2010/2011 Northeast PMTS Meetup

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Re: 2010/2011 Northeast PMTS Meetup

Postby dan.boisvert » Wed Jan 26, 2011 6:24 pm

BUMP

We're starting to get close to the event, so if you haven't yet told me you're coming, please do so. It's hard to know if we're missing people if you're not on my list. :D

Also, it's time to start watching the weather so we can make a call on whether MRG will be lots of fun or mostly just a great way to trash skis. Anybody plugged into a good source of weather info for northern VT? I usually use the FIS crew, but I'm happy to add info from elsewhere.
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Re: 2010/2011 Northeast PMTS Meetup

Postby ToddW » Wed Jan 26, 2011 7:11 pm

I'll be there.

Two long range forecasts look like little accumulation now through late next week, but this far out they're about as accurate as divination from sheep entrails.

edited to add:
The MRG website makes some mention of thin cover.

Surface Conditions
Primary: Packed Powder
Secondary: Variable

Other
Thin Cover, Bare Spots, Icy Patches,
Last edited by ToddW on Wed Jan 26, 2011 7:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 2010/2011 Northeast PMTS Meetup

Postby ToddW » Wed Jan 26, 2011 7:15 pm

Dan,

Some folks signed up on this thread long, long ago. You might want to send them a PM to remind them and confirm just in case they put off making arrangements. (I assume I am not the only procrastinator around :D )
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Re: 2010/2011 Northeast PMTS Meetup

Postby Icanski » Sun Jan 30, 2011 6:38 pm

Hi
It's great to have some PMTS things happening in the East. I wish I could make it down this year to ski with you. I'm in a conference here in Toronto that weekend, but some of my friends here may be coming down. I hope I can make the next one.
regards,
John Nelles
PMTS Instructor, Blue.
Toronto
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Re: 2010/2011 Northeast PMTS Meetup

Postby dan.boisvert » Tue Feb 01, 2011 4:19 pm

No worries, John. Maybe next year will work out better. If your friends are able to make it down and want to coordinate with us, feel free to send me a PM with their contact info and such, so I can make sure we don't miss each other.


Erm, btw...I'm not really good at reading sheep entrails, but it's looking promising for MRG this weekend. Anybody disagree? :D
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Re: 2010/2011 Northeast PMTS Meetup

Postby dan.boisvert » Thu Feb 03, 2011 5:46 pm

For anybody on the "maybe" list who hasn't been able to commit yet, we've got an addition to sweeten the pot:

Sport Thoma is hooking us up with some awesome skis to demo for the weekend. Glen's bringing a selection of Head, Kaestle, and Vist for us to play with. I'm really psyched about this, because the latter two companies' skis tend to cost more than my last car, and I've heard a lot of people say they're worth the money. I can't imagine how well they'd have to ski for that, but this weekend, I'll get to find out! This is really cool on the part of Sport Thoma, and I'm really stoked about it.

Perhaps you've been curious about some of these, as well. Come ski with us and find out for yourself!


The mountain plan has been finalized, and is Saturday at Mad River Glen and Sunday at Sugarbush. If you can make it up, even for a day, we'd love to have you. If you shoot me a PM, I'll pass along my mobile number so we can coordinate.
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Re: 2010/2011 Northeast PMTS Meetup

Postby meput » Sun Feb 06, 2011 7:52 pm

Wow, good time, good people, good skiing. Mad River Glen on Saturday. Sugarbush on Sunday. Lots of bumps on both days. Soft fresh snow on Sunday. Lots of skis being passed around for demo'ing. Lots of smiles. Already looking forward to the next NE gathering.

BTW, Dan, I arrived home with my ski poles.
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Re: 2010/2011 Northeast PMTS Meetup

Postby dan.boisvert » Mon Feb 07, 2011 6:49 pm

Glad to hear it, Jim! They turned out to be another set of Glen's poles, so bringing them to his car worked out well. :)

It was great to see everybody!

I'd also like to get ideas for next year while the event is still fresh in people's minds. I'm not likely to repeat a weekend day at MRG, given how long the lift lines turned out to be. Peter suggested an option I liked--doing Sat/Sun at Sugarbush, and then an optional MRG Monday. That'd solve the crowd problems, as well as keep it available for the folks who dig the less-groomed stuff.

Main questions for y'all:

1) Did the lodging work out okay for everybody? Any complaints? How about the mountains, aside from the lines at MRG?

2) I'd like to hear from more folks about whether Sugarloaf would work for them--especially the folks who are coming from the west. If we had it in Maine, would you come?

3) I thought it was super-cool of Glen to come out and ski with us, as well as on the part of Sport Thoma for sending us so many skis to play with. What are your thoughts on future meetups and instruction? I liked the feel of this one, where I felt like I learned stuff but it still maintained its focus on being a social event. What did you guys think? Was it too much? Too little?

What would you think if we got a couple of other Really Good Skiers[tm] so we could have one in each group to ski with us? We may have a way to do this for far less money than I ever would've thought..

All other thoughts welcomed, and thanks for coming, all!
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Re: 2010/2011 Northeast PMTS Meetup

Postby midwif » Tue Feb 08, 2011 10:02 am

Good morning everyone!

First of all, THANK YOU Dan!
I know it was a fair amount of work organizing and putting this together. :!:

Glen was great in fixing us up in demos.
Please let him know we appreciated him sharing his expertise and experience.
He clearly has a joy of skiing.
And great stories apres-ski. :lol:

I agree with your plans to not consider MRG on a weekend. We heard that Sunday was just as crowded, if not more so than
Saturday.

Jim and I stayed to ski Monday at Sugarbush and the place was empty! No lines, no crowds and I don't think I even
remember seeing a snowboarder once. Those who could do an extra day over the weekend would have a wonderful
day of the mountain, mostly to themselves.

Remember, that we also have the option of Mt. Ellen.

I have to recuse myself from the lodging/mountain feedback since I pushed for both places this trip.

I think Maine is too much of a hike for me for a weekend. Even a long weekend.
Though I will check out the fly/drive from Portland combo.

Again Dan,
Thank you for putting the time and effort to coordinating this.
And yes, trying to put together a slightly more formal learning environment for next year is something I would be interested in. :D

Lynn
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Re: 2010/2011 Northeast PMTS Meetup

Postby gandalf » Tue Feb 08, 2011 10:14 am

Dan:

First of all, thanks very much for doing all the "organizing" legwork. I thought it all went very smoothly.

1. I thought the lodging worked out very well. Liked the fireplace and the common area for breakfast and sitting in front of the fireplace after getting out of the hot tub was great.
2. I always like going to and exploring new places, so would certainly consider Sugar Loaf. Since I wind up flying, it would be nice if (like this year) the destination was within a reasonable drive of an airport. Not sure how far SugarLoaf is from ?? Portland?? I've never been to New Hampshire or Whiteface, if either of those make it easier for more people?
3. Getting Glen to come was very instructive and added a lot to the skiing and the apres-skiing, and the fact that Sport Thoma provided some demo skis was especially helpful (given that the airline lost my skis for a while).
4. Other "Really Good Skiers" could be great. Either rotating among groups, or with topical workshops at pre-scheduled times for people to opt-in or out of. For this size group, I thought the structure worked just fine.
5. SugarBush (and Mt. Ellen, which we didn't even get over to) would have handled the weekend crowd better (hopefully with less clouds closing in the tops of the mountain). MRG on Monday would have been much better. FWIW, what we experienced Saturday at MRG was even worse than normal because they were having some type of Open competition where they had so much response that they had to close registration. And Sunday was even worse; we heard people on Monday talking about waiting in line on the access road Sunday just trying to get up the hill to the parking lot.

Summary: Over all, very well done. If nothing changed from this year, I would still attend again (and have an equally good time).

And obviously I'm biased, but kudos to midwif for setting up dinner at the FlatBread pizza place.
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Re: 2010/2011 Northeast PMTS Meetup

Postby meput » Wed Feb 09, 2011 6:11 pm

OK Dan, you asked for it :twisted: :

Like Jim & Lynn said, thank you again for organizing the get together both this year and last.

Of course a visit to the 'loaf is acceptable (I would most likely be able to make it there :lol: )

I am not fussy about what mountain that I ski on. The snow conditions and fellow skiers are what makes the difference from fun to fantastic. I also really enjoyed different people deciding where to ski. As you could tell, I was easily talked into going down trails that I would have normally avoided (thanks Lynn & Glen). As a result, I was forced to push myself and enjoy some success by being pushed (and some agony of defeat - thanks Lynn).

Lodging was fine if we are to return to Sugarbush/MRG in the future. I did like getting the participants all in one lodge this year rather than everyone on their own last year.

Other places/hills to consider besides Sugarloaf might be in NH. Wildcat, Cannon, Sunapee. Waterville V would make it easy to keep Glen involved. As far as Vt is concerned, the drive to Kill/Pico was easier from Maine than the drive to Warren, Vt. (too many back roads and Vt drivers are almost as bad as Mass. drivers - sorry :roll: ).

The idea of a three day event is intriguing. I would need more lead time to make that happen for me, but I would be game to try it.

As far as other "Really Good Skiers", it would be fun to have Icanski come as well as Glen. I would want to keep the PMTS perspective first & foremost.

Jim
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Re: 2010/2011 Northeast PMTS Meetup

Postby Mac » Fri Feb 11, 2011 8:00 pm

Sorry I couldn't meet up with you guys this year, but the invitation to ski some of the best conditions Colorado has seen in years was just too good to pass up. And man, it didn't disappoint. Fresh snow every day, and some of the best tree skiing on the Mary Jane side of Winter Park that I have ever seen.
But now it's back to reality. Will be skiing Sunday/Monday this coming weekend. $14 lift tickets at Sugarbush on Monday in honor of Valentine's Day, if anyone is interested. That's a deal too good to pass up, in my book.
And Dan, (or anyone else, for that matter), I plan on hitting Magic the following weekend, Feb 19-20. That's the start of the President's week vacation, but I figure the crowds at Magic will be minimal, and conditions are good, so it should be an ideal time to hit it. Let me know if you're interested.
Take care...
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