What Would (oldest grandson's initials) Do? Why the woods of course. How foolish of me to even ask. Yesterday afternoon the only thing on the mountain that was not solid ice was upper Antelope, which was actually pretty good. And it was windy. Therefore the snow blowing off the trails must be in the woods, right? CB would declare the woods to be a powder heaven and dive in with abandon, sight unseen. Sounds like good reasoning. Why not? I chose the former &%#thouse glade, now Moose Woods (between Fall line and Chute, http://www.madriverglen.com/maps/iMapLarge.php ). There was powder. It was:-
Heavy,
Crusty,
Crunchy,
Punchy.

I did not ski it like CB would. I skied it like an old guy. I sideslipped as many vertical feet as I turned. I did not see the moose. I first skied those woods at least 10 years ago on 205s. Today I was humiliated on 165 phats. What happened? I did have fun with the challenge but bailed on doing it again. Trivia question, How do you get pine needles inside your goggles. Ans. ski at Mad River Glen.

After that one run I went to my car to get the bailout option, the race stock slalom skis with alpine bindings. Upper Antelope was very good with lots of snow and very little, easily avoided ice. Same for Chute, Cantalope Chute and Catamount. It was a midstation day which I enjoyed thoroughly.

The lower mountain cover is hurting more with each snowless day. There have been far too many. This weekend I leave for Steamboat and then Alta.

Denis, how long will you be at Alta?

well, even with marginal conditions, it *still* sounds like fun.

As for the kids, I could see signs of it last year at Sugarloaf - my kid had more control at speed in crusty bumps under new snow on the black runs under the king pine lift.

This year, it came closer in some of the bowls at Breckenridge. He chose some lines into unknown trees and rock bands that I might have avoided. On the last run down Imperial, he waited at the bottom while I slid on my back.

The next day, I got my revenge in some icy chutes at Loveland But the end is in sight if not already here.

The competition is really fun.

Timing is everything at the Glen. Skied their on Jan 27th for $4.00 lift day and the snow was good but very thin cover. Everybody coming off the trails were looking at their bases and shaking their heads. Then returned on Jan 29th after a 16 inch dump and it was fantastic! Upper Antelope to the Canyons was real nice. Lower Antelope, Lynx and Beaver, and Quaky to Porcupine were all great runs. But one thing for sure MRG will always put you to the test!

Yes, it is, and my timing was not good this year.

http://list.uvm.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0902B&L=SKIVT-L&D=1&T=0&O=D&P=128672

This was my contribution (such as it is) to an argument about eastern skiing vs. western skiing.