Some Vermont Tree skiing - 1/26 and 1/27

[David Metsky]

Reports from the northcountry sounded pretty good, with a steady diet of snow falling each night in the mountains. Underneath that new snow was some boilerplate, but life's about taking chances.

MRG on Saturday was interesting. There was snow, lots of fresh snow in the woods if you know the ins and outs of the trees up there. We found many places with untracked snow a foot deep. However, if you found a steep slope the entire hillside would let lose as soon and you attempted a turn resulting in the skier perched precariously on edges or in a pile among the snow and trees below. Good times. Actually it wasn't that bad and we all has some great turns.

Sunday Seeker and I headed to the Stowe area for some backcountry. We got a late start due to logistics but were on the trail at 11:15. Skiing up was a pain as the light snow on top of packed trail made for limited grip. But we made it up most of the way then hit our turnaround time of 2:30. The trip down was heaven - 1 foot of light fluffy untracked snow over an unbreakable layer. We had fresh tracks the whole way down.

More pictures HERE.

BTW, we saw more traffic accidents up there then I've seen in a long time. I-89 was closed for a while northbound on Saturday morning, and there were sections with black ice that had a dozen cars scattered around like toys. Let's be careful out there.

-dave-

 

[Chip]

that's really nice, looks like a blast. great pics.

 

[David Metsky]

And some video.

All the pictures are HERE.

 

[--M.]

Looks like fun! How do you work those climbing wires? And why don't they get crushed?

 

[David Metsky]

Looks like fun! How do you work those climbing wires? And why don't they get crushed?

The climbing bales are built into the heel piece of the binding. There are many designs, but basically you flip up the piece on the ski with your ski pole. It stays in place because you need to push it backwards to put it back down. There are other versions as well but this one comes with the Hardwire bindings.

 

[UNFROZENCAVEMAN]

That looks like a lot of fun.

Oh, and sweet music on the video - who was that?

 

[David Metsky]

Doc and Dawg - by Doc Watson and David Grisman

 

[forestgnome]

Sweet! I was wondering what MRG stood for until I saw the green metal single chair. That was my first ever time on skis. I was given a gift certificate for lift and rentals because I told my wife (then girlfreind) that I wanted to try skiing. The first person she asked suggested MRG. The rental guy said it wasn't really a place for beginners. I saw that chair and figured it didn't go high. (The chairs just dissappeared from view into the heavily falling snow). So, my very first run on a ski mtn. was from the top of MRG, without a single lesson, in heavily falling snow. . I didn't fall once. That was one long pizza-wedge. Great memories...

Anyway, excellent pics and video. The panning shot of the skiier in red is fantastic!

happy trails

 

[una_dogger]

MGR -- ski it if you can!!!
(and I can't....yet!!!)

Awesome pics!