Day count: 100.
Lift-served: 57, 42 of which were at Red Lodge Mountain, where conditions were almost as bad as Vermont for most of the winter. We got more snow from mid-March on, after they announced an earlier-than-scheduled closing date, than we had until that point.

Other lift-served:
Seven days at Big Sky (four for a coaching clinic, three while coaching at a Super-G race, but most of which involved at least a couple of good runs, too)
Four days at Whitefish (Big Mountain), also coaching but during which I managed to get at least half a day's worth of real skiing in (and the snow was excellent, so it was Real Skiing with a touch of "I really hope these athletes aren't about to take me off a cliff")
Four days at Bridger Bowl including a late-season day skiing with one of my roommates where we'd both cooked our legs by 2:00 (unexpectedly finding a Mobb Deep show on the way back from dinner to the motel the night before hadn't helped, I suspect).

All three of those areas are new for me.

Non-lift-served: 43. 16 in May, 10 in June, 4 in July, 5 in August. The late May/early June season off the Beartooth Pass was shorter than usual given the lack of snow, but I got a chance to explore some new-to-me lines and have several more on my list for next year, and I now feel like I mostly know my way around.

Memorable highlights:
Fresh snow during the coaching clinic in December and a clinician who understood we wanted to ski, along with sneaking in some Challenger laps after we finished up relatively early on the last day of the event
Feeling like I was back in Vermont in the trees at Whitefish...and then not so much when we got a few turns in higher up on the mountain
Skiing Ridge terrain at Bridger Bowl
Getting to the top of the "Cole Creek" area at RLM (even if I had to hike to do so...lift never opened this year; not enough snow until the last weekend, and then the snowpack was too unstable)
HItting a new personal record for ski days in May (beating 2007 by one)
Catching up with telechica for some June and July turns on easily accessible snow

...and soon enough, 16-17 begins.


On Wed, Aug 17, 2016 at 9:24 AM, Iski Stowe <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
I didn't know they server beer at the avalanche workshops!!!  

On Tue, Aug 16, 2016 at 8:34 PM, Mark P. Renson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
ESAW = Eastern Snow & Avalanche Workshop

Another beer worth mentioning that I have sampled lately: 
 
 
image
 
 
 
 
 
Red Racer IPA (India Pale Ale) | Central City Brewers + ...
Red Racer IPA (India Pale Ale) is a American IPA style beer brewed by Central City Brewers + Distillers in Surrey, BC, Canada. 94 out of 100 with 482 revi...
Preview by Yahoo
 

You can get it in cans in Calgary for a reasonable price.  Nice stuff, it was very welcome after my first warm shower and shave in over a week!
 
Mark P. Renson


On Monday, August 15, 2016 10:32 AM, Iski Stowe <[log in to unmask]> wrote:


I am also a big fan of Finest Kind IPA.   I have been know to buy a keg of it when we have parties.  What is ESAW ?
I will seek out Medusa.  


On Sat, Aug 13, 2016 at 1:27 PM, Mark P. Renson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Thanks, Alex.  I'd like to hear others' seasons recaps, as well.

There is at least 1 ski run at Icefall Lodge that is named after me, as well.  It's named Mad River and the first descent was in March 2005.  Larry names his runs in reference to others or with hidden meanings.

One thing I have hidden from the list - sans some cryptic references - is that I was involved in the first ski descents at Icefall Lodge with Larry Dolecki and his now wife Dr. Mette Peterson.  We've all had more fun being quiet about it than spraying about it.  It was a very demanding expedition that we did. We went in via snowmobile up logging roads to the base.  The problem was that the road was not maintained and some wet slides had ripped loose running over the road and had refrozen. This meant we had to hack paths through the refrozen debris to get across 3 debris fields and we were delayed by a day, having to camp by the Valenciennes River which was actually very pleasant. The following day, we reached the "base" and skinned up 2800 vertical feet with full packs including camping gear to a point across the stream from the current Icefall Lodge - our campsite.  It was an unusually warm winter out there (as well as the Pacific NW) so of course we were there during the only real significant cold snap of the season.  Every night was sub-zero or thereabouts.  The next day, we skinned up to the summit of 10k+ foot Kemmel Mountain ...... in foul weather.  That was the first winter ascent and second ascent ever of that mountain. On the descent, we were treated to 6" new and a brutal navigational challenge.  We did get cliffed out, but it was only a 10-12 footer which all 3 of us stuck and followed up with a sweet descent down Home Run Bowl.  We were the be cliffed out 2-3 more times during the week and we turned back from those.  The next few days, we explored the Rostrum Valley/Glacier, LaClytte Glacier and Bird Bowl.  It was a very demanding experience and there are many things we are quiet about - rather than spraying, we just enjoy the memories.  At the end of the trip, even hardman Larry admitted he was a bit spent.  It was all worth it though for the challenge and the thrill of exploring, the turns and the memories!

As Larry sez' here: http://www.icefall.ca/ about-icefall/ "We more or less just built a hut and worried about the business side afterward.  We figured the worst case scenario was that we had a ski hut in a cool location even if it didn’t make money.”  It's awesome that there are still places and attitudes like this which explains why his operations have generated somewhat of a cult following and I have lost count of the times I have returned.  There is at least 1 lurker that I know of that has been drinking the Icefall/Snowfall Kool-Aid, as well!
 
Mark P. Renson


On Friday, August 12, 2016 10:59 PM, Alex Friend <[log in to unmask]> wrote:


Ranger, that is a kick-ssa, first class season report. 'specially Dilbert's Dive being in your honor. How many people have a run with their name? 
--Alex



On Aug 12, 2016, at 8:58 PM, Mark P. Renson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Well, here's my put ........

Boy did it SUCK!  I found myself looking for love in some mighty strange places.  First time to Killington since 1997 (hey, it was phun), first time to Okemo since 1992 and first time to Mount Snow since 1985.  By early December, I had nailed the ASC Vermont McTroika - Sugarbush, Killington and Mount Snow.  Hey, they all had snow and as M1 once aptly put it, to a starved man a Quarter Pounder looks awfully good.  A rainy day at Jay utilizing bus shuttle access to 2 separate manufactured trails made for a relatively awesome day.  I "anti-lost count" of the days I had on the Main Mountain at Mad River because my mind cannot grasp how few there were (was it like 7 or 6 or something like that?).  Nonetheless, I did get signed off somehow on running sleds and an epic run was had down Fox one morning in boot top deep untracked in a surprise "dump".  

An Epic Pass was looking awfully epic.

Some treats were had on Mount Washington ...... like 6" new on glare ice one day during an AIARE class (WOW!), some corn treats in Right Gully and as usual, the treat that never gets old which is corn harvesting in Left Gully on a bright sunny day with the Mahoosucs, Rangely and the endless forest of Quebec in the distance.  

Working on the Multi-Rescue with multiple DHART evacuations in mid-March with the awesome New Hampshire SAR community was especially rewarding.  Unfortunately, Chris Joosen has moved to Oregon and Jeff Lane has left which means we have some huge challenges ahead of us next season.  Roger continues to hike up and effectively patrol with us at age 87 and once more he had supernatural powers to get to a rescue before I did, hiking uphill to an incident below The Chute.  

Canada paid off in World Class style AGAIN for me.  We were the first ones into Snowfall Lodge (still very little internet presence - Larry is too busy climbing and skiing for that internet fluff) in mid-December when the snowpack is anemic - ONLY ~165cm.  There I worked with Igor discovering new virgin lines and finding out that I know a lot, but discovered I still have much to learn and the best part of the latter is that it's the cool stuff that's fun and I wanna' learn.  A snowpack of F over 4F over 1F paid off with untracked powder turns in steeps up to 35-40 degrees ...... YES, you can do that IF you do your homework, lotsa' homework.  I actually returned there in early July for some 1-on-1 Alpine Boot Camp work where we did 8 days of FAs, I saw my first grizzly bear, it rained/snowed 6 outta' 8 days and I lost 4-5 pounds.  We were driven by the ghosts of Conrad Kain, the Feuz Brothers and the Mundays as we did 7 of 8 days in mountaineering boots including on lower 5th class rock.  Apparently, the first named ski run there - Dilbert's Dive - has stuck ..... oh, and that was whimsically named after me.  Our favourite ski run was christened Sauna Express which I thought was 1200 feet of 30-35 degree bliss but turns out it is 35-40 degrees.  That was Igor's masterpiece ....... much much better than a Rembrandt.

As for beer (sorry, I never bought into "reeb") ...... like, it's a way to salvage the season, my go-to beer has become the Smuttynose Finest Kind IPA.  That was on tap at ESAW and was so fresh and tasty and wholesome that I became hooked.  Somehow, an outstanding fresh batch was had. Brewmaster Jack in Massachusetts continues to impress (I'm enjoying a 4 pack of Good Sense IPA now) and I highly recommend their Total Eclipse Rye Porter.  Meanwhile, the hometown heroes down the street from me continue to DOMINATE globally: Bay State’s Medusa beats Europe’s best at international beer competition
 
 
image
 
 
 
 
 
Preview by Yahoo
 

The hard to get Wormtown IPA is outstanding, as well as Massachusetts continues to rock it with craft beer. To all you Vermont beer snobs: get your heads outta' your arses and appreciate beers from elsewhere.  There's more to beer than those ones that you exclusively worship brewed in some creaky old farmhouse and packaged with drawings of hippies and Grateful Dead crap (hey, I actually like those).  That said, I must say that I actually enjoyed the Lost Nation Vermont Pilsner than I did the one brewed down the street from me and the latter is darn good.
 
Mark P. Renson



On Tuesday, June 7, 2016 6:55 PM, David Merfeld <[log in to unmask]> wrote:


It has been a long time since anyone posted a trip report.  So, I don't think I would be violating protocol to post a season-end (or, at least, my season-end) Summary and count:

December 2015
    - 1 Day at Copper
    - 1 Day at Cooper
    - 4 Days at the Skinner Hut (10th Mountain Division)
    - 2 Days at Hoodoo
    - 1 Day at Bachelor
    - 3 Days XC in Oregon (Hoodoo, Virginia Meisner, and local trails)

January
    - 1 Day XC in Quebec (Mont-Sainte Anne, a great touring center)
    - Yup, that's it for January

February
    - 1 Day at St. Anton (Austria; this was supposed to be a day in Liechtenstein, but my luggage arrived two days late)
    - 1 Day at Stuben & St. Christophe
    - 4 Days hut skiing outside Ischgl (crossing back and forth between Austria to Switzerland)
    - 1 Day at Ischgl

March
    - 1 Day at Sunlight, Colorado (a LMTR!)

So, the total was pretty pathetic, with the lowest January count ever and the earliest end ever.  But, there were some amazing days, especially the earned turns in Colorado and Austria.  And, I have 5 new areas:
    St. Anton
    Stuben
    St. Christophe
    Ischgl
    Sunlight

Bringing my life-list to 150

David Merfeld

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