Snow was coming in, gentle and light, yet snowing, all day on Sunday, December 1. It seemed like a tell-tale sign of the days to come. Snow brings energy to the day. When snowflakes fall into warmer air, they absorb heat as they melt, cooling the air. Snow also has high albedo. It reflects a lot of sunlight into space, further contributing to cooling. Because we aspire to be “cool,” we trucked down to Killington on Friday, December 29, where we found twenty-one inches of freshly fallen coolness.
This was my first day on skis this season. For the last two months I worried incessantly about whether my Ikon pass was going to work. I approached the entrance gate for the K1 gondola; “beep,” right through. Whew…I’m glad that is over.
MY FIRST TIME
The tail of a GS Race ski is about 98mm wide or just under four inches. My skis are 131mm wide, a little over five inches. They would not fit in the Gondola ski rack—at first. There were wider slots on the other door, maybe…I don’t know. The lift guy took them from me and rearranged a couple pairs until mine fit. The Gondola was still moving as I stepped over some cones to gain additional uphill advantage. As the doors were closing, I bumble stumbled inside to an entertained audience. “This is my first time doing this,” I postured. That garnered laughs.
One woman had her cell phone out and made the Gold Medal of voicemail messages. “I’m sorry, I can’t talk right now, I’m skiing.” Her friend, seated next, was happy to be skiing that day in the twenty-one inches of new snow, although she is normally a Sugarbush skier. I do not think that she bought the first timer story. Could I read her mind? “Those are aerodynamically shaped carbon fiber SG poles, and you are wearing a FIS Certified UVEX helmet. Who are you guys?” Suffice to say, we have new friends to ski with at Sugarbush.
LOCALS AND RACERS
Extravagantly long lift lines were pervasive. I imagine that you have seen photos of such enormous lines. There we were, standing in one. I took the opportunity to survey this sampling of the skiing population. They were young, old, Vermonters, out-of-staters, and locals. I met one man and his son who were locals and racers. They both were sporting the latest shade of Head GS skis. I was curious about the prevalence of race skis that day and asked if there was an event going on? The dramatic red B-netted Superstar trail and viewing stands were just over my shoulder, in the backdrop. The dad gave me a long, quizzical look, then smiled and laughed. He had real cred in professional ski racing and his son was following in those tracks.
Another woman was with a pair of teenagers; she also, was a regular Sugarbush skier. She told a story of a man in his seventies who had recently had a heart attack. Apparently stunned by the event, he chose to fight back. He now climbs Camel’s Hump every day in time for the sunrise.
AWKWARD SNOWPLOW
I watched a young mother, in the Gondola line, encouraging her daughter to slide downhill. The girl was in an awkward snowplow, hands and arms twisted in the same manner as the awkward snowplow legs. A lot of kids do this. As an instructor, I remember asking them to clap while snowplowing and that got the arms to relax. As I observed the stoic expression on the mother’s face, I was wondering if this is a rational sport. The little girl could have skied into a ski rack or another skier…but she didn’t. She ran out of hill and sat down. She then realized that she had to pick herself up and climb again uphill, in these awkward leg things and do it again. No one was coming to save her, save her own personal gumption. I then thought, “What a powerful parenting tool. Yeah, this sport makes perfect sense.”
Many professional racers were rounding out turns in the delightful early season snow. Team uniforms sporting the colors of mountainous European countries gave the entire day an international flair.
RAMPANT POACHING
We noticed that poaching was also rampant. The resort was not yet at full staff with ski patrol. The new snow opened more mountain than could have been anticipated and there was a World Cup race in production. It was a perfect storm for the poachers, and they laid beautiful tracks under the Gondola and the covered Snowden six-pack.
The new K1 Base Lodge is a gorgeous piece of contemporary architecture. Inside, we met a couple who had driven 6 hours overnight from Philadelphia to be there. They slept in their car in the parking lot and rode one of the first gondola cars.
Excitement for Mikaela’s 100th win was bubbling up in everyone on Friday. All that cumulative positivity should help lift our speedy Mikaela to a speedy recovery.
