| Summary | |
| Owner | MITOC Gallery Administrator |
| Creation Date | 2007-02-19 12:09:17 UTC-0500 |
| Description |
A Little backcountry skiing in Jerusalem (Vermont!) February 16-18, 2007 Chris Glazner and Summer Austin Trip Report Problem: She perfers cozy B&Bs with large country breakfasts and stunning views to a snowcave and poptarts. He prefers backcountry skiing to sitting at home and reading up on latest developments in transfer pricing. Solution: Chris and Summer's third annual Vermont weekend! For our third installment of this traditional trip, we headed out to Russell Young Farm B&B in Jerusalem, Vermont, just on the backside of Mad River Glen and the Long Trail. This was a wonderful B&B in a beautifully restored Vermont farmhouse with a jawdropping view from the front porch. The owners, Dennis and Carol, and wonderful people, too. They raise horses and even a few chickens that lay tasty eggs:) We arrived late on Friday, and awoke to a large farm breakfast. We then hit Mad River Glen, which was in the most amazing and perfect shape I think it's ever been in. We had a blast until at 1 pm the power for the entire Mad River Valley shut down and the lifts stopped turning (except the diesel powered Single Chair). No problem; we'll just grab our backcountry skis from the car. We just needed to find out where the goods were. Who to ask though? Fortunately, we met Bill, a MRG telemarker, sporting a beard and red checkered wool pants (with kneepads on the outside). He was about the nicest guy in the world, and told us about many awesome places we could hit up just a stone's throw from our B&B (plus a few others). So, on his kind advice, we took off for a large piece of privately owned land in Jerusalem that is open for human-powered recreation. The snow in that area was DEEP. It was a very legit four feet of unconsolidated powder. At a ski place, that's amazing. When you're trying to break trail up a moderate slope without skins.....eh, it's a bit of a challenge. We had to opt for following an established semi-packed snowshoe trail if we had any hope of making decent progress. Along the way, we met several of the neighbors out on skis and snowshoes. They were universally amazingly nice folks. All were a little curious how a car with Mass plates made it to the trailhead :) As dusk approached, we zipped back down the trail, picking up speed in the packed part, and slowing down in the powder. It was great fun. What a beautful sunset as we made it back to the car. Next day, we decided to do a bit more backcountry, this time opting for the Jerusalem Trail that heads up to the Long Trail (Skyline). We spent all morning tooling around the woods, finishing the day with a two mile, untracked decent on privately cut side trail. I've never had to work to go down on skis before:) It was well, well worth it though. This trip is highly, highly recommended for those that like having a bit of fun in the woods:) |