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Group photo of the Vermont skiers

Tyrone ski club members experienced a great weekend of skiing and snowboard at Smuggler’s Notch Resort in Vermont over Presidents Day Weekend.

Tyrone has been doing the ski trip for several years and is one of the only schools in this area that travels to Vermont.

Friday the students experienced temperatures were below freezing with the windchill setting the temperature at -25 degrees. However, the frigid air didn’t stop students from shredding the slopes.

Saturday and Sunday both brought warmer temperatures at around 30 degrees which kept skiers out on the slopes longer than the day before.

“Skiing was such a grand experience. The mountains and views were beautiful,” said senior skier Brent McNeel, “the conditions of the slopes the second two days were perfect.”

Students departed from the school at 7:30 on Thursday and drove through the night to arrive in Vermont at 6 am Friday morning. They then skied all of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to eventually then leave early Monday morning.

Students were provided breakfast and dinner from the lodge and would eat lunch donated by businesses or members of the trip. Students and chaperones also donated chips and candy for snacks for the long weekend.

When asked about the trip sophomore Luke Brooks responded, “One word that summed up my Vermont trip… magnificent.”

Smuggler’s Notch Resort has a variety of activities to offer including ski and ride, a fun zone, pool, and winter events. There are three large mountains that include 78 different trails over 1,000 acres of terrain. Trails ranged from beginner to triple black diamond allowing skiers of all levels something to do. There were also several lookouts where skiers could stop and look out at the amazing views.

The smallest mountain was Morse Mountain which sat at 2,250 feet and the two larger ones being Sterling Mountain, 3,040 feet, and Madonna Mountain 3,640 feet.

Students would ski from 9 am to 4 pm then would enjoy some of the bonus activities Smuggler’s Notch had to offer including the hot tub, tubing, and laser tag.

While the trip to Vermont was eventful, the return home managed to exceed it. After getting about half an hour from the resort, chaperones noticed the brakes seemed off. Students were evacuated off the bus and they determined the bus’s brakes had overheated and used a fire extinguisher to cool them down.

They pulled into the Underhill Jericho Fire Station to wait for a new bus. After a two and a half hour wait, the students unloaded the old bus and reloaded the new bus. They then made it to Albany New York to eat lunch, then switched buses again. After the third bus of the day, the group had finally arrived back to Tyrone at 9:30 pm.

“The ski trip was great this year. We had a really good group of student members,” said head chaperone Dan Plummer, “In addition, the trip provides a fantastic opportunity for its members to experience great ski conditions and create long-lasting memories.”

After a long and exciting weekend, the students are finally back to reality.