I am on the road again, this time for myself instead of work. I drove up to Avoca, PA, on Saturday where I visited with my old Navy buddy, Terry Boone, and his boys. We went out to a good pizza, pasta, and salad buffet in Wilkes-Barre which pretty much left us worthless afterwards. We all watched and laughed at the movie “Dumb and Dumber” when we got home then Terry and I then went out for a few dollar drafts at a local club. We kept it sane this time and made it back to the house at about midnight instead of the 3:00 AM debacle from the last visit.
Sunday I left early for Vermont to see my friends the Devinos. I whipped up my second batch of chili in two weeks. It went over quite well! We had a bunch left…the recipe make about 8 quarts of chili…but most of it had been eaten by last night and the complements kept rolling in.
Yesterday I skied at Mad River Glen, the idea of which had always intrigued yet intimidated me. Their reputation is that of a ski area that appeals to hard core, expert skiers. They do have some of the most challenging mogul fields I have ever seen as well as lots of forest/glade skiing that I have little desire to try out.
The area, however, was much more novice and intermediate friendly than their reputation implied. Be advised that I am talking about Vermont where novice and intermediate are two different worlds from novice and intermediate in the mid-Atlantic resorts. I know quite a few beginners who wouldn’t touch the greens at Mad River.
Nonetheless, I had a great time. The atmosphere brought me back to the my days of learning how to ski at the likes of Underhill and Middlebury College Snow Bowl when I lived in Vermont and was learning how to ski in the 70’s. Nobody used lockers…they were all Vermonters…and treated and respected each other as such. People were friendly and informative.
Each lift, and each stage on the lifts, was playing different music according to who was operating the devices at the time. A NASCAR race was on at one place, heavy metal at another, bluegrass elsewhere…you name it. The lifts all came down to one spot so you never found yourself a mountain away from where you thought you should be.
Trails crisscrossed the mountain like streets in a city. You could start out down one trail and cut off on to ten others making for a wide variety of ways down the mountain. The conditions were a bit slick in a few places but I think that they rely on natural snow and minimal grooming so I couldn’t complain. Having new skis with serious edges helped also.
Vermont breweries, Otter Creek and Long Trail, were on tap in the lodge which was sweet. I had a Wolavers IPA (brewed at Otter Creek) with a nice stew in a bread bowl for lunch after two hours of power skiing down the mountain right onto the chair. I did the same thing after lunch and then called it due the fact that my leg were turning to jello. They are a bit sore today but should be good for Killington tomorrow.
I am settled into my motel, the Chalet Killington, about a mile from the slopes as I write this. I am going to head down to get drink shortly. Conditions tomorrow should be awesome, given I can see. It has been snowing all day and is supposed to continue on until tomorrow evening. Predictions in the mountains are anywhere from 9′ to 30″. WTF? Almost March it is, eh?
Here are some pics from Mad River Glen. The full set of pictures is here: Mad River Glen 2008.
This is the entrance:
Here’s the single chair.
Here are some mogul pictures including one action shot of someone unknown. Amazing I caught it on my old digital camera:
