It's kind of hard to believe, but I was so focused on getting up to Mount Snow for our annual Presidents' Weekend family trip that I really hadn't tuned into the site to see what they had in store for us this past weekend. So there we sat Friday night, winding down from an annoying traffic riddled holiday weekend drive, beer in hand finally taking a look. My friend Grant, smile across his face, rattled off the details.
Saturday Jeff Tuohy is playing on the Cuzzins Patio followed by Bruce Jacques at Cuzzins then Sunday Beast mode followed by Bruce and finally, Jeff Tuohy is at the Snow Barn that night. Oh yeah, and the whole weekend Mount Gay Rum will have a pop bar at the base.
My grin was ear to ear upon hearing this. As if one Jeff Tuohy performance wasn't enough, they had now added a second show. Couple that with an equally great band in Beast Mode, and both performances followed up by Bruce Jacques at Cuzzins, talk about first apres running in to second apres. With an agenda like this, Mount Snow was totally set to deliver the goods this year on their annual Winterfest Weekend.
Saturday Was the Warm up
I know what you're thinking, a warm up on Saturday? Yes, usually we come out of the gates hot and by most standards we did, but this was not your normal Saturday. The morning was a bit cold thanks to that prototypical east coast wind that rips right through you and chills you bone deep. When I talked to Jeff Tuohy prior to his outdoor show that began at noon, he kind of alluded to this. However, that didn't stop him and his band from delivering a solid performance from lunch time right through apres. Not that we caught the entire show...the All About Apres ski team does actually ski sometimes. However, we were able to catch his first set with a few quick brews at Canned to wash down Mount Snow's delicious macaroni and cheese that they serve in the lodge. Seriously...it's that good! This time I chose the buffalo chicken variety over the tomato basil and it delivered enough fuel to squeeze in a few more runs prior to catching Tuohy's last set and commandeering the entire back section of the Canned with the crew.
Going Beast Mode on Sunday
It's incredible what a slight spike in the temps will do for your groups psyche. Sunday was seriously one of those perfect days. Temps around 30, no wind and bluebird skies had everyone flying high. The skiing was solid and early bloodies at the Bullwheel only made everything better.
Beast Mode took that stage somewhere around lunch time again and from the instant they began playing, I knew that stopping on the earlier side was in the cards. These guys were good, really good and with the weather warming up nicely at the base, the first true outdoor apres session of the season was on. Grabbing beers from the window at Canned (that's the beauty of that place) we soaked in the sun and jammed outdoors while the kids found pile of snow to slide down.
Right around the end of their set, a Cuzzin's trip became inevitable. After all, Bruce Jacques was playing and I needed my friends, who had never seen him before, to experience his show in all of its glory. And, oh how glorious it was. Let's just say that the table dancing started early that day, probably after about three songs and right around the time he dressed up as Beyonce and belted out "All the Single Ladies." This was a show for the ages. With the guy in the goggles by the stage serving as the band leader the crowd was out of their seats from the get go, including the group of 20 year old girls who befriended my daughters and had them dancing on the chairs right along with them. There was even a little girl on her father's shoulders with an Ipad filming the whole thing. Only at Cuzzin's! That place is an unreal, a vortex that sucks you in so you never want to leave for fear of missing out. But leave we did...eventually. There was still Tuohy's second show of the weekend to see that night at the Snow Barn.
Capping off the Weekend With Tuohy's Show at The Snow Barn
Tuohy's show at the base on Saturday was good but not even close to how good Sunday night's at the Snow Barn was. Clearly happy to be playing in doors where they could actually feel their hands, you could just tell that the whole band was into it. Especially as the crowd continued to grow throughout the night and they fed off their energy. There is something about Jeff and his band that the people at Mount Snow just love. Perhaps that's why I ran into many of the people I met throughout the weekend. From the people who sat at the table next to me at Cuzzin's who were still going strong to the bartender from Canned that served my crew copious beers and greeted me with a, "Hey, Stoner!" and a bro hug the gang was all there. And as I danced around, PBR in hand I couldn't help but think about how Mount Snow had delivered on another great Winterfest Weekend.
