Second annual ski trip to Vermont

It would be damn near impossible to top the weather we had from last year's Vermont ski trip so nature didn't bother trying. The drive up on Thursday last week was easy and snow free. Last year there was a few feet piled next to Diego's driveway.

Waiken and Scott dropped out this year. Waiken canceled in advance, but Scott called that night to say he was stuck in California because of a canceled connection through Chicago for weather. That left Jon, Diego and I for 3 days of skiing. We planned to hit Bolton Valley on Friday and made it an early night after some video games and watching Back to the Future. We woke up to rain. Ever optimistic, we still dressed and drove out to Bolton - the rain could stop and maybe it will turn to snow in the cooler mountains. It didn't, but it was insanely windy. We scrapped skiing (not that we had a choice since the resort closed) and did some shopping and miniature golf instead. The temperature was supposed to drop so we hit EMS and Burton for some gear. We also stopped at Dakin farms for cheese and maple products. Mini golf was a 13 hole course at Pizza Putt we could play as much as we wanted. The holes were fun, but I was robbed on a lot of them. Plus Diego cheated. He may claim to have won, but, no matter the score, I feel I won a moral victory.

Kurt and Kimmy had been in Canada all week and were on factory tours of Ben and Jerry's and Magic Hat that afternoon. They met us for dinner, pizza at Donny's New York Pizzeria. Nobody does New York-style pizza like South Burlington, Vermont, and Donny's is now officially an annual tradition. We continued the Back to the Future trilogy that night with the second installment. I guess I didn't have to mention we watched the second part, what kind of goof balls would leap-frog to part 3?

We planned on Sugarbush for Saturday and Jay Peak for Sunday but had to swap because of weather. The 70-80 MPH gusts on Friday took out the main lift at Sugarbush and Jay Peak managed to get some snow. We hit Jay Peak last year during a blizzard with about a foot of snow the previous night and another foot or so while we skied. Not this year. The trail conditions were alright, save for any part exposed to the wind. Those were big sheets of ice better suited to ice skates. We hit a few easy runs to warm up before Diego decided a black diamond glade was in order. My goggles had frozen over on the way to the glade and I really wasn't a fan of the run. It was steep, and more than anything it was controlled falling before I hit trees or rocks. I was able to see at least, the trees provided enough cover to have my goggles off. Outside though, no sight was preferable to the cold. The temperature was probably -3°F at the warmest, and was down to -18°F at the summit. And that is not accounting for wind chill with gusts around 40 MPH. We took a lot of breaks at the lodge to warm up. I had my camelbak on, but the tube from the pack to my mouth had frozen over. This was under my coat, so it was below freeing in there. I had my camera, but there weren't any pictures since there was no way I was taking off a layer of gloves to get it out. It wouldn't have worked anyway. I tried to get a picture at the lodge but it shut itself off because the battery was too cold. Kimmy split off in the early afternoon with a lame excuse that a week of skiing made her tired. Sissy. She went back to the main lodge with Kurt while Jon, Diego, and I hit a black trail that was in surprisingly decent shape.

The same couldn't be said about the other side of the mountain. We took Goat's run back to the main lodge, the higher part of which was another sheet of ice. Some guy decided to take a break right in front of where Diego was sliding out of control and Diego hit the deck and hurt his arm. We moved off to the side to recuperate (novel idea). By the time we were ready to go again, the guy realized he should move out of the center and ended up stopping directly in front of us. I thought Diego was going to go over the side trying to avoid him.

We only took the tram to the summit once. That was plenty. Diego was still sore from his fall but we figured we needed one run from the top. It was cold and windy up there, and much of the trail had been blown clean of snow. I thought Diego was going to head over the side here too, and, after one fall on ice, Jon decided to slide on his butt until he hit snow. The lower portion was fun though, and plenty long to make the ride worthwhile.

We decided to cook dinner that night and stopped by a food co-op for the most expensive groceries I've ever seen. I could somewhat see them marking up the fancy organically grown veggies ($9 for a little bundle of asparagus), but doubling or tripling the price on a mass produced jar of Ragu pasta sauce is just rubbing it in. We had pasta with a meat sauce, asparagus in lemon and butter, and a salad Diego prepared. We also worked on a jug of Magic Hat #9 Kurt and Kimmy brought from their tour. After the third Back to the Future, it was time for bed.

Kimmy and Kurt weren't joining us on Sunday so it was three of us for an early drive to Sugarbush. We headed to Mount Ellen first, but the wind convinced us to try the other peak. Conditions were decent; they had made quite a bit of snow and there were enough good trails open to make the day worthwhile. And it had warmed up to a comfortable level. Things were good, except we almost lost Jon.

After a couple of runs, we ended up on a long flat traverse across the mountain to the Heaven's Gate lift. Snowboards have more trouble on flat ground than skis, and Jon was getting worn out from cross country boarding. The trail crossed a closed blue run that had turned into a sheet of ice. Diego was leading, and had gone around a bend while he still had some speed. I was following Jon and, as I thought about how bad it would be to go over the edge onto the steep ice, I watched Jon slip under the trail closing rope and onto the ice. He sprawled out like a starfish but still took a while to stop. He released his board and tried to chip into the ice with it and use it as a walking stick to climb back up. It would work a few times and he'd make some upward progress, then he'd slip past where he started. I considered sliding him a pole but figured it would just head on by and down the mountain to never be seen again. After giving up on vertical, he worked horizontally to the trees and made his way up with their assistance.

We hit some good skiing after a break. On one trip up a lift we checked out what looked like a black trail in good condition. People were coming down and appeared to be kicking up powder. Well, except for one girl on a snowboard who fell halfway down and then slid the rest of the way. The view looked different from the top. It was a double diamond, and appeared steeper and bumpier than it did from the lift. We took a single diamond trail instead. We took the same lift back up and talked ourselves into the double diamond. Jon led and Diego brought up the rear. I made it almost the whole way down without issue, but fell near where the diamond portion ended. I lost balance on an icy part and rolled. My skis stayed on and I was able to pop back up and continue. If anyone asks, it was a trick and not a fall. Diego has a season pass to Sugarbush and we assumed he had done the trail but he admitted afterward he hadn't and wouldn't have that day. No wonder he went last, he wanted to see if Jon or I died. We both figured he knew the trail and thought it was OK.

We ended up with a full day of pretty good skiing, and I'm happy with the weekend. We hopped on a triple lift to the top right before it closed and lingered at the top to have a good shot at an interference free run from erratic / fallen skiers. The run was good (well, on the side that wasn't icy) and there were a few places for jumps. There had been 3 rangers in the booth at the top and one lift attendant. All eventually passed us while we stopped to let traffic clear below us. That seems like a bad policy; who would have rescued us if we had an accident? I figured they would stop at us and tell us to get moving, but we must just look like professionals. We ended the run, and the day, with Sleeper Glades. It was a neat trail with some fun jumps, but was a little too crowded at the bottom to really enjoy.

Since Back to the Future wasn't a quadrilogy, we watched Batman Begins that final night. We slept in a bit, 8 AM is two hours later than our ski day wake up time. I was packed and on the road by 9:30 AM for a thankfully uneventful trip home. Thanks, Diego, for the hospitality. I hope we keep up a yearly ski trip. Maybe we can hit Blackcomb next year...