Fun & Fitness over 50

A week ago Thursday I skied Sugarbush in Warren, VT. Ostensibly my last day of the season. I thought I might go later in the month but I jumped at this opportunity as the temps were relatively cool and there was more terrain open than usual for late season. Also there were several days of rain in the forecast.
When I arrived it was just above freezing at the base but was not expected to go above the low 40s all day.
Super Bravo and Heaven's Gate lifts were running.

First run was mid-mountain off Super Bravo ... Valley House Traverse to Snowball to Spring Fling.

The surface was firm, a little fast. Ok for a warm-up run.

2nd run was all the way to the top of Lincoln Peak. To get there requires a run down from the unload of Super Bravo via Downspout to the Heaven's Gate lift.
I could never figure out why it took so much effort to control my speed on this section. It doesn't look that steep. Maybe because the surface was fairly hard.

 I should mention at this point that I had developed a problem with my left ankle bone, the protruding bump on the right side of the foot, from pressure of the ski boot. I noticed it first on my previous trip to Mt. Snow. This time however, it was painful the minute I put the boot on in the lodge. Not a good sign!

All this to say, Ripcord,
at the top of Lincoln Peak looked very tempting. It is steep in places but was groomed invitingly, at least from view of the lift but I thought I should hold off because of the foot problem. Steeper runs means more pressure on the problem bone when making right turns. So, instead of turning right and down Ripcord, I turned left and herringboned up to Jester. Herringboning hurt too! :-(

Jester is a blue square with good views of the Mad River valley. It has several switchbacks which can get cruddy on warm spring days but it didn't get warm enough this day. I took upper Jester
and then lower Organgrinder, a black diamond.
Upper Organgrider
is nasty looking, ungroomed, large natural bumps (whales really) and steep, should be double diamond but the lower part is groomed and almost blue square steep although the pitch is pretty consistent making it a good workout. Here is a shot from the top of Lincoln Peak looking all the way down Organgrinder.

After this I took several runs from mid-mountain, Lower Jester, Domino Chute, Downspout, Organgrinder, etc.

7th run, just before lunch was upper Jester and over to Snowball and Spring fling on the other side. By this time short section of slope on Snowball was pretty soft and heavy. It caught me by surprise after all the hard pack of Lincoln Peak and I turned but my skis didn't. Popped right out of both bindings very neatly and took a low speed tumble into the soft stuff.
That slope must have been at just the right angle to catch the sun or something because lower down it was hard pack again.

Break for lunch, then a few runs down the lower mountain, one from the top and my screaming quads called it a day.

12 runs and 18000 vertical. Not bad for the last day of the season. Got a little air time too.

Wonder what that foot problem is about? I've had those boots several years without any trouble. Maybe I'm skiing more and harder? Thinking about cutting a hole in boot right where it hurts. Not really but maybe buy a sheet of padding and see what I can do with that. I'll worry about it when next season rolls around.

Here is the link to my stats for the day in case you are interested: http://www.alpinereplay.com/stats/u?uId=46688&vId=875817