Jay Peak, VT 11/20/99 Opening Day

[Benjie]

<I>(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 11/21/99. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.)</I> <BR> <BR>I ran into Jerm early, and we both headed up the T-Bar for some extreme skiing on Chalet Meadows. Having exhausted the possibilities there, we skated over to the Jet Triple, which was the only other lift open. Happily, there wasn't a single rope to be found across the trails or glades up there. We found some real powder skiing at the top of Kitzbuhel, so we popped into the woods halfway down. For some reason, the snow immediately turned to slush in there, but we were pretty psyched to be skiing the woods in November at all! <BR> <BR>After another run or two we met up with the gang and proceeded to ski ourselves pretty much into the ground (well, I shouldn't speak for everyone else, but I know I can barely move this morning!). Highlights for me were Kitz Woods, which just got better and better as more people skied it; Kitz itself; and Timbuktu and surroundings. There was still enough natural snow from last week's 3-4 foot dump that the trails were completely covered and the woods were quite skiable. As the day wore on with 50-plus degree temperatures, stuff started poking through in the glades and at the bottom of the mountain, but everything was still skiable. Too bad the warm temperatures and rain (it started sprinkling as I drove into Montgomery Center at around 4:00) will probably wipe out most of the snow before Jay's Thanksgiving re-opening. <BR> <BR>Anyway, it was great to meet up with everyone, and let's hope for some more snow so we can get out there and do it again! <BR> <BR>Motto of the day: "Rock skis? All skis are rock skis!" <BR> <BR>Benjie

[Matt Duffy]

<I>(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 11/21/99. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.)</I> <BR> <BR>It was nice to see all the friendly faces, as well as to meet some new ones. I think it is safe to say we all had a blast! Blasting through the damp, sludgey playdough with friends in the woods was the highlight for me. The snow was heavy, but it was workable and plentiful, still _far_ above and beyond what is considered "good" for this time of year. This past week was just spectacular skiing in Vermont! We had quite a "snow event" and I'm eagerly awaiting the next...

[JimB]

<I>(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 11/22/99. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.)</I> <BR> <BR>That subject line should of course read "11/20/99." <BR> <BR>Not much to add to Benjie, Matt, Mark, and Peter, but here goes... <BR> <BR>Excellent first lift-served day higlighted by some serious early season Ski-Vt zen, honest-to-goodness excellent woods skiing, the return-to-turns of my notorious little Elans, and at least three forward, unintentional somersaults. Other highlights included Jerm's two helis, Mark's cool toys, and Benjie's Moxie. <BR> <BR>Best run of the day was tobaggon track to Kitz, Kitz island untracked knee deep mashed taters to Alternate Kitz tight and deep and heavy to etc., etc. Enough hoots and hollers that you woulda thought it was a powder day! Interesting, though, so many souls on the Jet, so few amongst the hardwoods. Not altogether a bad thing, I believe. <BR> <BR>Two emptied Camelbacks and a couple burning first day quadriceps later, the rust was all skied off the once-lost SCX and all was right <BR>with the world. Now if Thanksgiving would kindly usher in some cold air.... <BR> <BR>Jim B. <BR>BTW, Denis and Kathleen reported rapidly disappearing snow at SB today (11/21) but excellent bump fields. Dunno if they'll even make it to Tuesday much less Thanksgiving.