My Retirement Year: An Ongoing Skiing TR

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

Day 6: Mount Sunapee, NH (Epic Pass).

I haven't skied at Sunapee since the Blizzard of '78 and hadn't been there at all since the mid-90s (when we hiked it with our kids). In a total Jong move, I obeyed the parking signs and ended up 1/2 mile from the lift. The stroll over did not look promising.

Linked up with savemeasammy (he's going to be the assistant Freeride coach at Magic this year) and we got on the detachable quad to the summit. The views from the chair didn't build any stoke.

Sunapee did an amazing job coping with the rain on Thursday followed by a temperature crash. The snow surface was actually enjoyable, especially before the hordes did their scraping thing. Using a new term coined by Goniff, Sunapee had 1.5 RODs today. It really only got dicey once the RODs joined for the trip back to the chair. For whatever reason, we seemed to be on the right cycle and managed to avoid most of the crowds until very near the bottom.

Sunapee may have the best views of any ski mountain around (except for that view of Smuggler's Notch and Mount Mansfield at Smuggs). From the lift we could see Mount Snow, Stratton, Timber Ridge (backside of Magic), Okemo, and Killington. On the east side of the river it served up great views of Mount Cardigan (a hut trip on that mountain is on my bucket list for next year), glimpses of the Presidential Range, and Franconia Notch.

Oh, and the lake that the mountain is named after (or vice versa?) is in plain view from the summit.


So far, this year, I've skied with 3 different mags: Goniff, Vt-Freeheel, and savemeasammy. Good times!

[buttahflake]

That does look good, skiers left looks choice.

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

Day 7: Stratton, VT (Ikon).

Not a lot of pics today as most of the mountain resembled the inside of a ping-pong ball. Snow was surprisingly good after how bad it was here last Friday. They tilled all open trails (the number is pretty impressive) last night and it was firm but edgeable.

Was going to go to Okemo as I'm meeting my neighbor at Stratton tomorrow but Okemo placed all lifts but the beginner lift on wind hold at 7am. Not really sure if the winds were so much worse 15 miles to the north but Stratton had detachables to the summit operating. Somebody must have farted at Bromley though because the Stratton gondola was on wind hold. No big deal as it wasn't raining and the temps were mild.

Rode up with a guy from the Newburgh area on my first run and he was a good skier and great conversationalist so we skied together until 1. Sometimes I like skiing solo but sometimes it's good to have someone to talk to.

At about 11:00 we got a momentary break in the soup so I snapped this pic of the base area from about mid-mountain

iPhone named this pic IMG 802 which is appropriate for the location.

Have had many great days skiing in marginal weather and this one, though not great, made me glad I ventured out.

[singlecross]

Have had many great days skiing in marginal weather and this one, though not great, made me glad I ventured out.

Always good to venture out in my opinion.

[babybear]

Not a lot of pics today as most of the mountain resembled the inside of a ping-pong ball.

perfect training for skiing at Targhee [emoji3]

[savemeasammy]

I just saw this thread for the first time. Bummer I didn’t know about it before or I would have taken a pic or 2 of you at Sunapee to contribute. Maybe the next day we get out will be more photo-worthy! I’ll be following along now that I’m **subscribed** [emoji106]


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[garyfromterrace]

Chiming in to say congrats August, and wishing you the best in pursuit of the century in your retirement year. I totally failed in my pursuit and ended up with 99. I know, right. Fucking Canukistanian loser. Oh, the self-loathing.
Go get em tiger!

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

Chiming in to say congrats August, and wishing you the best in pursuit of the century in your retirement year. I totally failed in my pursuit and ended up with 99. I know, right. Fucking Canukistanian loser. Oh, the self-loathing.
Go get em tiger!

There's one thing I know with absolute certainty and that is that you're no loser in any part of life.

[garyfromterrace]

There's one thing I know with absolute certainty and that is that you're no loser in any part of life.

Ha! Oh the stories of my incompetence I could regale you with!!
Hope to meet you again one day sir!

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

Day 8: Stratton, VT (Ikon)

To say my expectations were low for the day is an understatement. For those of you not from the northeast...yesterday and into last night we had a typical hot wind followed by hot rain followed by a temperature crash. Expected similar conditions to last Friday (Day 5).

Met up with my neighbor and non-mag Les and my new skiing buddy from Newburgh Chris and headed up (gondola was spinning but not loading). A mountain host at the top of the lower chair told us to stay on the bottom half as they were still grooming the upper mountain. We could see lots of snow guns blasting all around so we began to feel some hope.

As it turns out, Stratton's strategy was to blow a topcoat over the carnage that happened overnight and then till it in with their grooming fleet. While not TGR-GNAR, the groomer zoomers were actually quite delightful


The morning was very pleasant weather-wise with temps in the low 20s, no wind to speak of, and bright sunshine. Took a few seconds to snap a pic of a mountain that Peruvian and I have been to a few times that is true backcountry. ML242 has been there with us at least once but he may not remember as he was wicked hungover that day.

Although this pic shows the south-facing aspect (most of the skiing is on the other side) just to the looker's left of that saddle are a couple of slide paths...we definitely skied the one closer to the saddle that day ML was with us.

We seemed to have the best luck as we repeatedly arrived at the top just as patrol was dropping new ropes. Although not the same as getting a pow rope drop, given the weather and time of the season, the stoke was high. On one rope drop, they hadn't tilled in the manmade and it was almost 3D snow.

Not a car we see at Magic


And...in true ECRC fashion, here's a pic of the Croation pork and cabbage soup that Mrs. MNIAW had prepared for me when I got home. As Goniff can attest, she has her soup game dialed in.


Missed a link-up with nihiles but overall, a very good day.

[skaredshtles]

<snip> the Croation pork and cabbage soup

[ex-powderbroker]

The morning was very pleasant weather-wise with temps in the low 20s, no wind to speak of, and bright sunshine. Took a few seconds to snap a pic of a mountain that Peruvian and I have been to a few times that is true backcountry. ML242 has been there with us at least once but he may not remember as he was wicked hungover that day.

I'll never forget that endless widely spaced birch glade on the way back to the car, thanks for including me!

[singlecross]

Not a car we see at Magic

4S awd. In my retirement ski year I am totally buying one of those and traveling to all the Western Ikon resorts. Like “Last of the Ski Bums” after hitting the Casino.

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

I'll never forget that endless widely spaced birch glade on the way back to the car, thanks for including me!

Yes, but how much do you remember from the night before? And I'm pretty sure that it was Peruvian that talked you into joining. I was just following his lead.

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

Day 9: Okemo (Epic)

Despite the pass name, Okemo is not Epic. It's pretty flat but with a couple of interesting rolls to the terrain. There's actually a couple of decent trails there but they're not open yet. Goniff asked me which is less soul-sucking, Okemo or Stratton. As of today, my answer is resoundingly Stratton. Bottom line is that there's just a bunch of really poor skiers at Okemo (every day) and Stratton on weekdays has been SMS racing kids and a few decent free-skiers.

23* and snowing lightly when I arrived. I took the 2-lift shuffle for my first lap


For my first couple of laps the trails looked like this


I decided to close the bubble on lap 3 or 4 as the snow was settling on my legs and reminded me that I have not DWR'ed the pants I'm wearing. A bit claustrophobic and a strange choice of colors but I have to admit that along with the heated seats, this is a pleasant way to ride up the hill.


Did a couple of laps on each of the open trails but the bad (and apparently late-rising) skiers started arriving at around 10:30; not enough to form any lift lines but certainly enough to start clogging the trails so that I didn't feel comfortable going Mach 1.2. Left a little after lunchtime and came home to leftover pork and cabbage soup. Today (after 4 days of pretty much non-stop T2B laps) I added a bit of this to ease the aches and pains.


Not a bad day but also not great. I sure hope some other mountains start opening up some terrain so I don't have to come back to Okemo but buttahflake has offered a pro-deal on a base grind so I'll have to make at least a couple more trips through town.

[jackstraw]

Day 6: Mount Sunapee, NH (Epic Pass).


Sunapee may have the best views of any ski mountain around (except for that view of Smuggler's Notch and Mount Mansfield at Smuggs). From the lift we could see Mount Snow, Stratton, Timber Ridge (backside of Magic), Okemo, and Killington. On the east side of the river it served up great views of Mount Cardigan (a hut trip on that mountain is on my bucket list for next year), glimpses of the Presidential Range, and Franconia Notch.

Thanks for linking this in ECRC!

But...I really think Gunrock (aka gunstock) and Kittycat (aka Wildcat) would like to have a word with you about views.

[jhyatt]

Ping me when you ski Cannon on your Indy. Just know it's blocked weekends and holidays.
Cardigan is a great tour when it's in. Day trip it.
Try arnica cream on the legs. Cheaper and I think more effective than that 21st century snake oil.

[Laps]

Congrats on retirement, MNIAW!

And this thread kicks ass, gives me something to aspire to for retirement!


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[MyNameIsAugustWest]

Thanks for linking this in ECRC!

But...I really think Gunrock (aka gunstock) and Kittycat (aka Wildcat) would like to have a word with you about views.

Definitely fair points. In an uninteresting piece of trivia, my parents once owned a house very close to where the new chair Gunrock is proposing will start. Not real steep back there but that's OK, the frontside isn't steep either.

Ping me when you ski Cannon on your Indy. Just know it's blocked weekends and holidays.
Cardigan is a great tour when it's in. Day trip it.
Try arnica cream on the legs. Cheaper and I think more effective than that 21st century snake oil.

I'll definitely ping you and Jack Straw from Wichita when I'm headed to Cannon. I'm retired now so I generally don't ski on weekends or holidays. As for the CBD oil, I've been using it for about 6 months. All I know is the pain in my neck (likely from flying helicopters in the Army with a too-heavy rig on my head) is gone and the arthritis at the base of my spine (from too many parachute landings) is well in check.

I'll be off the TGR grid for a couple of days as Mrs. MNIAW has some medical shit to do in Bean-town; doing a drive-by linkup with Singlecross to drop off some skis while we're down there.

[jackstraw]

Definitely fair points. In an uninteresting piece of trivia, my parents once owned a house very close to where the new chair Gunrock is proposing will start. Not real steep back there but that's OK, the frontside isn't steep either.



I'll definitely ping you and Jack Straw from Wichita when I'm headed to Cannon. I'm retired now so I generally don't ski on weekends or holidays. As for the CBD oil, I've been using it for about 6 months. All I know is the pain in my neck (likely from flying helicopters in the Army with a too-heavy rig on my head) is gone and the arthritis at the base of my spine (from too many parachute landings) is well in check.

I'll be off the TGR grid for a couple of days as Mrs. MNIAW has some medical shit to do in Bean-town; doing a drive-by linkup with Singlecross to drop off some skis while we're down there.

Right on! My first turns ever were on Alpine Ridge. Looks like Gunstock is expanding over there as well.

I'm not a Cannon passholder anymore. It's been a few years, but I'd gladly meet there for some turns! Mid week or ideally the NH day with fresh would be nice.

Neck...explore upper cervical chiropractic care, specifically the Blair technique. It's helped me a lot. My neck has arthritic and pinched nerve issues, but I've had tremendous gains with Blair. My neuro actually recommended it.

[Clownshoe]

Love the ongoing TR!

Message me if you end up in Whistler in your travels (It's on the EPIC pass if you hadn't heard)

Congrats on the retirement and hoping for good snow for you in your travels.

[slatham]

Thanks for this thread MNIAW. Unfortunately I am relegated to Flat Island due to some family health issues, so I am skiing vicariously through these reports. Please keep them up. I imagine today was fun with this snow event being a little outperformer.

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

Love the ongoing TR!

Message me if you end up in Whistler in your travels (It's on the EPIC pass if you hadn't heard)

Congrats on the retirement and hoping for good snow for you in your travels.

Thanks for the offer. Whistler is on next year’s (2022/2023) list. I’ll hit you up then.


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[skiJ]

Thank you for this thread !

it is adventures like this that brought me to the forums, and I have needed a thread like this !
Good luck with ( some of) your goals... !
unsolicited, I would just offer,
take care of your knees. (!) and drive Safe !
( it's way more important to be able to ski another day, than to get there today or tonight when travel conditions are hazardous )

like Gary says,
Go ! get 'em ! !!

skiJ

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

Thanks skiJ. I like the sig line:
" I think about it everyday. It is my reminder to live life to the fullest. I get up early, go to bed late, 'cuz I got shit to do. Like I said, I'm 61. Not going to wait till I'm 81 to do stuff, ..."
It would have made way more sense for me to wait and retire next May (federal government penalizes you for retiring before age 62). But I'm 61. Not going to wait 'til I'm 81 (or 62) to do stuff....