Pretty good year: Impressions

[RR]

First off I'm happy to say I have met quite a few TFT and feel much richer for the experiences. Looking forward to more of the same as time goes by.

Second I'm 40% BC this year and Inbounds was over 20% poaching and nearly 40% trees overall...The overall days are down, but the quality time is way the hell up!

Thank you one and all for the inpsiration.

Hows been y'alls year?

[M@]

Excellent Tuckerman Year for me, first time I went twice and the chute run on April 3rd was my best tuckerman run ever.

Finding the Guido was a major big score. Only one really good day on it, but I think it's gonna be a real gem for years to come.

As for resort skiing, it was pretty much a bust. A couple powder days, and some really fun rope ducking days too, but nothing epic really. Getting back to Jay now that I'm a better skier was very good, but then that mountain tweaked my shoulder.

But then there's the sand skiing... can't go wrong with sand skiing.

M@

[Tommy T]

I made three Tuck trips -- last weekend in January on skis, skinning upthe Sherborne and messing around in the woods and Lower Snowfields; last weekend in February for a board run on Left; last weekend in March for a winter inspection hike across the Tuck Crossover Trail and a ride down the Lobster Claw. In January, the ski down to Pink used the woods a lot; the other two were board runs down the Sherburne.

Otherwise in the B.C. I hit the Pine Hill at Wachusetts one time on the board and made a pilgramage to the Berkshires to find and telemark the Ghost (the trail that was the genesis of the national ski patrol system). I repeated the North Slide on Tripyramid on inadequate snow cover that made the ascent considerably more thrilling than the ride.

A little early season bargain package to Utah gave five days in Little Cottonwood Canyon, three of which were mostly B.C.and fourth had a one lift served out of bounds run to finish off.

The big western trip with my son was to Bridger Bowl/Big Sky with 9 days on snow. Excellent luck with the weather, plently of new snow, some inbounds hiking, especially along the ridge at Bridger, and some outrageous in bounds lift served skiing and riding made this one of the most successful of our 20 or so major trips. In one day at Lone Peak, I did 30,000 vertical feet with black, double black or better on every run (except for one which was just a traverse between lifts).

I had a combined Cannon/Bretton Woods mid-week pass for $249. I got six Cannon days with a run into the South Bowl, two Tucker Brooks, one Secret Woods and several Mitersills. And, seven Bretton Woods days mostly spent in the Rosebrook Glades. I really explored that area foot by foot. I had never spent much time at BW but with their recent expansion they offer some challenges for those who look.

Two days were spent at 10E, one at Ragged. The low snow took away the B.C. opportunities that each of those have hidden.

I was at Nashoba Valley teaching snowboarding (mainly staff training and clinics, a few program groups and some public walk-ins ,with one tele lesson thrown in) on 27 days for a total vertical of 1342 feet. (Not really, but given the area's 200 foot vertical and the pace of most beginner board lessons, my total for 27 days at Nashoba was less than the combined total of my two top days for the season.)

I took a two day advanced telemark clinic from North American Telemark Organization (my second clinic with that group which I highly recommend for telemarkers or telemark wantabees at any level).

It wasn't a bad year. Not great, but not bad.

Now the snow gear is put away, white water is running in New England and the chain on my mountain bike is lubed.

I probably won't be around this forum much until the snow starts next fall.

You can catch me playing at the summer band concerts on Thursday evenings in June and July at Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, MA and the Tuesday concerts at the band stand in Lexington, MA in July and August. There also be one in Belmont at Payson Park on June 18, Concord in the afternoon on the 4th of July, and along the Assabet River in Hudson on July 28. I'm the trumpet player with the grey pony tail.

See ya'all.

Tommy T.

[skicdave]

Hey this is beginning to sound like the last episode of 'Friends'. Now no boo hooing..

Anyways my year was mixed... less skiing than last year.

Only one Tucks trip... at least so far. Maybe sneak in another? Had one of the worst days at Tucks for weather.. but did meet several T4Ters which made up for it. Glad to do a sunset hike 'n ski at Attitash to make up lost vertical at Tucks. Did have one of our largest groups from Ottawa on our Tucks trip though. Glad to report that at 45 my bod is still more than willing to hike up a bunch of gear up the mountain dispite all my time on the puter :p

Less resort skiing than usual. Best skiing was at Mont Ste Anne by far!

Less mogul skiing than in ANY recent year... darn :snowcat: 's!

Did get in some cross country, and discovered night cross country ski and hut dinning which is a MUST do next year.

Still eyeing backcountry / tele equipment...

[Mumster]

Added glade and tree skiing. The 1.2 million vertical feet is not bad for a working gal. Knee function returned...well, almost all of it (leg strength is actually better than a year ago). Race handicaps improved. Trip to TR was not spectacularly successful re: skiing the ravine, but it was wonderful meeting other T4Ters. :D

Future focus -> increasing BC experience including TR, improving in deep ruts, ice and deep slop. At the risk of offending our BC addicts, want still want race handicaps to improve. Oh yes, aspire to goof off on message boards even more. :D

[elwood]

Sadly, I didn't meet as many of you as I would have liked to. Season started out great. Explored every inch of backcountry connected to Smuggs. Hit Jay Peak a couple times, including a 2 foot powder day. Had a great day with M@ until I ripped my knee up on nothing. THen my late season skiing was done. I haven't had any spring skiing yet. Haven't made it to Tucks yet... and I stress the word yet. I am feeling pretty good...Been hitting the gym pretty hard, and I feel like I may be ready to take some turns again. Can't go this weekend, but I am thinking possibly the following weekend. At least head up there and see what it looks like again...

Any takers?

[Mumster]

Sadly, I didn't meet as many of you as I would have liked to. Season started out great. Explored every inch of backcountry connected to Smuggs. Hit Jay Peak a couple times, including a 2 foot powder day. Had a great day with M@ until I ripped my knee up on nothing. THen my late season skiing was done. I haven't had any spring skiing yet. Haven't made it to Tucks yet... and I stress the word yet. I am feeling pretty good...Been hitting the gym pretty hard, and I feel like I may be ready to take some turns again. Can't go this weekend, but I am thinking possibly the following weekend. At least head up there and see what it looks like again... Any takers?

Elwood,
My heart goes out to you...I'd be totally :cry: if my knee got wrecked early in the season. Glad to hear that things are improving.

[Bannick]

I too did not meet as many of you in person but have met many new friends online and hope to tip a few with more of you soon. The season started pretty weak for me riding wise. Seemed to miss the big Dec dumps in VT by a matter of hours. But I did ditch work and ride opening day at a few local hills here in Ontario. I was a resident of VT by default for 6 weeks or so and now have a mailing address in Ann Arbor.

I hit Stowe, Sugarbush (5 bucks on Christmas day), and Bolton Valley for the the first time. Also made my first turns with Pepper Dawg at Smuggs. We were on the same slopes as Elwood but never hooked up...tho we could feel, or maybe hear his presence in the woods while we rode our way blindly around the mountain. Rode in some of the coldest temps ever this year, the type when celcius and farenheit become friends so to speak.

The west coast trip was great 5 days at whistler/blackcomb and a couple of days at Mt. Baker with some deep light snow even. Hiked around Mt. Rainier as well and will definately be back there soon. Pretty good way to spend a honeymoon.

I didn't do as much BC as I would have liked to (Ontario aint known for its back country options) but got in a bit out west and Baker is like riding the back country anyway. I did have an amazing run down some back country goat path at Bolton Valley that saw me crash into some creek that instantly froze the base of my board and bindings.

Did not and will not make it to Tucks this year.....an eye ailment has sidelined that for this year. Hopefully it heals itself soon but no gurantees. I am back to the specialist this week.

Oh right....I got married this season :D
so I would say this has been pretty much my best season ever.

[pepperdawg]

A 'different' year for the Dawg. 1st year since 96 I didnt have a seasons pass, and the 1st time in 5-6 years I wasent in a ski house. Only managed to get 18 days in, generally I average 30...which is kinda a bummer, but considering the late start to the season, a horrible January...I feel on par...I did manage to get some great Pow daze during the 2 major dumps in December. Only one trip out west this year, was a great late season classic spring trip to Summit County CO.

Have YET to make it to Tucks this seasson :mad: ....like Elwood, still have slight window in the next few weeks. Met Bannick and Jess this season - missed Elwood 2X , but did meet him and the good Doctor on the trail last May. Hope to meet many more TFTr's in the future. Smuggs rocks -I forsee many future adventures there!!!! :D

Aside from going though a couple of gates in CO 0% back country so far this year...never did get my Atlas Snowshoes, whioch would have allowed a greater foroy into Eastern slopes....

Never Summer!!!, but the boat goes in the water in the next few weeks...will get a couple of weeks of fisin in , and then wakeboarding/ :beer: season kicks in....rollin on the river!!!! Open invite for anyone in the Hartford area!!!

Looking forward to next season already - with rumors of cheap ASC passes on the horizon, and will probably get back into a K-Mart house....bring on Oct already....but ya never know - Superstar is still open, and tucks is always a possiblility.....although my next 3 weeks will be tied up with a server lift/consolidation...the odds dwindle daily...

As echoed above - Great community on this board!!!!

Did make it into the 'famed' TMC this season - Ha!!!

-Woof!!!!

[SkiStooge]

29 Gunstock
4 Cannon
(Gunstock/Cannon/Sunapee season pass)
0 Tucks (but will be doing quite a bit of backpacking the Presidentials this year...cheap and fun)

Sometimes, being back in college full-time at 45 sucks. Kinda eats into the schedule too much. lol

Have fun, be safe. Al

[Luddite]

Weird ski year. Early on got to ski Verbier, but a neck injury limited me a lot. Had a great year at Mt Abram, making lots of friends and watching my kids gain in skill & confidence. In fact their skiing was more of a highlight this year than my own, but I got a lot better & more confident on tele too. The move to modern equip helped. I muscled out some BC runs despite a lack of snow on my usual runs, but I scoped out some killer stuff for next year. Nursing a knee injury right now, hoping to heal in time for some Tux or even an Airplane Gully visit, but the aged heal slow so it's day to day. But it's good to be in a place where even if I don't heal I'll look back on the year & smile. And I'll smile even more looking forward to the next one!

[SkiNerd]

My totals:

Tucks: 0
Jay: 30?
Cannon: 5
Stowe: 2
Sugarbush: 2

Not a bad year, but school definately got in the way.

[skicdave]

29 Gunstock
4 Cannon
(Gunstock/Cannon/Sunapee season pass)
0 Tucks (but will be doing quite a bit of backpacking the Presidentials this year...cheap and fun)


Sheesh Al.... I was just teasing about the lift passes at Tucks. Its still free mon!

[DMC]

In November I made sacrifice to ULLR - my first snowboard...
http://www.powderhound.org/2003/thumbnails/TNHunter_11-22-03_ULLR_Doug.jpg

Got some promising snow in December
http://www.powderhound.org/2003/thumbnails/TNHunter_12-7-03_Doug_42nd_1.jpg
Larger Image (http://www.powderhound.org/cgi/imgtool.cgi?year=2003&page=normal&name=Hunter_12-7-03_Doug_42nd_1&type=jpg)

Visited an old friend(skiing) in the beginning of January
http://www.powderhound.org/2004/thumbnails/TNHunter_01-02-04_Doug_huga_1.jpg
Larger Image (http://www.powderhound.org/cgi/imgtool.cgi?year=2004&page=normal&name=Hunter_01-02-04_Doug_huga_1&type=jpg)

Didn't get on the Split board until February
http://www.powderhound.org/2004/thumbnails/TNHunter_02-01-04_Doug_spliboard_1.jpg
Larger Image (http://www.powderhound.org/cgi/imgtool.cgi?year=2004&page=normal&name=Hunter_02-01-04_Doug_spliboard_1&type=jpg)

Drank a few beers and got crazy
http://www.powderhound.org/2004/thumbnails/TNHunter_01-31-04_Tequillas_Ruiz_Paul_Doug_Bob.jpg

Hit Utah in the end of February - got dumped on... Good thing..
http://www.powderhound.org/2004/thumbnails/TNUtah_02-28-04_Doug_PowderMountain.jpg
Larger Image (http://www.powderhound.org/cgi/imgtool.cgi?year=2004&page=normal&name=Utah_02-28-04_Doug_PowderMountain&type=jpg)

Tried Telemarking a few times in March.
http://www.powderhound.org/2004/thumbnails/TNHunter_03-07-04_Andy_Doug.jpg
Larger Image (http://www.powderhound.org/cgi/imgtool.cgi?year=2004&page=normal&name=Hunter_03-07-04_Andy_Doug&type=jpg)

Skined up the mountain after it closed in April.
http://www.powderhound.org/2004/thumbnails/TNHunter_04-17-04_Doug_Andy_1.jpg
Larger Image (http://www.powderhound.org/cgi/imgtool.cgi?year=2004&page=normal&name=Hunter_04-17-04_Doug_Andy_1&type=jpg)

Played drums for 6 hours at a end of season pig roast..
http://www.powderhound.org/2004/thumbnails/TNHunter_04-17-04_PigRoast_Doug.jpg
Larger Image (http://www.powderhound.org/cgi/imgtool.cgi?year=2004&page=normal&name=Hunter_04-17-04_PigRoast_Doug&type=jpg)

Went to Tucks....
http://www.powderhound.org/2004/thumbnails/TNTR_04-22-04_Doug_Hillmans_middle_2.jpg
Larger Image (http://www.powderhound.org/cgi/imgtool.cgi?year=2004&page=normal&name=TR_04-22-04_Doug_Hillmans_middle_2&type=jpg)

http://www.powderhound.org/2004/thumbnails/TNTR_04-22-04_Doug_Paul_Hojos_night_2.jpg
Larger Image (http://www.powderhound.org/cgi/imgtool.cgi?year=2004&page=normal&name=TR_04-22-04_Doug_Paul_Hojos_night_2&type=jpg)

http://www.powderhound.org/2004/thumbnails/TNTR_04-22-04_Doug_Frank_shelter2_1.jpg
Larger Image (http://www.powderhound.org/cgi/imgtool.cgi?year=2004&page=normal&name=TR_04-22-04_Doug_Frank_shelter2_1&type=jpg)

http://www.powderhound.org/2004/thumbnails/TNTR_04-23-04_Doug_UpperSnowfields.jpg
Larger Image (http://www.powderhound.org/cgi/imgtool.cgi?year=2004&page=normal&name=TR_04-23-04_Doug_UpperSnowfields&type=jpg)

Not a bad season... so far...

[Bannick]

Hit Utah in the end of February - got dumped on... Good thing..

Hee hee......

[Johnny_Long_Ski]

Hmm... where to start

Well I lost my Tux virginity this year, thank god. Very regretfully, I've been a prude to back country skiing for the first 23 years of my life, unfortunately. However, I caught the tux bug, and I plan on doing it several times a year for the rest of my life, as long as I can carry a 50 lb. pack.

First trip was on 3/28, on an amazing blue bird day. Hiked it with my girlfriend and her family, and fell in love with the place. None of them wanted to ski, so I followed suit, and we brought sleds. It wasn't skiiing, but it was still fun. We sledded the entire Sherburne.

Second trip on 4/25 was amazing. Talked my girlfriend into skiing the chute from just above the hour glass with me. One of the most memorable skiing experiences I've ever had, and definitely my fondest. Only did one run because we had to head back to Boston, but hopefully I can squeeze in another trip if the snowpack holds.

Never got to meet any T4T'ers, but its on my list of to-do's for next year...

In terms of lift served skiing, I had the $299 pass from Sunday River/Scattitash, as well as the key to my family condo at SR, so I managed to get in 22 days there. Overall, the year for resort skiing was well below average in terms of conditions, total days, and vertical skied. The one exception was the day SR got dumped on 43" in one night. Skied it for a few hours until my legs turned into jello. Very memorable.

Goals for next year:
- Ski center headwall, still be able to walk when I get to the bottom
- Drink beer/ski with T4T'ers
- 25 resort days
- Finally try free-heeling
- Colorado/Utah trip (got some free Copper tickets!!!)
- Get myself a new Great Dane puppy, bring it to Tux, and have it carry my beer up the mountain...

http://www.puppyfinder.com/media/images/dane.jpg

Until then,

Johnny Long Skis

[Affix Snow]

Johnny,

Love the quote at bottom.

Can i borrow it?

[Johnny_Long_Ski]

Johnny,

Love the quote at bottom.

Can i borrow it?


Absolutely. I wish I knew who came up with this one... ...I have a friend who has an old beaten up t-shirt, vintage early 80's probably, with it silk screened onto it. I'd do anything to have one...

[Affix Snow]

Absolutely. I wish I knew who came up with this one... ...I have a friend who has an old beaten up t-shirt, vintage early 80's probably, with it silk screened onto it. I'd do anything to have one...
A T-shirt!

What a grand Idea!

Ill have to screen some. Maybe distribute them at tucks for gas money.
You In?

Maybe next year?

[Johnny_Long_Ski]

Let's do it. Maybe then I can quit my IT job and ski more often. Let's start planning in Sept...

[Affix Snow]

Sounds Great!

Is it Kosher to peddle goods for sale on the mountain?

I guess if its for a good cause its OK...work to ski.

Screw it.. Ill work up the screen in september and do some test prints, ill let you know.

Pure Brilliance.

[SkiChick]

Sounds Great!

Is it Kosher to peddle goods for sale on the mountain?

I guess if its for a good cause its OK...work to ski.

Screw it.. Ill work up the screen in september and do some test prints, ill let you know.

Pure Brilliance.


I know a group up at killington who has printed up Tshirts with that very quote on it.

[M@]

I think it's kewl when a chick wears that tShirt.

M@

[Johnny_Long_Ski]

I think it's kewl when a chick wears that tShirt.

M@

I think its kewl when a chick wears no shirt at all.

[skicdave]

I think its kewl when a chick wears no shirt at all.

Hey none of that on T4T! or you'll get your :bum: :tmchandshake: by :gasp:

[Johnny_Long_Ski]

Hey none of that on T4T! or you'll get your :bum: :tmchandshake: by :gasp:


Who is :gasp:

[Affix Snow]

BLAST!!!!!!!

Damn Killingtoners...people...that ski....?

Well, we will have to one up them and include a beer with the shirt.
That will show them...yea....um...if I can get te beer up there without drinking it all the night before.

Ill stop now.

[skicdave]

Who is :gasp:

Actually.... I forget... Perhaps it is the Monk of Mt Washington (you'll have to watch Schlitz on Mount Washington to know about him)

[Jolly J]

Nov - 1
Dec - 11
Jan - 23
Feb - 22
Mar - 22
Apr - 5
Total - 84...so far

It's been a pretty cool year for me. I got to work at a ski hill full time hence lots of days. However it was one of the worst snow years in recent memory which kind of sucks.

For "Resort Skiing"
Sugarloaf - 1
Wentworth - 3
Poley - 2
Crabbe - 75

Best Ski day was at Wentworth of all places, after they got almost 4 feet of snow. Enjoyed great lines in the trees.

For "BC"
Wilderness X-Country - 5
Tux - 1
Chic Chocs - 1

Best day - Finally made it to the Chic Chocs, even thought the weather didn't cooperate it was pretty magical up there.

Hope to make a Great Gulf trip in the next week and then maybe a June 21 day at tucks to get summer in.