Magical Mount Snow
#37: Long weekend snowboarding trip
The long weekend in February was coupled with a ‘winter weather warning’. The stars had aligned for a perfect snowboarding trip. This time the destination on the map was the Mount Snow resort in Vermont.
Mount Snow is a crisp 5 hour drive from home. Close enough that you can drive there and back on a weekend, but also far enough up north that it gets blessed with snow conditions better than what we have close by in Pennsylvania.
Now, Mount Snow is a huge resort. 86 trails spread over 600 acres. A dedicated face for the intermediate blue trails, long green trails, bubble chair lifts etc. It is the biggest ski resort I have visited in my 2 seasons as a snowboarder.
I checked into my hotel on Friday night after the mandatory stop at a Chic-Fil-A for dinner. I should have hit the bed and got some sleep in for the tiring day ahead. But instead, I chose to map out the trails I wanted to go on. Planning my action of attack, I knew the names of my trails, what lifts to go on, and the industrial engineer in me had optimized the sequence of the trails to cover most of them in the two days that I was going to be there.
Sleep evaded me. All the excitement for the day ahead and the fear of snoozing my alarm kept waking me up almost every hour thorough the night. But I wasn't tired when I finally decided to wake up at 6am and get ready.
It had snowed over night and I had to use my Iowa snow driving experience to reach the resort an hour away from my hotel. I found a parking spot and looking at the number of cars rolling in I knew everyone had the same epiphany as me to make the most of their long weekend.
The day had started off right, I had reached the resort before time, found a close-enough parking spot, flurries of snow blessed me from the sky. But then, my first trail was a long green one, it started all the way at the summit and snaked down across the mountain to reach the base. Green trails are usually beginner trails that have mild slopes. But it wasn't the steepness that got me, it was the length of the trail that did. Midway through the trail, my foot muscle started to cramp. For every toe edge turn, a shot of pain rippled though my toes. If I went on my heels, my calf muscles started to burn. My feet were shouting for help. The trail was not even half done and it hurt.
I somehow reached the base, unclipped from the board, and walked straight into the lodge. My feet thanked me when I released them from my snowboarding boots. I've been through this kind of cramping before, most of it was either dehydration, un-stretched muscles, and a banana. I went through the routine. 30 minutes later, it was show time.
Back on the lift, I reached the summit. The muscles didn't hurt as much. The dark grey clouds were dusting white snowflakes on the mountain. There was a faint fog in the air and I couldn't see the valley below. I had always wished to snowboard in the snow. Feeling the cold air on my nose through the balaclava, as I zipped though the trails. The soft fresh powder gripping my snowboard. On any other day, I would have frowned upon this cold and snow. But not today, it was magical today.
This resort felt like a kid in a candy store. So many trials to choose from on a good snow day. Trail after trail, the adrenaline was rushing in, I was doing a different trail each time. Two days of this, back-to-back I could do this forever.
Despite the crowd, the lift lines were moving quickly. Most of the people I met on the lifts were Vermont locals who advised on trails I should not miss out on. Of the people I met, the farthest someone had travelled to was from Florida.
I asked her why not go to Colorado instead of spending all this money on East Coast snow. She replied, "I was in Tahoe for Christmas, went to Denver in January, was visiting a friend in New York and decided to check Vermont out." I felt it would be inappropriate to ask her what she did for work in Florida to afford all of these trips, but she sensed my hesitation and answered it herself, real estate.
Snowboarding this year was different, I was able to balance on my board at higher speeds, I wasn’t falling down as much. I was alternating between my heel edge and my toe edge naturally. The blue trails are the default now instead of the greens. With the weather starting to warm up slightly, I'm not sure if I'll be able to get any more trips in, maybe a season ender in March. But I am happy with the confidence I have with my snowboarding.
One of my snowboarding goals was to develop enough skills that I feel confident to go visit any resort and have a good time. The smaller resorts feel too basic now, and the bigger resorts don't feel intimidating. Glad that I have crossed that line. It took me 2 seasons to get there. But it feels good to call myself a snowboarder.
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