By Lisa Loomis
While lots and lots of skiers were still trying to get organized for their first runs of the year when Sugarbush opened last year, Warren resident Julia Paxman was already at the mountain skiing on day one of what would be 100 consecutive days of skiing.
Every single day that Sugarbush operated, from opening day until the last weekend in February, Paxman was at Lincoln Peak or Mount Ellen, getting in two to three runs before she went to work.
Paxman is more of a Nordic skier, she said, but was talking to her friend about the fact that her son had been able to ski 100 days in a row for two years (thanks in part to pandemic school schedules).
“We were talking and I thought it was ridiculous, who wants to be on the mountain 100 days in a row. I got off the phone and then it occurred to me, this was something I should do while I’m able,” she said. Paxman, who recently left one long-term profession for a new career in retail, said she thought having a 100-day goal would be good for her as part of the transition.
“I was going through this work transition and wasn’t doing very well with it. I thought that planning this would help get me through the winter. This was something totally different and outside my comfort zone. My norm is Nordic skiing, out in the woods with the dog where it’s quiet so being around crowds and skiing where I’m not as confident was a challenge,” she said.
“I need to be at work at Addison West at 10 a.m. and have to make sure the kids are ready for school. My son still needs lunch and a little breakfast so I have to have my ski stuff and work clothes ready, with make up, before I go skiing. We live three minutes from Lincoln and a few minutes more to Mount Ellen,” she added.
She is up early enough to also make sure the dog has a romp in the woods before heading out for the day.
Her husband Keith got her Sugarbush Early Ups, which allowed her 7:30 a.m. access to the mountain on weekends. She generally skied at Mount Ellen because during the week, those lifts started spinning at 8 a.m. versus the 9 a.m. start at Lincoln Peak.
“I could usually only get in two runs, but some days I splurged on three runs. When the skiing was really good, it was hard to leave!” she said.
There were three days in Sugarbush’s first 100 days of operations when she wasn’t sure she’d be able to get in any runs. Once she went to Mount Ellen and scanned through the GMX lift only to find it wasn’t running. Her husband told her she had time to make it over to Lincoln Peak and get in a run, which she did. Another day, she ended up doing that again because the lifts weren’t operating because of the weather. More recently when wind chills dropped temps to -40 degrees F and the lifts were frozen, her boss texted her and suggested she use her lunch break to take a couple of runs and by then the lifts were operating.
Beyond her now highly-developed organizational skills and the accomplishment of skiing 100 days in a row, Paxman said one thing she hadn’t expected was the people that she met on the lifts.
“Now I have a little pod of skiers that we ski with. Keith has been boarding a lot and we meet up with the same group, depending on what mountain we’re at. We hear their stories about the mountain and Sugarbush back in the day because they’re a little older than we are,” she said.
And what did 100 days of skiing do for her skiing?
Paxman booted up at her car and hiked up to lifts in her ski boots, carrying skis and poles – an awesome warm-up for any activity!
“My first couple of days I got limited runs and my legs were sore. I got my muscles in condition to ski longer and harder runs because I stopped being sore. If you only ski 10 to 20 days during the season you get exhausted and more so in powder because you’re not used to it. That was another reason I wanted to go from day one to day 100, I never thought of myself as a spring skiier and now I feel like I’ve built up quite a bit of muscle recall. I think I’ll be able to ski through spring when I’m usually done by March,” she said.
After she scanned her pass for the 100th day in a row, Sugarbush presented her with a hat recognzing her committment.
