Ride Vermont Blog

Part 2 of our guest post from Mr. Scott Clarkson, who, along with his family, skied and rode 5 Vermont mountains in a single day to raise thousands of dollars for Special Olympics Vermont.

Scott, Parker and Martha Clarkson (l to r).

Stop #3 – Stratton – 1:30 pm. Arrived at Stratton. G.M. Mike Quinn had our parking space reserved near the bottom of the gondola. He helped us unload our gear then he escorted us up to the head of the short gondola line so we could board the lift and keep moving. A few minutes later we were strapped in at 3,900 ft. and headed down what used to be Rimeline/Standard for a non-stop cruiser to the bottom. Charlie Herrick, our driver, rode his board with us at this stop, so the four of us were evenly divided on our equipment choice. We made great time and were back in the car heading to Bromley at 1:50 pm. With Mike’s help, Stratton was by far our fastest stop, (kinda like my career there!) so we pulled over at the bottom of the Stratton Access Road in Bondville for a quick photo op by the Stratton sign. For me, it was fun to reminisce back to the mid-to-late 80’s when I worked at Stratton. It was there that Martha and I met and began our lives together. Okay, enough of that, we’re on our way to Stop #4 – Bromley!

Stop #4 – Bromley - A quick jaunt from Bondville up Route 30 to Route 11 in Winhall, hang a right on Route 11 East and soon Bromley’s entrance appeared to our left. We pulled right up by Bromley’s sign, unloaded the gear and headed for the Sun Mountain Express lift to Bromley’s summit. There we met up with Para-Olympic skier Betsy Hurley and her dad. After some brief introductions, we headed right up the lift to the 3,284 ft. summit. On the way up I was interviewed by Luke Stafford of .VT for this blog. We stopped for a few pictures at the top of the lift, and headed down Upper Twister. Betsy took the lead, carving her way down the face in a way that could only be described as poetic. It was hard to fathom how someone strapped into a seat can maneuver to combine grace, speed and control in a non-stop run to the bottom. This run was truly a highlight of our day and a keen reminder of why we chose to support Special Olympics Vermont. A few more group pix at the bottom and we were 4 for 5!

Betsy Hurley takes the lead on her monoski at Bromley Mountain.

At 3:00 PM sharp, we departed Bromley, heading for Okemo, the end of the trail. I was back in ski boots for the final descent. We had a nice ride on Route 11 East toward Londonderry, over frost heaves, rolling hills. Left onto Route 100 North toward Weston, right over Terrible Mountain (more frost heaves… reminded me of a run through the ‘Rosscross’ snowboardcross track at Okemo). At this point I think we all were looking toward the finish line. Parker’s knee seemed to be okay… at least he was able to ski the last two mountains. Martha was fine, enjoying the groove and keeping all of our heads in the game. I was still pretty sore, but determined to finish as planned. Charlie was hoping to catch last chair with us at Okemo since logistics prevented him from first tracks down Burke earlier that morning. Plus, he still had a 2+hour drive back to Burlington!

Stop #5 – Okemo - Down Route 100 into Ludlow, left at the big OKEMO sign marking Mountain Road, and soon the Clock Tower was in view. A sure sign that we were nearing our finish line. We pulled up by First Aid, unloaded the gear and scuttled up toward the South Ridge Quad.  By now, we had the gear thing down, everyone knew their role and we were right on schedule. Time check: 3:40 pm. Last chair on the Northstar Express quad is 3:45 pm so we had to hustle. Off the South Ridge quad, we headed quickly down to the Northstar lift. I had been in contact with the mountain manager so he knew we’d be pushing it a bit. We got to the lift at 3:50 pm and the load gate was already closed, indicating we had missed last chair. Jim Gritman the lift foreman recognized me, saw the bit of panic that flashed across my face, and moved the gate aside for us to head up. (The Okemo Difference in action!) Once at the 3,343 ft. summit of Okemo we had to part ways with Charlie, our driver as we were headed to the true base of Okemo at Jackson Gore, and he was headed for the Clock Tower base to pick up his cab and drive over to meet us.

So there we were, Martha, Parker and I, alone at Okemo’s summit, about to begin our fifth and last run of our full-day adventure. We had well-surpassed our fundraising goal and accomplished our on-snow mission. Well almost… We forked left and headed for Sunburst, down to the top of the Solitude Express quad, hard left down Escape and over the Coleman Brook bridge to the Jackson Gore trail pod. We then shot down Upper/Lower Limelight to Fast Track, over the Vermont Railway bridge and dropped down into the base of Jackson Gore. Again, we found ourselves alone, it was quiet, 4:15 pm, but the sun had already disappeared behind the mountain. It was peaceful, serene, and a fitting way to end our day. The temperature had dropped significantly in the shadows but we were warmed by the accomplishment and fulfillment that this day had given us. Nine hours and 5 minutes had elapsed since boarding snowmobiles at Burke. 203 road miles had been driven, and 11,292 ft. of vertical had been descended.

All in one day.

-Scott

Big ups to Scott and his family for their philanthropic adventure. The Special Olympics Winter Games, which includes a snowboarding event, will be held at Suicide Six (Woodstock , VT) March 12 – 14 this year. Volunteers are always welcome. Thanks for your support – everyone deserves to slide sideways on the snow!

Vermont Special Olympics (VT S.O.) gets some love at a summit fence.