Journal filed at MTNOPS.com

Many moons ago, the seven years winter was born in North Conway as an excuse to spend a winter in the mountains with friends. Sadly, it was proved an idea that was not sustainable. As the winters have blown through, the friends have drifted away. Last winter marked the 7YW yet very little time was spent amongst friends.

Luckily 7YW.1 has been pegged on the epicocity meter for some time. When you bring good snow and good friends together, you know good things are going to happen.

This is the story of the first run at Mad River Glen.

For the full Mad River history as collected by bad colonies, [CLICK HERE].

I awoke, well unpassed out, early Sunday morning with a dream in my foggy brain. A dream that I have lusted after for quite some time, to finally inked some turns on the sacred snow of the pinners and rear entry sick booters. The plan was simple, which of course was the beauty of it.

First, we would all walk around the house aimlessly for 30-45 minutes, discussing conditions, checking 5-6 separate weather sites, and very briefly (and I mean extremely briefly) glancing at a trail map of Mad River and the Long Trail. From this clinic in preparation, it was determined that we should load our bellies with an exorbitant amount of heavy breakfast grub.

Completing the aforementioned preps, we loaded some junk into packs while Rawlings lectured my dog on the merits of checking your pack at the house, something along the lines of, "See Bob, 5 minutes in the house is worth 6 hours on the hill, blah, blah, blah." With that bit of wisdom imparted, we hit the road quick like so as to ensure no further map reading was performed.

Rawlings and I were dropped at the top of App Gap while Medros and Vin Diesel rolled to the base to spot a car. Naturally, Rawlings had ensured failure by bugging Bob with his prep bragging. We found his toe strap snapped completely off. Luckily, we grew up riding when your bindings snapped every fourth trip down the mountain and were able to jimmy the little bastard back together before the Avalon came roaring back up the pass. This had the added benefit of guaranteeing that my fingers were properly frozen, a prerequisite for any hike in my honest opinion (IMHO).

The punters suited up while Rawdog and I scooted up the first headwall to scout out the sick lines. Lucky for all involved, we didn't utilize any of this extra time to ensure we were on the actual Long Trail. And off we went, into the great white unknown.

I proved my worth as a human being, strapping my board extra high to knock every last bit snow out of the trees and on to my head, shoulders, down my back, into my pants, and any where else snow likes to go. This came in extremely handy when we found ourselves completely unsure of our whereabouts. I was able to clear large expanses of snow for my fellow cartographers to stumble through. While certainly an enjoyable sightseeing tour, the misplacement of the trail also allowed us to elongate what should have been a relatively short hike by walking rather aimlessly around the woods of the Green Mountains.

Finally Medros, the least likely to the find the trail, directed us to the well camouflaged white blazes that marked the Long Trail. Now all we had to do was figure out how far to go on said trail before embarking on the descent portion of the adventure. At some point amongst the huffing, panting, and complaining, it was discovered that we lacked a carabineer between the four of us. A long conversation ensued as we tried to determine if we could carry on with this extreme activity lacking such critical equipment. Vin decided he would put his water bottle in his bag and not clip it to his pack. We all continued on, deeply saddened by our lack of extremeness.

Sometime down the trail, we stumbled upon a sign for the Mad River snowshoe trails. This seemed familiar to me from the brief glance at the maps. I also took a wild guess at the elevation which Vin confirmed to be close via his GPS. (Yes, we had a GPS yet no carabineer or maps or clue.) All this resemblance of having a clue of our location combined with a desire to not hike anymore and we halted our progress and prepped to descend.

Now don't get the false idea that you are dealing with amateurs, no bush league stuff here, we know how to hike. I broke out the Chimay Grande Reserve and we all warmed up around the cold beer.

There was a lot of discussion about the probability that we would all end up post holing our way out at some point. Gazing down into the gentle slope, it was easy to see myself bitching about the snow shortly.

Taking another appraisal of the situation, smiles were broke out by all, no better way to spend a Sunday.

As luck would have it, the ride down was fairly righteous with no post holing. The turns were deep, the trees were sparse-ish, and the lads were ripping-ish.

Vin sported his kit from the last Seven Years Winter in honor of the epicness, including the same smile I last saw in North Conway.

At some point along the way, these wee female skiers came upon us. They looked at us with eyes wide. I took the opportunity to wrestle the head ass title from Medros and asked, "Is this Sugarbush?" followed by some admittedly lame verbal pollution. The girls seemed unfazed and decided the best route would be to send us to detention at the bottom.

It turns out that we should have taken at least 5-10 minutes longer learning the trail map. Seems odd, doesn't it. Well we ended up on what has to be the lamest traverse at Mad River. I was pretty stoked that my forward lean was lax, as Carrie will have you know, "Vegans hate forward lean." I am a pretending Vegan that really misses bacon and cheese and hamburgers and roots, wait I get to eat all the roots I can handle, ummm dirt taste. After traversing around for awhile, we locked in a few turns and did not fall in front of the chair lift, which would have sucked large.

The little girls of the forest found us at the bottom and after some words about us being in big trouble, they shuffled off in their rear entry ski boots to find "Bruce". Had we wanted to escape, we could have simply run off in our snowboard boots while the rest of the resort waddled after doing their best impression of the Family Joseph from Lowell. However, we had nothing to fear and in fact many people asked how the snow was and were honestly very welcoming to their area. I have a feeling a fair few people feel the ban on snowboarding is an idea that has passed. We closed the day and the weekend sipping a rather tasty Bloody Mary while slowly nodding our heads and playing air acoustic guitar in the lodge.

I will conquer the Glen in the future, more to come...

by LISA RATHKE The Associated Press

BURLINGTON — Burton Snowboards is challenging snowboarders to go where they're not wanted, offering a $5,000 bounty for the best video of those who take to the slopes at "elitist, fascist" ski resorts that don't allow snowboarding, including Mad River Glen.

"Poaching isn't simply a peaceful form of protest. It's truly your patriotic duty," the snowboard maker says on its Web site.

Company founder Jake Burton said Friday that it's a last resort for the company, which has tried everything else to get equal access to the terrain. The final holdouts are Alta and Deer Valley in Utah, and Mad River Glen in Fayston after Taos in New Mexico announced Thursday that it would open its slopes to riders.

"For 25 years we've been working to open resorts and we couldn't have done it without the involvement of local riders," Burton said. "I don't think that our job is done, so you can snowboard everywhere."

The tongue-in-cheek stunt is not meant as any animosity toward skiers. It's aimed at the resorts.

"Mountains can be brutally cruel, but they're not discriminatory," Burton said. "I don't think any resort is entitled to be discriminatory based on what's on your feet."

Ten years ago, Burton launched an "open minds, open mountains" campaign that Burton credited with helping to get snowboarding at Aspen and Park City.

Whether the poachers are breaking any rules is open to interpretation, said Nate Bosshard, Burton's associate brand manager. Besides some of the resorts are on public land, such as national forest, funded by taxpayers, Burton said.

Poachers must buy a lift ticket, be respectful, stay in bounds, wear safety equipment and keep it peaceful or their videos will disqualified, Bosshard said.

www.rutlandherald.com

Release Date: June 1, 2007

Despite the fact that snowboarders account for 25-30% of all lift tickets sold in the United States, don’t expect Mad River Glen to lift its ban on snowboards any time soon. While the overall percentage of tickets purchased by snowboarders continues to grow, many question how Mad River Glen can exclude this expanding market. Mad River Glen’s skier-owners (it is America ’s only cooperatively owned, not-for-profit ski area) believe there are enough skiing purists to carve out a viable market niche. Recent results con-firm the theory. “Since the co-op took over ownership of the mountain in 1995 we have shown steady growth across the board,” said Marketing Director, Eric Friedman. “We are fortunate that there is a growing number of skiers seeking the kind of experience that we offer. Sure, we might see a spike in revenues if we allowed snowboards, but money is not our overriding concern; protecting and preserving our unique ski experience is what our owners clearly want.”

Many people don’t realize that Mad River actually did allow snowboards very early on in snowboarding history. Betsy Pratt, Mad River Glen’s previous owner, was friendly to snowboards, but ran into safety issues on Mad River Glen’s main lift, a 1948 Single Chair. After that snowboards were restricted from the Single and then, after a couple of legendary confrontations between Betsy and some local riders, she decided to ban snowboards entirely. When the Co-op took over the mountain the shareholders voted on the issue with more than 75% voting to maintain the snowboarding ban. “We want to make clear that there is no animosity towards snowboarders. The ski industry is very competitive and our ownership believes that the snowboarding policy is the best course for Mad River Glen,” explains Friedman. The reasons for the snowboarding ban vary depending on who you talk to. Some say it would ruin Mad River ’s unique character. “Our Single Chair, the cooperative ownership, the natural snow skiing, the non-commercial atmosphere, and the skiers- only policy are what make Mad River Glen special. We don’t want to end up being like every other ski area,” said Mad River shareholder Jim Tynan. Others believe that snowboarders would ruin the legendary moguls, while still others feel that they would scrape the natural snow off Mad River Glen’s sinewy trails.

Whatever the reason, it is unlikely that there will be snowboarding at Mad River Glen any time soon. The only way the policy can change is if a two-thirds majority of the shareholders vote to change it. Don’t hold your breath! Alta and Deer Valley in Utah and Taos in New Mexico are the only other areas in North America that do not allow snowboards.

www.madriver.com

Mad River Glen CO-OP Bylaws
Section 1.4 - Nondiscrimination. The Cooperative shall not arbitrarily or unreasonably discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, handicap or other arbitrary basis. madriverglen.com

"Snowboarding on a ski mountain is like playing croquet on the 18th green", Betsy Pratt former Mad River Glen owner said. "You can do it, but I don't think it's appropriate." travelintelligence.net

Beginning in 1986, snowboarding was not only allowed but also welcomed at Mad River Glen of Vermont. That is until the 91-92 season. The story goes that it was deemed dangerous for the snowboarders to unload from the area's antiquated single chair lift. The owner decreed that snowboarders would no longer be allowed on this lift but could utilize the area's remaining lifts. With obvious reason, this caused significant contempt with the area's riders as they were segregated to a lesser portion of the mountain. In a now infamous confrontation, a couple of snowboarders engaged in an argument with then owner Betsy Pratt in a local grocery store. The argument so bothered Pratt that she levied the complete ban on snowboarders that still exists today.

"Something Mad River Glen Does NOT Allow? Snowboarding! It is just a Ski Area. One of only four left in the country, MRG is the real deal. Due to the methodology of how it is owned/operated/managed it will be ensured this remains the same, as is now, as was many moons ago and With Luck... Forever." Boston.com

In 1995, a cooperative of skiers purchased the mountain and assumed operation and ownership. The issue of the snowboarding ban was brought to a vote and by an overwhelming 86% vote remained intact. Today, Mad River Glen is the only cooperatively owned major ski area in the United States. Its 1700 plus shareholders remain steadfast in their conviction to keep snowboards off their slopes.

"We don't want to end up being like every other ski area," said Mad River shareholder Jim Tynan. madriverglen.com

"We don't want to look like every other ski area," explains Mad River shareholder Mary Woodward. firsttracksonline.com

It was not long ago that the snowboarding community mounted a large scale resistance to the discrimination of the remaining skier only resorts. Burton ran an ad in the Fall of 2001 equating the ban with minority discrimination and freethesnow.com led the battle to get riders allowed at, among others, Taos. Today, unfortunately the contempt for these policies has subsided. This is evident when you visit the freethesnow.com website and find a photo of Paris Hilton. Now Burton has resurrected the fight and has offered a bounty to encourage the attack.

Of course, these policies really do not affect the daily life of the average snowboarder. The vast majority of resorts embrace snowboarding and cater to the wishes of the fastest growing winter sport in the world. Does this make these old fashion attitudes acceptable? In the words of a local, why "perpetuate negative, mean-spirited, outdated, prejudiced animosity towards snowboarders?" Valley Reporter

I know this is a long and most likely boring blog for a topic that will probably never change. Yes, I could just accept it and my life would continue with no impact on my happiness. However, I feel that it is important to maintain awareness to fight complacency. If you would like to further combat MRG, drop an email to ski@madriverglen.com, and kindly asked them to remove Section 1.4, as listed above, from their bylaws as it obviously is a poor representation of their policy and attitude.