Skis Unlimited - G-Hizza and Bob Head for the Slopes 2-22-09

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The 2009/10 Season Begins

The 2009/10 Ski Season Begins

The ski season will begin locally on Saturday 12/19 when Berkshire East opens. Some of the bigger mountains up north have been open for a week or more with pretty good conditions reported by skiers who have stopped at the shop. I hope to be able to ski on opening day but that depends on how busy the shop is. I am looking forward to another great seaon this year...and I hope to improve enough so as to not embarrass or hurt myself!!!

G-Hizza and Bob Head for the Slopes 2-22-09

Written by Bob Perry

Monday, 23 February 2009

I got a call from Grasshopper on Saturday and he said that he wanted to go snowboarding at Berkshire East with me. I told him that I would take him if he drove… and so the trip was on. G-Hizza met me at Denny’s at 8:00 (our usual breakfast with the Parrott’s on Sunday’s) and we headed for the hills. It was cloudy and not too cold when we got to Berkshire East and we quickly got our tickets and were on the lift by 8:35.

I usually do a couple of runs on the easy trails to warm up and Grasshopper did as well. I used my Elan Magfire 78’s for the warm-up and I was able to keep Grasshopper in sight for all of 15 seconds. Grasshopper is a natural on a snowboard and the conditions were perfect for him to rocket down the hill. We skied for a couple of hours and made many trips up and down the mountain on the right side of the hill before we headed back to the main lodge so that I could switch from the Elan skis to the Fischer Wild Heat skis. On our next trip down the hill we ran into Ed Ralicki and his crew of ski patrollers. Ed offered to ski with me so Grasshopper headed off to explore the mountain on his own. Ed and the patrollers skied down the Exhibition Hill with me and then we got onto the quad lift. Ed and I talked a bit on the way up the hill and he suggested that I might be ready for some more challenging trails. I was not too sure but I decided to go with Ed’s experience and when we got to the top of the hill we headed down War Dance Trail. I was able to more or less follow Ed down this hill (which is the steepest pitch I have done to date) and pretty soon we were back at the triple chair lift. Once again Ed and I were riding up the lift and my plan was to take the Outback Trail back over to my usual haunts but again Ed had other ideas for me. He suggested that I go with him on Mohawk Trail which is a green beginner trail. He said that there were some steeper sections but he thought that I could do it so off we went. I just followed Ed’s track and he made a nice slow pace for me. We got down the hill a ways and then we turned onto some of the steeper trails. I continued to follow Ed and for the most part I had no trouble skiing down. I tried to focus on getting my skis up on edge and carving, which I did some of the time. I did notice that when I got into unfamiliar terrain I tended to get sloppy and revert to the sliding style of skiing. Well Ed and I did several of the trails on the right side of the mountain including Big Chief. At about 11:30 it started to snow and as Ed worked with me on some of the skills I will need to progress the snow started to pile up pretty quick. In total Ed and I spent about two hours together before Ed had to get some lunch before he returned to his duties on the hill. After leaving for lunch I ran into Grasshopper on one of the lifts and we decided to do one last run before we headed back to Greenfield. Well by the time we got to the top of the hill there were several inches of snow on the Outback Trail and we had a hard time keeping the speed up. I basically pointed my skis down the hill and tried to keep going but I had to double pole several times as I headed for Roundabout Trail. I got to the bottom of the trail just behind Grasshopper and we quickly went back up the hill on the quad lift. After we got to the top of the hill we headed down the Sundance Trail which leads to War Dance. Well, long story…short; I got a little cocky with my new skills and I crashed as I got near the last pitch down to the main lodge. I was not hurt but I did get a wake up call…always stay within your abilities and pay attention. After I got back to the bottom of the hill Grasshopper and I put our gear in his car and headed back to town in what was now a pretty good snowstorm. A great day on the slopes to be sure!!

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Our shop has the latest in ski tuning equipment including the Grindrite 2100, the Wintersteiger Trim 71 ceramic edger, Wintersteiger Skitronic binding calibration machine and a Wintersteiger Waxjet 91. This equipment along with Phil’s 25 years of skiing and tuning will provide the best skiing experience possible.