This just in: I earned my first turns of the season today!
There were about 12 inches of fluffy powder to sample on the CCC road on the western <link category mt-mansfield external-link-new-window external link in new>slopes of Mt. Mansfield. That dirt road is accessed via the Underhill State Park access road in Underhill, Vermont.
The trees were laden with snow — some of the lightest powder we every get here in the East, really — and the sky was mostly blue. What more could you ask for on the first ski run of the year?
My husband (the Skimeister) and I put on our waxable backcountry "rock skis" and started climbing up the road from the bottom parking lot. Although it was cold out, I soon started unzipping my layers and pit-zips on my coat during our one-hour climb up the road.
We weren't the only ones out; some folks and their dogs zipped by us during their descent, one woman yelling, "It's a lot colder on the way down!" I was glad I had packed my neck warmer for the descent. It was one of those days when you wanted to smile a lot, but it was too darn cold on the teeth!
I had my Karhu backcountry boots on (pictured). They are Converts and they are a "three-pin" boot. There are actually three small pins in my binding that I line up with the very front of my boots. I like them except they were hurting my little toe on the right foot. I'm such a tenderfoot at the start of the season!
So how was my first descent? A bit rough, but fun just the same. I always wonder if I'm going to remember how to turn during the first moments of my first run, but somehow it comes back to me. Muscle memory is a very good thing, indeed.
