Wowwww. I loved this lil mountain. One of the last remaining holdouts that hasn't been usurped by…read moreevil-company-that-shall-not-be-named, & you can literally feel it in the air when you get there. The vibes are so good.
I can't even remember the last time I got a hand-written lift ticket - I laughed out loud when I got mine! It was only $55 for a half day which was 1 PM to 4 PM. That would be like one bazillion dollars if it was run by evil-company-that-shall-not-be-named. A pass for an ENTIRE day (9 AM to 9 PM) is $75 on non-peak days & $85 on peak days. That would be like fifteen bazillion dollars if it was run by evil-company-that-shall-not-be-named.
I went to Middlebury Snowbowl with two friends, both of whom needed to rent gear. The attendants in the rental shop were super friendly & fun to converse with, & my friends were both geared up (snowboard & skis respectively) for a sensible $50, helmet included.
It was time for me to put my teaching chops to the test, so we tackled the bunny hill first. It was equipped with a magic carpet thingamajig & had the perfect amount of slope for beginners - Not too flat so that you have to scootch uncomfortably to get any speed, & not too steep that it's intimidating for a newbie. We made excellent progress! My BFF/student was ready to tackle the chairlift, so that's where we went next.
We asked the liftie if he could slow the lift down, since it was my friend's very first time riding a chairlift - & on a snowboard, which is even scarier! He gave us an evil grin, reminding me of Scar from the Lion King, & I swear he SPED the chairlift up. No matter. We made it work.
So we took the Sheehan Chair up & the Lang Trail down. The best conditions I've ever seen? Absolutely not. Still very much enjoyable? Absolutely.
After our tired & very accomplished newbie retired to the lodge, my skier friend & I explored the other side of the mountain using the Worth Mtn. Chair. Not as good! Many ice patches! Many flat spots! I even had to unstrap & basically ice skate across a flat sheet of frozen terrain at one point. We went back to the original side of the mountain & ran Lang & Kelton a few times to cleanse our palettes.
We retired just before 4 PM, feeling incredibly satisfied & like our money was well spent.
The whole experience honestly made me a bit emotional. Bear with me here. For me & so many other people, snowboarding has become almost inaccessible. I started at Yawgoo Valley (shout out Yawgoons) in 2011 on borrowed gear & a dream. For years after, I just made it work. I slept on couches, took 5 AM busses, saved up my paychecks to buy season passes, waited in line for Burton warehouse sales, rocked FLOW BINDINGS (ew) until they snapped, & generally just lived the snowboard bum lifestyle. I snowboarded, like really snowboarded, all the time.
That's basically impossible now. It's not ONLY the fault of evil-company-that-shall-not-be-named, it's also the fault of the commodification of the entire industry, with a generous sprinkle of isms. That's why the SPARK is gone. That's why it costs more & not only do you GET less, you FEEL less. When an industry defined by "bum culture" is now financially, logistically, & socially impossible for bums to partake, what happens? It becomes a ghost of what it once was.
If you've made it this far in my review/rant/diary entry, I commend you. Thanks for coming along for the ride. Shoutout Middlebury Snowbowl, I will definitely be coming back.