Yesterday at Jay was nice. Today at Mad River was better. Three days ago, Mad River announced that it would not open this weekend. But the forecast turned in favor of General Stark Mountain and opening day was set. A foot of dense fresh setup perfectly on the limited but existing base. All trails were open on occasionally thin but ample coverage. Bottomless it was not but cheers and shouts of joy rang out across the mountain, nonetheless.
Highlights include third tracks down Liftline and two air filled runs down Paradise. I was stunned to see no rope for Paradise so I teed up the waterfall along with every subsequent drop I could find. And there were many. With the limited base, roll overs had not filled in yet leaving dozens of nice six foot drops onto pillow soft landings.
Just like at Jay yesterday, crowds were amazingly non-existent excepting first chair line ups for the Double and a half an hour later the Single. After two cycles on the Single, every subsequent chair was ski on for the remainder of the day. Many skiers bemoan the lines at Mad River Glen. But then they don’t show up for premier days despite ample warning of the incoming storm.
But such is the nature of skiing before Christmas. Many of my best powder days have occurred during the sleepy weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Metro area skiers are not yet thinking about making turns. Shopping and family obligations are bigger priorities than scoring a foot of fresh with untracked pockets that last all day. Even many dedicated powder hounds don’t show up, which is fine by me.
2 thoughts on “Mad River Glen: Opening Day Powder”
That looks delicious. Good on ya too, it looks like you got to it early.
I made it for first chair but I was about 50 people back. But they opened the Single Chair 30 minutes after the double. I don’t know when they opened Paradise. I went that way to ski Fall Line after I hit Liftline and Beaver. I saw Paradise open and was all like “well, why not?” It looked pretty fresh, I think they dropped the rope a run after the chair actually opened.
My first Single run down Liftline was devious. I was about a few dozen back from the first Single rider. So I unloaded at the mid-station just as the first skiers were coming down Chute. Nailed third tracks down Liftline, right behind the patrol. Unload at the mid-station if you aren’t in the first few dozen is always a winning strategy.