Seems like the lion just had the lamb for lunch

But the Sensation chair was still running, so The Scribe headed out the door and soon found himself literally the only person on the hill, save a couple of patrollers stashed inside their shack, probably catching up on their reading. What followed were four delightful runs down through modest amounts of totally untracked snow without a single soul in sight. Main Street, Whirlaway, Sterling and Smuggler’s in succession — how nice a reward for showing up early. At 9 a.m., the regular time for the Sensation to open, your Scribe figured enough is enough, so he headed across the way to take a few more runs.

It was not untracked on Mansfield but with very few skiers around, it was easy enough to dart into the trees where there were still plenty of freshies to be had. Most of the traffic at the gondola was headed out to the Bench and beyond, but if you stayed a bit closer to Chin Clip there were no more than a half dozen solitary tracks laid into this latest batch of fresh powder. As if that wasn’t enough reward, then the sun emerged from behind the cloudbank that had delivered the last of the snow. Yes, March would be going out in style on this final ski day of a truly memorable month — even without a signature storm.

Four on Big Spruce, four on Mansfield — no need to be greedy. It was now time to head back over to Little Spruce to check in with the crowd at the Ski Bum Championships — an event to which, alas, this year the Friends of the Devil team was not invited. But there were 24 teams that did make it in, and there was no shortage of enthusiasm on this final day of the Ski Bums’ race season. The Whitetails had qualified and their dominant leader, Dustin Martin, was determined to keep his string of wins alive. Plenty of speed was on the hill — Edgewise star Graham Lonetto; the Brown brothers, Spencer and Stephen of A.J.’s; and Race Stock’s three aces, Ben Blakely, Ryan Daniel and the year’s top woman, Katy Kirkpatrick.

In the championship, skiers must score in both runs with the winner having the lowest total time overall; for Martin that would be no problem. Two flawless runs, the only ones under 18 seconds, gave him a comfortable margin over perennial contender Graham Lonetto, in second, with Katy Kirkpatrick of Race Stock finishing third. Her teammate, Ben Blakely, and Travis Apple of Trapps Lager rounded out the top five.

Stephen Brown of A.J.’s, Dave Dodge of Dodge Boots and James Laughlin of Broken Toys took the next three slots. Brooke Lindsay, skiing this week for McCarthskis, and Pascale Savard of Miso Fast were the second and third women behind Kirkpatrick. Pete Hussey of Rim Rocks finished off another fine season as a telemark racer with a win over Tim Griffin, who had joined the Rim Rocks squad for the final day. Eric Davis of Rusty Edges was the fastest snowboard racer in this last race.

Some very good skiing awaited after the conclusion of the two runs, with the sun shining brightly and its rays finally producing a bit of corn snow on the southern faces of the resort. Tradition dictates that after the race season is over a banquet is held, and it is hosted by the Marron clan at the Town and Country. It was a contented group on hand for dinner (tasty), beverages (plentiful), video and, last but not least, awards. The first results recognized are the top three teams in the season series. This year, a Pinnacle team with six different racers — Sam Johnston, Colleen Shepard, Steve Sulin, Alex McAndrews, Dave Maryat and Ken Duclos — took third ahead of a new team, Classic Ski Tours, with Bob Oleson, Shawn Sullivan, Carl Haasper and Peg Stevenson. Only one team can finish on top, however, and this year it was Wonder Y. For Natalie Hubbs, Barb Bright, Donna Penndorf, and Kurt and Laura Reichelt, it was the perfect ending for a great season in the gates.

The last set of awards is given at the end to the top three teams of the final race. Marian Baraw started the list by introducing Race Stock, home to some of the fastest skiers on the hill, and Katy Kirkpatrick, Ryan Daniel, Ben Blakely and Nate Hazard gratefully accepted their trophy. Next up on the podium were the quartet from Pinnacle — Sulin, Johnston, Shepard and McAndrews. The best shall be last, and Edgewise will take possession of the Smuggler’s Bowl to end the year. K.C. Chambers, Graham Lonetto, Thaddeus McDougal and Bill Chilton won the day.

It was a great year, despite being evicted from the Slalom Hill — albeit only temporarily. Two runs on the Competition Hill stilled the grumbling midway through the season, and in the end it was another successful year for the Ski Bum Series. Andy Hull, the timing guru, was tireless as always, the registration crew did its best to cheerfully deal with the myriad of comments coming from a sometimes less than lucid crowd, MMSC — particularly Jamie Harlow and Gordon Van Der Noort — kept the course in good working order, and John Tewhill and Matt “Teo” Calcagni were everywhere, from setting the course to taking it all apart. The greatest shout-out in the end must go to Kitty Coppock, who has now donated a new Smuggler’s Bowl for next year’s races, and the lady who has been there from the start: the indomitable Marian Baraw.

Now it is time for corn snow and baseball.