skiing

Patrick Anderson
November 20, 2008

Vermont: The Best State in America

Vermont is a great, truly unique state. It is of the greatest in my opinion. I cannot think of any other state like it; whether it is spring, summer, winter, or fall, there is no dull season in Vermont. There is always something to do, always a hobby to take up, or sport to play. There are so many activities to choose from. Although, almost every sport in Vermont is fun, my personal favorite is skiing.
Skiing is one of the most popular sports in Vermont. There are very few people I have met that don’t either ski or snowboard. I have been skiing for about six years now and Stowe is my home mountain. Every chance I get I am up there. There is nothing better than getting onto the lift, with the wind in your face, and breathing in the cool crisp air at the top.

Vermont is very different than other States; it can get very hot and very cold. Vermont offers many activities ranging from skiing to hiking. Vermont has much to offer to tourists and residents. The most important thing about life in Vermont is the ability to have a warm summer and a snowy winter.
The summer in Vermont is very fun. The warm temperature makes many activities possible. Hiking, biking and running are common summer activities. Vermont’s scenery makes these activities very enjoyable. In the summer, I like to bike and swim. After summer comes fall, then my favorite season…winter.
Winter in Vermont is a great experience. The main thing to do in winter is to ski and Vermont offers many places to go skiing. There are sixteen alpine mountains and twenty-six cross-country ski areas. My favorite place to go skiing is at Mad River Glen. Vermont is often referred to as the “West of the East.”

I am not from Vermont. I moved here only two years ago from the New York. No, I am not from New York City. I am from the Adirondacks. (They’re straight across Lake Champlain.) I don’t like Vermont for the leaves or for the mountains or for the maple syrup for the small towns and farms or for the snow and cold. In the Adirondacks, we have gorgeous leaves and the Adirondack Mountain Range. We lived right down the street from a sugarhouse. We lived in a tiny town and had plenty of farmers, cornfields, and cows.

Soaring Down the Mountain

By Ursula Casey
Brattleboro Area Middle School, Grade 8

The gears slowly turn on the rusty wheels of the chair lift. It’s moving so slowly that it seems as if the old chair will never reach the top of the hill. I carefully get off, watching the tips of my skis. Although I’ve been getting on and off lifts for almost ten years, I’ll always be a klutz and I fall very often. There’s nothing to stop my clumsiness.

As I set off down the beginning of the slope I think about my first time coming up to the top of the mountain. I was only five or six, and it took a lot of guts for me to ski down from the very top. I start down the first part of the trail, which by now is a long swooping slope with big twists and turns. I speed through it with wide carving turns like a racer running a slalom course. Nothing can stop me now. I love turning like this. It’s fast and smooth, and sometimes the speed makes me feel like I’m flying.

It’s the first snowfall of the year.
It came a bit early, but is ever held dear.
The children are happy, the adults in dismay,
For now they must shovel early today.

It’s the first snowfall of the year,
Skiers, excited, take out their snow gear.
They pack their cars and wish with high hopes,
That there won’t be much traffic trying to get to the slopes.

It’s the first snowfall of the year,
As one spies over a bank, he sees his fellow peers.
With snowball in hand and a thrower’s stance,
He lets fly an icy sphere as it finds its mark by chance.

It’s the first snowfall of the year.
The night is silent and ever so clear.
A single street light covered in snow,
Looks similar to the cloud covered moon’s bright glow.

Canon EOS 40D

Swiftly sliding on sweet winter ice
Your
Frosty toes icing in wintry boots
Your
Gloved hands quivering,
Wind howling
Lifts swinging silently
Your
Feet dangling
Your
Bottom bitter with a cold-chair frostbite
Your
Ears red, squished and cold
Your
Head numb against the beating breeze
Your
Wishing you were
Sinking slowly beneath powder’s freshest delight and
Watching snowfall plummet from a clear blue sky
Now you’re sunken back in the cold chair,
Day dreaming
But why?
You are here
Snowy slopes surrounding you
Icy cold crisp air seeping, stingingly through that hole in your goggle
Green wintered trees towering
A mound of snow is waiting for you
Dig in

So every Friday in January and most of February, my school has this skiing program. So today I set off in a bus to Sugarbush ski resort. I sat in the back with my friend Zak, and we pretty much listened to loud music (we synchronized his ipod and my CD player with the same songs) while headbanging, playing air guitar/drums, and generally freaking out.