Wildcat 2/24/08

Look at this, another post! Yeah, I could've combined them since this one and the one below are from the same weekend. But its my Blog, and if I want to be a post whore, I will. So there.
Another nice thing about this trip to N. Conway (our eighth, I believe) is that we finally ate at some new restaurants. Well, new for us that is. That's right, for the first time we skipped The Red Parka Pub. It was strange, kinda felt like we were cheating, or blowing-off an old friend. At any rate, we ate at Tuckerman's Tavern in the New England Inn in Intervale. Nice place, good food. Its really hard to go wrong anywhere in the MWV. We also finally checked-out Horsefeathers right in N. Conway village. Not bad either. I can see why the tourists like it, which is why we'll probably be back at the Red Parka next time.

Oh yeah, this is supposed to be about Wildcat.
We got up early again and this time had breakfast in the car on the way up. The 'Cat is about 15-20 minutes further up Pinkham Notch than Black is. Again we were among the first to arrive and juuuust barely missed first chair. I think we might've been about 4th chair. We went straight for the summit since it was an amazingly clear morning. Summit temp was around 9 degrees F but there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We took what I think is the longest trail in NH, 2 3/4 miles down enjoying the view of Mt. Washington the whole way. There is a little less "something for everyone" here as it is much more of an expert mountain. The glades are all a bit too advanced for Alex, and most of the wide, straight groomed trails that Daniela prefers were closed for racing. I, on the other hand loved it. Took a few runs off both sides of the summit and we all spent some time together on the right side of the mountain, working on skills.













Going-up. Right across from Mt. Washington.











Tuckerman's Ravine. Someday, we'll ski there....










No, Dad. There's a bit too much gnar on that trail...










COME-ON!!! JEEZ!!!! Let's GO!!!!!

Black Mountain of New Hampshire 2/23/08

In my Quixotic attempt at becoming a better blogger, I'm going to add yet another post about our latest exciting adventure. Since Alex was on her school vacation last week, and we had a discount card that we received by making a donation to the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth, and this particular card had extra-good discounts to Black Mountain of NH and the infamous Wildcat on Feb. 23 and 24th respectively.... and this sentence is running-on too long... At any rate, we made reservations through our timeshare to stay in one of their "hospitality" rated resorts in North Conway, ironically enough where our actual unit is. This was a different resort. A much different resort. Okay, it was a converted motel. But hey, what the hell, we were there to ski, and Apres-ski. We only needed 4 walls, a ceiling, and 2 beds. Which is almost what we got. The walls and ceiling were there along with a Murphy and a pull-out with what I assume were mattresses at one time, and some flat, limp things that approximated pillows. I guess for $200.00 for an entire week, that's not too bad. What was too bad was we were only staying for 2 nights.

Meh... whatever, the skiing made-up for it. The drive up on Friday was fun, it snowed the entire time with not a lot accumulating until we reached the Spaulding tpke in NH. It made for pretty slow going and with 2 rest stops, and a lunch break, it took just over 6 hours to get there. Usually it takes about 4.5. I was a little bummed-out because I wanted to see just how many minutes I could shave-off by using our new, Super-Cool E-Z Pass.
Of course, that which makes for a sucky drive, also makes for Epic ski conditions. We got-up first thing in the morning to about 5-6 inches of fluffy champaign powder. A quick breakfast and it was off to one of the truly overlooked gems of White Mountain skiing.









Black Mountain

Yes, that's a hyper-link above, I'm too lazy to go into detail, click it and see for yourself...
Awesome. We got there about 5 minutes after the lifts started turning. In fact, I think we were only about the 10th car in the lot. After gearing-up, and getting our discounted tickets. ($64 for all three of us for the whole day) We went right on the lift no lines. In fact, the lines for the lift never went more than 3 deep. We skied from 8:30am to 2:00pm. The only reasons why we stopped were because we were so tired from getting over 12 runs (maybe more) in that time. That's almost unheard-of. Also we had to rest-up for Sunday's trip to Wildcat.










The summit double chair. A rarity in this age of High-speed Quads and Six-packs. Nice, it keeps the crowds to a minimum










View of Mt. Washington from the summit. Yeah, yucky clouds, wait 'til tomorrow!!!!











Something none of us have ever experienced, Untracked Powder!










Yes, I let my daughter have the honor of making First Tracks.










Alex has some weird obsession with crappy, old surface lifts. First handle-tows, then that damn T-Bar at Bromley, now the Platter-Pull. UGH!!!!

Really great day. Everybody got a little of what they like the best. Daniela found some nice, long groomed trails and was able to test-out her new boots. I was able to try a pair of Volkl AC30s I've had my eye on, and take them out in the powder and off-piste. Alex found some glades she enjoyed and rode the stupid Platter-pull. Twice.

Man..I'm really bad at this. Okay, its been like, another month. P.J. O'Rourke, I'm not. So, lessee, in the meanwhile, we've been skiing every weekend until now. We think 4 weeks in a row is pretty good, and we could use a breather before heading-up to N. Conway again next week for a day at Black Mountain and Wildcat. We hit the Mighty Pat's Peak twice, Berkshire East and Stratton this past month. Both Pat's visits and Stratton were freebies, so our plan to "Ski Cheap or Die" is doing quite well, so far. (Special thanks to Chris Kofer for the slogan usage) Alex is doing well in school, but is a little frustrated with the "Everyday Math." Daniela and I think it sucks as well. Its a sad thing that all the schools do is teach to a standardized test. Thanks for that whole "No Child Left Behind" shit Dubya, the only thing the movie Idiocracy got wrong was the year. We'll be a society of morons within a generation....

At any rate...

Thought to be extinct, the semi-elusive "Denim Daredevil" makes an appearance at Pat's Peak. Seems to be a safe habitat for them.

Remind me never to ski in Asia. Long Duk Dong here was walking around on the Lodge deck clicked into his skis. Interestingly enough, in this shot he is informing his friend that he is having "some difficulty." No shit?

Alex says "No way I'm gettin' in that line....stoopid gapers!!!"

As much as we like to laugh at the Denim Daredevils, nothing quite delivers like the Awesome 80's Fartbag. I like this one, because we have a Father/Daughter combo, notice how protective the Male of the species is of his offspring. Note also the brilliant, colorful plumage of the immature one. I wonder if they're Canadien?


Sometimes... ya just gotta take a break to play with your Dragonfly...

Til next month....