Ride Delaware ?

Where in Maine does she want to go? Son based up there for school?

I’m going to patrol again at Sugarbush this year. If I’m lucky I’ll score some early season days at Killington or Bretton Woods. I would like to hit up Quebec again. I would like to make it back to Snowshoe. Maybe a trip to Maine this year.

I don’t know if a full name is absolutely necessary. Considering your first name is probably used the most on here, I didn’t think you were that sensitive to it. Duly noted.

Doug doesn’t actually ski. It’s one of the best magic acts I’ve ever seen... or have I?

Depends on the standard the league uses. I also play in a slow pitch league that uses metal bats. USSSA is a 6-9 arc and ASA is generally 6-12.

In late May/early June, every 30% chance of thunderstorms was hitting us. We racked up about 20” of rain in 3 weeks. Since then we’ve had weeks of 80% chances plus and have hardly seen a drop. We’ve gotten about 2”, but that’s from coastal storms. It’s been a funky summer...

You shouldn’t axe it straight up. Pico and Mount Ellen usually have about 5 minutes lift lines. The parking lots are packed, but there is less parking than the main mountains and the perception they aren’t as good. In some ways they are just as good if not better. Plus, there is very little interconnect, so you won’t often see people parking at one mountain then skiing the other. I work at Mount Ellen most weekends. You’d be passing up solid skiing with not much of a line, especially if you’re a single...

Nope. No real need. Our current stuff is on major highways with limited space, so it sells itself.

Most commercial loans are 5, 7, or 10 year fixed with 20 year amortization. The most prevalent is 5 year. You basically have a 5 year loan that balloons at maturity, but you only pay as if it were a 20 year loan, so your payment is lower. When it balloons, you have a smaller loan the next time which leads to larger profits as long as interest rates don’t explode upward. Most residential developers only have construction loans where they pay interest only. Their hope it to sell lots and homes early on to pay off the infrastructure cost, then profit on the back end.

You would think that. Unfortunately, real estate development is a long arduous process. I’m not making any more paper than I was in previous years. However, in two more years, when things are built, if all goes according to plan, it should be looking up.

Magic is awesome. I went there back in 2010 on a huge powder day. That storm dumped over 100” in the Catskills, but it switched over further east. Super wet and sloppy snow. Snowing so hard and so deep that it was near impossible to move. Afroman7 hurt himself and we had to bail after a run or two to take I’m to the hospital. I’ve been wanting to get back, but having a home base in N Central VT doesn’t make it easy. They are finishing the Green Lift this year and hoping to potentially have something open by Thanksgiving. They also bought a quad from Stratton that was being replaced and are replacing the Black Lift with that.

Things have been hectic for the better part of 6 months. Riding was at a 7 or 8 year low. Always on the run it seems...

We just have lots going on for a 3 person operation. New development and possibly re-developing something existing. Going for change of zone. Plus a litany of other small stuff that pops up.

I just read a good chunk of this one. Sad that I didn’t see it until now and save him the weekend hassle. He should have avoided Killington like the plague. Either hit up Mount Ellen on your way south or head to Pico. Both would have been significantly less crowded... I’m expecting Steaux to be even more insane in the next couple years now that they are adding mountains to the Epic Pass in New England.

Busy. Always busy. Waiting for winter...

Are you still living the hotel lyfe?

Today was the last day of our 2018 Canadian ski trip. It was another stellar day to cap off a stellar trip. MDS is located on the US side of the St. Lawrence River about an hour east of Quebec City. We woke up at 6, hit up Timmy Horton’s, and were on the road by 7. MSD is even more in the middle of nowhere than Le Massif de Charlevoix. Our trip took us through expansive farm fields before we finally arrived just past 9 AM. The parking lots were small, which matched the lodge and mountain, but they were filling up quickly. I would say that an additional 10” fell overnight, and that brought out the “crowds”. It took us about 10 minutes in line to grab our lift tickets, but we were still in line at the chairlift at 9:30. The weather was picture perfect. It was just under 30 degrees, was cloudy, there was no wind, and there was fresh snow. We weren’t the only people who had found this little gem of a mountain, and the lift line filled in quickly. MSD boasts a vertical of about 1,250’ and only has one summit lift, a fixed grip quad. Despite the lift line, we never waited longer than 3-4 minutes. The lift was slow, but it gave you plenty of time to rest your legs. The mountain only has a couple greens, a couple blues, and a couple blacks, all of which are groomed. However, the mountain also has perfectly manicured and expansive glades that were some of the best on the east coast. Almost all the trails have a glade between them. Despite being well traveled, only the steepest of the glades showed any signs of wear. That’s the benefit of receiving close to 200” of snow so far this season and having very little adverse weather. Most of them were still sporting sections of deep powder on our last run at 2:45. There was something for everyone: beginner glades, tight glades, inbounds side country glades in the middle of the mountain, and luge style fly by the seat of your pants banked turn glades. We had to leave at 3 PM for the 5.5 hour drive back to VT, so we rode straight through lunch. In all, we rode 10 runs, with the majority of the time being spent on the lift. The first 7 runs I went into the woods before I tried some “groomed” runs for the last 3 as my legs became tired. This is exactly the type of mountain I love to visit. The vibe is right up there with Plattekill and Blue Knob. You won’t rack up the most runs here, but those runs will be of the highest quality. I will definitely be headed back in the future. All in all, it was a great trip with great conditions. I got to try some new mountains and experience some of the best conditions I’ve had on the east coast. Next year I’ll add another new mountain or two, but I’ll be sure to make it to Le Massif and MSD at the same time.

I have been thrilled both years I’ve gone to QC. I’ll try to write up Le Massif du Sud tonight. Busy travel day yesterday.

Today was the day to be at Le Massif. Since I had been lucky enough to hit Le Massif last year on a pow day, my expectations were skewed, and yet, today delivered on those expectations. We were expecting a storm total of about 10”-12”, but we woke up disappointed to just more than an inch in the hotel parking lot. Despite the lack of snow, we still got on the road by 8:10 in case we hit some inclement weather. The further northeast we got, the heavier the snow became, and the colder it got. The wind was really whipping, but the road conditions weren’t poor enough to slow us down. The parking lot was a little more full than yesterday, but we were still able to get on the lift by 9:15. We followed the same game plan as yesterday in terms of lift service, but I finally decided to dig into the trees in earnest. About 4” of snow had fallen, and it continued to dump. The wind was really whipping at the top, which also helped to refresh the trails. I did back to back glades, and the only bare spots were at the very top where it was steep. Lower down, the snow was soft, deep, and the coverage was full. My next run was down an open trail, but it was already starting to bump up with soft snow. Following the third run, we decided to head down and do some t2b runs off one of the HSQs. We went to far skiers right where I hit some more trees. Being slightly steeper, they had some more bare spots than the previous runs, but once the pitch flattened out, those glades were also quite enjoyable. We also went over to the ungroomed expert only section and were met with mostly untracked powder and some huge drifts. The snow was starting to bump up on the well traveled runs, but it continued to dump. After a handful of runs off that lift, we grabbed our lunch and headed to the bottom to eat. After a good lunch break, we went back to the first lift and repeated several runs we had started with. Since it was later in the day, the trail traffic was significantly less than before and the snow was piling up. The woods were absolutely phenomenal and starting to get deep. After two or three runs, patrol started shutting down some trails to funnel skiers back to the base area at the top of the mountain. I was able to sneak into the glades via an unmarked woods trail off an open trail, and was richly rewarded. We tried to sneak in an extra run, but unfortunately, we were a little too late. Overall, we ended today with 13 runs, which was one less than yesterday. However, the powder was much tougher on the legs, and 2,500’ vertical t2b routes really rack up the vert. I would say that 8” had fallen by the time we left today. Our two days at Le Massif have been phenomenal. We are packing up tonight to head back to Vermont, but we are going to try to hit Le Massif du Sud on the way back.

Yes and yes. You’ve been MIA on Facebook, so you’re missing all the good gossip...

I’ve heard that it’s just one lift, so I believe that you are indeed thinking of the right spot. I’ve heard great things.

It’s tough to pass up VT mountains when it is good, but it’s been absolute garbage this year in the EC of the 48. It never melts up here, so while they only get 225”-250” a year, it’s always pretty deep. The woods up here have minimal bare spots and rocks, and they are only sitting at about 160” for the year?

This is my second year here. I have yet to be disappointed. If I end up making more money than I expect to, I may just get a private jet and a place up here. It’s phenomenal. Have you been to Massif du Sud? We are looking at trying it out on our way back to VT.

After a great day at Mont Sainte Anne yesterday, we headed northeast to Le Massif today, which is quickly cementing itself as my favorite East Coast Mountain. Le Massif is 35 minutes northeast of the hotel and the drive was uneventful. We pulled in just before 9 AM and were on the slopes by 9:15. We snagged a spot in the first parking lot, and repeating my trip from last season, we headed skiers left to the only lift that isn’t a t2b lift. I decided to start off my day with a woods run that I did last year, and found the trees just as enjoyable if not a little tighter than I remembered. It was the first real trees I had hit this year, and it was good to be back. After a couple runs off that lift, we decided to head to the bottom. I had forgotten how long the 2,500’ vertical drop took to cover, and how little run out there is at the bottom. The mountain is steep and mostly consists of blue and black terrain. We encountered our only lift lines of the day at the gondola, and they only lasted about 5 minutes. The gondola is a refreshing 12 minute ride to the top. After 5 or 6 t2b runs, we grabbed our sandwiches out of the car and headed to the bottom to eat. The lodge was full, but we were still able to find a seat. After lunch we headed to the skiers right of the mountain off of the t2b HSQ’s and took some laps there. Things got slightly skied off by the end of the day, but conditions were mostly packed powder and were much softer than MSA the day before. We ended the day with another run or two off the first HSQ and then a couple t2b runs. I had forgotten how tiring putting in that much vert can be. Overall, another great day. It flurried all day, but it is supposed to snow 10”-12” overnight, so tomorrow should be epic. I think we are headed back there. If we have the same crowds as today, I think we are in for a treat.

After packing up and hitting the road after Bromont, we traveled 3 hours further north to the town just outside of Mont Sainte Anne. We had gotten a room at the Quality Suites there and were only 10 minutes from the base of the mountain. After a good nights sleep, we had breakfast at the Quality Inn, got some discounted vouchers at the hotel, and hit the road. The hotel had no vacancies, and the parking lot was significantly busier than when I had come last year. Regardless, it was never “that” crowded. We redeemed our lift tickets and were on the snow by 9:30. Our first couple runs were uncrowded and had no lift lines. We accidentally ended up in a natural snow only area serviced by a T-Bar. Afroman struggled with the T-Bar and we became separated. After waiting for about 45 minutes at the lodge at the base of the backside of the mountain, I decided to take some runs. I encountered my first “long” lift line of about 10 minutes, but if you hit the singles line, it was much quicker. I lapped the backside of the mountain which is mostly Green and Blue cruisers before finding Afroman about 8 runs later. We headed over to the front side to skiers right for some amazing views. Following that, we got some uncrowded runs off the Gondola. All in all, we did 17 runs today, the majority of them from 11:30 to 4 straight. There was significantly more snow up here than at Bromont. There were decent bump trails and some off piste to be had. Still some bare spots, but this storm Thursday should erase that. It was a mix of frozen granular and packed powder with a moderate wind. Overall, it was a great day. Off to Le Massif de Charlevoix tomorrow.