Who woulda thunk I'd be posting my first TR of the 2008-2009 season before Santa's even thought about taking his sleigh to the shop for its annual tune-up?

Jana and I headed to Seven Springs yesterday morning to take advantage of outrageous early season conditions and a $29 lift ticket. It was a good "test run" for new equipment and a good way to ease the ski season jones that had been almost unbearable for the last few months.

When we left Leesburg, there was little indication that winter is at the door, aside from the chilly (low 20's) temperature. As we drew nearer to Seven Springs, though, it began to look more and more like February, which was a very good sign.

After buying a lift ticket, I needed to rent some poles, since I haven't found the pair I want yet. $7 later, I was standing in line to check out of the new automated system they've got, when the system crashed. Luckily, there were maybe 2 other people in line at the time, so it wasn't a huge deal, but I can imagine how on a normal Saturday, that could be a REAL buzzkill.

We caught the Cortina chair up, and started slow on Fawn Lane. Among the new equipment in play yesterday were new Hotronic boot warmers on Jana's boots (as well as a recently-modified liner that we had done at Ski Center last weekend), new skis for me (Nordica Hot Rod Nitrous), and a new jacket.

All in all, the new gear seemed solid. The bootwarmers were not as warm as hoped, so we're looking into that. The Cloudveil Zero-G jacket was toasty and comfortable all day, and the new skis were fun, even if they made me feel horribly incompetent for the first 2-3 hours.

After we felt a little better about our abilities, we started skiing laps on Wagner, and then on Stowe. The new gladed area to skier's left of Wagner will be fun once they figure out how to fill in a little culvert that provides about a 2.5 foot wide, 2 foot deep "surprise" at the bottom. It was a little freaky to find that the first time.

Stowe got nicely bumped up by the end of the day, and for the first time ever, I intentionally was seeking out the bumps, instead of trying to find my way around them. The snow was soft and the conditions made for a good opportunity to try low-risk bump skiing. I'll look forward to doing that again...

For the first 3 hours or so, the slopes were relatively empty. We skied on to the Tyrol and Cortina chairs until lunch, while there was still a line at the 6-pack. After lunch, it was like a bus tour had shown up - all of a sudden it felt more like a typical Saturday at 7S, where you have your typical mix of crazy snowbladers, tons of snowboarders, etc. Not at all like the morning. By about 2:30 or so, crowds were thinning again, though, so it may have just been the overlap between the morning crowd and the evening crowd.

One of the most enjoyable parts of the day was meeting up with Jimmy, which marked my first experience meeting up with a message board neighbor to share a few turns. I was nervous that I would not be able to keep up (especially after the first few runs on the skis, which made me feel like I'd never been on skis in my life), but Jimmy (and his friend Charlie) were very gracious and made me feel like I was doing OK. It was a lot of fun, and it was nice to finally find a face to put with the name. I hope I can find opportunities throughout the season to meet up with DCskiers, although next time, we'll have to find a way to share a few pints afterwards. We'll have to schedule the Blue Knob trip so I can have the sausages and beer ready!

Yesterday was a great start to what I feel will be an amazing season. The conditions would have been good for late January, let alone November. And for $29, I definitely feel like I got my money's worth. Next weekend, we'll try to hit Hidden Valley (where, for free, I will almost DEFINITELY get my money's worth...), and then hopefully, Whitetail, Liberty, and Round Top will be open, so we can ski a little closer to home...

Anyone else get a chance to hit the slopes this weekend?


aaron

PS - I forgot to mention... When I showed up to turn in my poles at the end of the day, the older lady that was accepting returns took a look at me, and said "oh, you're my bugaboo today!" I said, "oh, you mean because I'm only returning poles? or me personally?" and she said "you." and then she called for help from the on-duty supervisor type, who explained that their system wasn't fully ready to accept people renting only poles, even though it was listed as an option on the front screen, and it had caused some real headache after I'd left with my poles that morning. For whatever reason, it sounds like the old lady made it personal. Weird...

Nice, getting into the bumps at 7springs when they are fresh and soft. Opening day rarely includes Stowe. You were there, doing it!

If you forget your poles, go in the exit of the rental shop and say "I forgot my poles!". Someone will hand you a pair of poles and you won't get attitude when you return them.

Nice TR, aaron. I'll be at the Valley next weekend, probably Saturday. If you want to meet for a few turns, that will be great. I'll be with the family so no need to worry about keeping up.

Laurel Hill Crazie,
Your post indicates a potential problem for readers here at DCSki. You refer to "the Valley" and you mean HV. Others refer to "the Valley" and mean Canaan Valley and Timberline and Canaan ski areas. I suggest that whenever we refer to Hidden Valley we use the shortcut "HV" to minimize confusion.
Looking to meet up with someone at "the Valley" who is a couple of hours south or north could confuse.
The Colonel

Jano wah Laurel Hill Crazie, i thought da colonel was jest being picky. We alls knew wah yinz were trying to say but but yinz hafta admit he has a point dere. Everybody knows da valley is in west virginia, lets not be taking liberties wit canaan n'at.

Nice skiing with you Aaron and, the lovely Jana. Sorry we couldn't stay for pints i was hop-ful allready and old charlie had a promise to keep, next time for sure. You felt like you "were doing OK" because you were. Think you helped squeeze a few more runs out of the old men. It really did looke more like Presidents Day than a week before Thanksgiving.

Hey Crush Did you notice Tyrol it was closed even though teh lift was running? YaH It looked like ski patrol was out there for about an hour or two making sure it wasn't safe for us to ski. Lawyers guns n money i think 7springs hired a bunch of new attorneys.

Sorry for the confusion Colonel 'n jimmy. Here in the Pixburgh area the local resorts are referred to as: the Springs, the Valley, the Mountain and the Knob. I'll get back to my usual references 7S, HV, LM and BK.

Jimmy, I taught yinz was gonna jag me 'rahn 'n 'at fer wimpin aut tadey. Yinz is gittin dat Pittsburghese dahn purty goot, janowahts I mean.

...J - again i am so sorry i was so stupid and had my cell-phone off and didn't get your call.

yes i noticed that lift was running - i rode up with some chatty woman who kept talking about bumps and stuff but i told her i am a lazy skier and bumps represent too much work in general so i prefer to just run over them with super-g turns.

i swear i'll ski with you

well here is my trip report -

made first turn about 11 am

felt good

made more turns after that

still felt good and made five turns in fake powder

had to straight-line b/c of snowborder to my left.

tipped over once on my right side b/c i got too far inside.

saw some 7-s race dude with too much old-school lower-body angulation and fancy ski jacket on wagner

bit-o-the-burgh is gone

many park poops jerking off over each others' top skins, center-mount binding, geo-jackets and pink skull-candy 'phones while waiting en-mass like baby penguins in baby park with rope tow in front of foggy goggle

paid $20 for a brat-dog, salad, diet coke, JD shooter with a merlot back

men's toilet next to season pass holder's lockers is still messed up and stinky.

noticed absence of cheezy p.a. music near base lodge and missed it.

managed to get left leg to make a decent carved turn.

marveled at people still trying to ski like stein erickson

marveled at how much eye makeup and hair-height pennsylvania grls still can pull off

marveled at how good rental equipment is now since rank beginners can straighline runs and get away with it

marveled at how i still love 7-s in all it's glory .

Went yesterday with a 6-yr old and a pre-teen.
Well worth it, and judging from the filled parking lot, I'd say we sent a message to Mgmt. that we're happy to see the lifts running after 8 months of jonzin'.

Hoping to drive a bit less next weekend, maybe BK. But if HV is really free...., then maybe my first trip ever to HV.

Hey Crush, re: pa wimen. Dat look is so aht. Yinz mustabin seein dem gals with eye make-up streaked and hair poofed 'cause all da wimen here jus straight line da slopes ata Springz. Yinz better be careful drinkin wit dem in da Goggle 'cause dey'll boilermaker yinz under da table den doggie bag da lefoer 5 larm wings ta feed da kidz at home.

heh - awesome ! actually the faint smell of cigs mixed with white shoulder perfume and grape chewing gum on a woman with lots of makeup seems to still be a turn-on for me ... well i've never been shy about admitting i need help ...

gotta love em cause I live here but I married a DC gal, actually a MD gal. Her father is from VA and I she still sez ya'all.

It's too bad they weren't making snow. When the ice crusts over that big poof of hair sticking out over the headband, it's like the glitter you see at the Cricket...

You got a problem with us skiing like Stein Erickson?

Made the solo run up on Saturday mornin'. So cool....the trip started out as late November and by the time I passed thru the Allegheny tunnel, it was like early February. Got there around 9:30. Lower lot already was full. Ticket lines were brisk. Biggest problem with opening day is grunting and groaning to pull on the gear after a summer of being lazy. Hard to bend over and clamp your boots with those layers and the summer bulge

Took the Cortina chair up....forget the sixpack, it was jammed with kiddies. They were pumpin' snow out all over Stowe and the first run was sweet. Started pounding runs on Stowe to get the legs back and by the tenth run, started to get a little rubbery. Went into the goggle for some liquid courage and asked for a coffee with baileys. Bartender says: Sorry no coffee.....no Baileys. What? Are you serious? Ok let me see a menu.....sorry kitchen is not open until later this afternoon. Hey babe, it is after noon and I'm hungry! She tells me "try the snack bar downstairs". Groan - they didn't really seem to care much.....how very un-7springslike. The goggle has always been so good to me. Oh well chalk it up to an early opening.....still, most of us "southerners" from down 70 only ski up there early nov and late mar.....so the springs can make or break my desire to travel 2-3 hours when there are alternatives.

Anyway good to get the legs back and slam some runs....get a little air and hoot like a teenager.

See you at the bottom!

Spend two days, jano at the springs it kinda rubs off on me . no jaggin roun cuz i wasn't there either wimped aut if you will. So i wonder if Tyrol was open on sunday?