Ski Bus Trip Jan 2nd, 2026

By Karen McFarlane

On the bright and sunny (OK, it was after dark) evening of January 2, 2026, the first Miramar bus trip of 2026 took off from the streets of New York with 27 hearty ski souls aboard and Al, our wonderful driver, at the helm. (We had lost a few erstwhile ski attendees due to the flu…) We were super excited to make this one of the first slightly post New Year’s trips in recent memory. Normally the conditions are not optimal for this weekend, but this year, conditions were looking pretty darn good! In fact, they were so good, that a bunch of hangers-on from prior trips were still ensconced in the lodge, refusing to leave!

Saturday was a terrific day at Sugarbush! Temps were a balmy $&@ (fill in whatever temp under freezing is comfortable for you), winds at !$& mph (fill in whatever speed is not quite high enough to blow you over) and a continuous stream of the white stuff they call… what is it again… oh yes, SNOW!!

This writer was very nervous and tentative at first, wondering if my old bones and muscles would make it and, half-way through my first run, I decided it was time to quit skiing forever, but after a few more minutes, I realized my ski legs were back on track and I felt terrific-the snow felt like a carpet of talcum powder – just lovely and perfect!! I was with a constantly changing group of Miramar ski partners and we continued to mix and match through and after lunch! By 3:00, a constantly growing group of us commandeered a table or two at Rumbles. Our apres-ski meeting made merry until bus loading time.

It must be noted that our weekend was led by a powerful and terrific duo – Gail and Till. Both had signed up as guests, but due to unforeseen circumstances, Gail first moved up to Staff and, apparently a few hours before the trip, got promoted to Trip Leader. Till also progressed up the ladder to Staff. It is noted that Kirsty, the originally planned Trip Leader, had done a great job of organizing the trip, which was made very difficult by the constantly changing cast of characters who stayed through from prior trips, changing daily from on-bus to off-bus to maybe driving to maybe leaving early, etc. – you get the point. Unfortunately, Kirsty had a last minute problem which prevented her from coming on the trip.

We had our usual lovely cocktail hour, with very tasty hors-d’oeuvres made by our wonderful chef, Matt. We had a guest appearance at the cocktail hour and dinner by our past president, Bill and his lovely wife, Roberta. For those of you who don’t know, Bill and Roberta are the only Miramartians who own a house near the Miramar Lodge which they bought from an actual Von Trapp family member!! (Maria still comes by nightly and sings lullabies to put them to sleep…!)

Following a lovely salmon dinner, again by our wonderful chef Matt (and assisted by the able Maddie), the usual shenanigans of drinking, dancing, shmoozing and hanging by the fireplace took place in our luxurious lounge/bar downstairs.

On Sunday, we did a rinse and repeat, this time at Killington! The weather again was pretty cold, windy and foggy, with snow showers – but the conditions were terrific!! This time, we ended the day listening to music upstairs at the Snowshed bar and then proceeded to trundle our way back to the bus for our trip back home. With happy hour on the bus, together with a delightful repast from Panera, served at 60 mph, our wonderful weekend soon came to an end.

When all is said and done, you can’t go wrong when a first time guest notes that they like the fact that Miramar is “old school and precious!!”