Space Between Trees

Hi All, Welcome back to my blog. I haven't updated the site because there hasn't been anything snow related to report. Also, I'm told that I was jinxing myself and the upcoming season by posting entries about golf. And, alas, the season is off to a slow start. Other than a real early storm in late Oct./early Nov., the forecast has been dreadful for the east coast. Temps have barely flirted with the freezing mark, making it tough for the natural stuff to fall, as well as getting the guns going on the hill. I was antsy this week, though. I wait around 6 months for the lifts to start and if I have the opportunity to hit the snow, even if manmade and only one trail, I'm willing to make the 3.5 hr trek from Boston to the NorthEast Kingdom. So that's what I did. First highlight of this trip was to FINALLY see some snow falling while driving on 91 between St.Johnsbury and Orleans (Jay exit in VT). Going over the pass there was about an inch of snow on the roads. Just enoug...

So I shot two of the best rounds I've ever had recently. The first one was a Beaver River in Kingston, RI. Shot a 96. That was like the first weekend in August. Then I shot a 93 at Scottish Highlands in early mid-August. Both courses were somewhat shot, but whatever. I'm consistently hitting in the 90s now. Big improvement. It's almost time to start talking snowboarding again. The whole crew will be back at the SSJay this year. Plus some more. Can't wait. Already bought some new gear Congrats to the following people - Ken and Leah, Dan and Jessica, Laurie and Andre. Summer Playlist: Garden Variety Mission of Burma Peaches Raconteours My Morning Jacket

May 6th - The name of the golf course is... .... .... Damn. Forgot it. Once again, I played with Josh. Also along for the trip was his bro-inlaw, Patrick and his buddy Steve. The golf course (Country club?) was down route 109 in the town of...Hempstead, or Milford, or Medford. I don't know. I'm pretty sure we drove through Milford for a second. Holliston! It was in Holliston. And the name of the course is Glen Ellen . Didn't come to me by memory though. I had to google it. Who needs a memory when google exists? It's so much easier than remembering things. The location seemed to be an old country club with a few reception halls, a huge locker room, a good sized swimming pool, tennis courts, soccer field, driving range, etc. I was rather impressed by the facilities and thought we had pulled into a pretty decent place. Granted, most of the facilities weren't up and running, and you could tell that they were in better condition 20 years ago or so. But from what I read,...

What a stupid name. I really cannot get over some of the stupid names for towns here in greater Boston. Ponkapoag isn't really a town, and it obviously is a native tribe or something, but still. Really, it's not the names that are stupid, it's the way people say them. Billerica? Now, i would figure on saying this like bil-EHR-i-ka . Like America. Nope. Here in Massachusetts it's bil-ri-KAH . And you have to say it in a nasily voice. Screw it, I'm saying Billerica like America from now on. Ponkapoag is nowhere near Billerica. It's on the South Shore. I'm not even sure what town it is in. It's right next to the Blue Hills. It's a 36 hole golf course, but they only play 27 holes abandoning 9 on Course #2. I've never played Course #1 because there is always a wait to get on there. Josh and I usually play Course "#3" which is a mixture of 9 holes on Course 2. So you don't play 1,2,3,...18, you play 1,9,2,14,15...whatever. Basically, thi...

When the season's change so does ones focus on leisure activities. During the winter, I have a one track mind, focused on the next day I'll be able to make it up to Jay Peak. But in the spring and summer, my thoughts start to wain a bit. Instead of boards, bindings, and boots, my thoughts turn to clubs, carts and cold ones (and, uh, balls, but that didn't sound as alliterative. And honestly, I prefer to walk and I only drink one or two per round.) Yes...the sport of golf. The once elitist sport of elites, but has become as everyman as NASCAR in recent years. It's quite convenient that the two sports seasons only overlap for a few weeks in the Northeast. Most golf courses are just starting to cut the greens when the last of the lifts are stopping. And in an ironic twist of synergy, the Masters usually is on TV during my last few hours in the SS Jay every season. Really makes my mind start thinking about golf rather than snowboarding. Let's get on with the highlights ...

Let's just get right into it. We got a lot to cover. Three weeks up at Jay, which will be the last three weeks of the season. We have to go all the way back to March 25th and 26th. This was the weekend after St. Patrick's day, a weekend well worth missing. Here's the short of it - POGUES in Boston on the 15th including Trivia at the Kinsale with my NY pals Chaz, Brad and Jenn; Thursday before St. Paddy's at McGills in New Paltz NY; and St. Paddy's Day in NYC and McGills. Good week all around. March 25 and 26 ANYWAY, going back to the 25th. My notes say it was cloudy and mild. But now that I think about it, the weather threatened rain all day. It even sleeted in the morning for an hour or so. The snow was somewhat firm, because the day before was supposedly beautiful and warm. And then Saturday was a little colder so the snow hardened up. But the precipitation continue until it started snowing. And snowing. AND SNOWING!! Holy eff'n shit! IT'S SNOWING HARD!! B...

“Your blog has really fallen off.” - Chaz "Where’s this weekend’s update?!" – Josh. “You’re a slacker!!” - Mom Alright, so I haven’t been updating the blog recently. But, come on, Mom. That one just hurts. (Unfortunately, I don’t think she was talking about my blog.) I have some catchin’ up here to do. Let’s start with 3 weekends ago – March 11 th and 12 th . It was a small crowd only consisting of Randy, Dan, me and, special guest, the Vominator. This was the Vominator’s first time up to Jay in the past two seasons. It was good to see him back in action. Saturday, March 11 th , was a sunny, warm day, the type of day you might expect at Mount Snow or Hunter in early March. Global Warming is a bitch. But still, snowboarding in the warm weather is fantastic and very comfortable. Amazingly, even though warm it was still windy. Thus continues the one of the windiest seasons at Jay since I started going. Because the snow was so soft we ended up spending most of our time on the gr...

Yesterday's post about the March 3rd, 4th and 5th was somewhat lame. I started to write a creative entry that would explain why it was so excellent for the last 3 days. But it all sounded pretty dumb and I really couldn't easily express how great this weekend was. So I abandoned the entry and wrote what I would say if someone asked me how my weekend was: "Pretty fuckin' amazing." With or without the cursing depending on who I was speaking to. If it was my boss, probably no cursing. If it was my mom, I may have to add the extra expletive. It was that amazing. Apparently, there were plenty of other diehards at Jay this weekend that felt compelled to write about it, so I'll let you in on how deep and light the snow was and how Jay was in full (Jay) effect. Here's a thread on the TGR message board. And another . I think the pictures pretty much explain it all. This is another site , that I think is owned by Boston.com, that had a blogger at Jay this past wee...

This weekend was fuckin' awesome. Epic.

Let's make a list of what made this past weekend at Jay fantastic: SNOW! They finally got a shitload. The reports claim about 2 feet. I believe it this time. Everything we rode was in good...nay, GREAT shape. The Weids First time we went into this stash of glades this year. Randers and I hit these trees three or four consecutive times. And we were debating on going back in them a few more times. If it wasn't for damned kokomo and the freezer, we probably would have. The burger at the JVI. It was really good. Damn juicy. First Tram... ...and getting to the mountain before 9am both days. We got two full days of riding in. I hadn't done this in a long time, and I think I will plan on doing it for the rest of the year. I can't wait till 10 to get to the mountain anymore. I just can't (unless I'm hungover). Green Beret and Valhalla GB was the same as it always it. The top part was wicked icy with rocks, but if you traversed over to the left sid...

Alright, so I guess my idea to do updates about Jay wasn't so original after all. Seems like there is (was?) another crew with the same idea. But they seem to be bummin' about the dire snow situation this year and haven't gotten around to updating. Check it: http://www.firstchairmag.com/ Ahh, brings back memories from the past few years. This weekend started out as sucking, but ended up being not so sucky, but also not so good either. Their base really took a hit on Friday due to ANOTHER rain event. Mother Nature, you're dead to me. Saturday, I think, can go down as a TOP 5 WDAJ (Worst Days at Jay). Brutally cold and windy. The snow was in bad shape and slow. I almost got frostbite on my nose. My toes were frozen solid to the point I had to go inside (I hardly EVER go inside due to cold extremities). I broke my binding strapping in at the top then had to make it all the way down with no ankle strap. I had the most runs of the day with 3. Everyone else onl...

It's mid-February and I'm still updating this site. Can't believe it. And the fact that I started doing it during the worst season in recent memory is even more amazing. Let's just admit it, this year has been downright pitiful. I'm not saying I haven't experienced some good, or even, great days on the slopes. It's just that we haven't had any EPIC Jay days yet. You know the type of day. When you wake up and there's 6” of fresh pow on the car which translates to 12” on the hill. And you are able to find fresh stashes everywhere on the mountain. Where every run ends with a huge smile on your face. Yeah, we need a few days like that. Let's keep our fingers crossed, kids. Let me TRY to keep this update short. Saturday was absolutely beautiful. Absolute bluebird and surprisingly warm! I think the temps were in the teens all day, but with the strong february sun it was real comfy out there. Jay had reportedly gotten 20+ during the week, which th...

Had a nice long weekend at Jay. Took a day off from work on Friday to catch some extra fresh pow before the weekend crowd came up. And good thing Randy and I did, because Saturday was biznekd. Definitely the busiest day so far. But lets start with Friday (January 27). It was a windy day. I would say 50mph gusts on the Freezer when coming over the ridge above the Goat run. When the gusts picked up, it felt like getting punched in the face. Brutal. Eventually, they closed the Freezer and the Tram. We actually got the first tram ride up in the morning(I think), which had a frightful experience. The winds were whipping around so much that the tram must have been swinging a little too much when it approached the first tower. The operator then seemed to slam on the brakes, because we came to an immediate stop. Then it really started to swing. Everyone on the Tram gave out a “WHOA!!!” type sound. That ended up being our last Tram ride of the day, but at least we got a solid run on Green Beret...

After 7 consecutive seasons, Chris Kelley's Red Burton Toaster snowboard pants have finally been retired to the mud closet. The veteran Red pants had accompanied Mr. Kelley in 4 different locations including their rookie season('98-'99) at Mount Snow, Vermont. That season, Mr. Kelley recorded 50+ days on the hill, though not all those days saw the use of the Red Pants, as many starts were handled by the company uniform Black Pants. From there, Red Pants saw many days in the Catskills, primarily at Belleayre ski area and some days of backyard boarding during the 1999-2000 season. This was followed by Vail in 2001, where Red Pants saw the most appearances in one season and really their prime season. From there, Red pants returned to the northeast to see out the rest of their playing seasons, primarily in the harsh conditions of Jay Peak, VT. “(The Red Pants) were really starting to show there age this year at Jay,” Mr. Kelley said referring to their fourth returning seaso...

What's up, y'all. Uh...I mean...Chaz. I sure your the only person that looks at this site, so I'll just reference you directly. I just wanted to update the site with a link to a video that a buddy of mine (Shanon) edited and shot on our trip out to Vail a few years ago. He posted it on www.youtube.com today. It's pretty cool. Go there and rate it. http://www.youtube.com/?v=2kJcKMNU8kA

I have skipped a few weeks of updating, only because I haven’t been motivated. But I’m sitting at home today due to the pitiful conditions Jay has experienced the last few weekends. I tell ya, it’s depressing. Hopefully we will get some snow this upcoming week. A few weekends (Jan 7-8) ago, the skiing and riding were great. Jay might have gotten about 10” the prior week which freshened up the woods, especially after the bulletproof conditions over New Years weekend. On Saturday, the house did a great job of waking up early. For once, we were all out of there prior to 10am. Actually I think we made it onto the mountain at 9:30. I would like to do this more often as I felt like I had a better day than usual. As for the conditions, it was soft, especially in the trees. There was a fair amount of powder, mostly cut, but some stashes of freshies in Beaver Pond and Beyond Beaver. I was really feeling it in there. We probably took 3-4 runs in Beaver Pond, this included Nicky and JessB by the...

Yeah, it was that type of weekend. Lots of booze and lots of rowdiness. I was up at the house from Thursday through Monday. On Friday we may have ridden for approximately 2 hours. The conditionsl were rather rough. Icy slopes and no tree riding is not a common forecast at Jay Peak. But at least once a season there ice a northeast thaw that affects the mountain. Admittedly the thaw last year at the same time was worse. The base survived better this time and on Thursday night the mountain got a couple inches that saved Friday from being a total disaster. I actually enjoyed some of my runs. It was the first opportunity I had to really dial in my bindings and get a good feel for them. Also, I started getting a little looser around the mountain; finding little jumps on trails that I usually don't spend too much time on. Also, the new and improved Grom Park was openned. I pretty much sucked in it. But by the end of the weekend I was starting to feel more comfortable in the air. I even pu...