Kayaks on Grout Pond

Friday, June 17, 2011

The Winter Past

The winter of 2010 - 2011 was great; actually, the winter of 2010 - 2011 was excellent. By the numbers, here's what it was all about: 6 snow days; 4 delay days (I'm a teacher, these are still cool!); 14 days of skiing at Ski Butternut; 5 nights of skiing at Berkshire East; 2 days at Mount Snow; 1 day at Killington; and 5 days of snowshoeing. All these numbers mean that of a winter snow activity season that ran from December 4 to March 20--my first and last days of skiing, though Alex snowboarded at Okemo on April 6--or 105 days, I did some kind of winter snow activity 27 of 105 days, or 26% of the time. When I consider that the Ski Butternut season didn't really start until Xmas week, the actual activity numbers are 26 of 84, or 31%. That's a great winter! An excellent winter!
     Of the 22 days of skiing, I would have to say that 18 of them were just about perfect. I'm not a great skier, probably a solid mid-intermediate, so I really need the packed powder to truly enjoy the game. Killington's conditions were a little rough and there were a few too many people on the slopes for my taste, and the last 2 days at Ski Butternut were awful--the snow was melting and I felt I was skiing in mashed potatoes--but there were some beautiful blue-jay days with packed powder conditions in between. Especially at Ski Butternut, where me and Alex strive to get the first chair, conditions were superb: cold snow, hours of fresh corduroy, thin crowds, and when you factor in the 2 mental health mid-week days, well, this ski season was one of the best in recent memory. However, as good as the skiing was, the snowshoeing was almost at least as good. The reason for this is because Chris and I got to share this activity.
Chris at Ledges CC; Mt. Tom is in the background.

 Me at Jones Point; the Connecticut River is in the background.
     Chris doesn't ski. She got a bit spooked over the last couple of years and she gave the sport up--which is ironic because she was the one that got me back into the sport in the 80's--so all my skiing has been with the boys. They are superb snowboarders and good company, but they go much faster than I do and they like doing tricks; I go as fast as I can control and I like my skis solidly on the snow. Besides, I wouldn't really apres ski with them and then drive. Thus, skiing with those guys was sometimes bittersweet. But Chris and I strapped on snowshoes for the first time in years in mid-January, and it was a mental, physical, spiritual revelation. We loved it.
     And we were doing it together and we were spending quality time together. We found the perfect spot to go down by the Connecticut River in an area called Jones Point: flat land, plenty of paths, plenty of bushwhacking area, beautiful scenery. Another great area was at Ledges Country Club in South Hadley: more slope, plenty of space, some bushwhacking, beautiful scenery. We took plenty of pictures, we chatted, we worked out together, and now we have sport number two we can do together for the rest of our lives. As crazy as it may sound, I am eagerly looking forward to the deep snow of January and February 2012; there's a number of new locations I want to snowshoe.
A shot of Ledges Country Club: Our route is in yellow.
     How about this for the perfect winter weekend: First chair at Ski Butternut with Patrick and Alex on Saturday morning; hot tub and steak dinner on Saturday evening; brunch with the family at Gramp's in Holyoke on Sunday morning; snowshoeing Jones Point with Chris in the afternoon; and homemade chicken soup and a Patriots playoff game in the evening . . . it sounds great; actually, it sounds excellent. 







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