Wet Leave Freshies: Out Of Bounds Backcountry, Ski Bradford, Haverhill, Massachusetts
Part 1: Vincent Meets The Legendary Dead Leave Skiing Franconia Rakers For The First Time.
Vincent
was skeptical at first. As desperate as he was to ski, the idea of
skiing on dead leaves seemed ludicrous. Then fate delivered a gift that
would forever transform New England Spring skiing for Vincent. Vincent
just happened to pass by a table-full of grizzled, duct-tape festooned,
straight-ski, old-timers putting on their well-worn and scuffed
rear-entry Salomon boots before first chair. They spoke wide-eyed to
each other in furtive, hushed tones as they buckled deliberately and
rapidly. Vincent had heard occasional talk of this cadre of die-hard,
Yankee skiers who had mastered skiing in piles of leaves, but had
dismissed the group's existence as just another urban myth created by
desperate New England skiers who had no place to ski after the Spring
thaw had done in what little was left this season-even at Tuckerman.
Jackson Hole had its "Air Force," but a secret group of New England
skiers who skied the deep piles of leaves each Spring? No way, it was too wacky to fathom, even for Vincent's fertile imagination.
...to be continued.
