Opening Day!

Opening day this season isn’t at all like my last day of the last season, but it will do.

In April of this year I closed out the 2005-2006 season with a trip to Vail. (See day one, day two, and day three for the account and some photos.) Today I opened the new season, back in the Midwest.

It’s not quite the same.

I was at Wild Mountain, a Twin Cities-area ski hill that prides itself on always being the first place in Minnesota to open. The people are great (I’ve met the owner and many members of the staff), and they introduce a lot of people to the joys of skiing and snowboarding.

Vail has thousands of acres; Wild has somewhere under 200. Vail has something on the range of several thousand feet in vertical drop; Wild has several hundred.

But unless you live near a big mountain, what are you going to do? Here’s what you do: make the best of what you have available. That’s why Midwesterners flock to their hills when they aren’t traveling to the Rockies.

So what was my experience like today? One intermediate run was open, a broadway that goes in a line from the top to the base. I did not get there until mid-afternoon, so some of the snow was gutted out, especially near the top.

Midwestern ski areas depend on their snowmaking abilities, and Wild had at least seven pieces of equipment lining the top of the run. They weren’t going during business hours, but being spaced about 30 yards apart like staggered steps, they did increase the challenge level. I took a few runs, and wasn’t as smooth as I would have liked. But it’s very good to be back on the snow.

This day is more than two weeks earlier than last year’s opening day. Given that I went golfing just three days ago, it’s amazing that Wild was able to offer any terrain. Chalk it up to good equipment, a financial committment, and ownership’s desire to get the season underway.

Laissez les bon temps roulez!