It is public school spring break in Ontario, Canada. My Canadian
relatives have descended upon the Big Hollow Ski Chalet. I was
pressed into service yesterday as tour guide on a touron mission to
Sugarbush.

I was greatly impressed on two fronts: the efficient operation of the
corporate (mc)ski machine, and the skiing itself.

We arrived with minutes to spare before the check-in time of 9:15 for
Sugarbear, the Sugarbush all-day kids program. Parked in the loading
zone, explained to the friendly and polite ambassador (one of
seemingly hundreds on hand) that we would only be five minutes while
we rid ourselves of rugrats.

Check-in was smooth and trouble-free, although it did require two
check ins: one at a Perfect Turn center (of which there appears to be
two, which can be confusing), the other at the Sugarbear Den in the
Mushroom lodge.

Well, it was more than five minutes, but they were at least pleasant
minutes. Took sister-in-law to the other Perfect Turn center, and she
used Mobil coupon to get cheap ski lesson for herself.

Meanwhile, I forgot to throw my poles into the van, so I had to find
the rental shop (hidden in the second Perfect Turn center, third and
final point of momentary confusion). Shop rat must have judged me to
be a trustworthy local, and tossed me a pair of poles to use, sans
paperwork or fee. Cool.

So, within space of 45 minutes, brother-in-law and I were free agents
boarding the Sugar Bravo express.

All in all, a pleasant experience : all the more so when it occurred
to me that I was the only Vermonter in an ocean of Ontarians. The
Bush had a regular weekend size crowd on its hands.

So onto the skiing: brother-in-law (b-i-l) skis like a Canadian,
kinda like my wife did when I first met her -- crazy canuk, turns are
for sissies, lots of old-school ballet moves , mostly unintentional.
So, this meant NOT catching fresh tracks down Stein's Run in the
3-5": of new dense powder that coated the slopes.

But it did mean cutting the corners on Jester and popping in and out
of short tree shots while b-i-l cruised down the blues. Found
freshies in Eden, Lews Line (first time I skied that), and unnamed
slots here and there. On trail conditions were pretty delicious, too,
although sister-in-law later reported that many people in her lesson
were complaining that there was too much snow.

I took one run on my own, combination of Upper Jester, woods,
Traverse, and Lexi's run, the latter having sweet soft moguls on
either side of the trail all the way to the lodge. At 3:00, I met up
with nephew Steven, age 12 (or 13?).

This was Steve's first trip to Vermont in two years. I think he skied
once or twice in Canada since then. Anyway, he was moved up through
Sugarbears into Catamounts (I think that;s right) and ended up
getting a private lesson from 1 to 3 PM.

Wow -- I was impressed. We did two runs down Sleeper, then he said
"let's try the big lift!" So off we went to Sugarbravo at 3:45 for
last run. I wasn't sure his parents allowed him on the big lift, but
if anyone was going to take him on a lift he wasn't allowed on, I
figured it better be his Uncle Wes.

We had a great time coming down Domino to Lower Jester to Heaven's
Gate Traverse to Downspout the Header to Castlerock Runout. It was
the most vertical Steven had ever skied in one run. I showed him how
to click poles together and say "awesome run, dude!" thus inducted
him into the Ski Brotherhood.

Then we went home and he beat me 14 straight games of "Snowboarder
1080" on Nintendo 64. Darn kids!

So, hats off to Sugarbush for doing what they do best. Now,
(shareholder mode on) if we could just get some of them Torontians up
the road to Mad River...

| Wesley Alan Wright <mailto:[log in to unmask]>                   |
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