Day 15 - Montage

Out 8:30 to 12:15, no breaks; rain overnight ended as a tiny bit of snow/sleet/freezing rain mix right at 8:30, otherwise heavy overcast with temps right at freezing and little to no wind; 26 runs; 16,305 vertical; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 19's and the 2015 Volkl RaceTiger SL World Cups; baby soft, cream cheese groomers; virtually nobody else out for most of the morning; skied with Chris - Yatsko joined us for the last hour or so; talked Chris into letting me do a couple of runs on his brand new Head Supershape i.Titan's - too much sidecut of me; skied okay; glad I did a couple of runs of my SL race skis rather than heading off to Sunday's race at Swain cold; think I got some good video of Chris this morning.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 14 - Montage

Another holiday crowd. Out 8:30 to noon, no breaks; mostly sunny with temps around freezing; 17 runs; 11,245 vertical; skied the Atomic D2 3.0 Race GS's and the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 19's; light crowd till 11:00, then all hell broke loose; groomers with some overnight snowmaking thrown in for good measure; the binding on the Atomics failed - kicked them off to place the GoPro in the woods and I couldn't get them back on; the snowmaking on Smoke was stellar; Switch opened today - too bad I didn't find it till the crowds showed up at 11:00 because it was pretty good; skied okay.



#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 13 - Montage

Definately a 'holiday weekday'. Out 10:00 to 2:30 with a really, really long lunch break in the car watching RCS win the Bormio SG - late start today because I had a doctor's appointment this morning; mostly sunny with temps around freezing and an on again off again wind; 15 runs; 9,812 vertical; skied the Blizzard Brahma #2's; scratchy groomers; pretty big crowd - lift lines all day; didn't ski particularly well.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 12 - Greek Peak

Merry Christmas. Out 8:30 to 12:45 with ¾ hour break to dry out; 2" rain overnight ending by 11:00 this morning as sleet changing to snow; 20 runs; 15,210 vertical; skied the Blizzard Brahma #1's; rain soaked groomers; absolutely nobody else out till 11:00, then just a couple of dozen people; totally encrusted in ice when I stopped for a break to dry out and change gloves; the rain soaked groomers were surprisingly moonscape-free; skied okay, feeling okay.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 11 - Montage

A very nice, quiet day. Out 9:00 to 2:30 with and hour in the car for lunch; foggy with temps in the low thirties to start then a few wet flakes, a gust of wind and just like that the fog lifted; 30 runs; 18,417 vertical; skied the Nordica Enforcer 88's; soft groomers; nobody else out on the hill till around noon, then just a few people - never a lift line; skied alone; Boomer and Smoke were very good - no chucks on Boomer today and the ungroomed 'headwall' on Smoke continued to soften overnight; missed tracking my first run again today when I forgot my phone in the car for the second day in a row; I also forgot my pass for my first run, but it didn't seem to be a problem as I just skied onto the lift at the bottom; I think early morning on weekdays here are going to be nice.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 10 - Montage

Good start to my 'home season'. Out 9:15 to 3:00 with ¾ hour for lunch at Midland; sunny to start with an increasing overcast all day - temps in the low thirties - no wind; 30 runs; 20,918 vertical; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 19's and the Nordica Enforcer 88's; groomers - a few thin spots on the very top of Smoke and a few chunks on Boomer's headwall; standard Montage crowd - nobody to start with an increasing number of kids out by the time I left; skied with Chris - we made several with Maria and Ana and a few later with Richey and Deb; only took 2 minutes to pick up my pass; social distancing wasn't much of an issue with today's light crowd, but adhereance to masking protocols was less than ideal; feeling okay, but didn't ski particularly well today; today's picture is Maria, Chris and I practicing social distancing.



#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 9 - Kite Hill

Stuck at home with 2 ft. + of new snow on the ground so I broke out my new DPS Alchemist Lotus 124's and hiked for a couple of runs off the sand mound.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 8 - Windham

Still waiting for the season to start here at home - big snowstorm expected Wednesday night. Out 9:00 to 3:30 with ¾ hour break for lunch in the car; light snow started on the drive up, stopping around 2 o'clock - an inch up top at the open, maybe another inch during the day - temps rising to just above freezing; 43,981 vertical; 33 runs; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 19's and the Blizzard Brahma #2's; generally variable early season conditions - Upper Wolverine had excellent coverage and a pretty good groom job - with the exception of a couple spots, all the flatter terrain from the middle of montain down was very thin; very few other people out - never rode the chair with another person; the Heads worked noticably better than the Blizzards on the steeps; skied okay I guess.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 7 - Killington

So ends part 1 of my ski season - it's mostly Montage and NY state day trips from here. Out 9:00 to 4:00 with just a ½ hour in the car for lunch; an early, high level K Cloud gave way to a sunny, pleasant day with temps just above freezing - the wind did pick up a bit toward the end of the day; 41,692 vertical; 34 runs; skied the Fischer RC4 The Curv's and the Blizzard Brahma #2's; nice groomers at opening bell that got pretty scratchy as the day wore on - a little new snowmaking thrown in just for fun at the end of the day when they dropped the rope on Lower East Fall; huge crowd early that thinned out by the afternoon; after due consideration I've decided that I've absolutely ruined the Fischers by having them ground flat (0° base bevel) - I won't make that mistake any more; didn't ski particularly well today; looong drive home after a looong day on the hill.



#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 6 - Killington

Miles. Out 9:00 to 3:30 with a quick get dry break in the Ski Club Building and 45 minutes for lunch in the car; 2" of new snow overnight - windy with temps in the mid-twenties and light snow all day - 2" more during the day; 33 runs; 37,699 vertical; skied the 2012 Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; after yesterday's soaking rain and freeze and last night's deep groom conditions chunked up real quick - as the day wore on and the snow continued to fall things softened up and de-chunked nicely; lots of people out this morning, but never much of a liftline - tons of KMS, GMVS and SMS kids; skiing well; feeling well.

#justgivemeagroomer    

Day 5 - Killington

Better than a sharp stick in the eye today, but not by much. Out 9:00 to 3:00 with 45 minutes in the Ski Club Building for lunch; 50°, overcast and windy - ½ hour of light rain at 1:00; 31 runs; 30,385 vertical; skied the Blizzard Brahma #2's; no grooming overnight because of all the rain, so everything frozen up and was real rattlee till it got skied in quite a bit - the rain overnight also uncovered tons more thin spots; not too many people, but lots of the regulars - Barb and Don, Bob and Pheobe, Mark and Cindy, Mike C., Karen, Ric S. - lots of KMS and GMVS kids on the hill today too; skiing pretty well; despite the effort of skiing the ungroomed all day I'm feeling pretty well.



#justgivemeagroomer