A huge crew descended on Snowshoe, and we piled into two different Shamrock units for a long weekend.

Day Count: 9

The gang (just Eric, Lewis, and me this time) made a last second decision to bolt out to Snowshoe for the weekend; completely blowing off Amy and Tom’s party in the process. Sorry, guys. But, as the old snowboarder’s adage goes, “There are no friends on powder days.” Unfortunately, the expected powder never materialized. While the conditions were still pretty decent on Saturday, it was butt-ass cold on Sunday, so we packed it in around 1:00, had our usual lunch at Foxfire, and headed home.

Day Count: 6

Having season passes is nice. They’re paid for well in advance (so we only have lodging, gas, and entertainment expenses to worry about), we don’t have to wait in ticket lines, and we can strut around like we own the place flashing our “credentials” to anyone glancing our way. “We’re kind of a big deal, ” we say.

Our second outing of the season was with the always hilarious Mummert duo, along with Ben and Steph and their dog, Bailey. Over the course of the weekend we managed to stay up until 4:00 am Saturday morning, Stephanie vomited, the dogs fought and humped, and we completely contaminated our little hotel room. With six people and two dogs, we really didn’t expect any less.

The snowboarding was mostly standard fare, with Lewis still suffering from her surgical procedure and the rest of us nursing minor hangovers on Saturday, but we still had a great time. Drew and Lewis ended their day early and hit The Junction for happy hour, with Ben and Steph joining them shortly thereafter. Eric and I grabbed a few extra runs, but also hit the bar a little earlier than expected. After some drinks though, we were all energized for a few night runs at Silvercreek.

While we thought Saturday night would be fraught with revelry, we instead ate at Brandi’s, Eric and I played a quick round of pool, and we all ended up flopped on our respective beds watching “The Matrix Revolutions” by 10:00. Not very rock star of us.

On Sunday, Lewis and I made it out for a couple hours over on the Soaring Eagle Express’ expert runs. Conditions were much improved from Saturday, and we were sad that we actually had to leave to meet the Mummerts for lunch at Foxfire and begin the longish drive home. Ben and Steph had headed out earlier, so Eric and Drew killed some time at Starbucks and Full Tilt before meeting us to eat. After recounting the weekend’s adventures over Southern-style sandwiches and salads, it was time to shuttle back to our cars, say goodbye to Drew as he headed back to Ohio, and hit the road for VA. Burton was glad to see us…

Day Count: 4