Snowboarding in the New Year!

Today was the best day yet! I managed to get on the mountain at almost a reasonable hour, it snowed most of the prior two days (the best skiing day being while I was in NYC of course) and there was a nice layer of fresh powder and it was still snowing!. I started by taking the gondola up to Kilington peak and then enjoyed the gorgeous view of snowy peaks lost in snow and clouds. I did a run down Great Northern, then two runs down Bear Trax/Bear Cub. Both were actually attempts to find Great Eastern, which appears to be easily accessible, but actually turned out to require a hike up a path or taking Launch Pad--which is not what the guide had said. Bear Mountain was actually nice as it was less skiied off than the any other the other trials I'd ridden this trip. But, the triple you had to take back up the mountain was very cold... After realizing the mistake on my third attempt I hiked up to the head of Great Eastern and took it all the way down. Which is a long way. It's a nice run, but a bit narrow at points and by the time i got to some of the flatter bits, both skiied off in places and (because of snowmaking) covered in slow snow in places. Which would have been ok if it hadn't been for the families stopping in the middle of the trail! I almost took out two groups when that pulled that trick on a narrow section. Both times I slowed or stopped and then had to push myself along until the gradient picked up again. I warmed up for a few minutes after Great Eastern and then decided I had enough time to get up to the top of the Skyeship Gondola and board down the Bittersweat! I was feeling the blue! What I had not realized is that as it was now 4pm and the light was getting low, the wind was picking up and I was tired. Not the best time to jump up a grade. luckily for me, the Bittersweet was in very good condition and only had a couple of tricky spots—but I ended up having to remove my goggles to be able to see!

At the end of the day, the most important thing was that the hot tub was working again!