EdBacon

Nobody is getting a cameltop now.

Yeah its still there. And the restaurant gift shop thing next to it.

When I was in high school we used to crash the restaurant all the time. Prices weren't that much different from the cafeteria and sometimes it was so crowded that was the only place to find a place to sit.

Could do that. The 24th.

Conditions are great. Like 2-3 feet of snow on the ground here in southern VT. But where to go? All this snow but if I go to Mr Snow I can either rid icy moguls, fast groomer boomers, or go into the woods and try to make jump turns between down rutted out tree runs. You know. Where are the goods? Right? So forget Mr Snow and PBRomley (Magic don't open till tomorrow but it's gonna rain RIP). Gotta go find those fresh lines. Yesterday I checked out Prospect and was very happy. Today I headed further down VT Route 9 (that's the Molly Stark highway if you didn't know, see Jon Stark said he didn't mind getting shot by the British to get away from his wife so they named a highway after her in the 60s or something). Before you start winding down towards peanut Brittleboro you'll come around a wide bend in the road with a pullout and a scenic view towards New Hampshire and Grand Monadnock Mountain. This is Hogback Mountain. The actual mountain is called Olga. The ski area is Hogback. Closed in the 1980s. They had like seventeen different T-bars. No chairlifts. The lodge is now a distillery. There's a gift shop. And the trails are open to hiking and skiing. Boy what I day. Spent a solid couple hours on the skins looking at the old T-bars. They still maintain a little shelter hut thing at the top to smoke the Mary Janes in or whatever. Seems like a chill spot. Lots of skin tracks all over. And lots and lots of powder. Real powder. Sink down to your thigh powder. What a day. Wish this place was steeper though. Very easy, mellow mountain. About 500 vertical feet from top to bottom. Made some nice floaty turns. What a feeling. The bottom of the trails is below the highway and the parking lot, so you have to hike back out to get back to the car. Ate a turkey sandwich and headed out as the sun started to come down with storm clouds building behind. It's been a great few days. You can find some good stuff out there if you work at it.

Yeah, on your right as you come up the mountain from Bennington on Route 9.

Bear Creek is already on Indy Pass so it would make sense for Elk to be added to the Indy Pass list. That would be nice. As for a hotel/high speed development... I've mixed feelings. I don't want them to change the character of the place.

Arbor Landmark I got on sale. Union bindings. I think their standard model. Nothing fancy. It all seems to work well.

It's like ten minutes outside Bennington, VT. Very easy to get to.

Visited Prospect Mountain today. Opened in 1938 and operated on and off until 1991. About ten years ago it was reopened as a backcountry and nordic ski area. This place is a blast. Lodge straight from the 1960s. Wood paneled everything. Metal wickets for your ticket. Wood fired stove with bricks on top to stick in your stinky wet boots. Homemade cookies at the counter. I got a bowl of chili. There's a designated uphill track straight up the old T-bar lift line. The split board did its job. First time using one. I think I got the hang of it by the end of the day. The mountain tops out at 2770 feet and you get around 600 feet of vertical. A good first test for uphilling since I've never done it before. The trails are still cleared so there's lots of options down from the top, plus a few places where they've thinned out the trees. They're sitting on around 24-36 inches of snowpack right now in the southern Greens. About 8-10 inches fell on Sunday and a couple more last night. Fresh tracks could be had on a lot of the trails. The lift line and two of the wider ways down the mountain seem to get the most traffic. Those were choppy pow but still pretty fun. No real steep sections except for maybe the top of the T-bar tow line. Big old cross country championship thing going on today. Lots of buses in the lot. Place was packed with high schoolers. Girls race was on during my second run. Accidentally came out of a trail onto the race track. I think they rang the cowbell for me. It was all good. Love the split board. Today was tons of fun.

didn't see it

I rode the big blue bazooka bubble lift but I didn't get any cameltop. No crowds on a Monday. Snowed hard most of the day. Everything is filled in. Mr Snow has good trees. Never tried them before.

When people say they're going to Cameltop it means they're getting head on the bubble lift.

I don't wanna say "Cameltop" to people.

Is it different from a muffin top?