Harvey
Administrator
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2020
Ski Day 24: Since Neve was six months old, we've been handing her off to someone at Gore. Bear Cub Den or ski lessons, we've never just walked out of the lodge, and onto the gondola. Today was to be the first time that we came to the mountain, and skied as a family.
But this morning presented an interest conundrum.
When you live deep in the heart of the flatlands, you don't have a lot of advantages when it comes to skiing fresh snow. If snow falls during the week, most of the time you just read about and it look at the pictures. If it falls on a weekend or holiday, you're after it, along with every other joe out there. There is however, one very small advantage we have. If it snows over night on a weekend, we're close to the mountain and we are motivated. We get to the mountain early and, usually, I can stay far enough ahead of people to get some first tracks here and there.
Last night, I did something a little devious. I showed Zelda the clearly overblown windchill forecast for today (-18!) and made the argument that it would be better to give Neve a few hours in the Bear Cub Den, so temps could warm up. Yeah un huh.
Granted much of what we skied in the morning was cutup and windblown, but it was real fun.
First on High Pines
Zelda took Topridge. There was a groomed swath down skiers right.
Lower Steilhang
Dark Side
After we spent the morning at the summit, we headed down to find Neve to ride the Gondi.
She skied Sunway with ease. At the top of Twister we asked Neve which way she wanted to go. Twister or Sunway? When she learned that Twister was steeper, her eyes lit up and the decision was made.
There was racing on the lower half of Twister and the sign at the top that said "Twister open to 1A." I imagined the transition to 1A as something very benign and was a little surprised to see a narrow fenced off chute for the non-racer traffic. It was bumped, and by the time we got to it, the troughs between the bumps were pretty icy. Now maybe I'm nuts for putting Neve onto Twister so soon, but she really handled it without an ounce of fear. Even with all the great tree skiing I'd done in the morning, it was the highlight of the day.
Around 2pm Zelda and Neve quit, and I skied the trees for remainder of the afternoon.
Twister Glades
Best snow I found ... Pine Brook, Mineshaft, Twister Glades, parts of the Darkside, Tahawas, Twin Fawns and Ward Hill. The entire mountain skied well, and the lower mountain was especially soft. Some of the most fun I've had this year was playing follow the leader with Neve leading on the gentle, soft runs on the front side. Doing little teleturns in her tracks, with mom bringing up the rear, fending off snowboarders. It was really really fun.
Summit View at Day's End
But this morning presented an interest conundrum.
When you live deep in the heart of the flatlands, you don't have a lot of advantages when it comes to skiing fresh snow. If snow falls during the week, most of the time you just read about and it look at the pictures. If it falls on a weekend or holiday, you're after it, along with every other joe out there. There is however, one very small advantage we have. If it snows over night on a weekend, we're close to the mountain and we are motivated. We get to the mountain early and, usually, I can stay far enough ahead of people to get some first tracks here and there.
Last night, I did something a little devious. I showed Zelda the clearly overblown windchill forecast for today (-18!) and made the argument that it would be better to give Neve a few hours in the Bear Cub Den, so temps could warm up. Yeah un huh.
Granted much of what we skied in the morning was cutup and windblown, but it was real fun.
First on High Pines
Zelda took Topridge. There was a groomed swath down skiers right.
Lower Steilhang
Dark Side
After we spent the morning at the summit, we headed down to find Neve to ride the Gondi.
She skied Sunway with ease. At the top of Twister we asked Neve which way she wanted to go. Twister or Sunway? When she learned that Twister was steeper, her eyes lit up and the decision was made.
There was racing on the lower half of Twister and the sign at the top that said "Twister open to 1A." I imagined the transition to 1A as something very benign and was a little surprised to see a narrow fenced off chute for the non-racer traffic. It was bumped, and by the time we got to it, the troughs between the bumps were pretty icy. Now maybe I'm nuts for putting Neve onto Twister so soon, but she really handled it without an ounce of fear. Even with all the great tree skiing I'd done in the morning, it was the highlight of the day.
Around 2pm Zelda and Neve quit, and I skied the trees for remainder of the afternoon.
Twister Glades
Best snow I found ... Pine Brook, Mineshaft, Twister Glades, parts of the Darkside, Tahawas, Twin Fawns and Ward Hill. The entire mountain skied well, and the lower mountain was especially soft. Some of the most fun I've had this year was playing follow the leader with Neve leading on the gentle, soft runs on the front side. Doing little teleturns in her tracks, with mom bringing up the rear, fending off snowboarders. It was really really fun.
Summit View at Day's End
