I skied twice this weekend and both outings were at Ski Brule.
It was a fantastic weekend to be skiing.
First thing to talk about was one thing no hill can control the weather. The weather was fantastic with sunshine and temperatures in the low 40s or perhaps upper 30s. Interestingly enough, it was warm but being January the sun was low and places we can expect to be in sunshine during the day were actually in the shade yet.
Saturday skiing was fine but Ski Brule was busy and one of their back-of-the-hill lifts was out of commission, so the back of the hill the order of the day was long lift lines. So we avoided skiing the back and the two times we were there, we took the T-Bar up. No T-Bar follies for us!
The snow on Saturday and Sunday was fantastic, while I do recall skiing on some exposed ice it was minimal and in the usual locations. Ice does not bother me as much as it used to as I am usually on my edges and know where the ice patches are usually found.
However, two things were off-putting. The first occurred on Saturday at the end of the day. Usually the Ski Brule chair operators and the ski Patrol make a good show of indicating the chair is closed or telling you to enjoy your LAST ride. However on the end of skiing on Saturday that was not the case. You see, the Bear Chair is downhill form the main lodge. If you are told last ride or the Ski Patrol makes it obvious the lift is closed you just ski up to the main lodge (you should have plenty of speed to make it to the top) and head in. But on Saturday they had a ski patrol trainee who was not in official ski patrol gear. I skied back to the chair for another ride up and was informed by the attendant (not the operator) that no more rides were being offered and the day was done. So I clicked out of my skis and walked back up to the lodge. Please always make it obvious the lift is closed.
The other problem I had was today at the bar. I bought three beers and the change was short and placed onto someone else’s pile. I asked about that and it was quickly remedied but it was unbelievable. Then later a buddy went up to the bar for another round and was totally ignored. He finally had enough and so did we so we left.
Fortunately, in all the years I have skied at Ski Brule both of those incidents are out of character.
Be the first to comment