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 and Valhalla. GB wasn't powdery, more so windswept, but the snow was good and grippy, and as usual I wish I would have attacked it a little more. Valhalla was solid also, and though, there were some soft spots on the sides, most of the clean runs were cut up. One of the best runs of the day was an early run in Timbuk. It's really hard to get a good run in there because it seems to be the first glade everyone goes to when a storm hits and it really gets bumped up quickly.
Well, Randy and I really got in there early today, because we were lucky enough to get a spectacular run right next to the boundary line. Lots of snow blew in there the night before and covered up the previous days tracks and although it wasn't a pure powder run as the snow wasn't exactly fluffy, we both found lines that maximized the fun factor. I felt it was one of the best runs of the weekend for me. I got to the bottom assured that I made to correct decision to skip out on work :)
In the afternoon, we decided it was finally time to try the Dip for the first time this year. As usual, the top was quite sketchy. And, honestly, when we got in there I felt a little lost. I had forgotten our usual lines. Although it was a quality run, we kind of ended up to far left and dropped down directly in front of the car drop off point. But the lightness of the powder on the mid dip area was very surprising. I'm always amazed by how much powder ends up in that area. There must have been a good foot and a half in areas in there. Both runs were really good, but I wouldn't mark them down as epic Dip runs. Just good to be back there again.
Although Friday was the least crowded day of the weekend (though it was sparse on Sunday, also), I found Saturday to be a much better day. Maybe I was in a better mood. Or maybe I was just “feeling it” more, but I seemed to have better runs today. Highlights include more runs in the Dip and Beyond Beaver (recently re-christened Andre's Paradise). Although, I really wish I had followed through on my idea to thin out BBP in the early season as the tree siblings are really starting to get out of hand back there. It would help everyone out to do some trimming. But I think we all found some good runs. And the snow back there was quite deep.
One benefit to having a week snowfall season is that the mountain textures – logs, boulders, other micro terrain – doesn't get buried by the huge amount of snow. This seemed to be the case on the upper part of the Dip this weekend. We found lots of rocks and stumps to hit. And we really hit the Dip correctly on Saturday. On both our runs over there, I found the powder “sweet spot.” It's a location that I am able to always find that seems to be the last area left with minimal tracks. I'm pretty sure why it's left untouched for so long. More attractive terrain to the right, dense sibling area to the left. And that's all I'm gonna say about it for now.
Onto Sunday....Actually, it was a rather forgettable day, so I'm skipping my Sunday summary. All I'm gonna say is that the snow sucked and we are all feeling like Bode Miller after a race day on the mountain. Instead, I'm going to leave you with a couple short videos Randy shot of Colin and Yellow Pants in BBP.
Colin Clip
Yellow Pants Clip
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 and Valhalla. GB wasn't powdery, more so windswept, but the snow was good and grippy, and as usual I wish I would have attacked it a little more. Valhalla was solid also, and though, there were some soft spots on the sides, most of the clean runs were cut up. One of the best runs of the day was an early run in Timbuk. It's really hard to get a good run in there because it seems to be the first glade everyone goes to when a storm hits and it really gets bumped up quickly.
Well, Randy and I really got in there early today, because we were lucky enough to get a spectacular run right next to the boundary line. Lots of snow blew in there the night before and covered up the previous days tracks and although it wasn't a pure powder run as the snow wasn't exactly fluffy, we both found lines that maximized the fun factor. I felt it was one of the best runs of the weekend for me. I got to the bottom assured that I made to correct decision to skip out on work :)
In the afternoon, we decided it was finally time to try the Dip for the first time this year. As usual, the top was quite sketchy. And, honestly, when we got in there I felt a little lost. I had forgotten our usual lines. Although it was a quality run, we kind of ended up to far left and dropped down directly in front of the car drop off point. But the lightness of the powder on the mid dip area was very surprising. I'm always amazed by how much powder ends up in that area. There must have been a good foot and a half in areas in there. Both runs were really good, but I wouldn't mark them down as epic Dip runs. Just good to be back there again.
Although Friday was the least crowded day of the weekend (though it was sparse on Sunday, also), I found Saturday to be a much better day. Maybe I was in a better mood. Or maybe I was just “feeling it” more, but I seemed to have better runs today. Highlights include more runs in the Dip and Beyond Beaver (recently re-christened Andre's Paradise). Although, I really wish I had followed through on my idea to thin out BBP in the early season as the tree siblings are really starting to get out of hand back there. It would help everyone out to do some trimming. But I think we all found some good runs. And the snow back there was quite deep.
One benefit to having a week snowfall season is that the mountain textures – logs, boulders, other micro terrain – doesn't get buried by the huge amount of snow. This seemed to be the case on the upper part of the Dip this weekend. We found lots of rocks and stumps to hit. And we really hit the Dip correctly on Saturday. On both our runs over there, I found the powder “sweet spot.” It's a location that I am able to always find that seems to be the last area left with minimal tracks. I'm pretty sure why it's left untouched for so long. More attractive terrain to the right, dense sibling area to the left. And that's all I'm gonna say about it for now.
Onto Sunday....Actually, it was a rather forgettable day, so I'm skipping my Sunday summary. All I'm gonna say is that the snow sucked and we are all feeling like Bode Miller after a race day on the mountain. Instead, I'm going to leave you with a couple short videos Randy shot of Colin and Yellow Pants in BBP.
Colin Clip
Yellow Pants Clip
Comments