Whiteface 01-30-2010

Ski Day 10

Another bluebird day out there. Covered the face with lip balm and got at it. Conditions overall were good given the past weeks weather. First run we did Upper Mac on a recommendation. Wow, a tough warm up! Little sketchy up on that head wall but after that was great snow wide down the left side. Upper Skyward was good also. Some patchy spots but good coverage in many spots. Wilmington trail was deserted after lunch. I'm diggin that trail more. When we are the only 2 people on it you can explore around lines and found lots of fun spots most of the way down. Oh yeah, Boreen was a blast. The cats travel up the mountain on skiers left of that trail and till up the snow going back and forth all day, the result is a spring time like super carvable surface. Lots of fun all the way down.

There was also some kind of mogul competition going on. The kids were pretty impressive throwing backflips off the jumps.





Anybody else think the WF base lodge bar should be redesigned to have a monster 4 sided island bar in the middle of that room, and ditch the existing two? High ceiling over it and everyone would have a good view in there. I think it would make a ton of difference on the enjoyable scale. This was Greg checking out the scenery, and the scenery was named Ashley!





Upper Skyward:

Gore 01-24-2010

Ski Day 9

Real nice day today. Corduroy was nice early. Never rode gondi today. Adirondack Triple to North Quad to Summit Double. Lies was the run of the day for me. Great snow and sun. Lapped it a few times. Topridge then all the way over to Sagamore. What a trail! Every time I stopped to rest the bottom was never in sight, it just keeps going and going. Very Happy

I really like taking the 'back' way up to the summit sometimes. Keeps you off the beaten path, away from the crowds and on some of the trail I don't always ride. Cedars from the base really was not that bad on a board. Once you get past the first section you can strap in and make it to the lift.

I think we also did Tahawus glades somewhere along the way. They are much better than I remember for some reason. Good distance long and pretty wide spacing. I will be back in those hopefully soon.

Whiteface 01-23-2010

Ski Day 8



Every time I've ever been to Whiteface it's been bluebird and today was no exception. Very cold but since I got my new gear this season I've yet to be cold. Got separated from Greg on the first run. The plan was to go to the summit chair but I go past it every single time. Ended up on Boreen,a green circle to the base. It was awesome. The cats travel this trail up and down the mountain so skiers left was totally chewed up from the tracks. The result was spring like slushy powder. Really nice to surf down that stuff. Took the face lift to the summit lift and still no Greg so I went down to the Lookout chair. Lookout Below had tons of snow blown on it...



Heard later in the week that it opened the next day and was really great. It may have been the only day it was open this year because we got rain the day after that. Took the Wilmington trail and I ducked the rope into the new Sugar Valley glades from the top, aka Hickock Hill. I couldn't help it I had to see what these glades were like.

Near the top...



and further down...







The trees were well spaced and there seemed to be several really nice sections that opened up a bit. They should ski really well once we get some new pow. Oh yeah, they are 1 mile long!

Finally found Greg at the base where we had some lunch. We were having a beer on the deck when a TV crew showed up to film an intro segment for the skier-cross event. Johnny Moseley was part of it! Greg proceeded to bust his balls between takes for having to wear a "women's jacket" that the newtwork had him put on! He went and shook his hand after. Greg was pretty pumped about it all so that was cool.


Skier-cross course...




Mid mountain cafeteria...




Later in the day we hit the summit and I rode Upper Cloudspin several times. What a great run. Steep with really good snow, slightly less intimidating than Upper Skyward. On our way down to the base we stumbled across the High Country Glades. They are short but sweet...





Overall another great day at The 'Face!

Jay Peak, Jan 16-17 201

Ski Days 6 and 7.

Went and visited my old pal Chris up in Jay VT. Left Friday night and arrived around 11:30, there's just no getting around the 4 hr drive. The rental house this year is sick! Brand new, got my own bedroom with a self inflating air mattress which is an awesome setup when you're a guest.

Saturday morning no rush to get to mountain. On the Bonnie around 10. Sun warmed things up a bit by then. Conditions were frozen granular/packed powder which loosened up thru the day with traffic. So by midday there was some powdery build up on the trail with some patchy spots. Rode down to the Flyer lift, also known as The Freezer -




Me and Vommie went over to Beaver Pond. They were in good shape, plenty of base just in need of another storm. There was some crusty powder sections that I enjoyed. Compared to Gore standards this was good, compared to Jay standards this was less than optimal. They usually have at least a few inches of fresh on the ground. January thaw even hits up here i guess. Met Chris and Eric at Flyer again and did Beaver Pond again with those guys.







More of the same on the second run thru. I really enjoyed these tree runs. Even without fresh powder they are fun. Did some other runs then down to car for Chris to switch off Randy's board back to his custom.






Went up Jet next and met up with one of the housemates Pablo. Went down Timbuk glades, outer Timbuk glades and the Corona Highway several times. These were similar in condition to the Beaver Pond glades. Did a few more cruisers and Vommie and I called it a day. Waited for Chris and Eric to do a few more runs then had a few beers. First stop was the IR lounge i think it was called. It was beat! Second beer at the brand new bar. It was hoppin! Kinda crowded so we had a round of Margaritas at the JVI while playing a very bad game of pool. Had a fun bonfire Saturday night. Chris provided the entertainment -



Slept in late Sunday morning and got on the Flyer with Chris around 11. Went over to Andres. It was a bit better than Beaver Pond yesterday due to less traffic farther out. I think we did it twice then met the other guys across the way at Jet. Crossed over to middle mountain area and rode Hell's Woods. These are one of my favorite glades here. Short but nicely spaced. Grabbed a beer outside in front of new bar. Place was packed at 1pm. The other guys called it a day and Chris and I did 2 more runs, first was Expo glade followed by Everglade I believe. I'm glad we went back up as these turned out to be two of the best runs all weekend! Expo was good and Everglade was a ton of fun! Into the bar for a few cold ones and hot wings to finish off a great weekend!

Gore 01-10-2010

Ski Day 5.

Was pretty wiped out from yesterday today. We wanted to check out Burnt Ridge thinking it would be open, but it was not. It was a short trip today as I remember being severly hungover. Nothing special happened today anyway...

Whiteface 01-09-2010

Made record time today to the Face. We were boarding the gondi just before 9am, no small feat. It was very cold today, def single digits with a frigid windchill. We really should have gotten dressed inside, my hands were numb from tying my boots and needed to run them under hot water for 5 minutes to get feeling back before heading up the hill.

Today it was Greg, Tim and I. Tim was out the night before. He was running on 3 hours sleep and was still drunk i think. He outrode both me and Greg. Dude is a good rider. 'Rode hardboots for 15 years'. Anyway, did some warmup laps on the gondi. Conditions were very good, despite the cold. Not much ice at all, mostly firm packed powder. It was very fast. Eventually we went to the summit as they were blowing tons of snow on Upper Northway, a long, straight, steep diamond. This was easily the best run of the day. The man made snow was perfect. There was a few inches of fine grain powder which was just a dream to ride. No worries of ice of sliding out. Perfect. Somehow we only did it once though, can't let that happen again.

Went in for lunch around 11. I brought basically the best liverwurst sandwiches ever made. Thick slice 'wurst, thick slice meunster, with a slice of raw onion, deli mustard, all on a mastrionni onion roll. None of spoke the entire time. Just ate. Afterwards the boys gave me props. It was metal.

After lunch went up the Lookout chair. Took Wilmington trail to the new Sugar Valley Glades and had a spin on them. Not too bad really. Could definitely use more snow, but they were cut nice and had a good pitch too. Looking forward to riding them with more snow.

Gore 12-20-09

Had a good day today... Rode summit for first time this year. Rode Hawkeye a few times and was pretty dec. Forgot how steep some of the headwalls are on the top part of the trail. They were making snow on Chatiemac and Cloud.


Here's Greg on Hawkeye


Headed down to base after several runs on top. Greg took some video of me on lower sunway. Practicing carving. Man, it feels really nice to really lay an edge into the snow, you can tell by the cool carve lines in the snow. I feel like i'm improving at carving, but it is still difficult on steeper trails. It's all about technique and form which i'm slowly putting together. I think my back arm moves like a rudder too much. My front shoulder opens up pretty bad going toeside to heelside.