27-Feb-2008: A Morning with… East Coast Powder!

 

by Will Riseley

Finally, the storm I had been waiting for.  A storm that blanketed southern Vermont this past Tuesday and Wednesday with twelve beautiful inches and turned Stratton Mountain into the ultimate adult playground.  I rushed to the mountain early in the morning, threw on my gear, and almost forgot my skis in my haste to get on the hill.  My excitement also caused me to forget that you can't ski powder in the same way you ski corduroy.  At first, I failed to respect my snow filled environment and on more than one occasion felt one ski accelerate through a pocket of deep snow while the other failed to respond as quickly.  This phenomenon generally alerted me to the impending face plant that would occur shortly thereafter.  It can be a truly humbling experience and at one point I am fairly certain that I ended up completely upside down, perpendicular to the trail, and buried past my shoulders with my legs kicking spastically like a fish out of water. 

 

That morning, my spoiled Lake Tahoe inhabiting friend exclaimed "east coast powder?  Isn't that an oxymoron?" when I called him to boast of face shots in the woods at "Test Pilot" and soft landings beneath what is normally exposed rock.  He also asked me if I enjoyed calling him at six-thirty a.m., the morning after a happy hour that lasted five times as long as its name would indicate.  I told him that I did and then reminded him that he is from New Jersey and shouldn't be so quick to dismiss his eastern skiing roots.  After he finished grumbling that he no longer wanted to hear my voice, I hung up the phone, lowered my goggles, turned up my headphones, and got ready to face another day at the office! 

 

As a skier, it always makes me laugh when I hear people complain about snow.  Sure it might cause you to have to drive a little slower or cancel those evening plans, but a foot of fresh snow overnight means two things to me; a great day on the mountain and an opportunity to thumb our noses at those spoiled west coasters and let them know that the east coast can hang with the big boys once in a while.  The west has come to expect powder days, essentially diminishing the excitement of the phenomenon.  This is not the case here in the east.  We don't expect it, we pray for it, and when it does come we revel in it.  On Wednesday, the buzz in the air was so electric that it felt as if Whitesnake's "Is This Love" was blaring out of every square inch of untracked snow and it was a physical impossibility to remove the smile from your face.  I have never heard so many high pitch shrieks of delight and girlish giggles coming from so many bearded faces. 

 

If "absence makes the heart grow fonder" does presence make the heart beat faster?  Or the legs work harder?  Or the face plants softer?  Or the grown men giddier?  In the case of an east coast powder day, it sure does.

 

Will Riseley is the Marketing Communications Coordinator for Stratton Mountain.  He hails from the sort of great state of Connecticut, is an unabashed Yankees fan, a lifelong skier, and a perpetual seeker of the perfect ski run.