Best Ski Day Ever

MiS's trip report got me thinking.  Clearly he remembers his best day ever there it is it was a couple months ago and he'll remember it a long time I bet.

I started thinking can I figure out my best days ever can I and I immediately go back to Riley I mean there was great snow all afternoon long anywhere you went  it was great and the only competition was from friends. Really the only negative thing about the whole day was MC got hurt other than that it was Nirvana.

My day at Magic it wasn't a storm day but it was also just every run you knew every turn was going to be great until closing

I'm honestly tempted to say those are the two best days of my career but I wonder if that's like a recency bias.

The other day that really sticks out in my mind was December 20th like 2008 I think it was it snowed like 18 inches at Gore on top of I think just a little bit of Frozen stuff and we went everywhere it was a weekday was like a Friday and it was my first big exploration of Gore and it was great.

Also I had a slides day with highpeaksdrifter and Rivercoil that was just incredible so maybe those are my top four I don't know.

So what's your best day ever and why and are you also like me influenced by recency bias it's more amazing if you can remember it.

3 days come to mind for me for best days ever.  First one would be a mid week powder day at GP 3 Year’s ago.  Everything was open with the exception of chair 2 and the hill was practically deserted.  Untouched champagne powder was everywhere all morning.  

Second one would be at Sugarbush 2 years ago.  It presidents week and a full on corn harvest with temperatures in the mid 60’s.  My legs were so beat the next day for MRG that I called it quits shortly after noon.  

The 3rd would be my first pow day ever.  New Year’s Day in ‘87.  I was in 8th grade and it was our ski club’s first trip of the season to GP.  It snowed a foot or more throughout the day on top of what came down overnight.  Plus I had a new pair of skis too.  Yeah, I was hooked!  No recency bias on that day seeing it was 30 years ago.

Joneski73 wrote

3 days come to mind for me for best days ever.  First one would be a mid week powder day at GP 3 Year’s ago.  Everything was open with the exception of chair 2 and the hill was practically deserted.  Untouched champagne powder was everywhere all morning.  

 

That was a great day!

My best day ever (condition wise) was in the late 80's lapping the B-day Bowls and finishing the day off with one down M1 Liftline. The entire day was knee deep.

As far as fun factor, pretty much through a dart at the board whenever our crew skis together. The community and fun factor is off the charts.

This is something I'm going to have to really think about.

raisingarizona wrote

This is something I'm going to have to really think about.

Yeah. I don't think I can pin down one day as the ultimate. My first maybe (until I broke a bone) first powder day in Tahoe... don't know the answer.
A big part of skiing is letting the brain turn off and being completely "in the now" so it's tough to categorize. It's kind of like asking a zen master " when was your best meditation session? Like when did you really meditate the shit out of it?". I assume if I asked that I'd be kind of missing the point of meditating right?

My top 5

I think it’s a combo of snow conditions and people you are skiing with that make it special.  I’ve had some awesome slide days picking up random partners some of them nysbers but those don’t make my top 5 list.  I’m pretty picky about what I consider great snow too but with thousands of days on snow that still leaves hunderds of days rated 8+.

#5 corn skiing in Chamonix in 2006 during National Academy being guided by Mike Rogan with an awesome group of instructors.  Deep snow pack that yr in April and perfect corn accomplished by skiing brevet side in am and taking a bus across the valley to Montes side in pm





#4 Portillo Aug 2003 skiing with my wife after she missed our winter being pregnant.  Perfect corn day after cold night allowed Lake Run to open by freezing the lake so you can skate back otherwise it takes a heli ride to get back.  Follow the track in the lake back across to the slot between the two spines



#3 a powder spring day in 2011 at WF I spent with a bunch of other guys from the ski school in the trees and slides



#2 tie Snowbird 2015 cat skiing with my son who was still a little ripper
#2 tie Mt Bachelor April 2017 Powder days with my son who was no longer little and I was now following instead the other way around.  Making joint decisions about line choice and ripping up Powder thru the bowls and woods.





#1 feb 2003 trip to Fernie BC to cat ski.  Huge dump 2m after days of snowing finally the sun comes out and the skiing was bottomless.  Was with my father in law as he took my wife’s spot as she was pregnant.  I’ve never skied snow that unfathomly great except for that one day.  That’s my 11 on a 10 Point scale.  I had rode 2000 miles on my road bike that summer before so I was in the best shape of my life too.

I've had so many great/epic days that it is hard to remember one in particular.

I most fondly remember some of my early days at Cannon when I was just discovering the joys of natural snow and powder. A few of those days were low traffic mid-week powder days during which I could take multiple laps down my favorite runs without any new tracks since my last run (hard to do that now, there are no secrets at Cannon any more).

I'll always remember my first day trying to ski bumps in 2001 at Wildcat and my first hike up and ski run down Baron's Run at Mittersill, I think the following year after Wildcat in 2002, or maybe 2003. Those runs really changed my trajectory as a skier... and perhaps even life decisions in moving north out of MA to live in the mountains.

I definitely miss that sense of discovery and bewilderment. Now, an epic day is just another epic day, just another that I've come to expect from at least an average season and one of many during an above average season.

I think if I had to pick one day to replay every single day going forward for the rest of my life, it might be skiing top to bottom on Washington via Ammo Ravine with a side of East Snowfields. I met up with a fellow Cannon skier at the summit prior to the descent which totally made the day. I doubt we'll ever see the westside loaded like that again in my lifetime, glad I got that day when it happened.

The kid writing that trip report would have no idea what he'd be in for just a half dozen years later...

March 14 and 16, 2018

Angel Slides. Wright Peak. Adirondack Mtns.

8.5 laps of All Time.

After another seemingly season ending February thaw, the March storm track setup southeast of the Adirondacks and nor'easters pounded the lowlands.  For three straight weeks we were north of the bullseye, but it snowed day after day - light sometimes moderately and always just slowly, silently straight down.  Temperatures barely fluctuated, the winds never even whispered.

So when the storm track slide north enough to deliver a decent foot Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning we headed into the high peaks.   Broke trail from the lodge noticing all the way past old Marcy dam that all the trees were still draped.  Past the leanto the base grew deeper as we took turns climbing through the birch stands and into the fir forest on a super right side up snow pack.

Two hundred feet below base of slides and my right skin loses its grip.  I sink waist deep and my heart skips a beat.  Panic builds as I search for straps. Yes! I have two and I wont be denied.

We break out of the debris field, dig a pit and hastily but earnestly conduct a block test.  We stare at one amazing beautiful consolidating layer of pow.  No slab, no weak layers. All the crap melted away by the heinous February thaw.

Some chaga maple syrup tea and promises to turn around if we hear or see anything scary.  All the way up the snow softly falls and 15F seems mild with the utter absence of even a breeze.  

The decents were waist deep surfing. Consistent pow. No wind slab, no sharks nor ice.  

In the rugged high peaks things aligned and we scored some All Time.

       

One spring day at Jay in my early 20's.  T-shirt weather, lots of coverage, friends, etc.  I love smashing soft bumps where you have to wipe your glasses after every run because the corn snow flies up in there and gets in the way of your visibility.

The capper was that I was going to do sweep; I doubt it's still the case, but if you did sweep you used to get a free beer at the bar when you're done.  I was yapping with the liftie - it was his last day and next-to-last run to the top.  He said that on the way down he got up on the roof of the tram to get some sun and fresh air.  I managed to talk him into letting me download.  We pulled the ladder down, opened the hatch and grabbed on to the trestle (the old tram cars).  I tell ya, when you're on the roof of empty tram going over Tower 2, the thing sways quite a bit.

It cost me a free beer and a grease mark on one of my favorite t-shirts at the time, but it was worth it.

 I remember one of my best ski days ever. Two sons and I  skipped school and work to hit Platty on a Friday in Febuary about 4 years ago. Ran into  sleet and  sloppy snow on the way thru PA into Roscoe NY. Driving was so slow it took twice as long. When we hit Magariteville we were running way late but snow had piled up there . Arriving at Platty way late  ( usually we run way early) we were very surprised that lifts were just getting cleaned off.
   We dressed quick, headed out,, 10 inches of fresh snow was out there and no one else was here yet  Got  first three runs down Plunge and viewed   our only tracks each time on the way up. Cant say I am good at powder as I tumbled  down Freefall twice but was it ever fun that morning in the Cats
   I  only lasted to about to  one o clock that day, so I headed  up at the bar for the afternoon ,while my sons found untouched lines on the left of Northface all afternoon
  Another great day was the Valentines storm of 2007 in the Catskills and I was also there  for the seven foot power outtage  storm that sent Hunter and Windhams skiers to the mountain I was and caused me to shovel out picnic tables with a ski to eat lunch.
  The biggest thing that sticks out in my mind about my best ski days ever is That they were shared with family as I quote " I dont have friends I have Family"

             Enjoying Summer  but cant wait till Winter!