Peach Scone

After Monday, I had high hopes for Wednesday. I had a full day off, and Evan, Morgan, and I were planning on coming up and riding all day. Unfortunately Evan was feeling shitty, so it was just Morgan and me.

Genghis Khan ready to drop

We had no real plan for the day. We knew that it was going to be sunny and warm, so we figured it would be a good idea to hike up to the Chin at some point. When we arrived it was fairly cloudy, so we decided to hold off on the Chin and head down the Bruce. A few inches of fresh snow greeted us. The soft base underneath fulfilled our fantasies.

Morgan pops off of a short tree jib to a magical stick slide, bra

What sparked my interest in the Bruce in the first place was the sight of Double Barrel on the drive in, so we banged a Louie at the intersection and each chose a side. A magical skier swooped in and laid tracks back to the Bruce trail without us ever seeing him, which was great, as it has been a few years since I have been down ole' DB, and there is a distinct chance we may have lost our way and become another Mansfield statistic. Bruce is hardcore. Don't front.

Hangin' tough, with Double Barrel behind me.

After passing Jake's bungalow, we thumbed out for all of two minutes before getting picked up and catching a ride back to the parking lot. I guess Morgan is acceptable road meat.

Wanna smell my glove?

After a quick PBR and a scone, we decided to head up to the Chin. The weather had not cleared yet, but the sucker holes were really convincing us otherwise.

Morgan contemplating quantum physics
Keeping Grunge alive at 3200'

Once we arrived at the top, we checked out a few options and decided to head down North Ridge, which is the most obvious route, although it may not, in fact, have been obvious as to why we chose it. We dropped over the small cliff band and headed out towards Hellbrook.

Morgan at the top of North Ridge
Morgan, with North Ridge to his Port

I had not been up to Hellbrook all season. I had no idea what to expect. What we found was a well filled-in ditch running from the top of Mansfield down to 108. Easily some of the best snow of the season.

Looking down from close to the top
Heading towards the football fields

Heavy and awesome
A nice, mossy wallride










Part one of the awkward Mizu photo shoot

Re-gypsying at the truck

After Hellbrook, we decided to head up to the Rock Garden. Why not? It was sunny as shit.

On the way up

On the way up, Morgan spotted a sketchy line lookers left. He headed up to check it out.

Checking out the entrance

Close to the entrance from the top

View from the top
On the way to Rock Garden

With no real base, Morgan decided to bail on his line. We decided to head on, and arrived at the top of the Rock Garden to find no recent tracks, other than a few down Rock Garden Proper. We headed right. Correct.



After a surprisingly good run down Rock Garden, we jumped off the traverse to the Kitchen Wall and headed towards Gondolier. We headed as far left as we could and then hiked up to Chin Clip. We reached Chin Clip right above the boot pack out to the Notch. A quick run out to Angel Food had us back in the Notch and headed to the Crossover gondola.

Awkward Mizu shoot number 2: getting ready for Spruce

The plan was to take a quick run down the Buttcrack and then head back to Spruce to do the Birthday Bowls. After a bland conversation with Dick, we hopped on the crossover Gondola and headed for Spruce. It was 2:50.

Morgan on a log jib in the Buttcrack

The Buttcrack was still super filled in and full of great snow, although due to its lower altitude, the snow was a bit stickier than most of the snow we had seen in other areas during the day. We were back to the Crossover by 3:30 for another talk with Dick about weather, Joey's, and weather. We then headed over to Sensation for a late ride to the top of Spruce.

The snow in the Birthday Bowls was much better than we had hoped. It was towards the end of a sunny warm day, and we expected heavier chopped up snow than the soft untouched snow we found most of the way down.

At the top of Birthday Bowls

Fallplant on the natural quarter pipe
Tired and fulfilled back on 108

We made a quick, but somewhat conservative ride down to 108, and then started the hike back to Stowe, reaching my truck by about 4:45. We were both pretty exhausted and very pleased with what had turned out to be an amazing day. We missed ya Evan!










-Austin