SallyCat

Beautiful day at Six! They had in fact closed for the season before all of this new snow, then they opened up again just for weekends and powder days. Soft packed powder, the kind you dream about, on every trail that was groomed. Many trails were left ungroomed. Sunshine, zero crowds, Bob Marley in my earbuds...a sweet day! On the way home I almost hit a turkey, so I stopped by the Worthy Kitchen for a Clown Shoes Galactica IPA to settle my nerves

Lol it's not the way a sensible person would have gone about such a huge transition, but it's been AWESOME so far!

No, I'm paying that through May. All my stuff is still there, completely unpacked. Once we close on this place in Quechee and get my mom settled, I'll go back and pack up. Hoping to get a few days at Blue's bike park, a little nostalgic Wegman's shopping, and a big patio blowout party to get rid of all the liquor in the house and say goodbye to friends and neighbors. PASRs of course welcome. Stay tuned.

Well, I need to get a roof over my head and then a job. After that, we'll see what makes the most sense in terms of passes. I like the idea of living within a reasonable commute of a big resort, just for the odds of being able to find a job there.

I'm looking at condos in VT right now for full-time occupancy. When Mt. Ascutney went under the home prices dropped, but it's still a great area. Hoping to snag a nice unit and live right on a MTB trail network with an easy commute to Okemo.

That is a solid point.

Ugh, it smells weird and it's so dark! They could at least renovate it. They do have a bike shop there in the summer. Great people and they do good work. It's just an awkward space.

Agree. I like mountain biking at Blue, but that whole lower lodge area just has a sad, neglected vibe in the summer. They should raze the whole ugly thing and build something simple, open, and nice. Lots of light wood and windows, a more dedicated bike shop/ski shop. The could build a killer MTB skills park that would be a huge attraction (sort of like the one at Allegrippis). Make the lower lodge a venue for hiking/biking/disc golf and leave the upper for weddings (and the ropes course). Okemo's bike park has the same issue: it's not on the part of the mountain where all of the other summer activities are going on, so it always feels weirdly empty and neglected.

Uh, oops. Yes you can. Quechee added! In my defense, I was on my phone and I can't see half of what I'm trying to read on that thing. Dang. I'm turning into my elderly mother who constantly thinks that Facebook is "broken" because she forgot that she has a password.

That was a protest selection because the dropdown menu did not include Ski Quechee!

Also if I keep drinking craft beer and eating chicken and waffles, what a waist that would be! Har har. Sorry. Not really, though.

I'm actually helping my school quit a bit, working with the new teacher and tying up loose ends with my other duties. I really did like working there until I didn't, and I'm not angry or bitter, just done. It's nice: I'd hate to be up here enjoying all this with angry/bitter baggage; what a waste that would be!

$40

Well, midwinter has arrived in Vermont and I enjoyed two days of great powder skiing with no crowds thanks to the mid-week arrival of the storm. Snow was well underway both days, so I parked at the Jackson Gore side to avoid the steep pitch of the main Okemo approach road. Front wheel drive isn't going to cut it up here, not even with my beloved Blizzaks. I feel there is a Subaru in my future. Tuesday saw the more significant snowfall, and the snow was beautiful and untracked, or very lightly tracked, for quite a few runs. After that, it begin to form into push-piles, which were fun but exhausting. I loved the chance to learn to ski "moguls" a bit on blue runs. Though weirdly the piles tended to form more like giant, vertical furrows rather than discrete bumps. That was a challenge; I decided the most fun option was to hop back and forth over the furrow, so it was like one really long mogul, The snow kept dumping until about 5pm, so each run was different every time you did it. I'm no good at skiing powder/3D snow, but I was very psyched for the opportunity to practice. It's hard to stay forward--that was my main challenge. And also being patient with my turns and not trying to shove carvery turns everywhere. Gentle pivots seemed to work best. I started out each day on the J-G side, doing Moondance, then worked my way over to the Solitude chair and worked all the blue trails over there. Didn't spend much time taking the 6-pack to the summit. Visibility was sketchy the times I was up there, and I was having the most fun over at Solitude. Plus Epic Restaurant there has the best $10 lunch you can get at a ski resort: life-altering chicken and waffles. There weren't any crowds at all, but things really thinned out after about noon. I think people were just tired. Wednesday was more of the same, though with conditions a bit more packed down on some trails, which was nice in a way in that it took a lot less energy to ski, but wasn't near as much fun as the day prior. I stayed in Ludlow Tuesday night, because I didn't want to have to drive the 40 minutes back and forth to Quechee in the storm.(The nearer resorts, Quechee and Suicide Six, are not open during the week these days, so a drive was required), Homestyle Hostel on Main street, Ludlow is a really great place: highly recommend if you need an inexpensive dorm bed. Met a guy who quit his job in November and was on Day 74 so far this year. While grabbing a quick bite of dinner at Kilarney's, their regular pub trivia quiz started up. The guy sitting next to me at the bar asked if I wanted to form a team, so we called ourselves "Strangers at a Bar" and recruited anyone who happened to be near us. We ended up with a solid roster and won most of the rounds. After the teams turned in our answer sheets, I looked over at the judge, who was scoring them, and said to my bar neighbor: "See that guy? He's grading. I never have to do that again. Ever!" That was a good feeling.

I know, I'm so sorry! I really wanted to be there Sunday! I would stay through the weekend if I could, but my mom (who is a bit disabled because of a household fall a while back) has been having a hard time trying to be independent living in rural VT without being able to drive, etc. Her house just sold so my siblings and I are doing a quick hustle to get the place packed up, stuff sold, and her moved into her new digs down in Providence (senior living community). I need to be up there tomorrow to coordinate with my sister, who's leaving Monday. Anyway, that's a lot of info to say that I'm super sorry I won't be able to say goodbye in person. But I do want to say it's been a pleasure meeting you all and I appreciate everyone's friendliness both in person and on the forum. This place is a great source of general information and awesome trip reports, but it's also such an absolute riot to read that I'll keep checking in for sure! Have a great time Sunday. I'll raise a glass to you all from the Green Mountains tomorrow! Very best wishes! Sally

Yeah, but you're my kind of dumbasses Thanks for the kind words and well wishes, everyone!

Dang, the Great Gatsby Book DIscussion Chair never came together this season. Oh well. Here's the view tonight just before I took my last-ever run down Blue Mountain, the True Mountain:

Oh, no!!!! I guess it is!!! Everything happened so fast this week I didn't even realize that. I will be bringing my mad cat lady skillz to the bike park, though!

VERY light. It's been an awesome day!

Oh hey! The quad is up and running!!

I wish I could. I have to drive up to VT tomorrow to help out with some family stuff. Lucky me, though, I can basically stay there until the snow melts!

Probably the Rutland area (I know, I know. This is not an aesthetic decision!). I have people there I can stay with and who can help me get set up.

Really fun day. Sunnier than the forecast predicted, amazing snow. ROTD for me was Main st. Was a bit crowded late morning but has really thinned out. I quit my job and am moving to Vermont! So I celebrated today by enjoying a great Friday at Blue.

Couple more from this evening.