What a horrible, horrible EPIC week.
Wednesday January 28th - Drove up in the morning during a snow storm. It wasn't a bad drive, just took a long time. Unfortunately, it appears that I lost my phone the day before but didn't realize it until this morning. This delayed me about 45 minutes. Never found it.
Got to the mountain between 1:00 and 1:30pm. There was a good amount of snow falling and a fair share on the mountain. Probably about 4-6 inches. I was really soar starting out and had problems with my boots. I only rode for about 2 hours. Didn't have great runs, but the snow showed potential. Wanted to save my energy for Thursday.
Thursday January 29th - Woke up early but took my time to get to the mountain. Don't know why. It appeared that we only had a couple more inches over night when I looked out the window of the house. I was wrong. When I pulled out of the driveway I got stuck, because there was about 8 inches of light, fluffy snow on the ground. But that's not why I got stuck. That happened because I turned the wheels into the plowed snow on the side of the driveway. I got the care out rather quickly, but this caused a slight delay. Didn't get to the mountain until 9:45.
So the mountain got a TON of snow. 15-20" easily. This was the first EPIC day of the season. No doubt. I spent the morning on the Flyer, even though it was only about 10 degrees out and the wind was blowing. But the conditions were too good over here (and I'm a bit tired of the runs on the Jet and Bonnie).
Everything was good. First hit Beaver pond proper and realized that there was a solid foot of fresh all over. It wasn't the lightest pow, but not really firm. It was soft, not fluffy. So, I did Beaver pond and realized that I would need to find something a bit steeper. I headed to North Glade next (good, but still not steep enough). Headed to Staircase next, which is one of the steepest trails on the mountain. Perfect. I didn't get fresh tracks, but there was plenty of pow left as I was probably the second person down the chute. Best run today so far. I then hit Andre's, Everglade, Expo, and the Weeds. This was really the first time I hit the weeds this year. It was finally ready. No issues hitting stumps or creeks at all.
In the afternoon, me and the guys I was riding with met up with Todd to hit the Dip. When we got out there, we couldn't believe how beat up the top area of the orchards were. And it was only just about noon! It's like everyone just hits up the Dip and ignores the rest of the mountain. We were a little pissed.
So we headed down to the cliff area. Another Chris and I went of this little drop first, then Todd. Unfortunately when Todd landed his left ski popped right off. Both of us immediately went back up to the spot that it popped off, but it was nowhere in site! One of the other dudes that we were with came over. We started sticking poles into the snow but had no idea where it was. We looked for 10-15 minutes. Nothing. We decided that Todd would stay there and the rest of us would go to the car and return with a shovel. This probably took us 30 minutes to get back. During this time, I'm sure Todd continued looking but came up with nothing. We continued to look with the shovel. Still nothing. After about another 15 minutes, Todd gave up. We looked in a 15 by 10 area, shoveling all the way to the ground. No dice. This was absolutely disheartening.
When we got to the bottom of the Dip, we noticed a Jay Peak shuttle coming down 242. We also noticed a bunch of ski school instructors and others waiting on the side of the rode. The shuttle went past us and returned about 30 seconds later. All I could think was that there is absolutely no way the mountain was running a shuttle to the DIp. No way.
But I was wrong. The shuttle stopped, and picked up about 10-15 people. We stopped and asked one of the instructors what the deal was, and if they planned on doing this more. He basically said "sometimes, when the time is right". What the eff does that mean? When is the the time right? After huge dump? We felt like local surfers, protecting our secret swell, even though the dip is not really a secret anymore. But an official shuttle from Jay Peak?! Come on! We were not happy with the situation. It left a bad taste in our mouths. I didn't think I was going to be able to ride for the rest of the day, but we managed a few more runs (without Todd). And they were good. Green Beret and Hells Woods. Then the orchards to Corona. Both were good. Proably really good, but I was still a bit pissed off.
I categorize this day as the Worst Epic Day ever. It was an awesome day, one of the best of the season. But we left kinda disheartened.
Friday January 30th - I'm writing this entry today, in the afternoon. I should be on the mountain.
I hit my knee on a tree in Beaver Pond today. Hyperextended it sideways. Started swelling right away. Not really able to put weight on it. Minimal swelling. I'm fucked. Hope to have more updates later this season but right now I don't feel very good about it.
Test 1
Wednesday January 28th - Drove up in the morning during a snow storm. It wasn't a bad drive, just took a long time. Unfortunately, it appears that I lost my phone the day before but didn't realize it until this morning. This delayed me about 45 minutes. Never found it.
Got to the mountain between 1:00 and 1:30pm. There was a good amount of snow falling and a fair share on the mountain. Probably about 4-6 inches. I was really soar starting out and had problems with my boots. I only rode for about 2 hours. Didn't have great runs, but the snow showed potential. Wanted to save my energy for Thursday.
Thursday January 29th - Woke up early but took my time to get to the mountain. Don't know why. It appeared that we only had a couple more inches over night when I looked out the window of the house. I was wrong. When I pulled out of the driveway I got stuck, because there was about 8 inches of light, fluffy snow on the ground. But that's not why I got stuck. That happened because I turned the wheels into the plowed snow on the side of the driveway. I got the care out rather quickly, but this caused a slight delay. Didn't get to the mountain until 9:45.
So the mountain got a TON of snow. 15-20" easily. This was the first EPIC day of the season. No doubt. I spent the morning on the Flyer, even though it was only about 10 degrees out and the wind was blowing. But the conditions were too good over here (and I'm a bit tired of the runs on the Jet and Bonnie).
Everything was good. First hit Beaver pond proper and realized that there was a solid foot of fresh all over. It wasn't the lightest pow, but not really firm. It was soft, not fluffy. So, I did Beaver pond and realized that I would need to find something a bit steeper. I headed to North Glade next (good, but still not steep enough). Headed to Staircase next, which is one of the steepest trails on the mountain. Perfect. I didn't get fresh tracks, but there was plenty of pow left as I was probably the second person down the chute. Best run today so far. I then hit Andre's, Everglade, Expo, and the Weeds. This was really the first time I hit the weeds this year. It was finally ready. No issues hitting stumps or creeks at all.
In the afternoon, me and the guys I was riding with met up with Todd to hit the Dip. When we got out there, we couldn't believe how beat up the top area of the orchards were. And it was only just about noon! It's like everyone just hits up the Dip and ignores the rest of the mountain. We were a little pissed.
So we headed down to the cliff area. Another Chris and I went of this little drop first, then Todd. Unfortunately when Todd landed his left ski popped right off. Both of us immediately went back up to the spot that it popped off, but it was nowhere in site! One of the other dudes that we were with came over. We started sticking poles into the snow but had no idea where it was. We looked for 10-15 minutes. Nothing. We decided that Todd would stay there and the rest of us would go to the car and return with a shovel. This probably took us 30 minutes to get back. During this time, I'm sure Todd continued looking but came up with nothing. We continued to look with the shovel. Still nothing. After about another 15 minutes, Todd gave up. We looked in a 15 by 10 area, shoveling all the way to the ground. No dice. This was absolutely disheartening.
When we got to the bottom of the Dip, we noticed a Jay Peak shuttle coming down 242. We also noticed a bunch of ski school instructors and others waiting on the side of the rode. The shuttle went past us and returned about 30 seconds later. All I could think was that there is absolutely no way the mountain was running a shuttle to the DIp. No way.
But I was wrong. The shuttle stopped, and picked up about 10-15 people. We stopped and asked one of the instructors what the deal was, and if they planned on doing this more. He basically said "sometimes, when the time is right". What the eff does that mean? When is the the time right? After huge dump? We felt like local surfers, protecting our secret swell, even though the dip is not really a secret anymore. But an official shuttle from Jay Peak?! Come on! We were not happy with the situation. It left a bad taste in our mouths. I didn't think I was going to be able to ride for the rest of the day, but we managed a few more runs (without Todd). And they were good. Green Beret and Hells Woods. Then the orchards to Corona. Both were good. Proably really good, but I was still a bit pissed off.
I categorize this day as the Worst Epic Day ever. It was an awesome day, one of the best of the season. But we left kinda disheartened.
Friday January 30th - I'm writing this entry today, in the afternoon. I should be on the mountain.
I hit my knee on a tree in Beaver Pond today. Hyperextended it sideways. Started swelling right away. Not really able to put weight on it. Minimal swelling. I'm fucked. Hope to have more updates later this season but right now I don't feel very good about it.
Test 1
Comments