Took a vacation day today since we got 12" of glorious snow on Tuesday into Tuesday night. Dont remember exactly what I did today... I tried out the Kill Kare glades from the Gondola on my first run. They were not good at all, though they were pretty open. Lots of tall brush sticking up thru all the snow and they were short thankfully. Ended up going to the summitt, then down to the Gondola again. Wasn't feeling it yet so I tried Twister which was ok. Eventaully made it over to the Dark Side glades and stomping this again with Impetus blasting on the iPod \m/. Stayed over here for a few runs before heading over to explore the Chatiemac glades more.
I was feeling good and made a mistake. I veered off Chatiemac very near the top of the trail into the woods. Little did I know I was heading down a face that went away from everything. There was some cool terrain out here. Eventually I could not go any farther because the pine trees were to dense and had to remove my board and head uphill. Someone else made the same mistake before me so I followed their tracks. Very difficult to hike because if you fell thru the snow it came up to mid-thigh. I had to hold my board in my hands in front of me on the snow use it to spread my weight across it and my feet to keep from falling thru. I hiked a solid 45 minutes uphill before finally linking with the mid level entrance to the Chatiemac glades. I was very tired after this and was nervous for a few minutes there about getting out because I was by myself. I would not recommend going out there again.
The Chatiemac glades from the midlevel on down closest to the trail are really fun. They are open pine trees that then become regular trees at lower elevation. This mid-level entrance traverses across a ridge which is where I explore next trip! Stay tuned.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Gore - Feb 9, 2008
MORE GORE!
MORE GORE!
This picture is of the Dark Side Glades. I thought this was a pretty cool name for glades. These are on the north side of the mountain in the High Peaks area. Once you are there you can ride the old school High Peaks double. I believe this area of the mountain is only open when there is plenty of snow and now I understand why. This side of the mountain has some steep, rocky areas. Also, I don't think there is much snowmaking over here since it's kinda off the beaten path, but that's the way I like it.
The Dark Side glades are actually between Hullabaloo and Lower Steilhang, the former a single black and the latter a double black, so that gives you an idea of what the terrain is like in there. Here are some nice little drops I found and actually hit both of them! Not as bad as I thought it would be. Snow was soft since Gore had gotten 20" the past week, plus I was confident I could do it. It was very tight in there, so I had to hit the brakes as soon as I landed. Best part was I landed square and on balance, then stopped. Here is another pic. This was my favorite part of the day.
Sleighride and Showcase were in good shape. As was Lies, a very steep trail. Last run of the day was in the Chatiemac Glades. I wasn't expecting much, but this was a nice open glade. Next big snowfall I will definitely hit these early. I would think they get skied off quick since it is off a popular trail and easily accessible.
That's it for this time.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Jay Peak Weekend - Jan 26-27
Jay Peak!! Woo Hoo!!! I checked the conditions all week, and the time was right. Jay had received about 2 ft of snow the previous week, so the conditions were incredible.
Drove up Friday night and met and with Chris and some other people staying in the house that weekend. Was on the slopes Saturday morning before 9am. There was about 6-8 inches of fresh powder from the night before! Not sure where to begin.... everything we hit was real good. I had to move my bindings all the way back cause there was so much powder. It really helped. Made a few runs thru Timbuk glades. Again, real good conditions, very easy to find powder. The glades at Jay are fantastic. The trees are thinned out perfectly. Plenty of room to maneuver, but still plenty of trees.
Eventually, Chris, Randy and I broke away from the group we were with and started making Dip runs. These glades were even better than Timbuk. The Dip is 'out of bounds' and ends on route 242, where Randy had left his truck. Tons of fresh snow in The Dip. We took some video in here. Here is one of me and another of Chris. Lots of open spaces with a few cliff drops, some as high as 10 feet.
Sunday we got on the lift about 10. Slept in a little after many beers at the mountain bar on Saturday and then more beers at the JVI with dinner. Started and ended in The Dip and spent most of our time in here. In between, we ventured over to the other side of Jay and hit some other glades. I don't remember their name, but the were tighter and steeper, but just as fun in an even more challenging way. Last few runs in the Dip I started to feel more confident hitting small drops and jumps. Staying aggressive and attacking it is the way to go, otherwise you lay back and become off balance when going airborn.
Thanks to Chris and Randy for driving the Dip runs all day. Overall an incredible two days!
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Gore
January 5, 2007
Today I drove up to Gore Mountain. I was pretty excited to go. I had not been there in about 7 years and knew that they had made some major upgrades since then. Also, it had not been above freezing since the last major storm so I was hopeful there would be some powder around in places.
New gondola was real nice. It now goes to the peak of Bear Mountain, not Gore Mountain. This way it serves more intermediate trails. Also, from the summit you can now ride to the new Topridge Triple which also goes to the top of Bear Mountain. From this point you can hit Foxlair or Fairview to the lower mountain without hitting the old flat connecting trail between upper and lower mountains. The whole Topridge service area is new, with about 6 new trails and 4 new glade areas in this area alone. There are also several other glade areas on the mountain which is something they apparently put a lot of effort into recently.
Today my game plan was to explore the new areas and hit the new glades. Took the gondola to the peak of Bear Mountain and headed toward the new Topridge area. First run was thru the Pinebrook glades. These were pretty well skied off and tight, but I was pretty impressed with the fact that they felt like legitimate glades. Deep in the woods, could not see the regular trails from within, no underbrush, it felt like a backcountry glade. Here is a pic of the Pinebrook Glades. I hit these on the second run also, hoping to find other areas I could branch off too, but did not find any.
After talking to a guy on the lift, I hit the Cave Glades next. These were better, way better. You had to hike a little ways to get there so I think that detracts lots of people. These were also pretty well skied off, but there were definitely a few spots you could go off the main glade and find some clean snow! With the exception of two summit runs thru the Straightbrook Glades, I rode the Cave glades all day. It was great snow in there in the spots that I found. Here are one, two, three pics of the Cave Glades. Probably about 1ft of powder on top with a good amount of packed powder underneath. Each run thru these glades was awesome. There were a few spots I would have liked to try some drops but I was not confident enough yet and the trees were pretty tight.. next time.
Overall a great day. I'll try to stay in shape for next time.
Today I drove up to Gore Mountain. I was pretty excited to go. I had not been there in about 7 years and knew that they had made some major upgrades since then. Also, it had not been above freezing since the last major storm so I was hopeful there would be some powder around in places.
New gondola was real nice. It now goes to the peak of Bear Mountain, not Gore Mountain. This way it serves more intermediate trails. Also, from the summit you can now ride to the new Topridge Triple which also goes to the top of Bear Mountain. From this point you can hit Foxlair or Fairview to the lower mountain without hitting the old flat connecting trail between upper and lower mountains. The whole Topridge service area is new, with about 6 new trails and 4 new glade areas in this area alone. There are also several other glade areas on the mountain which is something they apparently put a lot of effort into recently.
Today my game plan was to explore the new areas and hit the new glades. Took the gondola to the peak of Bear Mountain and headed toward the new Topridge area. First run was thru the Pinebrook glades. These were pretty well skied off and tight, but I was pretty impressed with the fact that they felt like legitimate glades. Deep in the woods, could not see the regular trails from within, no underbrush, it felt like a backcountry glade. Here is a pic of the Pinebrook Glades. I hit these on the second run also, hoping to find other areas I could branch off too, but did not find any.
After talking to a guy on the lift, I hit the Cave Glades next. These were better, way better. You had to hike a little ways to get there so I think that detracts lots of people. These were also pretty well skied off, but there were definitely a few spots you could go off the main glade and find some clean snow! With the exception of two summit runs thru the Straightbrook Glades, I rode the Cave glades all day. It was great snow in there in the spots that I found. Here are one, two, three pics of the Cave Glades. Probably about 1ft of powder on top with a good amount of packed powder underneath. Each run thru these glades was awesome. There were a few spots I would have liked to try some drops but I was not confident enough yet and the trees were pretty tight.. next time.
Overall a great day. I'll try to stay in shape for next time.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
New Year's Day storm
January 1, 2008
West Mountain
Can you believe it, upstate NY get a ton of fresh snow... Woke up the morning of the 31st to 6-8 inches of new fluffy powder, then get another 1-3 inches during the day of the 31st, and finally it snowed all day on the first starting at 8am, with another 4-5 inches during the day. Sweet.
I could not pass this up, so I hoped in the Jeep and headed up to West. Now, this is a small mountain, but there was so much fresh snow I did not care. Conditions were the best I've ever seen there and some of the best snow I've ridden on in years. They had not groomed any of the new snowfall yet, so there was powder everywhere. Plenty of untouched powder on the sides of the trails about 12"-15" deep. It was hard to find a totally untouched line on a trail, but there was plenty to go around, and the snow was falling all day, pretty heavy at times.
Chris has inspired me to try to ride glades, it's a whole new world of riding. Plus when I go to Jay I don't want to embarrass myself by totally sucking in the trees. I did not think I would find any glades, but I went to the far right side of the mountain to the triple chair where there were less kiddies and a better chance of hitting fresh stuff. After riding the main double to the top, I used the ride to the triple as a warmup and to get used to riding again, a little rusty for the first outing of the year. Riding up the triple I scoped out some potential spots where I might be able to go in the woods. There are no 'official' glades at West, actually you are not supposed to go in the woods at all, but I was willing to risk it for conditions like this.
Took the triple up and rode down A.O.A and cut onto The Connection. From there I dove into the woods before hooking into Midway. No tracks at all in here! Powder was deep enough that it was very difficult to get up after falling and all logs and underbrush were covered. Found some nice lines and a few cool chutes. It looks like someone was in here over the summer cutting large clusters of smaller trees and brush. Tried to teach myself how to ride in the deep powder thru trees and learned a few things. One was to always remember Chris' advice...'look for the space between the trees', and the other thing I figured out was to lean forward for a split second to get the tail of the board up so I could swing it around to either side.
Next run hit the this same glade, but from higher up off A.O.A. This glade was terrible, no lines and tons of underbrush. Struggled to get out of this crap.
I ended up meeting a few other snowboarders and brought them to the first glade run and did this most of the day. Much easier riding once the initial trail is blazed. Had a great time hitting this glade over and over and rode some different lines each time thru. No drops. Get more confident in the trees today. Hopefully I can hang with the big dogs at Jay.
Hit most of the groomers over the other runs, Mach II, Go-Go, Coy Dog, Banister, Midway, and Frolic. One nice highlight was a felled tree off the side of Alley that formed a perfect rail slide with a drop back onto the trail. Hit it twice nicely, no tricks though. Was jamming to Helmet on the iPod before hooking up with the other riders.
West Mountain
Can you believe it, upstate NY get a ton of fresh snow... Woke up the morning of the 31st to 6-8 inches of new fluffy powder, then get another 1-3 inches during the day of the 31st, and finally it snowed all day on the first starting at 8am, with another 4-5 inches during the day. Sweet.
I could not pass this up, so I hoped in the Jeep and headed up to West. Now, this is a small mountain, but there was so much fresh snow I did not care. Conditions were the best I've ever seen there and some of the best snow I've ridden on in years. They had not groomed any of the new snowfall yet, so there was powder everywhere. Plenty of untouched powder on the sides of the trails about 12"-15" deep. It was hard to find a totally untouched line on a trail, but there was plenty to go around, and the snow was falling all day, pretty heavy at times.
Chris has inspired me to try to ride glades, it's a whole new world of riding. Plus when I go to Jay I don't want to embarrass myself by totally sucking in the trees. I did not think I would find any glades, but I went to the far right side of the mountain to the triple chair where there were less kiddies and a better chance of hitting fresh stuff. After riding the main double to the top, I used the ride to the triple as a warmup and to get used to riding again, a little rusty for the first outing of the year. Riding up the triple I scoped out some potential spots where I might be able to go in the woods. There are no 'official' glades at West, actually you are not supposed to go in the woods at all, but I was willing to risk it for conditions like this.
Took the triple up and rode down A.O.A and cut onto The Connection. From there I dove into the woods before hooking into Midway. No tracks at all in here! Powder was deep enough that it was very difficult to get up after falling and all logs and underbrush were covered. Found some nice lines and a few cool chutes. It looks like someone was in here over the summer cutting large clusters of smaller trees and brush. Tried to teach myself how to ride in the deep powder thru trees and learned a few things. One was to always remember Chris' advice...'look for the space between the trees', and the other thing I figured out was to lean forward for a split second to get the tail of the board up so I could swing it around to either side.
Next run hit the this same glade, but from higher up off A.O.A. This glade was terrible, no lines and tons of underbrush. Struggled to get out of this crap.
I ended up meeting a few other snowboarders and brought them to the first glade run and did this most of the day. Much easier riding once the initial trail is blazed. Had a great time hitting this glade over and over and rode some different lines each time thru. No drops. Get more confident in the trees today. Hopefully I can hang with the big dogs at Jay.
Hit most of the groomers over the other runs, Mach II, Go-Go, Coy Dog, Banister, Midway, and Frolic. One nice highlight was a felled tree off the side of Alley that formed a perfect rail slide with a drop back onto the trail. Hit it twice nicely, no tricks though. Was jamming to Helmet on the iPod before hooking up with the other riders.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
