A Seven Years Morning
When:
Thu, 12/29/2011
Where:
Mad River Glen & Sugarbush
State / Province:
Vermont
Who:
J-Mac at MRG, Carrie Mac at Sugarbush
Temperature:
2F
Conditions:
12-18" of Utah light powder. A surprisingly consistent base. Cold, cold, cold. Light winds in places, pretty epic overall.
The second of 30 poaches will surely go down as one of the best. Our little section of Vermont got thumped unexpectedly* by a massive helping of light powder. *Note: I had tracked this storm on the 7YW weather page since xmas eve and was ready. J-Mac and I met up in the MRG lot at 5:30-6 am. My lack of conditioning combined with a lingering xmas flu to slow our progress to a crawl. Naturally I blamed it on taking photographs.
The sunrise and subsequent pastoral lighting was nothing short of spectacular. I deemed it a Seven Years Morning as the colors were aligned perfectly with the original inspiration for the new color scheme. After getting passed by a couple thousand skiers (I take the blame for our slow ascent), we made the transition at the mid station. We ended up with a untracked run down canyon with many many faceshots.
Arriving back to the lot before 8 am, I packed up and headed for Sugarbush. The split was switched for the Illuminati and lift served powder was ready for an early brunch. I met up with Carrie Mac and went to work dissecting the powder as patrol made it available. This was easily a top 5 day for me at Sugarbush, some really sweet runs through a shocking amount of powder. With another storm hitting today, I am hoping to repeat the dual resort split/lift action tomorrow. It sure is nice to have winter back, if only momentarily.
There is something surreal about starting off in the sub zero cold and dark. Slogging along, watching your breath illuminated by just the light of your headlamp, then the sun starts to peak through, and slowly paints the landscape.
Only one way to see a sunrise like that.
Not much to say here. The photo marginally does justice to the actual colors. Truly a 7yw morning.
My hands froze yet again during the transition from ski to board. Granted it was 2F but this has become a real issue. I couldn't feel the trigger on the camera as Jody blazed into Canyon. As such, I only snagged a few shots before my finger drifted off of the trigger and started pushing non consequential plastic.
Had my finger remained on the trigger, you would have witnessed a big pow slash shortly after this. It didn't, so this is all you get.
Nothing like finishing a sweet pow run before 8 am. Even better, laying a huge slash at the bottom of MRG as the skiers prep for opening day. Sorry about your powder. I meandered over to Sugarbush, switched the split for the Illuminati, and proceeded to rip some inbounds powder with Carrie Mac. Epic morning all the way around.
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