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Written on: Sun Mar 11, '12 7:01 pm
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william_herrington
registered since: 02.12.2011
Posts: 25
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Clear blue skies and temps in the mid 40's, what a way to end the Central Vermont tour. Tour participants today were: Margo K., Paul K., Michael O., Gretchen C., Bill M., Bill H., Karen H., Deb P., and our day leader and Section 10 chief, Donna Dearborn. Donna has spent endless hours with many other volunteers routing, cutting and marking the new Section 10 Trail. Everyone who has skied the old Section 10 will thoroughly enjoy the new re-route. It is completely off the VAST system and is truly a classic backcountry trail.
Donna debated which direction to lead today's group and ended up making the right decision, south to north. We had to hike some of the initial ascent from Buttermilk Falls given sparse snow pack due to its southerly exposure. There is no way that we could have skied down this steep grade later in the day as the temps rose and exposed more bare spots. Donna picked a great spot for lunch, Tiny Pond. She was a little more accurate in her prediction of lunch time than our Section 13 trail chief, Steve F. Steve finally allowed us to eat at about 1:30 PM, but in fairness to Steve, it was a great location (the new dam at Lefferts Pond).
Given our shorter ski today (5.8 miles), our two rabbits up front, Bill M. and Paul K. tolerated a more leisurely ski. Much appreciated.
Michael O. earned a gold star today for being the only Central WLT participant to ski every "d" inch of Sections 9,10,11,12S,12N,13, and 14. Congrats Michael!!
Gretchen, Michael and I plan to post our tour pictures soon, so look for a forum entry in the next few days as to how to access these photos.
Thank you to our day tour trail chiefs, Steve Fernandes, Lynn Fisher, Lynda Baydin, Bill Michels, and Donna Dearborn for guiding, shuttling and showcasing their respective sections. Also kudos to Bill Michels, Central Tour Coordinator for persevering and winning 7 rounds against "mother nature". He could have won all 8 rounds if the weathermen had been more accurate on Day 1.
Looking forward to many more adventures with all of you on the Catamount next winter.
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