With a planned road trip to visit friends near Burlington Vermont over the holiday weekend to ring in the New Year, I threw my gear in the truck to take the opportunity to ski for a couple of hours while there.The destination was originally supposed to have been a larger ski area but with the temperatures hovering around the -20 to -25 degree mark, plan B was put into motion and a smaller hill in a protected valley and surface lifts only was the choice. The option today was Cochran's Ski Area in Richmond, VT. I arrived there at 9 am, as they they were operating on a Holiday schedule on New Year's Eve from 9 till noon. The temperature was a balmy -21. The parking lot was not full but there were still cars rolling in, parents dropping their children off and hauling their gear to the chalet. I bought...