Mount Snow 2009
Posted by Admin on February 9, 2009 in Training
I just returned from a long weekend at a friend/former colleague’s house in southern Vermont. This was my 8th or 9th year organizing the trip and while the attendance was lower than in previous years, we wound up with a fun group. The conditions at Mount Snow were the second best I’ve had there; last year’s 16 inch snowfall reigns supreme and though we didn’t get much snow at all this time ’round, there was coverage over nearly every square inch we found which produced soft and fluffy snow conditions. Unlike it’s normal moniker as the “ice” coast, the scraping and scratching sounds were almost nil. It was fun on so many different levels that finding the words to describe it is difficult!
I was lucky this year to have a couple of skilled partners in crime. With me was my good buddy Craig and his friend (now my friend too) Elizabeth. Craig has an impressive resume of mountains visited, including places in France, Utah, Canada, etc. Elizabeth spent an entire season some years ago in Colorado. Both of them, with lots of experience, made it so much more fun for me because we were able to go to any part of the mountain without concern for finding an easier route for the weakest of our threesome. Rather, we found a great tree run, hit the bumps, and raced at ridiculous speeds on the cruisers. We even added vanity to the mix by taking videos of one another followed immediately with, “How’d I look? Lemme see the replay!”
A natural by-product of pushing the envelope or, for that matter, doing a physical activity that’s not part of the normal routine, is the soreness that follows. Despite my claims of being in shape, of being pretty much on schedule with my tri training, I’m hurting today. I hit a tree with my shin which left a nice bruise; I hit an unexpected mogul during a bump run and bent my torso in a very unnatural way, and I took a violent fall while working on my opposite foot in the lead while on an eary groomer. That latter incident left me with a bruised coccyx, something akin to whiplash, and a mild headache that’s not yet subsided. There are also the minor, non-impact oriented aches in the legs and abs, but I feel good about those because they are expected and will heal within a day or so. The only injury from which I won’t soon recover is the burn to two of my fingers while cooking up our Saturday night feast at the house. Figures that of all the mania on the mountain, my worst injury was in the kitchen!
Next up is Vail at month’s end. My friends Matt and Danelle are getting married there and a few of us NYers are headed out for some snow and nuptials. My brother will be driving up from Denver to visit his buddy in Vail, and the three of us will definitely seek out the back bowls and secret terrain that locals visit. Since I’ll have my NY friends with me on the trip, I’ll likely try to fit in a few hours off the reservation with my brother, and a few hours in a more laid back atmosphere with the group.
As I look forward to 2010, I wonder how if at all I’ll get any skiing/boarding in. With my goal of competing at Ironman South Africa, I’ll be so busy with getting in all of my training and doing so mostly indoors because of the winter season that any time away will be hard to schedule. The potential injury factor is also significant, but I’ve never turned down the opportunity to play sports, or to perform an activity for fear of injury. I still hold out a desire to fulfill a childhood dream to visit Aspen though, and depending on the economy and my budget and my job situation, I may be able to make it a reality if I do so in January of 2010… but like everything else, we shall see.
Subscribe
Follow comments by subscribing to the Mount Snow 2009 Comments RSS feed.