winter wonders

Winter in the Lamoille Valley has finally loosened its grip. Looking up at Mt. Mansfield from the horse barn (it has the best view from my place); I take inventory of the bounty of winter wonders. I'm a winter hiking guide at Smugg's Resort, logging 328 miles over the mountainous trails on mornings M-F, December thru March. In the afternoons, I get to rip down the mountain on an airboard; peaking speeds of 42 mph when we clocked it on the GPS. It is pure fun; my favorite way to slip, slide and carve on snow. We filmed 4 different clips for various promotional companies to promote this growing game on snow. My favorite was the piece we did for Armed Services Network. Hopefully, they will send me the finished clip and I'll post it here to share (just in case any of you want to come up and give it a twirl). We broke every rule of Airboarding at Smuggs to make a good demo for the military folks posted abroad. In airboarding, no skill is required; that's why I love it. We are riding belly down, face first, in an agile bench press, on an inflatable wedge shaped sled. Nimbly shifting our body, weight and legs, we can turn it, roll it, stop it...riding only 6 inches off of the snow, there's no where to fall; we're already on the ground - "just roll off", if you can't do the swift stop. The only laws that truly matter? The laws of physics prevail and teach us all about snow rash, that which is in motion...mass, acceleration, inertia...gravity....I should have paid closer attention in school. ha ha The safety clinic for all newbies: "don't use a tree to stop, don't use the trail sign to stop, don't use bamboo to stop, don't use the skiers or snowboarders to stop, don't use the lift house to stop, and don't use your instructor to stop....ROLL OFF! It's comical watching people try to master the mountain. The stories about the people who come to play... the kids, the couples (almost always ends in a bitter row), the foreign guests who don't know enough English to understand the "don't list"...the folks who just plain disregard the "don't list"...
I'll save these for a future post, one at a time with some clips of this fun little rig.For now, I'm immersed in the work of repairing and recovering the horse barn from a winter's worth of neglect, finalizing the business plan for the soft fruit orchard and getting the Learned Horse Project ready for spring and summer programs. And, as promised to myself and my moto buddies, the anxious anticipation of the Motorcycle Endorsement Basic Rider Course in June. I'll get my endorsement (if my brain rot will allow), become a more informed passenger and someday ride my own bike. I am psyched, feeling primed for summer and praying for more rain-less days than not. It's going to be an interesting summer. More stories to tell....
be well to all ~ peace ~ ell