moe ghoul

I'm 10 minutes from Smuggs, Stowe is on the other side of the notch. I plan to do more side and back country skiing this season, so the Smuggs lifts get me to the top for access to terrain. I don't see myself doing much inbound resort skiing this year. Jay's about a 40 minute ride and the Smuggs pass gets me access to Bolton Valley as well. I'll see how that works out this year.

Its a mix of birch, maple and ash, seasoned green, so I need to let some air flow thru the pile. I have about a third of a cord of seasoned hardwood the previous owner left there. I'm thinking I'm good for the next 2-3 seasons. Meanwhile that birch I took down will eventually end up in the wood pile. But not this year. I'm done with teh wood chopping and chainsawing. Did some tunin'..... Bootlegger's Beach is right at the bottom of my hill, its a Smuggs snow pond that's open to the public for swimming, boating, etc. The upper pond near the Madonna Lift is really nice, there's a trampoline in the water, and the fishing is pretty good as well.

Putting in a week at a time to get things set up, got a ton done this past trip. Washed windows, stacked a cord of wood, took down some trees to open up a bit of a view from the front house windows, yardwork, put up handrails inside, etc. got in some flyfishing and a little partying while I was there. Won't be going back up until October as of right now. Picked up a case of Heady Toppers, pulled a fast one to get DTV hooked up at the house without paying for another account, got internetz hooked up, car inspected............it's been a huge push to get a ton of stuff done since June. Good news is, there's no mo' $$$, lulz, I picked up a Smuggs season pass, so the stix are waxed, the beers are cold, and I'm stoked for a better season than last year. From the driveway into the garage solo in 4.5 hours. No back pain the next day...it a miracle!!!!! Some selective tree cutting, that leaning birch is about 60+ feet tall, cut it perfectly so that it leaned into a few other trees that were obstructing the view. Did a little trial run of the wood stove insert in the chimney to make sure it works properly. October is not the time to call the chimney guys if there's a problem.

I was wearing fleece in Vt Saturday nite. Dipped under 40 at higher elevations.

I'll bid a dollar on the moose mascot on their website and I'll trade them a W for the umlaut over the O in Sno. Then I'll burn em.

This one's in Jeffersonville, a few minutes from Smuggs. The other place was in Cambridge, about 10 miles away. The one we bid on in November is still up for sale and they raised the price on it, lulz. Good luck with that. The woman turned out to be a bit of a whack job, which was confirmed by the realtor we had been using who lives near her. We actually bid on another house that was listed by the same realtor but those sellers had their heads up their asses as well. They weren't sure if the bid was enough to pay off their debt, they we're wondering how they could access IRA's, they had to find another place to buy, blah, blah, blah....so when that bid expired, I called the sellers of the house (For Sale by Owner) we bought the same day the other offer expired, made a verbal offer, they accepted, drafted the sales agreement and addenda the next day, and we closed within 6 weeks. The sellers were a younger couple that decided to sell everything and take their dog and their Airstream trailer cross country for a few years. Perfect sellers. Even left a bunch of stuff for us. Very smooth transaction.

Thanks, y'all. hopefully we'll get a few of you up there this season.

Finally pulled the trigger and bought a house after the one in November fell thru. Closing was last Friday, we just got back today after 5 days of unpacking, shopping, and earning my 4th degree black belt in Ikea Jiu Jitsu. Managed to get a canoe trip in down the Winooski River on Sunday, then back to the grind of making lists, measuring rooms and other house related stuff. Needless to say, I'm stoked and broke. few pix from the yard. The pups approved and were in Nirvana exploring the wooded areas and sniffing new butts. So this was either my last gear purchase of 2011/2012 or my first gear purchase of 2012/2013.

Thanks for the sentiments. I had to rebook the flight for December but will rebook it again for 2013. I coudn't book it beyond 2012 yet. It's a no frills/ no refund flight and I can't transfer it to another person otherwise my dad would've used it. Looks like the northern greens and 'dax could get hammered this weekend. I'll be drowning in my bowl of sadness and frustration trying to get stoked for a few runs at Blue on Sunday.

I've given up planning anything more than a few days out for the time being. Gas prices are starting to suck again as well.

Lets see how Moe's season worked out: Heads up to Smuggs before New year's sick as a dog, returns home and spends NYE in bed. Wife catches my plague, cutting our trip to NYC short the first week of January and she's hospitalized for 3 days. House gets overrun by mice in the blink of an eye, totally fucking up my pantry, causing me to launch a mouse genocide killing 13 mice in 2 days with glue traps. Glue traps are very effective but a miserable way to catch and kill a critter. Most of em we're still alive so I had to drown em in the toilet and then throw them out. Wife can't handle rodents, so I had to be on guard for a few weeks until I wiped em out. My saving grace was a 2 week ski trip to Euroland with dad, (same trip I had to cancel last year due to wife's hopsitalization and illness, almost to the day) leaving last Thursday, the 16th. I went in for a contrast CT-Scan on the 1st of Feb due to severe pain in my kidney, knowing that I now had a stone in there. CT scan showed a stone 14mm in diameter and the Doc said I should get a stent put in before going overseas. AWESOME!!! Nothing like travelling on a plane and touring thru the alps with a burning hose inside me. (See Phillycore's kidney stone story) SO I postponed that trip AGAIN, costing another 150$ to change the flight. I was gonna try to get to Blue yesterday, but woke up at 2AM buckled in pain. Couldn't go today because I had to get a pre-op xray and bloodwork done, and its supposed to rain tomorrow. Gonna try to hook up with Hugo and drive up on Sunday. Then, to top it off, my surgery is scheduled for next Friday, the stent stays in me for 3 weeks and I get that removed. The house we were negotiating for in VT fell through due to seller stupidity, so 2012 has pretty much been a massive PITA for me. I took my dad to the airport for the euro trip last thursday; Friday, my 94.5 yo mom in law ends her driving career kissing a telephone pole 2 blocks from her house. She's OK, no injuries, no others involved, but the car is junked and now I'm chauffeuring to boot. About all I'm hoping for is a late spring season with snow (doubtful) to try and get a trip or 2 in before its done.

Thanx, I got 4 left to burn.

Mbike, that includes weekends as well now?

thanks for the replies. WiFi is free and available at the lodge. Skied about 3.5 hours yesterday in the drizz and fog, not worthy of anymore comment. Crowds were light.

Headin up this AM and taking my dad along. Does Blue have free Wifi at the upper lodge and/or base lodge?

Thinking of heading up for the Tuesday, 10$ deal. What lifts/trails are closed off on weekdays, if any?

Glad to see you guys got some fluffy stuff to play in. Officially jealous cuz my season sucks so far.

I got a reply from Blue, apparently these group passes get deals with or without Friday, and as posted above, Mbike posted that this was Mon-Thursday only for this particular group. I still don't know if Fridays are considered weekends all the time, only for the holiday week (MLK) or they have a Keno wheel that they spin to decide week to week. I won't be shralping at Blue on fridays until after 2/21 or there's a legit snow day.

Nice shots, I might try to get up there next Tuesday for the cheap deal. Still haven't skied at Sno.

If I only had to drill a couple of holes and tap them I might do it. 32 or more........there's a high degree that I'd mess a few up.

The website still lists Friday for weekday rates

It was clear as day, I probably skipped right over it.

Not sure what the pricing is this year but its comparable to other ski shops, I'm guessing 40ish?

Carl (Head guy in the shop) at the Conshy REI just called me this AM, he's ordering tools and hardware will install them for an extra $20 over normal binder mounts. Pretty stoked about that and passing it along if anyone decides to go that route.

In fairness to mbike ski, it was posted, it just didn't compute in my head. Posted 11 October 2011 - 11:54 AM Once again our ski club will be offering six visit weekday passes if anyone is interested. 98 bucks gets you a weekday pass valid for six trips anytime Monday through Thursday, except holidays. Can be used anythime after Feb 21, PM me for details