Ski Bus Trip Jan 19, 2024

By Phil Caracci from Jan 21, 2024

There’s cold and then there’s damn cold! What else could you call a weekend that stayed consistently between 0 and 10 degrees.

But we’re eastern skiers so we know there’s no bad weather, just bad preparation for it. But still…..

Northern VT was getting snow (finally) after a few weeks of warm air and rain closed a few trails. But I think we saw about 4 feet of new snow in the two weeks leading up to this weekend. I’ll take it!

While I am not a tree skier, it seems that is where the best snow could be found. A few folks headed into the Slide Brook Wilderness area and found their way down to the road where they were scooped up by the Sugarbush shuttle that runs from Mt Ellen to Lincoln Peak. Someday I’ll try this.

Besides the cold weather, the other thing that stands out in my mind was the relative quiet of this group. I’ve been in Miramar more than two decades and this stands out as perhaps the quietest bus ride ever! And even the after dinner party was less rowdy than most. And no game of Left/Right/Center either!

Continuing on this theme, it was easy to talk at dinner but I attribute that to the sound absorbing panels that Richard, Chris and John installed in our dining room 2 weeks prior on a Work Weekend.

2023-4 continues to be the season of try-outs to be the club’s new cook. This weekend’s kitchen team is certainly a strong contender! Stay tuned to see who lands this coveted job.

Day 2 was still all about the cold. The mountain was cold, the bus was cold and someone said their pajamas were cold too. Should I explain?

I went to Mt Ellen, a.k.a. Sugarbush North, for the first time this winter. It started out sunny with no wind at the base. But halfway up the GMX the wind kicked into high gear and in a matter of minutes all lifts here were shut down. Brrr! Fortunately a short time later I was gliding down the slopes at Lincoln Peak and there was no wind at all. Only 2 miles apart but very different conditions!

Our ride home did involve a mechanical failure that left us with a cold bus. But that too was fixed as we crossed paths with a much warmer bus and arrived home on time and had the chance to make new friends too.

And as for the cold pajamas….. well maybe I’ll leave you guessing! LOL