Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 7:30 am
Me N GaSkier met up at the Park N ride bright and early and headed up, bound for Beech.
It started snowing around Linville and we we're stoked.
Upon arriving in Banner Elk I quickly asserted myself as the dumbest guy in town. walking into the gas station still wearing my traveling clothes (tshirt, shorts, flip flops with socks; built for comfort, not for speed) After changing clothes I discovered I suck at putting tire chains on cars if niether the chains nor the car belongs to me. the decision was made to go to sugar since we were pretty sure they wouldnt let us up to beech in an unchained shaggin wagon.
after sitting in traffic for about 30 minutes we made it to sugar. We suited up and headed up the hill. the lift ticket line was surprisingly quick moving. lift lines were too bad either but it was about 1030 am a this point. Despite Butch's urgings I refused to do any other blacks besides Tom Terrific. I've got no clue what theyre like on a non powder day (this new thing called powder threw me for a loop earlier in the day), my visibility sucked and Tom Terrific was enough for me to work on. There were a lot of sections of a lot of trails that went from boot deep (at the very least) powder to hard packed granular and back again every 20 yards or so. Learning how to manage powder was a new experience for me but was a lot of fun and there were plenty of stashes to hit if you looked in the right spots. Sugar Bear was very fresh even at 3pm.
While we still wouldve rather have gone to Beech we found Sugar to be worthy on this day. Aside from the visibility there wasnt anything to fuss about.
I wish Id brought some food though just so I could bother the establishment with their anti-picnicking signs. Instead I got some mac n cheese and some ice cream...delicious mac n cheese, probably from can.
Pics and Vid
Vid tune is Lizards by Phish
First run up of the day
Butch/GaSkier
Your esteemed host...looking like a jawa
Lots of snow in the trees
Who wants to alert the picnic Gestapo?
The lift shot going up to big birch
Let's put a fire hydrant on the Big Birch lift line so that the people who need to find it will be able to quickly.
getting off at the top...something was oddly reminiscent of March of the Penguins
Heading up big red...lots of powder stashes to be found here late in the day if you hung out on the far sides of the trail
Boot deep
thigh deep in this drift near the top of big red
[IMG]http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1 ... =819995314[/IMG]
the shaggin wagon in all its glory
Vid of the day's fun and adventure...the tune is Lizards by Phish
It started snowing around Linville and we we're stoked.
Upon arriving in Banner Elk I quickly asserted myself as the dumbest guy in town. walking into the gas station still wearing my traveling clothes (tshirt, shorts, flip flops with socks; built for comfort, not for speed) After changing clothes I discovered I suck at putting tire chains on cars if niether the chains nor the car belongs to me. the decision was made to go to sugar since we were pretty sure they wouldnt let us up to beech in an unchained shaggin wagon.
after sitting in traffic for about 30 minutes we made it to sugar. We suited up and headed up the hill. the lift ticket line was surprisingly quick moving. lift lines were too bad either but it was about 1030 am a this point. Despite Butch's urgings I refused to do any other blacks besides Tom Terrific. I've got no clue what theyre like on a non powder day (this new thing called powder threw me for a loop earlier in the day), my visibility sucked and Tom Terrific was enough for me to work on. There were a lot of sections of a lot of trails that went from boot deep (at the very least) powder to hard packed granular and back again every 20 yards or so. Learning how to manage powder was a new experience for me but was a lot of fun and there were plenty of stashes to hit if you looked in the right spots. Sugar Bear was very fresh even at 3pm.
While we still wouldve rather have gone to Beech we found Sugar to be worthy on this day. Aside from the visibility there wasnt anything to fuss about.
I wish Id brought some food though just so I could bother the establishment with their anti-picnicking signs. Instead I got some mac n cheese and some ice cream...delicious mac n cheese, probably from can.
Pics and Vid
Vid tune is Lizards by Phish
First run up of the day
Butch/GaSkier
Your esteemed host...looking like a jawa
Lots of snow in the trees
Who wants to alert the picnic Gestapo?
The lift shot going up to big birch
Let's put a fire hydrant on the Big Birch lift line so that the people who need to find it will be able to quickly.
getting off at the top...something was oddly reminiscent of March of the Penguins
Heading up big red...lots of powder stashes to be found here late in the day if you hung out on the far sides of the trail
Boot deep
thigh deep in this drift near the top of big red
[IMG]http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1 ... =819995314[/IMG]
the shaggin wagon in all its glory
Vid of the day's fun and adventure...the tune is Lizards by Phish