# Thunder in the Catskills



## dmc (Feb 5, 2008)

WTF?   A big old dark thunder cloud moving towards the house from the west.

Thunder echoing through the valley..
Reminds me of Rip Van Winkle with the elves bowling...


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## skidbump (Feb 5, 2008)

Yup,weather blows..Conditions kinda sucked.
Thurs had a couple trails worth skiing"blew snow for about 24 hrs".
Fri was a wash.
Saturday really sucked.
Sunday i did my clinic then grabbed wife for a run before her adult clinic and as i made first turn next to the berm on Belleayre run i hit sheet ice ,went over berm into trees on stomach, feet first.Stopped at base of some pine trees and looked up and pretty much started shitting pants.Kick in some foot holds and thought about options and saw a patroller pretty much do what i did but stayed on trial.Said hi and told him i was ok but was kinda unsure on safest way up and out.At 240 lbs i was having a hard time kicking in for steps so he said wait and he radioed for a rope.

Second patroller arrived with rope and they decided it was not doable.Asked about next trail over "Togora" and was told worse than berm i went over.So one patroller came down and grabbed skis "f*****g twin tip don't dig into snow/ice"  and i kicked in about 75 feet to a spot with some snow where i could get back into bindings.The patroller got pole grips under and in i went.But still needed to side slip down about 40 feet to a low spot on berm.Never been in a situation where i could see a clear option.I retrospect i should have kicked in a shelf and popped back in and skied out.Was told i was white as a sheet.Also thanked them about 4 times as i skied back to lodge.


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## dmc (Feb 5, 2008)

Wow... Wrong side of the berm... Been there.. Had to walk about 20 yards once on Claires to get out one of those situations..


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## skidbump (Feb 5, 2008)

Thunder in hyde park..dogs just went and hid...getting real dark


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## GrilledSteezeSandwich (Feb 5, 2008)

We had Thunder down here in MASH..Mid Atlantic Ski Hell..lol..I'm still skiing after work today but probably just 2 hours or so..


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## Brettski (Feb 6, 2008)

With the freez coming up, the skills will probably be boiler plate

Any thoughts on Friday conditions?


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## skidbump (Feb 6, 2008)

belleayre today..large patches of clear ice...most cut overs just clear ice...snow making set to resume when temp really drop...sat nite sunday


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