Telesnowmonkey
Active member
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2020
Last year around the end of February or early March, I took a telemark lesson at Mad River Glen, and toward the end of the lesson, my instructor mentioned that there is a women's tele group that meets Tuesday mornings for group lessons. Learning this, as well as my dissatisfaction with giving money to the larger conglomerate ski companies, spurred me to buy a season pass to MRG this year. Earlier in the season, I was getting worried that having purchased the pass had doomed us to a repeat of the 2015/16 season where the snowfall had been so scarce, that MRG was only open a few days the entire season. But luckily the storm that came through on MLK Jr. day dropped about 18" of perfectly dense base-building snow on the mountain and opened just about everything up - Paradise and Partridge are the only two trails still closed, and they are still recommending no tree skiing as there isn't quite enough coverage yet.
Mad River Glen received another 5" this past Sunday, and then another 3" early Tuesday morning. It was light fluffy snow, so it didn't really add to the base, but gave the slopes a nice refresh. It has been bitterly cold up here recently, so I was happy to see that a balmy high of 25 degrees was forecast for the day. I arrived around 9:15am to get ready for my 10am lesson, and the parking lot was fairly empty, and the single and double chairs were ski-on all day. Once my lesson finished around noon, I headed out for some solo laps around the mountain. The mountain is definitely showing wear and tear, especially on the steeper sections, but overall, if you pay attention and pick your lines carefully, you'll be golden.
Here's a shot coming up the double chair:
And a shot from the top of the double chair:
As I'm advancing my skiing ability, I've become very fond of the Periwinkle Bowl. It's challenging, yet close to the base, so that if something were to happen, it wouldn't be difficult to get back to the base. Here's looking up at the drop in to Periwinkle Bowl:
And here's a shot looking down into the bowl, which looks a lot flatter than it really is:
After re-warming myself up, I headed up the single chair:
I took a few laps down from both the double and the single chair, sticking to mogul-y trails, as that's what I'm trying to become better at skiing. I stuck to trails that I've already skied in the past, although I am super eager to check out some new black diamonds. It's an odd situation (and I'm not complaining), in that I have suddenly lost most of my inhibitions about skiing steep, mogul-y trails this year. They've terrified me in the past, but it's like a switch flipped in my mind this year, and I'm ready to tackle them. But... not yesterday, only because the mountain was so empty that it felt like I was just about the only person out there, especially later in the afternoon, and I did worry that if I did something stupid it might be a while before someone else happened along.
My second to last run down the mountain, I choose to go down Grand Canyon. Here is a shot looking up toward the entrance:
and another looking down the trail, out across the valley:
Around 2:30pm, my quads were crying "uncle" and I was starting to feel some strain in my left knee, so I decided to pack it in for the day. I've got my fingers and toes crossed that we get some good snow this weekend, because it is desperately needed!
Mad River Glen received another 5" this past Sunday, and then another 3" early Tuesday morning. It was light fluffy snow, so it didn't really add to the base, but gave the slopes a nice refresh. It has been bitterly cold up here recently, so I was happy to see that a balmy high of 25 degrees was forecast for the day. I arrived around 9:15am to get ready for my 10am lesson, and the parking lot was fairly empty, and the single and double chairs were ski-on all day. Once my lesson finished around noon, I headed out for some solo laps around the mountain. The mountain is definitely showing wear and tear, especially on the steeper sections, but overall, if you pay attention and pick your lines carefully, you'll be golden.
Here's a shot coming up the double chair:
And a shot from the top of the double chair:
As I'm advancing my skiing ability, I've become very fond of the Periwinkle Bowl. It's challenging, yet close to the base, so that if something were to happen, it wouldn't be difficult to get back to the base. Here's looking up at the drop in to Periwinkle Bowl:
And here's a shot looking down into the bowl, which looks a lot flatter than it really is:
After re-warming myself up, I headed up the single chair:
I took a few laps down from both the double and the single chair, sticking to mogul-y trails, as that's what I'm trying to become better at skiing. I stuck to trails that I've already skied in the past, although I am super eager to check out some new black diamonds. It's an odd situation (and I'm not complaining), in that I have suddenly lost most of my inhibitions about skiing steep, mogul-y trails this year. They've terrified me in the past, but it's like a switch flipped in my mind this year, and I'm ready to tackle them. But... not yesterday, only because the mountain was so empty that it felt like I was just about the only person out there, especially later in the afternoon, and I did worry that if I did something stupid it might be a while before someone else happened along.
My second to last run down the mountain, I choose to go down Grand Canyon. Here is a shot looking up toward the entrance:
and another looking down the trail, out across the valley:
Around 2:30pm, my quads were crying "uncle" and I was starting to feel some strain in my left knee, so I decided to pack it in for the day. I've got my fingers and toes crossed that we get some good snow this weekend, because it is desperately needed!
