Cazenovia: Hitting the Club

There’s nothing better than hitting the club on New Years Eve. The club I favor has an old Hall T-Bar and this year featured 16 inches of new lake effect snow. When Evan, Tiff and I pulled into the lot and looked up the hill, we knew it was going to be all-time. Untouched snow as far as we could see.

We geared up and headed to the new lift ticket window in the Wax Hut. I saw friend and member Jeff getting the outdoor fire going. He came over and chatted while we redeemed our Indy Passes. It sounds like the pass has been successful at Caz, allowing the members to share their little slice of heaven. There were more than a few Indy Pass redemptions that day as word spread locally about the snow totals.

Old school wickets attached, we lined up behind two skiers to get first bar. They say it’s the fastest T bar in the east, good thing because I was dying of anticipation the whole way up the hill. No better way to start the day than a rip right down the main face. The first run sets the tone for the day. It was deep, fluffy and untouched.

It was so good we did it again before moving to the infamous Claude’s Caper.  The story is that Claude’s got its funky shape when the dozer sculpting it went for a slide and had to use the blade to stop. Claude’s was steep and deep, the lightest turns resulted in face shots and billowing clouds. We hooted and hollered the whole way down. If you stopped and listened anywhere on the mountain, the shouts of someone having the time of their life could always be heard.

We continued to ride the t-bar, with the occasional stop at the deck to give the legs a rest and refuel. Each time I stopped we spoke with the members hanging out there. Many remembered us from last year and welcomed us back. I swapped stories with a few members including our favorite places to ski. The deck is the spot to be, as it offers great views of rippers riding.

The members were cheering on an unknown skier who was going hard, sending a large kicker at the top of the face. Evan grabbed a pic as he boosted overhead and eventually caught up with him to find out that he was a Labrador local riding on the Indy Pass.

As the morning progressed we moved towards skiers left and Falso’s Forest. I charged into the trees without assessing a line and had to gap a small ditch with a log on the other side. I landed on the log and tomahawk flipped on to my backside. I was fine but my board was not. There’s a 3-inch long core shot that punctured through the board. It cracked and raised the top sheet on the other side. Tools, not jewels, and I wasn’t about to let this stop me.

Falso’s got the best of me so we were off to find some other lines in the trees. In between Claude’s and the rope tow are some unofficial glades that are pretty gnarly. I ripped through trees and stopped to get a shot of Evan looking up. He absolutely boosted it over a log with a cloud of white smoke behind him.

Back on the deck I was having a great time when I was summoned into the Wax hut. The hut is a quasi members/adults only area at Caz that was converted over when they disbanded their ski team. I was ceremoniously given a shot of Hot Cocoa Whiskey. The members sitting on church pews that face each other, swapped stories, some that might not be appropriate for the deck.

Evan and Tiff joined, downed their ceremonial shot and found space at the end of the pews. It was a blast and at one point I wondered if I was having more fun in the Wax Hut than in the powder. I eventually said my goodbyes and headed out but not before one last laugh. I had been ticketed on my windshield, for having too much fun at Cazenovia Ski Club.

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This piece is part of our effort. For more information visit the Indy Pass website.

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