# Mad River Glen - 4/6/2007



## Greg (Apr 6, 2007)

*Date(s) Skied: *Friday, 4/6/2007, 9:30 am - 5:10 pm

*Resort or Ski Area: *Mad River Glen, Vermont

*Conditions: *POWDER! (14-18") Scrape underneath, mostly cloudy, no wind, snow showers late.

*Trip Report: *Joe and I amazingly ended up on 89 about a mile apart and checked into the Golden Lion shortly before 8 pm Thursday night. We met reefer and Chris who in the room next door and they told us of their awesome day at Sugarbush. I told them MRG was opening and they still seemed to lean towards Sugarbush for today. Joe and I were sleeping by 10:15.

Got up early and leisurely got the day started. Headed to the office for breakfast around 8 am. Awesome blueberry pancakes (thanks Melinda!). Keith and Chris informed us they decided on MRG. I then got a call from bvibert who said he just got on 89! Way to go Brian making the drive up in the morning. We headed to the mountain and got in line for the Single around 9:20. It started loading at 9:30. Tons of new snow since Wednesday that nobody has skied yet. A legit 14" most places with more up top.

We "warmed up" on Chute to Glades. Got some words of encouragement from Keith on the Single overhead. At the bottom Joe and I met up with madskier6. Chris and Keith soon arrived and within a few minutes Brian marched out of the Basebox. We all met at the summit and teared it up off the Single all day. The double never spun so it should be sweet over there tomorrow.

Hit some runs off the Single chair including Chute/Glades, Cat Bowel/Linx/Beaver, Fall Line, and we finished before lunch on Lower Antelope. Took an hour lunch at 1 pm and then headed back out for another on Cat Bowel/Linx/Beaver. Then it was time for Paradise. Awesome trail. Chris hucked the waterfall; the rest of us except for Brian hucked the rock on the left. Brian attempted to skirt around it on the "lady's tee" and ended up skiing all of Paradise in the tight and steep woods on skier's left! :blink: We waited at the bottom for over 10 minutes and were getting a bit concerned. Finally, Brian emerged up the trail towards Sunnyside. He skis down to us and exclaims, "that was *not* the lady's tee..." :lol:

We then did a Chute/Liftline run and finished up again on Cat Bowel/Linx/Beaver which may very well be my favorite combination at Mad River. A truly awesome, awesome day. Certainly somewhere in the top 1 or 2 for me this season. I hope to make it out once more, but if this is how it ends, it was certainly a great way to end what turned out to be an awesome season. Very strange having mid-winter conditions on April 6. It took me about 4 hours to get home. Not bad, but I'm shot. Runs at MRG take about 45 minutes each and we skied almost seven hours, not including lunch.

Incredible day. Thanks Joe, Brian, Jeff Keith and Chris! Pics and vid to come....


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## bvibert (Apr 6, 2007)

Awesome day, totally worth the 8 hours of driving today.  I don't have enough energy left to write much else now so I'll just say that was my best day of skiing EVER.


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## Greg (Apr 6, 2007)

bvibert said:


> Awesome day, totally worth the 8 hours of driving today.  I don't have enough energy left to write much else now so I'll just say that was my best day of skiing EVER.



Nice! You rolled it all the way back home?! :blink: You get the award for the most radical day trip this season!
:beer:


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## bvibert (Apr 6, 2007)

Yeah, I had no problems making it home.  My body is ready for bed, but my mind is still pretty amped from today.


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## Greg (Apr 6, 2007)

*Pics. Click to enlarge.*

*Line for Single around 9:15*




*In line*




*Joe on the Single*




*View from Single*




*madskier6*








*Paradise*


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## eatskisleep (Apr 6, 2007)

AWESOME Pictures!


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## 2knees (Apr 6, 2007)

i knew this tr was gonna hurt deep.


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## reefer (Apr 6, 2007)

*epic*

Thanks Greg for setting up this awesome day. It was great to finaly meet you and rip it up on such a day that words can't really describe. It was awsome out there with such good skiers. Jeff (madskier6) thanks for leading us around. Tour guide of the century! Great to meet Joe and Brian also.
Thanks to KingM Michael for setting us up at the Golden Lion. Great digs and Great hot tub!. Thanks Melinda, the breakfasts were great!
Got to get to bed, more to come with pics of this and Sugarbush Thursday, Both hills are awesome and have a ton of snow, you should leave right now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Added some pics and will put a few more in the my gallery for MRG!


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## bvibert (Apr 7, 2007)

Gas - $69.46
Lift Ticket - $29.00 (awesome deal, especially for the conditions!)
Lunch - $20.00
Gift for daughter from gift shop - $29.95
Skiing MRG in sweet, sweet POW on April 6th - PRICELESS


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## thetrailboss (Apr 7, 2007)

bvibert said:


> Awesome day, totally worth the 8 hours of driving today.  I don't have enough energy left to write much else now so I'll just say that was my best day of skiing EVER.



This is what we like to hear!!!  :beer:  Glad you got the goods...I got them at Killington for y'all...regrettably, I was not "packing digital heat," because Ms. TB has the camera...but I had some great stuff.


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## powhunter (Apr 7, 2007)

Nice pictures.....glad everyone was able to get the goods..my stokeometer is still redlining from an epic day at the k

steve


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## ALLSKIING (Apr 7, 2007)

I knew I was going to miss a very sweet day. The pics confirmed it..unreal for april.


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## 2knees (Apr 7, 2007)

hey slacker.  i just put the kids down for their nap and came here to watch some video.  problem is NO VIDEO.  its not like you should have more important things to do. :wink:


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## Greg (Apr 7, 2007)

2knees said:


> i knew this tr was gonna hurt deep.



Just wait till the vid!



reefer said:


> Thanks Greg for setting up this awesome day. It was great to finaly meet you and rip it up on such a day that words can't really describe. It was awsome out there with such good skiers. Jeff (madskier6) thanks for leading us around. Tour guide of the century! Great to meet Joe and Brian also.
> Thanks to KingM Michael for setting us up at the Golden Lion. Great digs and Great hot tub!. Thanks Melinda, the breakfasts were great!
> Got to get to bed, more to come with pics of this and Sugarbush Thursday, Both hills are awesome and have a ton of snow, you should leave right now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Great to meet you too. Also awesome to get a quality day of skiing with you after the Mount Snow disaster in Feb.



bvibert said:


> Gas - $69.46
> Lift Ticket - $29.00 (awesome deal, especially for the conditions!)
> Lunch - $20.00
> Gift for daughter from gift shop - $29.95
> Skiing MRG in sweet, sweet POW on April 6th - PRICELESS



Classic!



2knees said:


> hey slacker.  i just put the kids down for their nap and came here to watch some video.  problem is NO VIDEO.  its not like you should have more important things to do. :wink:



Ha! :lol: I tinkered with some of it; just been crazy around here since I got back. I hope to work on it a bit more later tonight or tomorrow. Patience.



ALLSKIING said:


> I knew I was going to miss a very sweet day. The pics confirmed it..unreal for april.



Unreal for April for sure. My mantra all day was, "this doesn't make any effin sense!" The powder was awesome. The only thing that reminded you it wasn't late February were the rock hard icey bumps underneath that you would occasionally slam into. 

I feel like I've been beat up with a shovel today. :blink:


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## bvibert (Apr 7, 2007)

Greg said:


> I feel like I've been beat up with a shovel today. :blink:



Me too, My legs/upper body are pretty sore, in addition to the partially ripped off thumb nail and the sprained middle finger. 

Feels great though.


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## Greg (Apr 8, 2007)

*Videos!*

*High Res:* (36.6 MB)
*Mad River Glen, Vermont: 4/6/2007*


*YouTube:*


Enjoy!


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## andyzee (Apr 8, 2007)

How come the video's no longer available. Oh, MRG was just as sweet on Saturday


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## Greg (Apr 8, 2007)

andyzee said:


> How come the video's no longer available. Oh, MRG was just as sweet on Saturday



Still processing. Download the high res. It's better anyway...


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## bvibert (Apr 8, 2007)

Great video Greg, really captured the spirit of the day. :beer:  Unfortunately I didn't get crap for footage, apparently I don't know how to work my camera... :roll:


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## andyzee (Apr 8, 2007)

bvibert said:


> Great video Greg, really captured the spirit of the day. :beer: Unfortunately I didn't get crap for footage, apparently I don't know how to work my camera... :roll:


 
bvibert, was that you taking the fall and ruining the snow?  Nice video Greg!


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## bvibert (Apr 8, 2007)

andyzee said:


> bvibert, was that you taking the fall and ruining the snow?  Nice video Greg!



Yes, and that wasn't the only time.... Nor was I the only one to do so, I was just the only one nice enough to do it right in front of the camera.. 

BTW, there was still plenty of snow left.  I didn't ruin nothin!


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## andyzee (Apr 8, 2007)

bvibert said:


> Yes, and that wasn't the only time.... Nor was I the only one to do so, I was just the only one nice enough to do it right in front of the camera..
> 
> BTW, there was still plenty of snow left. I didn't ruin nothin!


 
Yeah and I found it Saturday. Looks like you guys had a great time, real nice considering it's April


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## reefer (Apr 8, 2007)

*Nice vid*

You are definitely the video master Greg. Great work. That is fantastic. Just got in from Mt.Snow. Snowed hard all day there today - unbelievable. I'll post galleries of MRG and Sugarbush tomorrow morning. My cable is at work. Still shaking my head over the snow up there Thursday and Friday. Thanks for talking us into MRG!


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## reefer (Apr 8, 2007)

bvibert said:


> Yes, and that wasn't the only time.... Nor was I the only one to do so, I was just the only one nice enough to do it right in front of the camera..
> 
> BTW, there was still plenty of snow left.  I didn't ruin nothin!



Yeah, we all took turns with the snowman pose, we just didn't get caught on film! At least we didn't lose any skis or poles, unless you count breaking a pole in half losing it...........


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## reefer (Apr 8, 2007)

andyzee said:


> How come the video's no longer available. Oh, MRG was just as sweet on Saturday



I'm sure it was, it hurt to leave.


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## andyzee (Apr 8, 2007)

reefer said:


> I'm sure it was, it hurt to leave.


 
It still hurts today :lol:


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## 2knees (Apr 8, 2007)

droolage.  all down my chin and shirt.  

killington was sweet friday but it dont have THAT kind of terrain.  thanks for the vid as usual.  someday i'll get there.


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## Grassi21 (Apr 9, 2007)

Nice TR.  I'm looking forward to watching the vid when I get to work.

Brian you are an animal.  Kudos to you and your driving stamina.


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## bvibert (Apr 9, 2007)

Grassi21 said:


> Brian you are an animal.  Kudos to you and your driving stamina.



The funny thing is that I usually have trouble staying awake.  A few years ago my wife and I did a day trip to K-Mart and nearly didn't make it home because neither of us could stay awake. 

My original plan was to stay up there Friday night and leave Saturday morning for home.  After the awesome day of skiing and the snow falling at MRG when we left I knew that I'd have too much trouble leaving the area Saturday morning and not going skiing again (had to get home to the family, skiing again wouldn't have gone over too big).  I figured I'd start driving home instead and just stop and find a place when I got tired so I wouldn't be tempted.  Well I made it all the way home, so it worked out pretty good.


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## Greg (Apr 9, 2007)

2knees said:


> killington was sweet friday but it dont have THAT kind of terrain.  thanks for the vid as usual.  someday i'll get there.



Few places do. You really owe it to yourself to get up there, Pat. Knowing you, you would absolutley love it, especially Fall Line and Paradise. Steep, bumpy, tree islands, multiple routes, random 3-6 foot high ice flows here and there. After my two visits this year, I've skied all the major on map stuff off the Single. Was hoping to try some runs off the double Friday, but they were apparently saving snow for Saturday.


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## Grassi21 (Apr 9, 2007)

Great turns and vid guys!  I'm looking forward to the day I can ski MRG and enjoy it.  Someday....


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## Joshua B (Apr 9, 2007)

Beautiful photos Greg! And top-of-the-line photo quality too.


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## Greg (Apr 10, 2007)

Joshua B said:


> Beautiful photos Greg! And top-of-the-line photo quality too.



Thanks. Did you check out the vid?


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## madskier6 (Apr 10, 2007)

*Wow*

What a weekend of fantastic skiing!  WOW :smile:  I got back from Vermont last night (Monday) at 9:30 after a phenomenal weekend of powder skiing.  Friday & Saturday at Mad River Glen, Sunday & Monday at Sugarbush.  I don't think it stopped snowing in the MRV the whole weekend until Monday morning.  We hit Castlerock in 2-3 feet of fresh powder & great skiing weather Sunday & Monday.  The experience at MRG was awesome, as has been reported by Greg, Reefer, Bvibert & others.  It was great to ski with all you guys on Friday.

About all I can say is WOW.  I did not expect conditions to be this good coming into the weekend.  I can say without hesitation that this was the best weekend of skiing this year & maybe the best in many, many years.


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## Terry (Apr 11, 2007)

I have got to stop coming to alpinezone. It is killing me to read all these reports! I haven't skied in close to a month and have an appointment friday with a nuerosurgeon. Looks like back surgery might be in my future. They determined that I have a ruptured L5 disc. Wish me luck and enjoy all the great conditions! :beer:


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## roark (Apr 11, 2007)

Terry said:


> I have got to stop coming to alpinezone. It is killing me to read all these reports! I haven't skied in close to a month and have an appointment friday with a nuerosurgeon. Looks like back surgery might be in my future. They determined that I have a ruptured L5 disc. Wish me luck and enjoy all the great conditions! :beer:


Bummer Terry. Best of luck with the back, we'll see you on the slopes next season.


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## andyzee (Apr 11, 2007)

Terry best of luck and wish you a quick recovery.


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## kcyanks1 (Apr 11, 2007)

Greg said:


> *High Res:* (36.6 MB)
> *Mad River Glen, Vermont: 4/6/2007*
> 
> Enjoy!




Thanks!  Great video.  Think of all the skiing you missed to bring us that video


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## Greg (Apr 11, 2007)

Hey Brian - check out the woods skier's left of Paradise:

http://3dskimaps.com/index.php?path=madriverglen

You may very well have been on terrain 42* and steeper... :lol:


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## bvibert (Apr 11, 2007)

That sounds about right.  Does that mean I'm core now??


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## kcyanks1 (Apr 11, 2007)

Greg said:


> Hey Brian - check out the woods skier's left of Paradise:
> 
> http://3dskimaps.com/index.php?path=madriverglen
> 
> You may very well have been on terrain 42* and steeper... :lol:



Amazing how much of MRG's terrain falls into what they consider "intermediate."  Of course moguls make any trail more challenging (and fun!).


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## Greg (Apr 11, 2007)

kcyanks1 said:


> Amazing how much of MRG's terrain falls into what they consider "intermediate."  Of course moguls make any trail more challenging (and fun!).



Indeed. Aside from Paradise and parts of Fall Line, much of MRG's terrain is just typical NNE steep. It's that undulating terrain with twists/turns, bumps, trees, tree islands, little woods chutes and the random 3-5 foot ice flows and rock drops here and there that makes it so challenging. What a great place.


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## eatskisleep (Apr 11, 2007)

Great movie. Audioslave.


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