You’re probably sick of hearing us say “Know Before You Go,” but as we acknowledged on a sneaky GREAT early season day last December, sometimes you only know IF you go. Saturday, January 8, 2022 will go down as just one of those days.
Sure, we kept hinting that ropes might drop, starting on Friday morning on our snow report page and our social media posts (our Instagram story is probably the best place to keep up with such hints frankly), but still, if we update that report and you see it right away but live in Burlington, well, by the time you get here you certainly didn’t get first tracks on those rope drops.
But beyond just trying to get first tracks, I also struggle with the desire to know everything I can in advance to prepare properly, but also the joy that can sometimes come from not knowing things. Certainly, you must always be prepared, I would never suggest otherwise. But at the same time, I’ve recently found myself at home having dinner with loved ones or sharing a nice bottle of wine, when inevitably there will be a question that’s immediately answered with “someone should Google it.” But sometimes I just want to wonder and lately I’ve been encouraging those around me to keep their smart little devices in their sheaths so we can not get distracted by the TMI that will inevitably follow and instead discuss possible “solutions” without ever confirming. Turns out, it’s pretty satisfying.
And perhaps that would have served many better yesterday. Had you been all up on your weather apps, you probably would have noticed that there wasn’t a lot of snow in the forecast and on top of that, it was going to be near zero degrees at our summit Saturday morning when our lifts started spinning. Knowing too much may have been dangerous. Maybe it discouraged you from getting out of bed. Maybe it prevented you from taking a curious glance at our social media posts or snow report to allow yourself the possibility of Saturday serenity.
Being the one mostly responsible for making you sick of the phrase “Know Before You Go,” I don’t want to over celebrate this point, but I know there were even people up here yesterday who simply came on a whim, no idea that our trail count doubled and they were in for a massive bluebirdy, soft snow play day. They simply wondered if they could have a good day at the mountain and I’m sure they did.
But I can’t allow that to be the takeaway here. Let’s face it, had you really been empowering yourself with all the knowledge you could going into Saturday, you surely knew what was coming (via our social media and snow report pages) and chances are it compelled you to get up here and your odds for actually timing some of those rope drops were certainly enhanced.
But maybe, just maybe, both paths led to a serenity filled Saturday yesterday. One thing is for certain, if you were here, you won the weekend!