky. Sorry! Finished the day lapping Highline, which, as promised by Guy In Shorts, was gorgeous bumped up edgeable spring snow, with a dwindling crowd. Hung out at the tailgate party until it started winding down, then went back to the motel and collapsed in a heap.
Sunday
Sunday morning turned out a bit colder, a bit cloudier, a bit firmer. Conditions ranged from New England hardback to ankle deep death cookies. Met and immediately dragged
@mister moose into the worst of it, and then couldn't remember what he looked like to see if he got out okay! We all beat a hasty retreat from Bear Mountain and grabbed a few runs on Needles. Everyone headed in for an early lunch break while
@Guy in Shorts led a couple of us (Kevin and someone else I think?) back to Highline where I had a blast pretending to be Mikaela on the smooth predictable surface. Somewhere along the way it was decided that we would next head to Snowdon, without ever checking whether the bubble was running. Spoiler: it was not. Rather than hike back up to K-1 the whole crowd let gravity take us down to Ramshead where we did not realize our dreams of shredding some sick park laps or whatever the kids are calling it these days.
Made the arduous trek across the miles back to civilization (where I finally found Marker again!) and got a front row seat to
@ScottB's lift mishap. If you decide to sue, I'll testify you were pushed. After settling the snow conditions debate, we were back to Needle's Eye where everyone stopped for coffee(???) at the jerk chicken (??????) place. Got in an extra lap with I want to say...
@Needham and
@Dean. They were good sports waiting for me to make a thousand bouncy turns on bumps both real and imagined. Making mountains out of molehills? Moguls out push piles? Had a momentary lapse of judgment where we put two of the smallest guys on one side of a chair and the biggest guys on the other. If we tipped the chair over I'd plead the fifth but it turns out that lifts are stabler than past experiences would have us believe. Closed out the weekend skiing Superstar with the last stragglers until the lifts stopped spinning.
@mdf definitely could have got in one last run if it wasn't for me.
Additionally rode lifts, had fun conversations, and skied extensively with
@Phelmut, Mr. and Mrs.
@Johnny V.,
@SKI-3PO and many others whose handles I'm forgetting. SkiTalkers really are at a higher level! Just managed to hang on through a combination of sheer will and a mild case of youthful athleticism and loved every minute of it. Will definitely be back next year!
