Day 42 - Grand Targhee

Viewing the Tetons from the west. Out 9:30 to 1:15 with a break for lunch; windy with diminishing overcast and temps rising into the low thirties; skied the Line Supernatural 108's; just 10 runs or so today; maybe 12,000 vertical; tired; soft groomers; lots of snow here too; I lost today's Ski Tracks when my phone died - it was fully charged this morning, but I guess all the pictures on the drive down drained the battery - I'll post some pictures as soon as I get a chance.



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Day 41 - Big Sky

Miles. Out 9:00 to 2:15 with lunch at a nice on mountain restaurant; overcast and windy with temps rising to near freezing; skied the Blizzard Brahma #2's; 19 runs; 29,500 vertical; packed powder groomers; tired today after all the deep snow yesterday; today's fav: Tippy's Tumble; tonight's Weather Channel secondary headline, "Snowfall of 1 to 2 feet is possible in the northern Sierras and Cascades through the weekend."

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Day 40 - Big Sky

More snow! Out 9:00 to 2:00 with a break for lunch; 6" new snow overnight and into this morning; 20° and overcast with light snow and variable winds; skied the Volkl Katanas; 14 runs; 22,250 vertical; powder; today's fav was Whiskey - baby soft, perfectly spaced, low angle trees; fell once and needlessly scared myself on a couple of blind breakovers today.

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Day 39 - Big Sky

Out 9:00 to 2:00 with a break for lunch; 20° partly cloudy with a little wind; skied the Blizzard Brahma #2's; 16 runs; 25,000 vertical; lots of low angle groomers and soft snow; just over 30 miles distance covered today; I liked Icehouse; Broken Promise is aptly named.



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Day 38 - Big Sky

Out 9:15 to 1:30 with a break for lunch; more snow - 1" overnight and 4-5" more into the early afternoon; skied the Line Supernatural 108's; 14 runs; 20,800 vertical; soft snow everywhere; lots of wide open terrain, some with grooming underneath some without, and lots of open, low angle trees; this place is huge; couldn't see Lone Peak with today's weather; explored a little - skied 5 of the dozen or more areas at this resort;

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Day 37 - Nub's Nob

Ski and drive. Out 9:15 to 1:00 with a break for lunch; temps in the mid-twenties with freezing rain; started with the Line Supernatural 108's and switched to the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 19's; 25+ runs, 11,000 vertical; they groomed everything and I mean eve-ry0thing; more here than meets the eye - liked Southern Comfort, Bayview, Pleastview, and Smokey; nobody else out - perfectly fresh grooming every run; waited 15 minutes past opening bell to let the rain subside a little; some pictures later - come back later and check them out.



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Day 36 - Boyne Mountain

Snow ended overnight. Out 9:00 to 12:30 with a break for lunch; 19° overcast with occasional light flurries and no wind - 3" more new snow overnight; skied the Volkl Katanas; 25+ runs; 11,000 vertical; more powder and soft groomers;

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Day 35 - Boyne Mountain

More snow! Out 9:30 to 1:30 with a nice coffee break; drove in yesterday while they got 13", last night we had 3" more; 15° today with constant light snow and surprisingly little wind; skied the Volkl Katanas; 25+ runs; powder or 3" or less of fluff on top of a fresh, super soft groomer - however, I did ski a couple that were a little boney; 11,000 vertical; very few people; despite the recent snow not all the mountain is open yet; tons of snowmaking in progress; the Katanas are still great skis; had fun.



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Day 34 - Greek Peak

Some things change very little. Out 11:00 to 1:15 with a break for lunch; Overcast with temps in the low thirties and little to no wind; skied the Blizzard Brahma #1's; 15 runs, 12,000 vertical; Iliad and Fields/Stoic only; nobody else out; making snow under the new chair, so we used Chair 1 today.

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Day 33 - Snoqualmie Pass

Another Pow Day. Out at 9:00, made 4 runs, had coffee, made 2 more and called it a day; a couple more inches of snow overnight, but with Alpental closed on Monday we had like 8" of new snow; skied the Line Supernatural 108's; 6 runs; 7,500 vertical; "small", but rugged area - good vibe; skied 10 of 11 days - I'm tired.



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Day 32 - Snoqualmie Pass

The first non-holiday ski day since before Christmas turns out to be a Pow Day! Out 9:00 to 12:00 with a coffee break; 4"-6" new snow overnight ending by noon; ski what ya brung... Line Supernatural 108's; 12 runs; 10,000 vertical; very few other people on the hill today; took my second fall of the season today; today's picture tries to capture how light it was this morning despite snowing hard - I noticed this yesterday too.



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Day 31 - Snoqualmie Pass

Out 9:00 to 12:45 with a quick coffee break; overcast and snowing with a little wind - just enough accumulation to keep everything clean and bright white; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 19's; 25 runs, 19,000 vertical; loved Rampart and the new chair; soft groomers everywhere.



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Day 30 - Snoqualmie Pass

Clear, crisp, and cold. Out for 2½ hours without a break; 15 runs; 13,750 vertical; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 19's; soft groomers everywhere - even the day old groomers were good; pretty big crowd for a pretty cold day; rode their brand new chair 4 times; liked Rampart; had fun.

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Day 29 - Snoqualmie Pass

Stupid amounts of snow here. Out 9:00 to 12:15 with a quick coffee break; clear, crisp, and cold; 18 runs; 15,000 vertical; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 19's; baby soft everything; it's beautiful here.



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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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Day 9 - Killington

Race Camp Day 1. Out 9:00 to 2:30 with an hour for lunch; sunny and calm with temps in the upper teens to start - a growing overcast, SW wind, and rising temps by 3:00; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; 10 runs; 8,400 vertical; heavy duty resurfacing underway - guns everywhere; in John Pierce's group with Bob, Ken, Tim, and Roger; we worked hard on stance all day; forward pressure drills - straight run with flat skis on pitch, one ski straight run with flat ski on pitch, controlled snowplow to stop on pitch, controlled snowplow arcs on pitch; stance drills - poles out outside pole down while turning, poles out both poles down while turning, go to athletic stance including hands forward and UP.

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Day 8 - Killington

On the hill for a few before the Black Friday crowds arrived - out 8:00 to 10:15 ; overcast and windy with temps in the mid-fifties; skied the new Blizzard Brahmas for the first time today; 12 runs; 14,000 vertical; soft snow everywhere; very few people there until 9:30, then all hell broke loose and there were people swarming everywhere; instead of going back out after coffee, I did 3 pair of skis at KSC instead; started on the Superstar Quad at 8:00 and did 8 laps on Skylark by 9:05; I ended up winning today's Fantasy Ski Racing contest for the FIS World Cup Women's GS at Aspen!



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Day 7 - Killington

First 10 by 10 of the season - Happy Thanksgiving! Out 8:00 to 12:15 with a KSC coffee break; the persistent overcast and stiff breeze made it feel much colder than the mid-thirties temperatures would have lead you to believe; skied the Rossignol Experience 98's; 21 runs 19,000 vertical; lot of new terrain open today, so all sorts of variable snow conditions - Snowdon early was groomed soft-pack, while 1st chair at Skylark was uneven, frozen grooming that chucked out, but got skied in relatively quickly, and the NR area was flat and firm after coffee; there are times when my skiing feels pretty good - I wish I could extend the momentary flashes of brilliance into some seriously good skiing; had to retrieve my phone after dropping it off the Superstar Quad just before coffee.

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Day 6 - Killington

Let the first long holiday weekend of the ski season begin. Out 9:00 to 1:00 with a leisurely KBL coffee break; mostly sunny with light winds and temps rising into the lower thirties; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; 18 runs; 13,750 vertical; pretty good snow conditions today - the groomers in the NR area held up well to the traffic, Upper Downdraft was good enough for a redo, and Great Northern thru Lower Bunny to the bottom had real good coverage; big crowd again today, but with the extra open terrain lift lines never exceeded a couple of minutes; made the first few runs this morning with Doug T.; I used today's skis without an overnight touch up and what do you know, the world didn't end!



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Day 5 - Killington

Horrible PR day for Big K - a huge 9:00 crowd watched as electrical problems on K-1 delayed opening until 11:00 and top-to-bottom skiing continued to elude us despite tons on snow on Lower Bunny. On the hill from 11:00 till 2:00 with no break; 26° with brilliant sunshine at 9:00, but by the time we were able to get out on the hill the clouds rolled in my day ended in a light snow fall and temps in the upper twenties; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; only 11 runs; huge crowd - 5 to 7 to 10 minute lift line all day other than the gondi ride up and first ride on the NRT; pretty good conditions - excellent coverage that held up to the traffic with only a few slick spots developing by the time I left; Lower Ridge Run opened today; skied most of the day with Jon Meyers and his brand new Volkl GS Cheaters - you know me I love new skis, so here's of picture of the recent additions to my quiver; top-to-bottom tomorrow just confirmed on killington.com!



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Day 4 - Killington

Strong winds, soft snow, and low visibility. Out for a couple of hours before this afternoon's rain; 50° and very windy in the K Cloud; skied the Blizzard Brahma #1's; 13 runs; 7,750 vertical; KMS and a fair number of diehards out this morning; GN, Rime, and Reason were groomed and softened up immediately; Upper Double Dipper opened today; still plenty of cover, but last night's warm temps did some damage; surprised I feel so good after a four day stint to open the season; snapped these pictures of today's sunset as I drove out the other end of the rainstorm back home in PA.



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Day 3 - Killington

A really nice ski day. Out 9:15 to 1:15 with a ½ hour lunch break; another perfectly sunny 40° day with no wind; 22 runs; 13,000 vertical; skied the Head i.Speed GS Cheater 17's; relatively light crowd - people on the hill, but no real lift line; last night's snowmaking and grooming has Rime in good shape; my skiing felt better today.



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Day 2 - Killington

A beautiful day with some pretty good skiing. Out 9:45 to 1:15; 40° sunny, no wind; skied the Rossignol Experience 98's; 17 runs; 10,000 vert; cold enough overnight that they made snow; surprisingly good production overnight - lots of soft snow once the guns were turned off and the snow got skied in; Upper Great Northern was open so we only had to walk up the stairs; KMS was out for the first time this morning.



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Day 1 - Killington

All the great fall weather this year made for a very late start to our ski season, but as they say, 'better late than never.' No K pass this year, so I did a long drive and ski today to reduce the number of nights required at the hotel - I'll do the reverse on Thursday when I head home; on the hill from 10:30 to 1:30 with a ½ hour break sitting in the Adirondack chairs at the bottom of the Northridge Triple eating my lunch; had to walk both directions on the stairs today, but with a little luck we should be able to ski down tomorrow; 40° sunny and very little wind; skied the Blizzard Brahma #1's; 15 runs; 8,800 vertical; Rime and Reason/Upper East Fall were both open; good cover on Rime and Reason - enough snow that they groomed; lots of people today - lift line all day, but never longer than a couple of minutes; didn't ski particularly well today, but maybe a little off season conditioning would have helped.



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