Day 22 - Stratton

Just fuck me. It's only my arm so I'm hoping I can at least salvage AK, BC, and MT.



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Day 21 - Stratton

Perhaps the best ski day in the rain I've ever had. Out 9:15 to 1:30 with a ½ hour coffee break; rain with temps in the mid-thirties; surprised how calm it was down low given the howling, south wind over the top of the mountain; skied the SkiLogik Customs; 19 runs; 26,750 vertical; perfectly groomed, rain soaked corduroy anytime I wanted it all day long; never skied Polar Bear so smooth for so long; today Stratton was my private mountain - talked to the lift attendant on Ursa at 12:30 and asked how many people were still out... his answer: 5; loved being able to scope out my tracks from previous runs; starting to really like the SkiLogik's.

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Day 20 - Killington

Post World Cup skiing with the Radvanyis. Out 9:00 to 2:30 with a no coffee, coffee break at the peak lodge; sunny with temps around 30°; 21 runs; 19,000 vertical; skied the Blizzard Brahma #1's; lots of snow snowmaking, so conditions were pretty good, but no Superstar though; had a real nice day with Chris, Trev, and Christine; very exciting weekend watching the Women's World Cup Races - those girls can definitely ski.



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Day 19 - Stratton

Opening Day at Stratton. Out 9:00 to 11:00 no break; temps right at or just above freezing with and on and off light rain or snow depending on elevation; broke out my new Fischer RC4 GS Cheater 18's - man are they rocket ships; 11 runs; 12,750 vertical; soft snow with 4 top to bottom options - I stuck to Polar Bear and North American; plenty of people out this morning with more streaming in as I left; off till Monday in order to watch the World Cup at K !!!



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Day 18 - Okemo

Thankful that my back feels much better today! Out 9:00 to 1:00 with a ½ hour coffee break; cloudy with temps around freezing and no real wind to speak of; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; 16 runs; 23,000 vertical; with yesterday's traffic and an overnight grooming conditions improved from yesterday; very few people on the hill today; lapping Noreaster and World Cup in sync with fellow MAX Passers Ross and his daughter Melania.

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Day 17 - Okemo

Finally, something other than Rime! Out 9:00 to 1:45 with an hour for lunch in the bar; very windy with temps in the twenties and a stubborn cloud hanging over the top of the mountain; skied the SkiLogic Customs; 15 runs; 21,000 vertical; opening day at Okemo, mostly firm with all sorts of variable snow and terrain; fair number of people for opening bell, but with the amount of open terrain people spread out quickly then disappeared; Noreaster and World Cup were both open; still love the 6-pack bubble lift with the heated seats; the firm snow made my back hurt a little by the end of the day.



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Day 16 - Killington

Repeat of yesterday. Caught 'first chair', but immediately retreated to the Peak Lodge to wait out the crowd over a few leisurely cups of coffee; cloudy, windy, and cold; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's - the guys at Peak did an excellent job fixing these skis after last week's digger; 10 runs; big crowd - lift line finally died around noon; conditions are OK - still quite a few rocks though; still using the stairs :( ; Okemo tomorrow.

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Day 15 - Killington

Arrived in plenty of time for first chair, but waited till 11:30 to hit the hill to allow the hordes to dissipate a little; 20° snowing and windy with 3"+ overnight and 10" since Saturday; skied the Rossignol Experience 98's; 11 runs; the snow was thoroughly polished by the time I got out; KMS on holiday, but just about every other ski academy on the east coast was out this morning; lift line was very manageable by the time I was out; spent the morning in KBL talking over coffee with Karen, Doug, and Tom; destroyed today's skis skiing T2B on a closed trail - dumb; skiing OK; feeling OK.

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Day 14 - Killington

Out 9:00 to 11:45; temps quickly rising well past 50° with bright sunshine and no wind; skied the Rossignol Experience 98's; 16 runs; morning chunks got hacked and scraped and pushed into some piles by the time I left; lots of people on the hill, but never much of a lift line; the variability in conditions today never made for a good feel; hopefully last time I'll need to use my Killington Express Pass this year.

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Day 13 - Killington

On the hill 9:00 to 12:00; temps rising past 40° with an in and out K Cloud and at time a pretty strong breeze; skied the 2015 Volkl Race Tiger SL World Cups; 20 runs; overnight grooming quickly gave way to a deep heavy layer of mush; things look ugly - lots of rocks and bare spots; not much of a lift line, but lots of people on the hill; sick of Rime; over the past couple of weeks Karen's given me a couple of things to focus on for engaging cleanly and effectively at the top of the turn: 1) patience, wait and build max pressure in the apex zone 2) make sure to move the hips across the direction of travel toward the inside of the next turn during crossover, this will position the hips further inside as you build max pressure in the apex zone... I see this one as a precursor to 'low to go'.

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Day 12 - Killington

Twenty is plenty. Out 9:00 to 12:00; rain overnight stopped just in time for first chair - temps in the low forties with the hill totally enveloped in the cloud layer - last night's strong wind subsided as well - rain restarted just as I was leaving; skied the Rossignol Experience 98's; 20 runs; no grooming overnight; snow surface today held up well - not exactly firm, but I was expecting total mush; some thin spots poking through on Rime; skiing OK; feeling OK.

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Day 11 - Killington

Out 9:00 to 12:00; 45° with crystal clear skies to start, but clouds moved in quickly and my day ended in a light drizzle; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's again despite yesterday's damage; 19 runs; big crowd as everybody came out early to beat the incoming rain; a little more moisture in the granular snow made conditions a little better today; this date last year was my day 1; 10 days ahead of last year's pace.



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Day 10 - Killington

Out 9:00 to 12:30 without a break; brilliant sunshine with temps rising into the forties and a little wind; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; 22 runs; last night grooming never really froze, so it quickly became thick granular - skiable, but heavy none the less; good sized crowd, however never more than a few people in line; destroyed today's skis :(



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Day 9 - Killington

OK, yesterday wasn't really crowded after all. Out 9:00 to 12:00; rain overnight ended as a few snow flurries up high this morning; windy with dropping temps and decreasing cloud cover; skied the Blizzard Brahma #1's with 2 day old wax; 12 runs; Upper Rime got scrapped down pretty quickly and left a good bit of deep granular on the ice base - yesterday's snowmaking on Lower Rime made for some great skiing today; tons of people and I mean tons - 5 minute plus lift lines all morning.

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Day 8 - Killington

Busy day on the hill. Out 9:00 to 12:15; mostly sunny with temps in the mid-thirties and a little windy; skied the Blizzard Brahma #1's; 21 runs; plenty of guns on Upper Great Northern and Lower Rime although a few toward the bottom of Rime were turned off around 11:00; with KMS and the good weather there were plenty of people out all morning; with the cold weather overnight and the on-going snowmaking the variable conditions this morning got scrapped down pretty quickly; with the KSC building basically unavailable until after the World Cup I'm trying to stretch preped skis, so I used day old skis today.



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Day 7 - Killington

Out 9:00 to 12:00; 45° with heavy fog, no wind and an on and off drizzle; skied the Blizzard Brahma #1's; 20 runs; despite the warm temps, conditions were fairly firm to start but softened up nicely; pretty good coverage remains on the open terrain; here's a picture of Upper East Fall from the chair - trust me it really is.



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Day 6 - Killington

Out 9:00 to 11:15, no break; 47° in the parking lot; steady rain all morning; skied the Rossignol Experience 98's; 13 runs; a little walking required on Upper Great Northern; coverage remains pretty good on Rime - everything else looks pretty ugly; just KMS and a few diehards out this morning; after skiing today and then driving all the way home, my right knee feels a little funky.

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Day 5 - Killington

On the hill 9:00 to 12:00 without a break; temps in the mid-forties with an ever lowering K-Cloud and a light wind out of the SW; skied the Blizzard Brahma #1's; 20 runs; super soft conditions today; late arriving crowd, building to a small lift line by the time I left; lots of good skiers out today - Bob, Dave, Chelsea, Tucker, Karen, ...



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Day 4 - Killington

Bluebird! Out 9:00 to 12:00, no break; clear and cold overnight, with temps rising into the upper thirties by noon; this morning's corduroy was really just a thick layer of frozen granular rolled out flat; it took a little while till we finally got a couple of lines scraped down to a firm base; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; 20 runs; we got to ski Upper Great Northern down to Northridge this morning; skiing OK; feeling OK.



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