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recent
The last time was ten years ago, and it was nothing like it was this time. In the winter of my junior year of high-school I worked Saturday's at Burger King making enough money to spend Sunday driving two hours north to Caberfae Peaks in Cadillac, Michigan where, to make sure I got my money's worth, I would force myself to ski from the time the lifts opened, until the very last run at night. If I remember correctly, Caberfae has a 470 foot vertical drop. It took about two minutes to get to the top, and thirty seconds to get down.
This weekend Tomoe and I went to Vermont to ski. Try to imagine for yourselves what it must feel like for me to finally ski a trail where I had to actually stop and rest before I reached the bottom.... one where I could not see lift loading point from everywhere on the mountain. It was truly amazing, and this was not even the largest ski area in vermont.
We've scrapped next weekend's plan (to enrich our minds with a trip to historic Boston) in favor of another weekend in Vermont. We've also started planning our European ski trip when Tomoe comes to visit Sweden for a few weeks in February. Anyone have any suggestions for skiing in Switzerland?
The photos above are still from the drive through Pennsylvania. There was little snow on the ground in Vermont, and it caused a little disappointment when, Bolton Valley the place we chose for Saturday only had a few lifts open (none of which went to the top of the mountain) and of the runs that were serviced by those lifts, only a few beginner trails were open - and these were all covered with ice. That day, we left well before closing because we were bored.
Surgarbush, the resort we visited Sunday, had lifts to both of it's summits opened, and they had plenty of terrain that were beyond our ability, and there was enough made-snow to cover all the ice patches. I have never in my life skied on what I hear people refer to as "powder" so I was overjoyed with the less-than-perfect snow conditions Sunday -until, that is, it began raining ice an hour before the lifts were to close. Luckily, we were sufficiently tired and it was no let down to leave an hour early. Hopefully there will be even more trails opened next weekend, with some natural snow.
It makes me wonder if it is such a good idea to ski in Switzerland. After skiing in Vermont this weekend, I am afraid I will never be satisfied to ski someplace like Caberfae again... will Switzerland ruin vermont for me as well?
Nice shot! The cloud pattern is perfect!
Thanks Andreas, from looking at your site it looks like you may be able to reccomend some good places to ski in February.
galleries
