There were some over these past days who have looked longingly at pictures trickling northward from Boston and other points south of the piles of snow left behind by a snowstorm originally rumored to have been coming this way. Alas, the much anticipated powder day did not transpire. What did occur, however, was more remarkably good skiing, albeit of the variety known as cruising.
New Year’s Day traditionally is not one of your busier days on the hill, particularly with no fresh powder to be enjoyed. Nonetheless, your scribe was amongst the relatively early arrivals. As is often the case on the weekends he began from the relative comfort and convenience of the Midway Base Lodge and his first run was down Gondolier. Simply put, at 9 a.m., it was stunning, not a single snowflake out of place. Groomed flat from coast to coast, it was a tribute to modern technology in terms of both snowmaking and grooming gear.
Generally speaking, pretty good conditions were to be found all across the hill for the final stretch of this long holiday period, but the weather left much to be desired. Arctic air had settled in, and when temperatures start plummeting, so does the number of folks on the slopes. It doesn’t matter that when the temperatures are at their lowest the sun is often out. Precious few are basking in the sun’s rays at 5 degrees below zero. At least the wind wasn’t blowing.
Luckily, things improved over the weekend. From readings far below zero, the temperature moved up into the 30s as Saturday unfolded. The folks moving in and out of the Octagon were generally chipper in mood. Visitors seemed pleased, and the hill was still covered with snow, though perhaps by a thinner layer than anyone would have liked.
Monday dawned with somewhat dim prospects. With the start of the annual Ski Bum race season only a day away, many had made plans to come over to Spruce Peak and do some training on the Slalom Hill. With rain already hitting the steel roof covering the Scribe Tribe’s Waterbury Center residence, a quick phone call to course chief John Tewhill confirmed the obvious: “Brownie, no way I am setting gates up here this morning. Let’s just hope for better things tomorrow.”
Well, Tuesday did bring more cold weather and, remarkably enough, the hill was in good enough condition to allow the inaugural race of the 2014 season to come off as planned. OK, it was pretty firm and the course was set in a relatively straight line, but all in all it was a fun start to Stowe’s very popular Ski Bum race series.
This year saw some early scrambling as start times had been moved ahead from the traditional 11:30 to 11 a.m., but most of the 136 racers registered managed to find their way to the start shack on time. The fact that the course would be a quick one was confirmed by runs turned in by two of the first three racers. James Laughlin of Broken Toys posted a 24.99, good enough in the end for fifth on the day. But the real head-turner came from Stephanie Abrell of Poachers 1, who finished in 24.49.
More than 80 skiers would cross the finish line before Stephanie would get moved out of the top spot. In the end, J.P. Seeley, skiing for a very strong Race Stock squad, nudged Abrell out by the slim margin of seven-hundredths.
Seeley soon would suffer the same fate as Abrell, dropped down a slot by teammate and newcomer Ryan Daniels, who broke the 24-second barrier with a 23.96. Daniels, a stalwart of the MMSC race crew a year ago, served notice that he will be a force to be reckoned with on the hill in 2014.
Abrell would finish fourth in the end, but it was a great first day for one of the perennial top-10 racers of past years. Following her in the women’s standings were Hannah Williams of Poachers 2 and Pascale Savard of Miso Fast (now there’s a good new team name), who finished 14th and 15th overall.
The fastest telemark skier was Tim Griffin of Trapp’s Lager, followed by Pete Hussey of Rim Rocks. Fastest on snowboard was Oliver Foster-Fell of Metropolitan Music.
Charlie B’s hosted the first post-race gathering of the New Year, and an appreciative crowd gathered there on a cold afternoon. The result sheet showed the top team in week one was none other than Race Stock, thanks to great runs from Daniels and Seeley and a solid finish from team leader P.J. Dewey. Rounding out the roster was Laura Jenks.
Runner-up group honors belonged to Miso Fast, including Savard, Audrey Bernstein and Josi Kytle. The veteran Dodge Boots gang — Dave Dodge, Bill Dobles and John Giebink — claimed third place.
The Smugglers’ Bowl has returned, January has arrived, the sky has not fallen and now it is time for one and all to resume praying for the big storm that lends spice to winter. Next thing you know, Larry the Lizard will be sacrificing skis in an annual bonfire ritual aimed at the snow gods, and skiers and riders will be back in the woods and on the double black diamonds.
Kim Brown, a ski bum by winter and a hacker by summer, lives in Waterbury Center with his very understanding family. Comment on this article on stowereporter.com, or email letters to news@stowereporter.com.
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