Cruising through the trees at Mount Snow just off the left PDF, I came upon a group of little groms oggling a drop off what was about a 15 foot cliff.
"Hey, you going to jump off the cliff?" one kid asked me.
I shot back, "Nah, I ski like I have to work on Monday."
To which he responded, "Can't you just call in sick?
Well played you quick witted little man. Well played. Needless to say, I did not go full send off the cliff. I left that up to the youngins whose bodies are much more supple than my 41 year old ass. However, with roughly a foot and a half of freshies that fell Saturday night into Sunday, I did enjoy quite the pow day, which served as a fitting end to yet another fun-filled weekend at Mount Snow.
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We knew it was coming, a snow storm set to deliver the goods on our annual MLK weekend trip. It's not usually like this, at least not in the last few years where we seemingly always experience a mid-January thaw right around this very weekend. But, not this year. The cold weather was in place and this storm was coming. On Saturday, as I bounced around from lift to lift, bar to bar that's all anyone could talk about. Overhearing a multitude of people uttering the phrase, "Tomorrow is going to be sick," throughout the day. Even my little girls couldn't stop talking about their first ever pow day. They just kept saying, "It's going to be epic!" And...it was.
Saturday was for cruising. The calm before the storm, warm up laps so to speak for what was to come. We'd take a few runs, grab a Bloody Mary at the Bullwheel. Take a few more runs, grab a couple of beers at Canned. Then a few more before tapping out for the day at the Tap Room Station. Nothing too crazy, just some good old fun on the mountain, as is always the case when we visit Mount Snow. Then, as we were walking back to the car, it began. The flakes started to fall. Eventually coming down heavy at times, particularly while we were waiting in line that night at The Snow Barn to see Pink Talking Phish.
Side note on Pink Talking Phish, their show was sold out and after seeing them for the first time, I understand why. Covering one band well, is not easy. Covering three as unique as Pink Floyd, Talking Heads and Phish is a whole other story. However, they manage to seamlessly mesh them together creating their own melodious sound. While I jammed with them, PBR tall boy in hand, I couldn't help but leave impressed.
Waking up the next day was no problem. My internal powder day alarm was set and I was walking around the house ready to go by 6:45. No friends on a powder day, right? Except when you have three kids and a wife. Surprisingly, they got ready quite quickly, and after digging the car out, we were on the road earlier than anticipated. Good thing, because so was everyone else in southern Vermont. Not sure why I was surprised by this, but I was. Nonetheless, it was an all time day for me. As I think back at my lifetime of ski days, it is not often that my timing has been this good. The North Face was top notch serving up soft bumps formed by the schussing skiers that were early enough to get the goods. The gladed runs were next level as well. If you know where to find them, Mount Snow has some good ones, particularly my favorites off Olympic and Uncles, which were mainly untracked and as fun as I have ever experienced there.
As for my kids, their first pow day was as epic as they predicted. "Big Dumps!" as my middle daughter likes to say scooting in and around the moguls formed throughout the day, laughing and giggling with her sisters all the way. They earned every one of the free s'mores that Mount Snow was providing and they gobbled down with glee en-route to après. There they washed them down with hot chocolates for a double dose of chocolaty, sugary goodness. Of course, there were après beers at Canned for the adults. Especially on a day like this when they were most certainly earned and only added to the energy in the bar from what turned out to be the perfect ending to an incredible weekend.
