Thunderbolt Ski Runners - First Tracks - A Trip UP the Thunderbolt Ski Run.

A Trip UP the Thunderbolt Ski Run. Blair Mahar

January 22, 2009 @ 06:21 PM

My wife Greta and I arranged a baby sitter for our two and half year old daughter and set our sights on the Thunderbolt. In the years since Vienna was born, I have been able to get out and ski the Thunderbolt. But as a devoted mother and loving wife, Greta has just not been able to find the time to ski. So our trip together, the first in 4 years, was a real treat for us. The forecast was for 6 to 8 inches of new snow, and as the light fluff began to fall Saturday evening, we went to bed with dreams of Thunderbolt pow dancing in our heads. And indeed the skiing turned out to be the best we’ve had in a long time. We found a solid 12 inches of a packed powder base topped off with 6 inches of fresh, light powder. The trail was wide open. There was little brush poking through. And the skiing was pure energy. The turns were sweet! We all had a blast! And we all made it down without a scratch…well almost. Save that for later. There has been so much written about the trip down the Thunderbolt…gnarly, twisting, steep, narrow, and pure fun! But the ascent is well more than half the trip, and I dare say, just as fun as the descent. And so it was, at 11:11 A.M., we headed UP the Thunderbolt with 6 of our good friends…

Thuunderbolt Ski Runers at the Thunderbolt trail head…ready to begin the ascent.

We awoke Sunday morning to the new snow, and Greta and I knew conditions on the ‘Bolt would be great. We picked up Greta’s brothers, Cosmo and Steve, our friends Jamie and Bryan, and arrived at the Thunderbolt trail head where we met more friends, Meg and Mike. The eight of us packed our gear, snapped a quick pic, and headed up the lower access trail just as two snowboarders came flying off the trail. Walking was easy, and we made good time. Despite one other demoralizing attempt at skinning up the mountain, I decided to give it another shot. Greta also was on skins. Bryan packed an inflatable tube for the trip down. We joked that he was going to break his neck. We also joked about the 3mm thick layer of Dermatone he had applied to his face. We weren’t laughing when he put his head down and headed up the trail like the all-star runner in high school we all remember. In a flash he was gone, taking Steve and Cosmo, who ran the NYC marathon in November, with him. I then realized that I was probably the least fit in our group. Greta and Jamie also ran the NYC marathon in November. Mike was on the British International rowing team and is a mountain of a man. This morning he was carrying both his and Meg’s skis and both pair of ski boots…that, and he had a cold. And Meg is a long distance runner with lungs of steel. I was breaking my own personal rule of always hiking in the woods with at least one person slower than me. That way if a bear attacks, I only have to outrun the slowest person, not the bear. This morning I was the bear bait! Soon after I came to that discouraging realization, I became even more discouraged with my second attempt using skins. I whipped them off and hung them in a tree. Two minutes later, Greta’s skins were off as well, and we packed our skis up the trail on our packs. The snow was continuing to fall lightly as we made our way up the Thunderbolt access trail and up to the section of trail called The Bumps. Here I took a break and looked down through the S-Turn to the original finish line of the Thunderbolt. It is rarely skied today. In fact, I doubt if many people, other than locals and history buffs, even know where it is. It was cut in 1936 by the CCC after some problems with the original 1934 finish line became apparent. But there it is. I can see Jim Smith’s grainy 1940’s era 8mm film footage of this exact section of trail clicking away in my mind’s eye at 18 frames per second. The racers would scream by the exact spot where I was resting, race fans lining both sides of the trail, make the hard S-turn, and then drop off that 30 yard chute to the finish line below. I shed a layer, had a drink, and continued on, wondering if I’d ever see the marathon runners again. Greta, Jamie, Mike, Meg and I eventually arrived at the base of the Big Schuss where we found Steve, Cosmo, and Bryan waiting for us. Bryan was riding his inflatable. I resisted the obvious joke and instead grabbed some water from the river. I’ve been drinking water off Mt. Greylock since I was a kid. I figured guys like Greeny Guertin and Rudy Konieczny drank it, so I would too. So, we joked a bit about beaver fever, and we reminisced about the men who used to ski this trail 2 and 3 times in a day, after the work whistle blew; men who lived to be on this mountain. These locals skiers were self taught farm boys and mill workers…and they beat the Dartmouth blue bloods. I think that’s one of the nice things about the hike up; you get to reflect on the legacy of the trail, the men who raced it, and their unique place in the history of downhill skiing in the U.S. It’s tougher to reminisce when you are racing down the mountain doing everything in your power to avoid hitting trees and breaking bones. I find that I tend not to reflect on the past when my future is in question.

Marathon runners Greta and Jamie stop long enough to pose for a pic…

The Big Schuss, once climbed, is the first place you are rewarded with a nice view of Adams below. Not so on this day. The snow was still falling, and although the sun was trying to poke through, we just couldn’t get a view. Instead we checked out the old pulley high up in an ash tree, a vestige of the rope tow that was operated on the Big Schuss in the 1950’s by the Thunderbolt Ski Club. Here I recall Bill Linscott’s vintage color film footage of club members spending a day on the Big Schuss practicing their parallel turns. They would also gate the trail here and practice their slalom technique. And the entrance fee to ski for the day? A gallon gas for the rope tow engine. The Big Schuss was the first part of the trail where you could begin to see remnants of damage from the December 2008 ice storm. Thunderbolt Ski Runners members Josh Chittenden, Rich Adamczyk, and Sid Conrad organized 4 different trail work parties in the previous weeks clearing the trail from top to bottom; time consuming and exhausting work, especially in cold and snow, that we were clearly benefitting from. I made a promise to call Rich and Josh and thank them for all of their hard work. If not for them, nobody would be skiing the trail this year.

Climbing the Big Schuss.

We stopped for a picture of the gang just below the Needle’s Eye, at the exact spot where the old Thunderbolt trail careened into the forest and down the two steep slopes to the original 1934 finish line. Today, there is no trace of that trail. The forest has reclaimed what was in the 1930’s a 75 foot wide swath running straight down the mountain. Yet Dick Durrance once schussed directly by the spot we had chosen for our picture, into what is now a dense stand of maple and beech, and on to glory and a 1^st place finish in 1935.

Thunderbolt Ski Runners pose just below the Needle’s Eye at the junction of the old and new Thunderbolt trails.

We continued on, up through the narrow Needle’s Eye to the only slightly less claustrophobic section referred to as the Steps. It was here that we saw a few guys on rondonee gear skinning up behind us, and closing the gap fast. There are only two guys I know who ski the Thunderbolt regularly on rondonee gear, and indeed it turned out to be our fellow Thunderbolt Ski Runner friends and clearers of the trail, Rich and Josh. I wondered how they could make skinning up the Thunderbolt look so easy…effortless…when my experience with skins was not unlike duct taping carpets to the bottom of my skis. They blew past us. These two friends of ours are in sick shape. They ski the Thunderbolt several times each week. Just the day before Josh took 4^th place in the Berkshire East rondonee race. That’s 3 trips UP Berkshire East, and here he was the day after climbing the Thunderbolt and even making our marathon runners look out of shape. They caught us, we chatted, and we watched them continue on in the distance making their steady, disciplined strides, and eventually they were gone. So, I remained the bear bait. It was around this time that our muscles began to feel the weight of our packs for the first time, but we continued the climb, snapped a few photos at the top of the Big Bend, and proceeded up through the final leg of the Thunderbolt to the Summit Road.

Josh and Rich skin past us on their rondonee gear….

The section of Thunderbolt that is contiguous with the Appalachian Trail was the only part in which trees hung over and congested the trail. Heavy with snow and ice, their limbs hung down and made traffic through that section a little slow going. Of course those of us who carried our skis with the tips poking high above our heads had the most difficulty. But after a final 20 minute battle of ski tips tangled up in branches and snow crashing down onto our heads and bare necks, we arrived at the Thunderbolt Ski Shelter about 2 hours after leaving our vehicles. We were met by 3 other skiers in the shelter…and the fire they had made! That was a nice touch. We doffed our wet under layers and donned our dry fleece pullovers we fetched from our snowy packs. As we dried out and warmed up slightly we drank back bottles of water and fueled up on trail mix, Power Bars, and other high energy concoctions, all of which had frozen nearly solid. Chat turned to the trail, the history of the ski shelter, and past trips. I looked over and saw Josh and Rich drinking a beer with the 3 guys we found in the shelter. And we got pumped for the trip down. And almost without saying, as if on cue, we all began to get ready for our decent down the mountain. I looked over and saw Steve getting his pack ready. Cosmo was making final adjustments to his helmet. Mike and Meg already had their packs on and were heading out the door. Josh and Rich were finishing their beers. And Greta and Jamie were getting bundled up for the run down. With the Greylock War Memorial as a backdrop, we assembled outside for a quick pick, snapped into our alpine gear of choice…some were on snowboards, some telemark gear, and others on alpine and rondonee skis.

Thunderbolt Ski Runners on the summit just before heading down.

I was anxious to get going. We each did a quick gear check and strapped on our poles. I took one last look back at the frosty tower covered in rime ice as Josh and Rich took off first. I made sure to take it all in as Steve, Greta, and Jamie headed out. I watched them go one by one and I heard their skis scraping as they made turns on the narrow chute to the road. I thought about “Greeny” Guertin and Rudy Konieczny up there 70 years ago along with their Ski Runners of Adams buddies doing the same exact thing we were doing, except, of course, they were driving wood skis with low-cut leather boots. I pictured guys like Dick Durrance, Toni Matt, Bob Livermore, and Ted Hunter standing exactly where I stood getting ready for their blazing runs down the Thunderbolt. I was completely pumped, almost giddy, for my run. I then lowered my goggles and headed down the Thunderbolt…

The author, and bear bait for the day, poses for a pic on Big Bend before the trip down…

Oh yes, and there was that thing about nobody getting scratch? Well, Bryan came up a little short. He emerged at the bottom of the trail with a pretty decent gash on his wrist that was bleeding pretty bad. Serves him right for being in such sick shape. That will teach him for leaving me behind for the bears! But no worries, Jamie and Greta patched him up, and a hospital visit and 4 stitches later, he was back at home spending the evening trying to remove that layer of Dermatone.

Bryan’s neat slice to his wrist

Jamie and Greta patch up Bryan as Cosmo and Steve keep their distance.

8 Responses to A Trip UP the Thunderbolt Ski Run.

Paul Kondel

January 22, 2009 @ 02:42 PM

I really enjoyed reading your description of your hike up that morning although I am not a skier I do hike the mountian every Sunday morning and have had the pleasure of seeing your documentary on the Thunderbolt and I do get a sense that when I hike up that I am not alone.I just love being up there and knowing the history makes it that much more enjoyable.Thank you and hope to run into you sometime.

David Roe

January 25, 2009 @ 10:20 AM

Great write up. I snowshoed up & skied down yesterday for the first time so reading your write up this am is a great way to remember my trip. I met some really interesting & great folks along the trail - great experience. I also want to thank for folks who worked their asses of clearly the trail after the storm. The size of several tree trunks that they cleared with chainsaws are a pretty good tribute to the work the did to clear the trail. My only regret is that I forgot my damn camera, so I guess I'll just have to do it all again next week........

Chris

January 26, 2009 @ 04:20 PM

It was also my first time experiencing the 'bolt on 1/24. From what I hear, it was the best that the trail has ever been. I was happy to have been there. I am very grateful and appreciative for the people that did the work they did to make the trail what it is (especially recently Josh, Rich and Sid). A million thanks! I am completely hooked! If I can, I hope to be a part of the life of this trail, for years to come.

Chris

February 25, 2009 @ 12:36 PM

Article in the Boston Globe about the Thunderbolt: http://www.boston.com/travel/explorene/specials/ski/articles/2009/02/22/a_trail_for_the_hardy/

Tristan

July 20, 2009 @ 07:05 PM

I snowboarded the Thunderbolt years ago back when I was a ski tech at Klein's All Sports. Is the trail clear all the way from top to bottom now? I remember a few trees fell across it in some spots. I had to stop a few times on the way down. I now live in FL and miss the NE so much!

Rich Adamczyk

July 31, 2009 @ 03:21 PM

The Thunderbolt is clear from top to bottom. For the past year and a half there has been monthly trail days. I must say the trail is the best I have ever seen it. Now Tristan when the snow starts flying you gotta get off the beach and on the Bolt.

Don

November 09, 2009 @ 02:02 PM

Great trip report. I plan on checkin' it out this year with my Bro's on some tele gear. Knowing the history really gives you the warm fuzzy feeling! Right On!

Art Kittler

February 26, 2010 @ 09:57 AM

Although I've never skied the Thunderbolt, I've been hiking it for well over 50 years. At least once every winter I hike/snowshoe it to the summit. The first time was in summer and, as much fun as it was, it was nothing compared to the beauty of hiking through a foot or more of fresh powder. The closest I ever came to skiing it was as a fearless 12 year old when a bunch of us decided we'd try sliding down on some cardboard we'd brought along for just such an occasion. Needless to say, that was not one of the best decisions I've ever made, but what fun we had....... I must say, it's been years since I've seen the trail in such good condition. Thanks to all of you who've worked so hard to maintain it. See you at the race. Now where did I put that cardboard??

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