Heading north to VT
The trip north was fun. We came up 3 to 89 to 100 to 108.
Car shot.
The office at 60 mph!
89 North
Top it off and media fix
No trip is complete without an ice cream and what could be better than Ben & Jerry’s. We took the tour and had extra ice cream after. Yum yum.
Ben & Jerry’s Tour
Tour tickets.
Golf anyone?
Which one?
One for me.
One for my better 1/2.
Chunky Monkey sample (I think). In any event it was great.
Post tour event. This was a small!
We ended up in Stowe VT ski area on 108, which is the wrong side of the mountain! Apparently my GPS didn’t know that the mountain pass is closed this time of year! After consulting a paper map, yes paper, and a quick phone call to Smuggler’s Notch we drove 100 north to 15 West to 108 East. On the way is started to rain but not for long. However it was in the seventies for most of the trip. This will defiantly be spring boarding.
Rainbow on 100.
After settling in we took a dip in the pool and had supper. I sleep soundly for a few hours and decided that blogging at 3am was just as good as any other time. More later.
What am I
Yet another great boarding day
Yet another fine day snowboarding with the GMan at Wachusett Mountain. The condition were great (for man made) for top to bottom, but the upper half seemed better. We ended up parking in the remote parking and taking the shuttle to the mountain. Its a quick three minute ride in a fancy school bus with cranking music and creaky springs.
After suiting up and picking up the GMans rental board and boots we headed right for Ralph. It was fairly quite considering it was a holiday and the start of school vacation week. We did a few runs and them headed for the top.
We boarded for a solid four hours and I feel it now! I did take one good spill but all in all it was a wonderful day.
Where am I
Friday boarding aka slush pushing!
This is the last snowboarding lesson for the GMAN. As usual I got here at around 1:30 and snagged a few tables. The spot I normally get was gone, but I managed to find a fee more and fend off a few soccer moms to hang onto them!
The conditions on the other hand are less than perfect. In fact it like snowboarding on a slushy! On top of that it’s dotted with large ice patches. In amy event it’s better than the office.
Boarding update
Ya for me! I made it off the flat stuff. Not quite at the top but getting higher! Jillian gave me a few pointers and who knew that staying on your edges was so important! Taking a break as the kids start pouring in. I’ll see about getting the GMan on the right side of Wachusetts tonight.
The GMan did make it to the other side of the mountain. He’s got his own little groove and pretty soon he’ll be dusting me! That’s all good in my books, as it will give me something to chase!
It’s Friday
This afternoon is boarding with the G
Man. It his second to last lesson and a friend from work is joining us. Check out Jillian’s blog at http://tendersandtrails.com/
Friday run
Yesterday was # 4 of 6 for the GMan’s snowboarding lessons. I got to Wachusett Mountain at 2pm or so and staked out a few tables for the rest of the group. At 2:30 or so I was on the mountain boarding. I felt a little off on the first few runs but then I loosened up. At that time it’s really quite with no lift lines. Its nice to board right down to the lift, unclip and get right on. I round tripped for a little over 2 hours and then took a break.
Back in the lodge things were getting busy as the tour busses were all coming in. It was touch and go to retain the tables. I had to ward off unhappy soccer moms and the odd teenager. GMans school showed up around 4:10 and we got the gear squared away and got in a run before his class. Since I was out I continued to board. At this point it was getting busy, but the extra bodies on the slope provided a good reason to practice my turns. I’m all about a moving target, just not the human type!
5:15 pm. A chez burger later we were back at it until 7:45. By then my legs felt like a pile of jelly held up with pipe cleaners. I even fell getting off the lift, but in my own defense the track of ice right at the bottom on the ramp did not help. As you can guess conditions were terrible and if you were not boarding on ice you were plowing thru snow (and I use that term in jest) that felt like frozen granular sugar. Mind you not the regular white stuff, this was more like brown sugar.
I managed to stay upright the entire day with the exception of the above mentioned ice induced incident. I did have a few near misses that I saved in one fashion or another. I trying really hard to not look at my board, keep my weight over my forward leg and bend at the knees. Put all that together, turn without thinking about it and keep looking in the direction I want to go in and it all seems to come together. I can’t be certain of this but I may even look like I know what I’m doing!
Boarding with the GMan
Went snowboarding with the GMan and it was a blast. Condition were terrible but it was still a lot of fun. We got afternoon tickets and boarded non stop for a little over three hours. It was fairly warm but windy so the snow field like boarding on frozen granular sugar! What do you want for man made on the east coast.
I was a little sore the following day but not as bad as I expected. Only too a few hits and good tumble. I also briefly chatted with a similarly aged boarder and we laugh about the importance of making it down in one piece especially at out age!
All in all it was enjoyable and I cant wait for Friday and the GMans’s school ski/boarding evening.
Here’s something to think about. When I was the GMans’s age and my dad was my age I could never imagine doing anything remotely like snowboarding. Granted snowboarding is not that old and Ireland is not known for wonderful skiing conditions, but I can think of a few more things that may have happened but only other very different circumstances.
alan j quinn 