Day 28 - Crystal Mountain

Out 8:30 to 12:00 with a quick coffee break - left when I came out and didn't want to get in the REX line twice in a row; clear, cold, and crisp; 14 runs; 15,000 vertical; skied the Blizzard Brahma #2's - easily the best thing I brought on this trip; beautiful soft groomers all morning; lots of pictures.



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Day 27 - Crystal Mountain

On the hill from 8:30 to 12:15 with a quick lunch break; clearing with little to no wind and temps steady around 20; 18 runs; 25,000, skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 19's; all groomers today; snow is still soft; not too crowded today; today's groomer texture at the end of my day.



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Day 26 - Crystal Mountain

Out 8:30 to 12:15 with a quick coffee break; mixed precip and icing early, clearing later; skied the Line Supernatural 108's; 14 runs; 20,000 vert; another big crowd; looking forward to different skis tomorrow; today's mountain report, "We are 100% open with all 11 lifts running and 2,600 acres of pure mountain fun!"

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Day 25 - Crystal Mountain

Out 8:30 to 12:30 with a very quick coffee break; snow showers and a little wind developing as I left; mostly groomers; Line Supernatural 108's; 18 runs, 24,000 vert; manageable crowd;



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Day 24 - Crystal Mountain

So much for rain and brown snow. Out for just a couple of hours - came in for coffee and the line at the Mt. Rainier Gondi and Chinook Express Quad at the bottom where HUGE... I MEAN HUGE, so I just packed up and went home; sunny to start with a growing high overcast and temps around twenty; skied the brand new Line Supernatural 108's; 8 runs; 10,000 vertical; tons of snow here - 2 day old powder everywhere and plenty of soft groomers; this is a big mountain; got to ski some steep groomers (Pro Course to Middle Ferk's Run to Deer Fly) and some steep trees (Morning Glory Bowl to Pucker's Gultch); looking forward to trying more of the mountain tomorrow; new skis skied a little short.



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Day 23 - Stratton

Out for a few runs as I drove by on my way home. On the hill for a little over an hour - took off as soon as a liftline developed; cloudy and windy with temps in the mid-twenties; skied the Rossignol Experience 98's; 6 runs; 6,000 vertical; conditions and coverage were much better than last Friday - frozen granular; surprised there was no new terrain open; way more crowded than I was expecting; used 'day old' skis again today - this time it didn't work out so well - they were absolutely horrible.

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Day 22 - Killington

Winter finally arrived. Out 8:00 to 12:00 with a rather long coffee break split between the Peak Lodge and the KSC building; clearing but still cold and windy with 2" to 3" of new snow overnight; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; 15 runs; 15,000 vertical; variable conditions - hard packed granular and various textures of snowmaking; big crowd today - tough skiing with all the snowmaking and all the people on such limited terrain; Upper Bunny under the guns was pretty good; skied OK; heading home tomorrow after skiing, so this ends part 1 of my ski season - let's hope it gets better from here.



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Day 21 - Stratton

All things considered, not too bad. Out 9:15 to 1:00 with a ½ hour lunch break; temps slowly dropping into the low-thirties after another heavy rain overnight; skied the Rossignol Experience 98's; 20 runs; 26,500 vertical; totally variable conditions - firmer, chunked-out crap up high, thick granular in the middle, wet snirt at the bottom; hey, at least they were open; very few other people on the hill today - nice change from the ProJam crowd at K yesterday.

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Day 20 - Killington

Out for a few runs this morning before the next rainstorm. On the hill from 9:00 to 11:45 with a long KBL coffee break; overcast and windy with temps in the mid-thirties and rain imminent; skied the Rossignol Experience 98's; 9 runs; 11,750 vertical; better snow conditions higher on the hill, but overall things look horrible; if we get a serious rain overnight, they're likely to loose Skylark and top-to-bottom on Great Northern; quit early when I went up to Northridge and the chair was closed with mechanical problems; soft snow and a couple days rest had me skiing pretty well today; the picture below was taken a couple of weeks ago during Race Camp.



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Day 19 - Stratton

Out 9:00 to 2:00 with an hour for lunch; cloudy and windy with temps in the upper forties and more rain expected over night; 22 runs; 29,100 vertical; skied the Rossignol Experience 98's; soft snow with thin spots on approach and run-out, but Polar Bear was actually pretty good; just me, the SMS kids, and couple of other folks out today; rather than running gates the SMS kids hauled B-net all day; the right knee felt pretty good today so I skied ok.



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Day 18 - Killington

Gettin' a day in before the next rainstorm. Out 8:00 to 11:45 with a KBL coffee break; overcast with temps rising through the thirties into the low forties; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; 13 runs; 13,250 vertical; semi-frozen groomed slush from yesterday quickly chunked out and became today's mush; skied a little with Aaron and the Radvanyi's; right knee is still balky, but manageable today; skied ok.

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Day 17 - Killington

ASRA Race Camp Day 4 - Race Day, otherwise known as 'Better Living Through Pharmaceuticals'. Out just over 2 hours, 9:15 to 11:45; thankfully last night's rain stopped right at 9:00 leaving a very low cloud layer with light and variable winds and temps in the forties; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheaters; 7 runs; 6,800 vertical; last night's rain and some light grooming actually made conditions a little better - there were still tons of rocks and crap, but the snow pack was soft and much more consistent than the past few days; we had a quick, 2 run, single course race on Bunny to help make up for the cancelled ASRA races this weekend - skied OK, a little slow on run 2, but OK; had a panel wrap-around and whack me pretty good on run 1; 800 mg of Ibuprophin and a Vicodin had my knee feeling much better today!

GS:    Run 1 - 38.12 (14)    Run 2 - 39.84 (19)    Total - 1:17:96 (14)

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Day 16 - Killington

ASRA Race Camp Day 3. Out 9:00 to 2:00 with a long, long lunch; calm overcast with temps rising from around freezing into the low forties; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 19's; 13 runs; 10,000 vertical; heavy loose granular, scraped into piles by the end of the day; AM session: GS drills - turn initiation on edged ski from wedge, short dual brush course, and short stubby course; PM session: full GS course on Bunny; another accident/injury in my group today - Larry and Paul collided pretty hard I guess; worked on patience again today - 'going deep'; started to expand view of a single turn - rather than thinking about the top, the apex, and the bottom, trying to expand view of the bottom the turn through the crossover to the new ski; my right knee's been a little balky recently, but this afternoon it really acted up and I had to quit early - I'll try Vicodin for tomorrow's 'race'.

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Day 15 - Killington

ASRA Race Camp Day 2. Out 9:15 to 2:15 with an hour for lunch; increasing cloud cover, very little to no wind, temps steady around freezing; skied the 2015 Volkl RaceTiger SL World Cups; 15 runs, 18,000 vertical; a little more snowmaking and another night of light grooming had things looking a little better today, i.e. a little less granular and a little less variable; AM session: drills and short SL drill courses - long leg/short leg (building pressure through leg extension), engage the tip and maintain forward pressure (where does the snow start to come off the ski? at the tip or just in front of the binding?); PM session: real SL course - 40 gates or so with a flush and 3 hairpins; be patient, don't rush... ... ... engage the edge and build pressure slowly at the top of the turn while saving the hard knee and hip angulation for later in the turn when you need to finish the turn and for the skis to travel across the fall line to the rise line for the next gate; my skiing was a bit of a mixed bag today - some good and some bad; helicopter work today on the Snowdon Triple rebuild.



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Day 14 - Killington

ASRA Race Camp Day 1 - Out 9:30 to 2:45 with an hour for lunch; sunny with temps rising into the low forties and very little wind; skied the 2015 Volkl RaceTiger SL World Cups; 17 runs; 10,500 vertical; variable granular with tons of rocks; in Fred Deiffenbach's group with Didier, John, Larry, and Bill; AM session worked on balance drills: falling leaf, pivot slips, javelin turns; PM session, multiple short courses on Bunny - dual brushes, stubbies, and short SL; skiing OK - I think all the drills are helping a little; ASRA/NEMS races this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday have been cancelled; had a fantastic weekend on FSR - three global top 10's in six races has me in 8th place overall globally!

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Day 13 - Killington

Race Camp Day 5. Out 9:15 to 11:30 no break; overcast with temps around freezing - mixed precip in the air when I left the hill at 1:15 after doing skis; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; 9 runs; 5,500 vertical; crappy snow conditions - granted I only did Bunny and Chute, but they were trying to make snow on top of a botched grooming effort last night; AM session only - full length GS on Bunny, 4 runs; skied ok; day 5 of race camp produced the usual carnage - 2 injuries this morning, one from our group.



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Day 12 - Killington

Race Camp Day 4 - Race Day. Out 9:00 to 3:00 with an hour for lunch; snowing with temps right around freezing - minor accumulation of new snow; horrible visibility most of the day; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 19's; 14 runs; 10,500 vertical; variable conditions - from soft, wet spots to firming granular with a light new snow frosting to frozen solid and scraped; AM session - race on Bunny, PM session - statue of liberty drill; stumbled badly at the start in run 1 when I didn't compensate for the transition from the start ramp to the flat on my second skate; also temporarily lost the grip on my right pole after hitting my hand on a gate during run 1; still had an OK result.

GS:    Run 1 - 35.83 (7)    Run 2 - 33.87 (2)    Total - 1:09:70 (4)



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Day 11 - Killington

Race Camp Day 3. Out 10:00 to 12:30; temps in the forties and raining; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; 9 runs; 6,750 vertical; soft and slushy; with heavy rain overnight and today the snowpack is diminishing quickly; nobody else on the hill today; with all the rain our group opted for one session on the hill and one watching video; full length GS with timing brushes; I skied OK, but I did have one feel good moment keeping up, more or less, with Pierce on Upper Mouse Run.

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Day 10 - Killington

Race Camp Day 2. Out 9:00 to 2:45 with an hour for lunch; despite cold temps overnight (20°), rain is blowing in from the SW - we had a few spritzes during the day, but the rain held off till about 2:30; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 19's; 15 runs; 8,500 vertical; snowmaking was getting turned off at first chair; soft snow, good cover; new member in our group today - Maco; AM session - outside pole down and outside pole down to pole touch for timing in a two brush course; PM session - two brush course into GS course with initiation brushes; my 3 full-tilt runs through this afternoon's course felt OK.

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