I hope that someone got a good look at the license plate of the truck that apparently ran over me! At least, I feel today like that must've happened. The stairs sure hurt this morning.
It wasn't until I reached Hinesburg on Saturday night that the rain endured the whole way from Ludlow finally turned to snow. I arrived at my hotel in Burlington around 5 pm or so, when big, fluffy flakes started cranking from the sky, boding well for good skiing in the morning. Yesterday at Jay was a whole lotta fun. The snow report was fairly accurate -- although the storm was somewhat of a bust, about 6 inches of heavy, wet snow accumulated before being topped by a glaze from a freezing mist. Another inch or two of snow accumulated on top of that, sometimes creating a recipe for disaster.
I pulled out the fatties (173-cm Völkl Explosivs, 120-95-112) to deal with the crust, and it worked like a charm. The crust was too thin to generally support me, but even as my foot punched through, the shovels by and large stayed above the crust. This turned the nasty stuff into something that was for the most part pleasantly skiable. I have no doubt that Jay has the most natural snow on the ground of any Vermont ski area right now, and that recent combination of snow/rain/snow/rain (ad infinitum) has created a bomber base. Everything is locked down solid, and the glades are for the most part eminently skiable as long as you don't mind blasting through some exposed puckerbush here and there. All lifts except the Tram and the Bonaventure Quad were running yesterday, allowing access to the entire mountain save for the top couple of hundred vertical feet accessed by the Tram. Really, then, that meant that all trails except for Vermonter, the top stretch of the Northway catwalk, and (of course) the Face Chutes could be reached by lift yesterday. Guns were blazing on Upper Goat Run and the stretch of Northway connecting the Mixing Bowl and the top of the Green Mountain Flyer chair, which lived up to its "Green Mountain Freezer" nickname yesterday as a biting wind blew the 19-degree air back down the liftline. We didn't even venture down Goat Run as the snow gun blasts combined with cloud cover/fog and natural snow falling to reduce visibility to merely a couple of feet, literally. One could not tell where the fog ended and the snow surface began -- even parts of Northway were skiing by braille.
We had quite the posse yesterday, including friends Rich and Ben, who was there as a Karhu rep for the tele fest at Jay this weekend. Gawd, it's beautiful to watch Ben dance down the mountain making perfect telemark turns. That's not to say tht Liftlines user Gincognito is any slouch, either! That boy can make beautifully graceful, yet aggressive telemark turns through the trees! Nice to spend a few runs with you, sir!
My first run of the day was spent accompanying Liftlines user NHPH down Poma Line and upper Ullr's Dream to Beaver Pond Glade, where I made my worst mistake in judgment of the day. Just as I was coming to a stop in front of the glade's entrance, I momentarily lost my balance to one side and started to fall. Now, I know all about the phantom foot syndrome and how easily that results in a torn ACL, but I foolishly nonetheless attempted to stand back up. I felt the tail of the ski engage the snow in the classic phantom foot scenario, right at the same time that I felt a "pop" :shock: and immediate pain in my left knee. Visions of a totalled season filled my head as I sat on the snow, wincing and holding my knee. After a few moments, though, it didn't feel too bad and I dove into Beaver Pond with NHPH anyway. Throughout the day, if I got into the back seat momentarily my knee would instantly remind me of my stupid move earlier on Ullr's, and today it doesn't feel terribly stable. I think that I just gave it a minor strain -- very lucky, indeed!
Soon we had hooked up with my buddies Rich and Peter and ventured all over the mountain. The crust on Canyonland was a bit thicker than elsewhere, and I bailed out to Milk Run just before the end of the glade. Lower Milk Run was a bone-jarring experience, as the tracks from Saturday had refrozen into place by Sunday, topped by the inch or two of new snow. What looked lovely admittedly wasn't, but it wasn't that bad, either.
Runs of the day were JFK, Beaver Pond Glade, Powerline above the Taxi, and the Timbuktu glade, as all sported steep natural snowcover whose crust had already been broken by earlier skiers. Beaver Pond wasn't as skied down as the others, yet it seemed to have less of the annoying crust for some reason. It seemed odd to be able to ski Powerline during this year's early season, as it normally takes a lot of snow to cover all of the junk in there. Pete took the lead, and Ben blasted down Powerline's sharp double fall line making tele turns that forced me to shake my head in disbelief. Gincognito and a friend of his stayed right behind Ben, forcing Rich and Yours Truly to stay to the back of the pack.
We popped out of the Timbuktu glade onto Derrick Hot Shot unexpectedly right in front of friends Scott and Susan. I hadn't known they were at Jay yesterday, and I capped the day by taking a couple of runs with them until my legs screamed "Uncle!" 16,850 vertical feet after starting the day. The tricky crust forced muscles to constantly compensate by making tiny corrections, and the day was exhausting as a result. I left the parking lot around 3:30 pm, feeling totally satisfied.
It was wonderful to make my first turns with not one, but two Liftlines users. NHPH and Gincognito, thanks for the company, and I look forward to another opportunity in the very near future!
(Sorry, no pix as I stupidly put my camera into my overnight bag instead of my day pack. Not that you would've seen much thanks to yesterday's weather, anyway!)
It wasn't until I reached Hinesburg on Saturday night that the rain endured the whole way from Ludlow finally turned to snow. I arrived at my hotel in Burlington around 5 pm or so, when big, fluffy flakes started cranking from the sky, boding well for good skiing in the morning. Yesterday at Jay was a whole lotta fun. The snow report was fairly accurate -- although the storm was somewhat of a bust, about 6 inches of heavy, wet snow accumulated before being topped by a glaze from a freezing mist. Another inch or two of snow accumulated on top of that, sometimes creating a recipe for disaster.
I pulled out the fatties (173-cm Völkl Explosivs, 120-95-112) to deal with the crust, and it worked like a charm. The crust was too thin to generally support me, but even as my foot punched through, the shovels by and large stayed above the crust. This turned the nasty stuff into something that was for the most part pleasantly skiable. I have no doubt that Jay has the most natural snow on the ground of any Vermont ski area right now, and that recent combination of snow/rain/snow/rain (ad infinitum) has created a bomber base. Everything is locked down solid, and the glades are for the most part eminently skiable as long as you don't mind blasting through some exposed puckerbush here and there. All lifts except the Tram and the Bonaventure Quad were running yesterday, allowing access to the entire mountain save for the top couple of hundred vertical feet accessed by the Tram. Really, then, that meant that all trails except for Vermonter, the top stretch of the Northway catwalk, and (of course) the Face Chutes could be reached by lift yesterday. Guns were blazing on Upper Goat Run and the stretch of Northway connecting the Mixing Bowl and the top of the Green Mountain Flyer chair, which lived up to its "Green Mountain Freezer" nickname yesterday as a biting wind blew the 19-degree air back down the liftline. We didn't even venture down Goat Run as the snow gun blasts combined with cloud cover/fog and natural snow falling to reduce visibility to merely a couple of feet, literally. One could not tell where the fog ended and the snow surface began -- even parts of Northway were skiing by braille.
We had quite the posse yesterday, including friends Rich and Ben, who was there as a Karhu rep for the tele fest at Jay this weekend. Gawd, it's beautiful to watch Ben dance down the mountain making perfect telemark turns. That's not to say tht Liftlines user Gincognito is any slouch, either! That boy can make beautifully graceful, yet aggressive telemark turns through the trees! Nice to spend a few runs with you, sir!
My first run of the day was spent accompanying Liftlines user NHPH down Poma Line and upper Ullr's Dream to Beaver Pond Glade, where I made my worst mistake in judgment of the day. Just as I was coming to a stop in front of the glade's entrance, I momentarily lost my balance to one side and started to fall. Now, I know all about the phantom foot syndrome and how easily that results in a torn ACL, but I foolishly nonetheless attempted to stand back up. I felt the tail of the ski engage the snow in the classic phantom foot scenario, right at the same time that I felt a "pop" :shock: and immediate pain in my left knee. Visions of a totalled season filled my head as I sat on the snow, wincing and holding my knee. After a few moments, though, it didn't feel too bad and I dove into Beaver Pond with NHPH anyway. Throughout the day, if I got into the back seat momentarily my knee would instantly remind me of my stupid move earlier on Ullr's, and today it doesn't feel terribly stable. I think that I just gave it a minor strain -- very lucky, indeed!
Soon we had hooked up with my buddies Rich and Peter and ventured all over the mountain. The crust on Canyonland was a bit thicker than elsewhere, and I bailed out to Milk Run just before the end of the glade. Lower Milk Run was a bone-jarring experience, as the tracks from Saturday had refrozen into place by Sunday, topped by the inch or two of new snow. What looked lovely admittedly wasn't, but it wasn't that bad, either.
Runs of the day were JFK, Beaver Pond Glade, Powerline above the Taxi, and the Timbuktu glade, as all sported steep natural snowcover whose crust had already been broken by earlier skiers. Beaver Pond wasn't as skied down as the others, yet it seemed to have less of the annoying crust for some reason. It seemed odd to be able to ski Powerline during this year's early season, as it normally takes a lot of snow to cover all of the junk in there. Pete took the lead, and Ben blasted down Powerline's sharp double fall line making tele turns that forced me to shake my head in disbelief. Gincognito and a friend of his stayed right behind Ben, forcing Rich and Yours Truly to stay to the back of the pack.
We popped out of the Timbuktu glade onto Derrick Hot Shot unexpectedly right in front of friends Scott and Susan. I hadn't known they were at Jay yesterday, and I capped the day by taking a couple of runs with them until my legs screamed "Uncle!" 16,850 vertical feet after starting the day. The tricky crust forced muscles to constantly compensate by making tiny corrections, and the day was exhausting as a result. I left the parking lot around 3:30 pm, feeling totally satisfied.
It was wonderful to make my first turns with not one, but two Liftlines users. NHPH and Gincognito, thanks for the company, and I look forward to another opportunity in the very near future!
(Sorry, no pix as I stupidly put my camera into my overnight bag instead of my day pack. Not that you would've seen much thanks to yesterday's weather, anyway!)
takes me about 1-2 hours to clear out all the new threads daily. obsessive perhaps.
