Skiing Follies at Alpental
Last Saturday Jodi was on call so I went out to Summit for a day of skiing. Overall it was a good day, and I enjoyed some parts of it. But there were 3 irritating things worth reporting:
- Dogs
- Sleds
- Heat
Now these first two were totally preventable, and I was mostly irritated just that Summit let them go on with no response. The 3rd was unavoidable, I guess.
Dogs – People brought their dogs to the base of Alpental and let them run all around without a leash. I like dogs as much as the next person (this is probably a lie, but I don’t particularly DIS-like dogs at least)… but I ALWAYS find it irritating when people go out in public with their dogs not on leash. Dogs roaming freely among groups of people/strangers is a recipe for dog excitability and trouble. Plus, if you’re allergic to dogs, as I am, dogs rubbing up against you is the last thing you want. Conclusion: I think it’s generally in bad taste to bring your dogs with you to a ski resort and let them roam around. Point made.
Sleds – Now, I don’t even know if dogs are allowed at Summit. For all I know, it’s an official off-leash dog park. But I *DO* know that sleds aren’t allowed. It’s posted all over the place. And I found it particularly frustrating that a group of kids were totally ignoring the signs and were sledding right near the buildings at the base of Alpental. But truthfully, what bothered me more than these kids ignoring the rules and sliding near and nearly into skiiers was that when the Summit staff came out to talk with them, they were all friends and had a good laugh. Nobody said “hey, stop sledding”. It was all “Hey Bob, that was a great sled run”. It reminded me a bit of when you go into a restaurant or an area of the restaurant where smoking is not allowed… except when the manager decides it’s his good friends and the rules don’t apply. Then all those around are negatively affected by this violation of the rules. Yuck.
Heat – It was hot. VERY hot. It was proably over 40 degrees F at the base and still probably above freezing even at the top of Alpental. I was sweating like a pig with all my winter gear on. I don’t hold this one against Summit. 
What was good though, was that now I’ve finally gone to the top of Alpental. I’ve skiied down the “double black diamond” parts on the way down. Ok, let’s be fair, I’ve fallen through the “double black diamond” parts on the way down (by no means would anyone with style call my experience skiing!). So, it’s an accomplishment in that sense.
It was a bit of an interesting experience coming down: All the parts of the slope in the sun were melty and sticky (2-3 ft deep power on top of ice) and all of the parts of the slope in the shade were sheet ice.
I expect I’ll still go skiing once or twice more this season, but perhaps I’ll stick to my more familiar Summit Central next time.
