I want to get more in a habit of recording and reflecting on my experiences out there. Obviously, this so called “blog” has completely fallen off my radar. I’ll try to get back into it. It’s fun and often the highlight of my week when I’m on a board.
So, this post is about some of my Winter highlights from the past season. It was a good Winter! A strong Winter here in the US Northeast. Cold and snowy, as it should be. I mostly appreciated it skipping these horrible thawing periods, where all the new snow turns into ice within a few days.
So, what happened?
Well, first of all, lots of snow happened. Even in the city where we live. We had again narrow paths on the sidewalks shoveled out for walking.
Many people complain about it - complaining, it’s a New England thing - and it’s hard on elderly, strollers, etc. I get that, but it’s also so pretty when it stays cold and white, and when cars don’t ruin it for everybody and turn it into nasty brown slush.
One storm dumped 2ft snow in the city. I took out my little Burton Throwback with the plan to find some steeper sidewalks. Our city prides itself a little bit on these steep hills. Turns out none of them is steep enough to get any serious traction on a board.
It was fun nonetheless! I ran into some people in the nearby park. They built small kickers and were hitting it on skis, skate decks and snowboards. Eventually I wandered over to Tufts University and found some good hills with pretty pristine powder runs!
Our local hill, Wachusett, got really good coverage too. I could wiggle through some narrow trees on that hill where I never thought that run was possible. We had some pretty fun days out there last season!
My splitboard was only activated once. Problem was that kiddo was so excited about going snowboarding every weekend that I just did not get out on my own. But once I did, it was glorious! Got 2nd tracks on my little local backcountry mountain.
Reducing my quiver over the years and settling on one board shape for resort board and splitboard paid off. No getting used to it on the first turn, strap in and ride. Again, the Season Nexus is such a great all arounder. It just flows so nicely on everything I want - firm groomers, side hits (especially side hits!), powder, trees. I can’t even begin to describe how much fun I have on this board.
Over February break we went out West again. Questionable choice this season, because the West didn’t get any snow. But it was a change of scenery! Visited Burnside in Portland and then off to Mt Hood for a few days.
Even though there were warnings about “thin cover” all around, and they were justified, we enjoyed the terrain a lot. Especially Timberline. It’s so mellow, such fun cruisers!
Bowls at Meadows weren’t open. You could see exposed cliffs all around. And weather wasn’t great, real windy, cloudy and we didn’t get to see Mt Hood’s summit a whole lot. But I did find some nuggets and dropped into some deep bouncy fluff occasionally, leading to some turns I won’t forget.
End of the season was race season. Started doing a banked slalom last year, and got better at it this year. First up was Blauvelt Banks in Vermont. It’s a fun event. The whole setup just works so well. You ride the lift over the course, see what’s going on, there’s hollering and cheering. The finish area is just at the bottom lodge, with food and drinks and all of that. People are so chill and just having fun.
There was unfortunately a big thaw just before the race, and the whole course was just ice banks with some light snow dust on it. Big kudos to the park team to even get something going!
A week later we went to Sugarloaf for their banked slalom. It was easier than Blauvelt, not as narrow and sketchy, but faster with wider turns. The setup wasn’t as ideal as Blauvelt. It felt less like an event.
Kiddo got the bug too and wanted to participate in that one, yay!
All in all a super fun season. I think we got about 35 riding days in, according to the Slopes tracking app :)
