With one Mad Card to go, it was “now or never” so I skied Mad River Glen on what would be their closing day of the season (due to significant wind and rain on Sunday). I enjoyed a late start to allow the snow time to soften. Despite not setting an alarm, I arrived at the mountain just when the snow was getting good. Waking up without an alarm is a huge perk to spring skiing.

By 11am, the snow was prime and almost all trails were still open with mostly wall to wall coverage except in the usual late season thin spots. Most skiers were wearing jackets or long sleeves. But I decided it is spring, damn it, and it was warm enough for short sleeve t-shirt skiing despite the occasional chill on the lift.

Highlights included Gazelle top to bottom, Fall Line, and two super runs down Paradise. I often don’t ski Paradise much. The trail can get scraped down and boney during the winter. But come spring time, Paradise owns. The bump line down the skier’s left was marvelous with perfect flow with occasional obstacles to launch mid-air pivot turns. So many steep trails suffer from poorly formed moguls but I found a quality line on Paradise. Despite the late day fatigue, I couldn’t stop without doing a second lap.

Pardon the poor quality phone pictures. The one drawback of t-shirt skiing is not having any place to hold a camera.

Not a single trip report has been posted here since March. No, I have not abandoned the season. But I am suffering from a lack of motivation to blog. The words and stories haven’t been coming to me. The words don’t do the experiences justice but the experiences haven’t been sensational enough to inspire massive photo blogging missives. It is a symptom. I lack inspiration and even skiing is shaded in gray. This too will pass.

Due to poor weather on Shareholder Day, I opted to ski Sunday instead of Saturday and by all accounts it was a good decision. Surfaces were still firm when I arrived around 11:00am and met Tim by the double. At the top of the double, introductions were made between Greg, Alex, and I and we sped down Bunny which was much softer than the bumps, per the crew’s morning report.

The bumps eventually softened, led by Quacky per usual. Most of the Single’s trails never quite softened though Cat Bowl skied extremely well below the usual thin spot at the top. Periwinkle was excellent though the Bowl was “adventurous”, fun for those of us that don’t care about our bases. Birdland was ripping fun and I ended with a top to bottom down Gazelle which was quite fun.

The skiing was solid after noon and we skied almost until close. A great day of skiing though the best terrain never softened. I enjoyed the company perhaps more than the skiing itself. More than ever, I am starting to feel bored when skiing alone so I was glad to be introduced to some fellow skiers that enjoy the same terrain that I do.