Spring in like a lion....

Just days after riding single track in VT, we found ourselves back on snow with 4 inches of new fallen white. Weather in VT? Just wait a couple of minutes....

Spring back to winter!

T&S

Legends of the Thaw...

Well it's January here in Vermont and at times it can get warm, wet and windy! While the Ol' Ski Hill out back can get kind of.....well, lets just say it was beautiful..

Never let yourself second-guess getting out, no matter the conditions. In the end you'll always be glad you did.

Good thing I had the fat skis?! Where are my E99's when I need them most?

Good thing I brought some cold beer.

T.

No Sleep Til April

We have been blessed with snow - lots of it, and all high-quality, with continuous flakes refreshing our favorite powder stashes every couple of days. Vermont's skiers are excited - we've all got big smiles. We're taking advantage by getting out almost daily, from lunch-time tours in the City Park to long half-day adventures in our Town Forest to full-day excursions into the backcountry. And we've brought our friends along! Our Sunday night ski-dinners have been a hit. Last Sunday, we had over ten skiers out on the trails at night, then back to our place to enjoy a dee-licious potluck dinner and a rambunctious round of "Celebrity." (I am terrible at that game and should stick to skiing and feeding people.)

Check out a few photos from our latest adventures. We hope to see you out there!

Exiting the Town Forest at sunset onto one of our favorite hills - and views.

Skinning up

The night crew

Fresh local turns, then fresh local dinner from the farm (upper left)

Odin knows the way back up

Poetry

Birch in Winter

"Sometimes I need only to stand wherever I am to be blessed."

From Mary Oliver's poem, It was Early

Happy Brithday MRG.

It was a great day to get out and celebrate a great place to ski: Mad River Glen.  Parking may have been a little uchemm... mad.. but Sarah and I had a great time making some great turns at a true classic Vermont ski hill!  They even roll back lift ticket prices to 1949 at $ 3.50 - a true steal! 

Happy Birthday Mad River Glen.

A cold day, a beautiful day.

Negative temps as cold as -24 couldn't keep us in! We toured today through some absolutely beautiful terrain, which just happens to be out my back yard.  It was a good day to be a GMPG.  Looks like we might just be getting some more snow this week!  As one friend put it " La Nina is on our side this year". I think what he means is were getting some great snow and turns in this year and boy do we know it.  See you out there!

Home

Good friends and good turns

Our third day out getting the snow while its good!  The Catamount trail offers a great way to access some great BC skiing.  When good powder snow and good friends come together it's a beautiful thing.  Our only problem is the turns are so good no one wants to be a photographer!  Hah! I don't blame us.  So here's to the snow and your friends, now go out and get it while it's good!

Snacks first skin; Wilderness

                    

          
                   
                  It was only a matter of time before we wore off on him.

Turns out snack can earn his turns, here's to getting those powder turns.  It's sort of a tradition to Skin Wilderness at least ounce a week as the season goes.  We were not disappointed as we had great snow all the way down, matter of fact none of us could stop grinning even after we all went our separate ways.  Now that's a good time with good friends.

Now get out there.

I think its a matter of ski and let ski! Is it really about how much snow you get and what your mountains look like that makes us content skiers? I know that if I went around telling everyone how good it was where I am and how crappy it is where they are I would A~ not have many friends to ski or ride with and B~ I'm probably not happy where I am skiing and riding. Skiing for me and the people I spend time with doing it with do it because they love it no matter where they are. Whether its on skis, a board or a sled its all about that sensation of sliding on snow that I think we all can all relate to, is it not? Yeah were getting skunked right now here in VT but the snow will come and if it doesn't well that's just the way it goes. We had an awesome year for trail riding last year and well what do you know I managed to break my first bone and lost three months! three months! I still managed a good season despite my broken wing and explored the White mountains which are stunning in their own right, point is I made the best of it.  A comment on my blog comes to mind as well from a very northerly poetic person " Our mountains don't need us to defend them as they speak for themselves". So here's to where you are and where you might  find yourself in the future, because where ever you find yourself; its all good.


Now get out there.
 
On a lighter note I had a rare and wonderful conversation with my grandmother of 90 years!  She has good days and bad but today she could hear me loud and clear as she said " Were getting 5-6" of snow today I just might go sliding"  What was that? I said "Well you know when I was younger I loved to slide on snow".  All I can remember for the last 50 years of knowing my grandmother was that she hated the cold and complained of it constantly.  But here she was years later remembering the feeling of sliding on snow and well like I said old, young, ripper, weekend warrior, east or west we can all say that there is just something about the feeling of sliding on snow.  Now thats something I think we can all agree on.
 
Tristan

Looking through the glass on Langdon st.

Walking around down town Montpelier is not like your average city or town.  It's funny when I refer to Montpelier as a city people laugh!  This is when I feel the need to inform them that we are indeed the smallest capital "city" in the United states!  I should like to think were quite fond of this idea as well.  Who really believes its all about size anyways theses days?  If there is one thing we do have in Montpelier that is a sense of who we are. We can walk the streets at any given point during the day and see the people we elect every year, the owner of our favorite local coffee shop, a friend or too, our mayor and any well known postal service people all who would gladly give you the time of day.  This is why Sarah, Odin and I live here.  Now those of you who know us well, know that we will soon be leaving and making an exciting change to country living!  But don't forget we love our community here and that's what we truly believe in.  If you don't have community then we all lose something that makes us human.  Were all here because we want to be.   I think its funny when we get seasonal birds in the area and they say "your mountains are so small and your all on big fat skis! Where do you think your skiing?"  This is where I turn inwards and remind my self and the bird and say "Big isn't always better you know!"  Then I say " Your right there isn't any good skiing in Vermont, you should fly back home where things are big my friend!"  Size and location are all a matter of perspective and we love it here because it's small and because it takes you years to find out where the best stashes are in the mountains as you explore them and make new friends. 

This is what makes Vermont, Vermont and we love it all the same.  So till next time, when the snow falls you'll probably know where to find us.

Oh and by the way I was lying, theres a little good skiing here in the Green mountains and I would encourage anyone with a little sense of adventure, local or seasonal bird to explore and find it for yourself~!

Cheers!  

Waxed skis..Mmmmmmmm....

Wax on, wax off!

On the subject of snowfall...

While looking for a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon referenced in the previous post I found this that sums up how I feel about snowfall right now and religion in general. Click to see full cartoon.

Good friends, skiing, mountains, PBR; what a time.