On December 18^th, a group of 9 Cresthavenites dusted off our skis and drove up to Hunter Mountain. Our timing was just a little off as the mountain got about a foot of snow the next day, but we still had plenty of terrain to work with, even if the snow was a little hardpacked (we don’t like to use the word ice).

The sketchy conditions added an extra challenge to Hunter’s narrow and steep terrain and led to a minor collision between Frank Gallo #2 and Juan Androver – fortunately, nobody was hurt. To add insult to injury, Mark Berkman decided to ski over to Frank to make sure he was ok; as he approached, he hit an ice patch and ended up running him over – again, nobody was hurt (thanks to some nimble gymnastics on Mark’s part). Not to be outdone, Ralph Lamoglia decided to come over and join the fun – what happened next is somewhat of a mystery. After coming to a complete stop just below Frank and Mark, Ralph’s downhill ski inexplicably popped off. In order to get into the correct position to put the ski back on, Ralph decided to ski backwards on one ski and pivot around on the ice. Let’s just say it didn’t work out as planned and Ralph was heard yelling “medic” as he slid down the hill on his back! After we collected and sorted all of the various equipment strewn about the hill and stopped laughing we resumed skiing without incident.

Note to Ralph – check those bindings. Note to Frank – take that bulls-eye off the back of your jacket!

All in all, it was a fun day and a good warm up for the upcoming season.