Month: October 2007

2007-2008 Season, Attitash, Earned Turns, October

First Turns of the Season at Attitash??

Steve Doing Early Season Patch Skiing at Attitash

Already four days behind last season’s epic start, I had resigned myself to no October turns for the first time in three seasons. After a massive snow making push by seven New England ski resorts this past weekend, I was chomping at the bit to boot up and make some turns. Attitash posted some impressive pictures and video of their snow making efforts using their new line up of SMI Polecat Fan Guns. Unfortunately, the man made white gold fell on unfrozen ground which quickly melted out the snow and any chance for top to bottom turns.

On this day before my twenty-ninth birthday, I find myself one year older but no less the wiser when it comes to pursuing skiing adventures and the pursuit of turns the hard way. After jetting out of work an hour early, I pointed my car north and drove up through Franconia Notch and the down through Crawford Notch. Driving past Bretton Woods en route to Attitash, I was dumb founded by the lack of snow. While I figured Bretton Woods used the snow making more for publicity than anything substantial, I held out hope that Attitash would have the real deal. Stepping out of my car and gazing upon Roland’s Run was disheartening but I was not about to let any amount of grass between snow patches get in the way of my first turns of the season!

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Big Jay Coverage

BC Ski Community Rallies, GMC Sub-Committee Formed

Backcountry skiers have rallied behind restoration efforts for Big Jay. A Green Mountain Club Press Release specifies that the Backcountry population has voiced their disdain concerning the illegal cut on Big Jay. The community has incorporated educational and fund raising efforts into four events including three ski movie premiers. Backcountry ski volunteers assisted with a restoration project held on October 14th to install waterbars and other errosion prevention measures on the cut under the guidance of supervising ecologist Jeff Parsons.

The Green Mountain Club has formed a sub-committee of the GMC Stewardship Committee to address and advise on the issue. This latest Press Release from the Green Mountain Club suggests that the cut was done using chainsaws and the width of the cut ranges from 20 to 60 feet throughout the entire length. The Green Mountain Club is calling the cut the “worst easement violation in the history of GMC’s Land Protection Program.”

Green Mountain Club Press Release: Trees Illegally Cut on Public Land at Big Jay

Book Reviews

Falling Season by Hal Clifford

Falling SeasonFalling Season is the term Aspen’s Mountain Rescue team uses to denote the time of year when mountain activity and associated injuries increase substantially. Numerous climbers and hikers, both prepared and unprepared alike, begin venturing into the mountains during late Spring. When accidents occur and rescues are needed, volunteer driven teams such as Aspen’s Mountain Rescue put themselves in harms way to save lives.

As a member of Aspen’s Mountain Rescue team, Hal Clifford has an insider’s view of Aspen Mountain Rescue specifically and Search and Rescue in general. Clifford acknowledges his biases by stating up front that he is a member of the Mountain Rescue team first and an author second. The author manages that balance well by utilizing quotes from everyone involved and painting a balanced story.

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News

Snowmaking Begins in New England

Snowmaking crews fired up the guns at seven New England ski areas Sunday night to commence preparations for opening the 2007-2008 season. Only time will tell which one of these front runners will open first but suffice to say no bull wheels will likely be turning for at least another two weeks. TheSnowWay.com will be reporting first tracks and first hand reports and pictures very soon! But for now, sit back and enjoy some pictures taken at each of the following mountains:

Maine:
Sugarloaf/USA
Sunday River

New Hampshire:
Attitash
Bretton Woods

Vermont:
Killington
Mount Snow
Sugarbush (No Cam Shot but snowmaking has been verified)

Poetry and Prose

An Excerpt from Birches by Robert Frost

When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the line of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy’s been swinging them.
But swinging doesn’t bend them down to stay.
Ice-storms do that. Often you must have seen them
Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning
After a rain. They click upon themselves
As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored
As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.

Soon the sun’s warmth makes them shed crystal shells
Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust—
Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away
You’d think the inner dome of heaven had fallen.
They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load,
And they seem not to break; though once they are bowed
So low for long, they never right themselves:
You may see their trunks arching in the woods
Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground
Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair
Before them over their heads to dry in the sun.