Mystery Mountain - 01/27

[eaf]

I was late. I was so unbelievably, inexcusably freaking late!

First slowdowns on the parkway (Where are all these people going to, isn't it still pandemic?), then stuck behind a movers truck on a one-lane road (Really? Moving? Have you seen the house prices lately??). GPS was showing that I was being 2 minutes late, then 4, then 6, ahhh! I'm gonna have to park in the last row, take all the stairs, miss the rope drop and wait in a terrible, impossibly long line just to do a few runs and then it will already be time to drive back. I remembered how the snow report threatened not to open two lifts citing that "the attendants needed a well deserved rest". I keep hitting the steering wheel cursing at the truck driver and wishing him all the worst.

Eventually I'm at the base of the mountain, thermometer is reading 1F and I'm thinking to myself if I'm gonna see negative numbers on the way up, but nope! I'm going up, and the numbers are going up... Inversion! Everybody knows that inversion is bad. It sucks. It calls for a lousy day of skiing, no new snow, perhaps even fog??

All wound up I'm finally in the parking lot, late, so late... A day totally gone wrong. Money down the drain. At least a barrel of gas same way. But...

There is nobody there! A few cars at most, I don't see any people... Whoah... Is the mountain closed? Are all people standing in line somewhere down there already?! IDK... Two snow canons are saluting me when I step from the parking lot on the snow. I get into the lodge, yeah, there are some people there, but they're all relaxed, changing, no rushing, I breathe in, out and... reboot.

It's as unbelievably good as I remember it. Every time I get to this place it's like I have to forget how I usually ski and rediscover this parallel universe where skiing does not feel rushed, and yet you manage to do uncountable number of laps before it suddenly hits you... it's 4pm already!

The snow was perfect, pristinely groomed carpets in the morning, changing into chalky slopes in the afternoon. From green to black, it's all the same, smooth, no ice, no cookies, no marbles. Sun all day long, so welcome in the morning due to the low temps and definitely insufficient closer to 4pm when most of the slopes drown in shadow. Very few people, I never had to wait in line and never had to share a quad with anybody. Hell, I even rode gondola all by myself a few times. Chill, so chill.

Anybody wants a piece of paradise? It's still there, and not too far. Just don't get behind a movers truck when you race to the finish line.

[eaf]

[toast21602]

Looks great. I’d like to get back to Bell. 

[tnt]

Great write up!  Those your Liberty Origins?  I have the same ski...love them.

 

Wife and I were at Bell last weekend.  Great day.